MSNBC (U.S. News)
· Women in combat: Could special ops be the next stop?
The Pentagon has moved beyond merely talking about placing women into combat and is actively mapping how, when and where servicewomen eventually will be assigned to far more dangerous duties — including, perhaps, special forces operations, senior U.S. defense officials tell NBC News. While the blueprint for dual-gender U.S. combat units continues to be sketched — and remains subject to change — m...
· Shark attacks Texas teen
A shark attacked a teenage boy on Monday as he was standing in shallow water off the coast of Texas, police said.The 15-year-old was at Surfside Beach on the Gulf of Mexico with friends when he felt the shark bite his left leg and tried to fight it off by reaching into the water and hitting it. The shark then went for his left hand and he suffered lacerations to limbs, according to Assistant Chief...
· NASA names eight new astronaut trainees -- half of them women
By Clara MoskowitzSpace.comNASA has picked eight Americans, a mix of scientists and military pilots, to begin training for future space missions that may one day launch them all the way to Mars. The new class includes four men and four women who will join the 49 active astronauts at the agency's astronaut corps at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.The new U.S. space travelers, which NASA unveile...
· California officials warn fire season could be worst in 100 years
Southern California fire officials warned Monday that the state should take caution during a brutal fire season that projections suggest could be the worst to hit the region in a century.“We’re going to have a very volatile fire season,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said at a Monday afternoon news conference, who noted it could be the worst in 100 years.The warning comes nearly a week ...
· Carjacker threatens the wrong mom
· Naval Academy football players to face sex assault charges
Three Naval Academy midshipmen will face charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a female midshipman last year, a U.S. military official told NBC News Monday.The female midshipman told investigators that she was sexually assaulted by the three men — all Academy football players at the time — at an off-campus party in April 2012. The Naval Academy Superintendent, Vice Admiral Michael Miller, is t...
· California fire season 'very volatile'
· 500th criminal named to FBI ‘Most Wanted’ list
· GM recalls more than 200,000 SUVs
· Ford aims to simplify dashboard
· Sibling bullying can leave lasting scars, study says
· Florida man beaten, robbed, stripped naked on first date
A Florida man was beaten, robbed, forced to strip naked and abandoned on the side of a road Friday evening during a first date gone horribly wrong, according to police.Authorities found nude, bloodied Shaun Paul Williams, 34, walking on the shoulder of State Road 100 in Bunnell, Fla., late Friday near a cow pasture where Williams said he was assaulted and mugged by his date and her two unidentifie...
· TSA agent accused of harassing 15-year-old girl over shirt
A popular blogger and publisher has accused a TSA agent of criticizing his 15-year old daughter for having clothing the agent said was too revealing.On Sunday June 16, Mark Frauenfelder, co-founder of the Boing Boing blog, posted that a TSA agent at LAX had "shamed" his daughter, Sarina, for the outfit she wore that day while traveling.Based on text messages he received from his daughter, Frauenfe...
· Snowden’s carefully timed leak
· LA County’s worst fire season in 100 years
· Texas rolls back student testing for a second time
Texas, the state that pioneered high-stakes testing for public schools, is continuing to roll back its extensive series of student assessments, with Gov. Rick Perry signing a bill that would exempt high performers from taking some tests.Perry has now signed two bills in a month that scale back standardized testing for public school students, another blow to the “accountability” movement and No Ch...
· See Chad Johnson apologize to judge after butt tap
· Former Boston hitman says Whitey Bulger's FBI dealings 'broke my heart'
James “Whitey” Bulger, already charged with killing 19 people, was accused Monday of emotionally wounding a Boston hitman.John “The Executioner” Martorano – a star witness at Bulger’s racketeering and murder trial – told the jury that it “sort of broke my heart” when he learned his pal was an FBI informant.He said Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi had been his “partners in crime,” his best...
· Pa. McDonald's franchise sued over payroll cards
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- A single mother who worked briefly at a northeastern Pennsylvania McDonald's franchise is suing the owners after she said she was given a fee-laden debit card and told that she must use it to access her earnings.A lawyer filed a lawsuit Thursday in Luzerne County on behalf of Natalie Gunshannon and other employees, The Citizens' Voice and the Times Leader of Wilkes-Barre repor...
· One Fund for Boston Marathon bombing victims receives over 200 applications, has $50 million
The primary compensation fund for victims of the Boston Marathon bombings has garnered upwards of $50 million and received more than 200 applications for payments, according to the fund’s administrators. The One Fund Boston received 212 claims by the Saturday postmark deadline, with additional applications known to be en route to the fund’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. in courier mail, accordi...
· Animal rescuer left homeless by wildfires
· Jimmy Hoffa's rumored resting places, from the Everglades to the end zone
For a guy who's been dead since 1975, Jimmy Hoffa really gets around.Through the years, tipsters have insisted the Teamsters boss — who vanished from a suburban Detroit restaurant — was laid to rest in the swamps of Florida, under the artificial turf of Giants Stadium and more than a dozen other spots.Monday, the feds were digging up a field in Oakland Township, Mich., with new designs on finding ...
· Former Whitey Bulger associate says FBI dealings 'broke my heart'
BOSTON — A former criminal associate of James "Whitey" Bulger told jurors at the accused mob boss's trial on Monday that he agreed to testify against his old friend after learning that his former gang pals had begun cooperating with law enforcement.Bulger, 83, is on trial in Boston federal court on charges including racketeering and 19 murders he is alleged to have committed or ordered while ...
· Iran's president-elect urges U.S. to 'look to the future'
TEHRAN, Iran - President-elect Hassan Rowhani struck a markedly conciliatory tone Monday, and held out the prospect of improved relations with the United States.When asked by NBC News what he thought of the American congratulations to him and the Iranian people, as well as an offer to hold direct talks with Iran, Rowhani smiled and answered that the question was complicated."Iran and America's rel...
· House delegate: NFL's stance on Redskins name 'baloney'
