National | Journal Gazette

Anthony Weiner launches bid to become NYC mayor

Jennifer Peltz — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:02:11 EST

NEW YORK - Anthony Weiner's run for a renaissance is officially on.

Kids describe horrifying moments as storm struck

DAVID A. LIEB — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

The principal's voice came on over the intercom at Plaza Towers Elementary School: A severe storm was approaching and students were to go to the cafeteria and wait for their parents to pick them up. But before all of the youngsters could get there, the tornado alarm sounded.

IRS official plans to take the 5th

Associated Press — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Summoned by Congress, a key figure in the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups plans to invoke her constitutional right against self-incrimination and decline to testify at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

Needles nurture ill turtles

RODRIQUE NGOWI — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Two endangered sea turtles that are shells of their former selves after getting stranded on Cape Cod during a cold spell are getting some help easing back into the wild - from an acupuncturist.

Landmark immigration bill moving to Senate

David Nakamura — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

A Senate committee approved a sweeping immigration reform bill Tuesday that would provide a path to citizenship for up to 11 million illegal immigrants, setting the stage for the full Senate to consider the landmark legislation next month.

$450 million sought to run Guantanamo

Associated Press — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

The Pentagon is asking Congress for more than $450 million for maintaining and upgrading the Guantanamo Bay prison that President Obama wants to close.

Arias asks jury for life, backs off execution wish

BRIAN SKOLOFF — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Jodi Arias begged jurors Tuesday to give her life in prison, saying she lacked perspective when she told a local reporter in an interview that she preferred execution to spending the rest of her days in jail.

Teens turn to Twitter, avoid Facebook bother

JENNIFER C. KERR — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Twitter is booming as a social media destination for teenagers who complain about too many adults and too much drama on Facebook, according to a new study published Tuesday about online behavior. It said teens are sharing more personal information about themselves even as they try to protect their online reputations.

Lifeline files hit by data breach

Scripps Howard News Service — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Tens of thousands of applicants to Lifeline, the federal program that subsidizes phone service for qualified low-income households, were exposed this spring to the risk of identity theft by the phone carriers that signed them up for the program.

Federal relief has in excess of $11 billion

Associated Press — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Top lawmakers and officials said Tuesday that the federal government has plenty of money on hand to pay for recovery efforts in the wake of the devastating tornado that struck Oklahoma.

Deadly tornado was EF5, the worst possible

Nomaan Merchant and Sean Murphy — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

The teacher shielded the boy with her arms and held him down as the tornado collapsed the roof and starting lifting students upward with a pull so strong that it sucked the glasses off their faces.

IRS official to take the 5th at House hearing

ALAN FRAM and STEPHEN OHLEMACHER — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:48:44 EST

WASHINGTON Summoned by Congress, a key figure in the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups plans to invoke her constitutional right against self-incrimination and decline to testify at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

Bobbing for Apple: Senate panel scrutinizes 'gimmicks' tax strategy

Nomaan Merchant and Sean Murphy — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:10:10 EST

WASHINGTON - The Senate dragged Apple Inc., the world's most valuable company, into the debate over the U.S. tax code Tuesday, grilling CEO Tim Cook over allegations that its Irish subsidiaries help the company avoid billions in U.S. taxes.

CBS pulls tornado-themed 'Mike & Molly’

Associated Press — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:56:00 EST

NEW YORK - CBS has taken the scheduled season-ending episode of Mike Molly off the air because its plot line revolved around a tornado threatening the couple.

Searchers surround school

Mary Schlangenstein — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Darkness fell on an Oklahoma City suburb gripped by a frantic search for pupils, teachers and staff in an elementary school flattened by a tornado.

Deadly twister retraces path of 1999 storm

MALCOLM RITTER — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999.

Aides knew of IRS audit but kept Obama in dark

JULIE PACE — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior advisers knew in late April that an impending report was likely to say the IRS had inappropriately targeted conservative groups, President Obama's spokesman disclosed Monday, expanding the circle of top officials who knew of the audit beyond those named earlier.

Crews dig through night after deadly twister

Associated Press — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:16:12 EST

MOORE, Okla. - Spotlights bore down on massive piles of shredded cinder block, insulation and metal as crews worked through the night early Tuesday lifting bricks and parts of collapsed walls where a monstrous tornado barreled through the Oklahoma City suburbs, demolishing an elementary school and reducing homes to piles of splintered wood.

AP photographer describes destroyed Oklahoma school

Sue Ogrocki — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:24:54 EST

MOORE, Okla. - As soon as I saw the tornado warnings on TV, I had to leave the office right away. I had photographed about a dozen tornados in my decade in Oklahoma and if I didn't get into my car before the funnel cloud swept through, I knew I would get stuck in traffic and arrive too late at the scene.

In tornado’s wake, worried parents seek out kids

Associated Press — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:32:55 EST

MOORE, Okla. - The parents and guardians stood in the muddy grass outside a suburban Oklahoma City church, listening intently as someone with a bullhorn called out the names of children who were being dropped off - survivors of Monday's deadly tornado.

Obama pledges to back Myanmar

MATTHEW PENNINGTON — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

President Obama on Monday told Myanmar's president during a long-awaited White House meeting that he appreciates the Asian leader's efforts to lead the country on its sometimes difficult path to democracy and assured him of U.S. support.

Tornado hits near Oklahoma City

Tim Talley — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:54:18 EST

Update: At least 51 dead, at least 120 treated at hospitals, including 50 children; some students rescued from debris of collapsed elementary school, but dozens not yet found.

Some kids rescued from rubble at elementary school

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:48:35 EST

MOORE, Okla. – Several children have been pulled out of the rubble alive at a school in an Oklahoma City suburb.

Twister tracked path of 1999 tornado

Malcolm Ritter — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:51:52 EST

NEW YORK – Monday’s powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999.

Deadliest US tornadoes since 1900

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:20:06 EST

A list of the 10 deadliest tornadoes in the United States since 1900:

Kentucky teen dies with dog lead on neck

BRUCE SCHREINER — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:50:03 EST

LOUISVILLE, Ky. A

Angry mob pelts man thought to be sex attacker

Steven K. Paulson — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:07:18 EST

DENVER – Residents angry that police had not warned them about sex assaults of children took matters into their own hands, chasing down a man they thought was the attacker, pelting him with rocks and leaving him with a bloody face, authorities said Monday.

FBI Agents Killed in Virginia Training Accident

Martin Weil — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Two FBI agents from an elite counterterrorism unit based in Northern Virginia were killed Friday during a training exercise in the Virginia Beach area, the FBI said Sunday.

Details emerge in Justice Department probe

Ann E. Marimow — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

When the Justice Department began investigating possible leaks of classified information about North Korea in 2009, investigators did more than obtain telephone records of a working journalist suspected of receiving the secret material.

Winning ticket sold in Florida

TAMARA LUSH and BARBARA RODRIGUEZ — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Some lucky person walked into a Publix supermarket in suburban Florida over the past few days and bought a ticket now worth an estimated $590.5 million - the highest Powerball jackpot in history.

Tornadoes strike Plains, damage homes

SEAN MURPHY — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

One of several tornadoes that touched down Sunday in Oklahoma turned homes in a trailer park near Oklahoma City into splinters and rubble and sent frightened residents along a 100-mile corridor scurrying for shelter.

Connecticut travel to be a mess

STEPHEN SINGER — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Traffic in southwest Connecticut could be a mess for as much as a week until service is restored to the commuter rail line affected by a derailment that injured scores of passengers, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned Sunday.

2 arrested in killing of boy over iPad

MARTIN GRIFFITH — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Two men have been arrested in the killing of a teenage boy over an iPad in Las Vegas, police said Sunday.

At Morehouse, Obama discusses men's role

Philip Rucker — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

President Obama on Sunday summoned the graduates of historically black Morehouse College to "transform the way we think about manhood," urging the young men to avoid the temptation to make excuses and to take responsibility for their families and their communities.

AP CEO says phone records seizure 'unconstitutional'

Associated Press — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:05:02 EST

WASHINGTON (AP) The president and CEO of The Associated Press says the government's seizure of AP journalists' phone records was "unconstitutional" and already has had a chilling effect on newsgathering.

White House insists Obama not involved in IRS probe

Associated Press — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:00:33 EST

WASHINGTON (AP) A top White House adviser insisted Sunday that President Barack Obama learned the Internal Revenue Service had targeted tea party groups only "when it came out in the news" while Republicans continued to press the administration for more answers.

With NRA, it can be one strike and you're out

Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association with an "A+" rating for her voting record in the Tennessee House of Representatives, Debra Maggart never imagined that her political career would end this way.

Big groups avoid scrutiny

KEN THOMAS — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

There's an irony in the Internal Revenue Service's crackdown on conservative groups.

Level of outrage surprises IRS staff

Lisa Rein — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

The fog of scandal hangs over a boxy, modernist, 10-story building that looks like a monument to paperwork. Every day, 2,000 employees go to work at various federal agencies in this John F. Kennedy-era structure, whose chief tenant is the Internal Revenue Service - which had just about the worst week an agency can have.

Michigan town feels duped

ED WHITE — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Carol Connell remembers well the gift she gave Sara Ylen, a friend seemingly forced to bear too much misery. Ylen, a Michigan mother of two young boys, said she was battling cancer just a few years after a man was convicted of her rape.

Parade car loses control; 60 hurt

DEBRA McCOWN — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

About 50 to 60 people were injured Saturday when a driver described by witnesses as an elderly man drove his car into a group of hikers marching in a parade in a small Virginia mountain town.

Broken rail studied in crash

JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

The commuter train derailment and collision that left dozens injured outside New York City was not the result of foul play, officials said Saturday, but a fractured section of rail is being studied to determine if it is connected to the accident.

$590M-plus Powerball: 1 winning ticket sold in Florida

Associated Press — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

DES MOINES, Iowa - It's all about the odds, and one single ticket in Florida has beaten them all by matching the numbers drawn for the highest Powerball jackpot in history at an estimated $590.5 million, lottery officials disclosed Sunday.

1 winning ticket sold in Fla. on Powerball

Associated Press — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

DES MOINES, Iowa - A lottery official says 1 winning ticket has been sold in Florida for a record Powerball jackpot of more than $590 million.

Up to 60 injured after car drives into Va. parade

DEBRA McCOWN — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:07:08 EST

DAMASCUS, Va. About 50 to 60 people were injured Saturday when a driver described by witnesses as an elderly man drove his car into a group of hikers marching in a parade in a small Virginia mountain town.

Obama agenda seems to be weathering controversies

DAVID ESPO — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:23:40 EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office.

Probe begins after Conn. commuter trains crash

SUSAN HAIGH — Sat, 18 May 2013 07:08:40 EST

Investigation looks into Friday evening's crash

New York college student shot to death

FRANK ELTMAN — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Last Sunday Andrea Rebello, a 21-year-old Hofstra University junior studying public relations, posted a recipe for how to prepare July 4-themed strawberries covered in sparkling sugars on her blog.

Legislators place IRS in hot seat

Ed O’Keefe — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

The firestorm buffeting the Internal Revenue Service intensified Friday as lawmakers began what they promised would be an extensive effort to learn whether there was any political motivation or White House involvement in the agency's recently acknowledged misdeeds.

Office lottery pools not all fun and games

BARBARA RODRIGUEZ — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

In workplaces across the nation, Americans are inviting their colleagues to chip in $2 for a Powerball ticket and a shared daydream.

2 fires north of LA persist after long fire week

Associated Press — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:31:09 EST

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - A pair of tamed but persistent wildfires still burned in the hills and mountains around Interstate 5 after a wild week of burning brush in the area north of Los Angeles.

2 commuter trains collide; 60 hospitalized

SUSAN HAIGH — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Two commuter trains serving New York City collided in Connecticut during Friday's evening rush hour, sending 60 people to the hospital, including five with critical injuries, Gov. Dannel Malloy said.

Hitchhiker arrested in NJ slaying

KATIE ZEZIMA — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Two cups of coffee ended life on the run for an Internet sensation known as Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker.

Mother's instincts' behind car chase

Associated Press — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

A mother who chased down an abductor and ran into his car after he grabbed her 4-year-old said Friday her "mother's instincts" kicked in when she launched her pursuit.

Pilot earns degree in war zone

JULIE WATSON — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:00:00 EST

Finals week was dangerous for Thomas Saenz. The Navy lieutenant needed armed guards and an armored car to get to an exam site, in Kabul, Afghanistan.