Cheryl K. Chumley

1993 World Trade Center terrorist requests release from solitary

A terrorist serving life in prison plus 240 years for his role in masterminding the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 that killed six and injured more than 1,000 has now filed a lawsuit to get out of solitary confinement.

February 18, 2013

Cancer-stricken Hugo Chavez returns to Venezuela

Hugo Chavez, 58, has wrapped up his treatment for cancer in Cuba and returned home to Venezuela, with plans to continue his presidency.

February 18, 2013

Country music’s Mindy McCready dies in apparent suicide

Mindy McCready, the 37-year-old country music star and mother of two, was found dead Sunday, after an apparent self-inflicted gunshot to the head.

February 18, 2013

U.N. space panel unveils plan to shoot down asteroids

The United Nations thinks it has a plan to fend off devastation from space — and it comes on the heels of a Friday morning meteor that slammed into Russia, shattering windows and injuring 1,000, and on the same day an asteroid half the size of the United States is reportedly passing by Earth.

February 15, 2013

NYC unions may end month-long school bus strike

Nine-thousand striking New York City school bus drivers and workers could return to work as early as next week, as union officials hint a "live to fight another day" strategy may be prove their best bet in the public relations nightmare.

February 15, 2013

Report: North Korea tells China it plans 1-2 more nuclear tests this year

North Korea has told China, its major ally, that it will conduct one or two more nuclear tests before the end of this year, according to a source who claimed direct knowledge of the message.

February 15, 2013

Online sales tax proposal rears head in Congress — for third time

Congressional legislators are pushing — once again — a federal online sales tax. The House brought forth on Thursday the Marketplace Fairness Act, a bill that supposedly reconciles the differences among the three introduced — and that failed — in Congress in 2012.

February 15, 2013

Alert kid foils fifth-graders’ plot for Washington state elementary-school killing spree

A quick-thinking kid upended the plot of two armed fifth-graders to lure several Washington state elementary-school classmates off-campus and then kill them, after he learned of the plan and told school officials.

February 15, 2013

‘Bionic eye’ approved by FDA

U.S. regulators approved on Friday the use of a what's being called a "bionic eye," giving hope to those with a rare genetic disease that leads to gradual vision loss.

February 15, 2013

USDA workers caught on video: ‘Pilgrims were illegal aliens’

Watchdog organization Judicial Watch has released video of U.S. Department of Agriculture employees caught on video at a cultural diversity seminar banging on tables and chanting "the Pilgrims were illegal aliens."

February 15, 2013

Emeryville, Calif., police chief: Guns aren’t for defense

Guns can't be used for defense, said the police chief in Emeryville, Calif. They can only be used to show power and dominance, he said, at a press conference to promote tighter gun-control laws in California.

February 15, 2013

Egypt intercepts two tons of explosives headed to Sinai

Security officials in Egypt report the seizure of two tons of explosives that were being shipped to the Sinai Peninsula, via the main Suez Canal tunnel.

February 15, 2013

Petitioners paint Obama as ‘misogynist’ who’s ‘alienating’ women

A petition on the White House website is calling for President Obama to stop referring to female constituents in his many speeches as "wives, mothers and daughters."

February 15, 2013

Maureen O’Connor, San Diego’s former mayor, lost $1 billion in gambling habit

How the mighty do fall. San Diego's Maureen O'Connor was a rising star in the city's political circles, winning a seat on the City Council at the young age of 25 and going on to serve two terms as a populist, crowd-pleasing mayor — a female first, for the city.

February 15, 2013

Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp argued before the shooting, neighbors report

A forensic team has converged on Olympian "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius's home, uncovering further details that counter initial theories that he shot and killed his celebrity model girlfriend by accident, under the impression she was an intruder.

February 15, 2013

Sen. Robert Menendez probe widens, as investigators look to decade-old dealings

Investigators already scrutinizing Sen. Robert Menendez's ties to a Florida doctor-donor friend have now widened their investigation, going back a decade in the New Jersey politician's career and examining the circumstances surrounding his legislative halt to a company merger.

February 15, 2013

House Republicans raise union ire with bill blocking pay raises

House Republicans are set Friday to block a President Obama-backed pay hike for federal workers, but the Senate isn't going to be so amenable.

February 15, 2013

Iranian scientists believed to have attended North Korean nuclear test, report says

Iranian scientists may have been on hand to witness North Korea's underground nuclear test, according to one Western diplomat.

February 15, 2013

Washington, D.C., by far, leads the nation in LGBT population, Gallup says

Fully 10 percent of Washington, D.C., respondents in a Gallup poll identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, making the nation's capital the largest population for LGBTs in America.

February 15, 2013

Francois Hollande looks to raid French pensions to cut costs

Even Socialists admit the pension system can be bloated. France's President Francois Hollande, facing pressure from the European Union to meet budget plans, is looking at the sacred pension cow to cut.

February 15, 2013