LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge on Thursday signed an order directing officials in Kentucky to immediately recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries. U.S.
A 60-year-old Ball State alumnus will experience a simulation of life on Mars, and he’s bringing some fourth-grade students along for the ride. Ron Williams, director of the neuropsychology department at the Fort Wayne Neurological Center, and five other scientists from around the world will join together as an astronaut crew March 21 to simulate life on Mars. This is in conjunction with the University of Hawaii as part of its Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation program.
ROSWELL, New Mexico— A gunman opened fire Tuesday at a school in New Mexico, leaving at least two children injured before being taken into custody. Officials at a Texas hospital say a 14-year-old boy who was the likely target has been brought there in critical condition. Eric Finley of University of Medical Center says a 13-year-old girl also might be en route in critical condition. Finley says information from nurses treating the boy indicates he was the target of the shooter. The shooting happened at Berrendo Middle School as classes were starting. Roswell police say the suspected shooter was arrested, and the school was placed on lockdown.
A Ball State alumnus plans to bring free guns and a safety program to Indianapolis in February, in an attempt to prove an armed and trained community reduces crime. The Armed Citizen Project chooses neighborhoods in cities with average to high crime rates and then offers a free pump-action shotgun to any willing citizen in the neighborhood who also passes a background check and takes part in a gun safety program.
NEW YORK — A New York City commuter train rounding a riverside curve derailed Sunday, killing four people and injuring more than 60 in a crash that threw passengers from the toppling cars and left a snaking chain of twisted wreckage just inches from the water. Some of the roughly 150 passengers on the early morning Metro-North train from Poughkeepsie to Manhattan were jolted from sleep around 7:20 a.m. to screams and the frightening sensation of their compartment rolling over on a bend in the Bronx where the Hudson and Harlem rivers meet. When the motion stopped, four or five of the seven cars had lurched off the rails. It was the latest accident in a troubled year for the nation’s second-biggest commuter railroad, which had never experienced a passenger death in an accident in its 31-year-history.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Police have not found a gunman at Yale University and are leaning toward a call warning of an armed man heading to shoot up the school being a hoax, as a lockdown was lifted for most of the Ivy League campus Monday. “New Haven is safe.
Ball State’s ranking for sexual health resources and awareness has fallen 12 spots from last year, and 26 spots from 2011. The rankings are sponsored by Trojan condoms and are based on how effective university health centers are at providing services and information about sex to campuses.
Just a few days before journalist Steve Bell’s wife was expected to give birth, his assignment editor ran six blocks to his house to tell him phone lines were jammed, President John F.
WASHINGTON — A Democratic official says President Barack Obama has decided to allow the sale of canceled individual health insurance policies to existing customers, part of a plan to satisfy public discontent with “Obamacare.” Obama set a late morning White House announcement. The official said the administration’s one-year plan is to let insurers continue to offer plans that had been canceled because they did not meet coverage standards under the health care law. The official says insurance companies must also notify policyholders that alternatives exist under Obama’s health care program, and have to describe the areas in which their own plans fall short of coverage requirements in the law. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because this person lacked authority to speak publicly ahead of a formal announcement.
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WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students are flocking to U.S. colleges and universities, helping to drive the number of international students studying in America to record levels. Similarly, all-time high numbers of American students are studying abroad, although there are far fewer and they tend to do much shorter stints than students coming to the United States. The findings are in an analysis being released today that was conducted by a nonprofit group that worked with the State Department. They said international education programs do more than advance cultural enrichment; they also are an economic boon to communities that host foreign students and to the students themselves, who improve their job competitiveness. Foreign students contribute about $24 billion annually to the U.S.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Historic votes Tuesday in the Illinois Legislature positioned that state to become the largest in the heartland to legalize gay marriage, following months of arduous lobbying efforts by both sides in President Barack Obama’s home state. Under the measure, which the state House approved 61-54 before sending it on to the Senate for technical changes, gay weddings could be held in Illinois starting in June.
PENNSVILLE, New Jersey — Relatives of the suspect charged in last week’s Los Angeles airport shooting offered sympathy Monday to the family of the federal officer who was killed, saying they were “shocked and numbed” by the deadly rampage. An attorney for the family of Paul Ciancia said his relatives also expressed hope for the recovery of the other victims and regret for the travel disruption caused by the attack on the nation’s third-busiest airport. Family lawyer John Jordan read a brief statement outside the town hall in Pennsville, a working-class town near Wilmington, Delaware, where Ciancia grew up. “Paul is our son and brother.
The Senate pushed a major anti-bias gay rights bill past a first, big hurdle Monday, a clear sign of Americans’ greater acceptance of homosexuality nearly two decades after the law prohibiting federal recognition of same-sex marriage. The vote of 61-30 essentially ensured that the Senate has the votes to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would prohibit workplace discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. A final passage, possibly by week’s end, would cap a 17-year quest to secure Senate support for a similar discrimination measure that failed by one vote in 1996, the same year Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act. Reflecting the nation’s shifting views toward gay rights and the fast-changing political dynamic, seven Senate Republicans joined with 54 Democrats to vote to move ahead on the legislation. “Rights are sometimes intangible but, boy if you’ve ever been discriminated against, seeking employment or seeking an advancement, it’s bitter,” Sen.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The terminal at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International airport has been evacuated because of a threat. The airport’s Facebook page said the terminal had been evacuated Sunday because of a threat but didn’t elaborate. The airport website said several flights into the airport were being diverted. Police spokesman Johnny Williams said he and other officers were on their way to the airport Sunday evening but didn’t have any details on what prompted the evacuation.
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has been briefed on the reported shooting at Los Angeles International Airport. The White House says the Los Angeles Police Department is leading the response and investigation into the shooting, and administration officials are in touch with federal and local partners. The White House says it is urging people to listen to authorities and follow directions from first responders on site. Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey called the shooting a multi-patient incident.
Police say 3 shot, including TSA agent, by gunman with semi-automatic weapon at LAX.
The U.S. Department of Education announced today a plan to improve affordability for college students.
HONOLULU — Hawaii’s battle over gay marriage brought state lawmakers back to work Monday after the governor called a special session that could make the islands a wedding destination for more couples. Some 1,800 people signed up to testify in person at a Senate committee hearing, which was carried live on TV and local news websites.
LUBBOCK, Texas — The only abortion clinic in a 300-mile swath of West Texas can resume taking appointments Tuesday, after a federal judge struck down new restrictions that would have effectively shuttered it and at least a dozen other clinics across the state. Lubbock’s Planned Parenthood Women’s Health Center had stopped making appointments last week, bracing for this week’s scheduled enforcement of a new requirement that all doctors performing abortions in the state must have admitting privileges at a hospital less than 30 miles away. Supporters who sued to block the requirement, part of a broad series of abortion limits the Legislature approved in July, argued it was meant to outlaw abortions, not make them safer as state officials had claimed.
