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June 27, 2017 at 12:23 pm
Uber’s ride-hailing app is making it easier for its users to set up trips for seniors and others who may not know their way around a smartphone but still need help getting around town.
The new feature, coming out Tuesday in an app update, is primarily designed for Uber users who want a simple way to arrange rides for parents, grandparents and other loved ones unable to drive themselves. Previously, Uber users ordering on behalf of another passenger had to call the driver to explain the situation.
When users ask to be picked up at somewhere besides their current location, the app will give them the option to designate the ride for someone else. The passenger won’t need the Uber app; they’ll get a text identifying the driver, car make and other information. Uber will char...
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June 27, 2017 at 12:21 pm
A possible active shooter was reported at a U.S. Army installation in Alabama on Tuesday.
The Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville issued the alert on Twitter of a “possible active shooter on the Arsenal.”
Redstone Arsenal spokesperson Christopher Colster said the location of the incident has not been determined though people inside the arsenal said it is in the Sparkman Center.
Colster said there are no reported injuries that he is aware of.
“Installation is on lockdown. Run, hide, fight,” the tweet read.
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., said he and his staff are monitoring the situation.
“My staff and I are monitoring situation at Redstone Arsenal. Please join me in praying for the safety of everyone on base,” he said on his Twitter account.
All gates ar...
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June 27, 2017 at 12:07 pm
New York - A conservative provocateur posted a video Tuesday of a man identified as a CNN producer commenting on his network’s coverage of President Donald Trump and connections to Russia.
The producer, identified as John Bonifield, said it appeared CNN had no “smoking gun” evidence of wrongdoing by the president and was giving the story extensive coverage because it was good for the ratings.
“I haven’t seen any good enough evidence to show that the President committed a crime,” CNN supervising producer Bonifield, says in the clip.
“I just feel like they don’t really have it but they want to keep digging. And so I think the president is probably right to say, like, look you are witch hunting me,” says Bonnifield,
A CNN biography lis...
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June 27, 2017 at 11:49 am
Russian energy firms and Danish shipping company also hit by hackers
Ukraine’s national bank, state power company and largest airport are among the targets of a huge cyber attack on government infrastructure.
Rozenko Pavlo, the deputy Prime Minister, said he and other members of the Ukrainian government were unable to access their computers.
“We also have a network 'down',” he wrote. “This image is being displayed by all computers of the government.”
The photo showed his PC displaying a message claiming a disk “contains errors and needs to be prepared”, urging the user not to turn it off.
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June 27, 2017 at 11:39 am
A subway car derailed in Manhattan Tuesday morning, causing at least 3 minor injuries, authorities said.
The A train derailed near 125th Street along St. Nicholas Avenue at around 9:48AM.
FDNY is on the scene with a third alarm response and reporting that one train car derailed and all passengers have evacuated. Rescue units are conducting searches, with the current patient count at four – all with with minor injuries. The derailment caused a power outage affecting the A/B/C/D line between 125th street and 145th Street, which caused some trains to be stuck in the tunnel with passengers aboard.
“We were on the express track from 145th to 125th… All of a sudden it was like the train just started like banging against the walls of the tun...
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June 27, 2017 at 11:37 am
A mini school bus, which has been converted into a rolling art project by a Jewish artist, was torched over the weekend and police are now investigating the incident as possibly being motivated by hate.
The bus, owned by Jewish artist Leviticus Schieber, converted the mini school bus into his rolling art studio as well as his main mode of transportation, and has been a common sight on the streets of Crown Heights.
That was until Sunday night.
Residents discovered the charred shell of the bus on Monday morning on Troy Avenue. While initially thinking it was an electrical fire, police have determined that the fire was intentionally set and suspect that it may have been motivated by hate.
The bus became well known after it was featured in a music video by Benny Friedman in a song tit...
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June 27, 2017 at 11:32 am
CNN accepted the resignations Monday of three journalists involved in a retracted story about a supposed investigation into a pre-inaugural meeting between an associate of President Donald Trump and the head of a Russian investment fund.
The story was posted on the network’s website on Thursday and was removed, with all links disabled, Friday night. CNN immediately apologized to Anthony Scaramucci, the Trump transition team member who was reported to be involved in the meeting.
The story’s author, Thomas Frank, was among those who resigned, according to a network executive who requested anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss personnel issues. Also losing their jobs were Eric Lichtblau, an assistant managing editor in CNN’s Washington bureau, and Lex ...
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June 27, 2017 at 11:22 am
Baltimore, MD - June 27, 2017 - In many ways, Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz changed my life.
Over 15 years ago, I submitted a choppy, half-baked book sample to ArtScroll, containing only 10 stories. I had no idea what went into writing a book. I imagine that ArtScroll was very surprised when they received it; it was incredibly raw, completely unedited, and downright embarrassing.
However, Reb Meir and his partner, Rabbi Nosson Scherman, another mentor of mine, accepted it. When I asked how they could take a book without seeing all of the stories, the response was straightforward: "Chiely, we believe in you."
I owe so much to Reb Meir. Not only did he believe in me, but he envisioned for me that which I never dreamed of becoming. He saw in me abilities that I never knew I had. And I was just one ...
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June 27, 2017 at 11:10 am
Breaking with recent White House tradition, President Donald Trump has opted not to host an event marking Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.
Past presidents have welcomed Muslim Americans for a traditional iftar, a meal that follows daily fasting from dawn to sunset. Ramadan ends with the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which was celebrated Sunday in most Muslim countries.
Trump issued a statement Saturday, saying that he and wife Melania “send our warm greetings to Muslims as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr.” The White House said there were no plans for an event. Asked Monday why Trump was not hosting an event, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said he did not know.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also declined to hold an iftar, in departure from the practice of previous secr...
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June 27, 2017 at 11:10 am
The Flint, Michigan, airport officer stabbed in the neck during what authorities are investigating as a terrorist act has been discharged from a hospital.
A spokeswoman for Hurley Medical Center says Lt. Jeff Neville was released Monday.
Neville was stabbed Wednesday at Bishop International Airport in Flint, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. Authorities have said 49-year-old Amor Ftouhi stabbed Neville with a large knife after saying something similar to “you have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die.”
Ftouhi, a Canadian from Tunisia, was immediately taken into custody and was charged in a criminal complaint with committing violence at an airport.
Doctors have said Neville’s 12-inch wound caused significant bleed...
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June 27, 2017 at 11:10 am
For President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, it’s still complicated.
That political reality has come into sharper focus in recent days as Republicans strain to pass high-stakes legislation revamping the nation’s health care law. While the president and the GOP are ostensibly on the same side — each has promised to overhaul the current health care law — their tactics have at times been strikingly at odds.
Faced with possible defections from a small group of senators, including Nevada’s Dean Heller, GOP leaders have been quietly working behind the scenes to tweak the legislation to meet their demands. Trump allies have taken a more heavy-handed approach: A pro-Trump group announced plans to run digital and television ads against Heller, an eyebrow-rais...
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June 27, 2017 at 11:09 am
The top diplomats of Russia and the United States have focused on the Syrian crisis in a phone call.
The Russian Foreign Ministry says Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson talked Monday about the need to secure a cease-fire in Syria, fight extremist groups and to prevent the use of chemical weapons.
It added that Lavrov “urged Washington to take steps to prevent provocations against Syrian government forces battling terrorists.”
Moscow reacted angrily when the U.S. downed a Syrian jet last week after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces conducting operations against the Islamic State group.
Russia warned its military would track aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition as potential targets over Syria and suspended a ...
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June 27, 2017 at 11:02 am
The involvement of external powers in the Syrian war continued to accelerate Tuesday as President Bashar Assad’s government and Russia dismissed White House allegations that it was preparing a new chemical weapons attack.
Hours later activists reported an airstrike on an Islamic State-run jail in eastern Syria that they said killed more than 40 prisoners and was carried out by the U.S.-led coalition.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 15 militants were also killed in the airstrike that happened on Monday in the Deir El-Zour province. The activist-run Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet said at least 60 civilians were killed.
Russia and Syria also carry out airstrikes in Deir el-Zour, and it was not clear how the activists identified the aircraft responsible...
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June 27, 2017 at 11:00 am
At least 6 people were killed on Tuesday afternoon in a horrific crash on Route 60 in the Shomron, south of Yishuv Ofra in the direction of Givat Assaf in the Binyamin Regional Council.
MDA reports that the accident involved an armor-plated bullet resistant bus and a PA (Palestinian Authority) taxi van.
The fatalities appear to have been occupants of the PA taxi, which was clearly crushed by the weight of the bus.
MDA paramedic Betzalel Ben-Hamu and EMT Shalom Tzubari told the media in statements: When we arrived we saw a shocking scene and a great deal of chaos. We saw a taxi van that had been crushed, a private vehicle involved and a bus. There were dead and wounded around the scene.
The preliminary survey of the area revealed a 17-year-old male who was unconscious with head injuri...
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June 27, 2017 at 8:29 am
Rockland County, NY - A 62 year old Spring Valley man is under arrest after striking four members of the same family with his car as they walked on Route 59 at Robert Pitt Drive near the Monsey-Spring Valley border.
Sergeant Brian Corbett of the Ramapo Police Department said that 62 year old Albert Gomez was heading westbound on Route 59 in a 1999 Toyota Corolla when he struck the pedestrians who were walking on the westbound shoulder of the road just before 3 PM this afternoon.
There are no sidewalks on that section of Route 59, which is dotted with numerous stores, leaving walkers no choice but to walk on the shoulder, as previously reported on VIN News (http://bit.ly/2tPIvqa )
A 38 year old woman, walking with her 13 and 9 year old daughters and pushing her three month old...
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June 27, 2017 at 8:26 am
The White House issued a stern warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday night as it claimed “potential” evidence that Syria was preparing for another chemical weapons attack.
In an ominous statement issued with no supporting evidence or further explanation, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the U.S. “has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.”
He said the activities were similar to preparations taken before an April 2017 attack that killed dozens of men, women and children, and warned that if “Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.&rd...
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June 27, 2017 at 8:25 am
The Israel Air Force during the night targeted two Hamas targets; in Rafiach and Gaza City. The attacks took place early Tuesday, 3 Tammuz in retaliation for a rocket attack in the Shar HaNegev Regional Council on Monday night.
B’chasdei Hashem, the rocket landed in an open area and therefore, there were no fatalities, injuries or damage. A siren was not heard prior to impact.
Hamas claims there was no rocket attack, accusing Israel of fabricating the attack to permit attacking Hamas in Gaza.
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June 27, 2017 at 8:24 am
The deaths of 79 people in a London apartment tower have triggered emergency inspections, evacuations and soul searching among British officials who failed to prevent the tragedy.
But fire-safety experts say governments and builders around the world should take notice, because the fire at Grenfell Tower is just the latest in a string of deadly blazes that demonstrate how building regulations have failed to keep up with changing materials and cuts in inspections and oversight mean problems aren’t spotted until it is too late.
The Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, California, made headlines in December, when 36 people were killed in a warehouse that had been illegally converted into living spaces and a music venue. In September, 33 people died in a fire at a packaging plant in Bangla...
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June 27, 2017 at 8:23 am
President Donald Trump unleashed a series of tweets Monday in which he tried to place the blame for Russian meddling in U.S. politics on former President Barack Obama and deflect charges of obstruction and collusion onto his predecessor.
Trump wrote that Obama did “NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling” because he expected Hillary Clinton to win. Trump added that Obama “didn’t ‘choke,’ he colluded or obstructed.”
Trump, who has a long history of deflecting criticism from himself to others, seemed to be trying to redefine what it means to collude or obstruct as he pushed back against an investigation into whether Trump’s own team colluded with Russian officials during the campaign and transition.
Trump appea...
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June 27, 2017 at 8:20 am
A Transportation Security Administration employee at a Florida airport has been fired after police said surveillance video showed him stealing cash.
The Orlando Sentinel reports 22-year-old Alexander Shae Johnson was arrested Thursday. Court records show he faces a third-degree felony grand theft charge.
An Orlando police report says a passenger selected for a pat-down search while going through security at Orlando International Airport saw Johnson standing near her bag. The report says she went through her bag afterward and realized cash was missing before noticing a bulge in Johnson’s shirt pocket that turned out to be money.
Johnson said the cash was his but the video showed otherwise. In a statement, TSA said it has “zero tolerance” for misconduct.
Johnson w...
