Alabama police suggest black man killed by officer shouldn't have held his gun

“Police in Alabama promised transparency after protests in response to an officer fatally shooting Emantic Bradford Jr. at a shopping mall.”

By The Associated Press HOOVER, Ala. — Police in Alabama promised transparency Monday after a weekend of protests in response to an officer fatally shooting a black man who pulled out his legally permitted weapon following gunfire at a shopping mall. Hoover Police initially described the...

Massive 14-Year Oil Spill Ordered To Be Cleaned As Leaks Continue

“An estimated 150 million gallons of oil is believed to have leaked from Taylor Energy’s damaged Gulf Coast platform.”

A massive oil spill that’s feared to become the largest marine disaster of its kind in the nation’s history is receiving attention from the U.S. Coast Guard after steadily leaking off Louisiana’s coast for more than 14 years. The military branch has ordered Taylor Energy Company to...

The EPA Can’t Wait to Reopen the Mine That Poisoned North Idaho

“The Bunker Hill Mine deposited 75 million tons of toxic sludge in Lake Coeur d’Alene, and the lead and zinc are still flowing.”

(Tubbs Hill, Lake Coeur d’Alene. PHOTOGRAPHER: KYLE JOHNSON FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK) For a century, the mines of the Coeur d’Alene Mountains in North Idaho produced much of the heavy metals that made the U.S. a global superpower. Starting in the 1880s, through the rise of...

Driven by Trump Policy Changes, Fracking Booms on Public Lands

“The administration is auctioning off millions of acres of drilling rights and rolling back regulations, raising environmental concerns in states...”

Video by Kristina Barker for The New York Times CONVERSE COUNTY, Wyo. — The parade of trailer trucks rolling through Jay Butler’s dusty ranch is a precursor to a new fracking boom on the vast federal lands of Wyoming and across the West. Reversing a trend in the final years of the Obama...

Grassley criticizes Trump’s farm bailout rules after Chinese-owned firm qualifies

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) on Thursday expressed alarm that a Chinese-owned pork firm qualifies for federal payments under President Trump’s $12 billion bailout for farmers hurt by the administration’s trade war with China. Grassley, a member of the Senate’s agriculture committee, said...

Georgia County Orders Elderly Black Voters Off Bus Taking Them To The Polls

Dozens of black senior citizens in rural Georgia were ordered off a bus bound for the polls after county officials said the event constituted prohibited “political activity.” A Jefferson County clerk reportedly told staff members from the Leisure Center in Louisville on Monday ― the first day...

Google shutting down Google+ in the aftermath of a privacy glitch

Google is shutting down Google+ for consumers following a disclosure Monday that the private data of hundreds of thousands of users on its disappointing social network were potentially exposed because of a bug the Alphabet-owned company kept quiet. The glitch gave outside developers possible...

Susan Collins Just Sealed Her Fate

In her Senate floor speech on Friday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) resolutely defended Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh both on his judicial philosophies and against sexual assault allegations, sounding no different than ring-wing GOP senators like Orrin Hatch of Utah or John Cornyn of...

Everything on the web is tailored just for you. That's a problem

A key tenet of the modern internet is customization to match your interests because, well, who wouldn’t want that? Instead of being a benefit, however, personalization is starting to look like a curse. Probably the most glaring example comes via sites that filter your news feeds based on other...

The Wilhelm Scream

I thought this was a funny tidbit. This one soundbite has made its way into hundreds of films - sort of a pop culture icon in its own right, even if most people have not even noticed it. What is the Wilhelm scream? From Sean Hutchinson at mentalfoss.com, What do Star Wars, The Lord of the...