Roland S. Martin's Blog, page 675

Jury Recommends Death Sentence For Cleveland Serial Killer

Source: CNN Jurors in Cleveland, Ohio, recommended that convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell be sentenced to death on Wednesday. Cuyahoga County Judge Dick Ambrose read the recommendations in court Wednesday. The judge, who will deliver his ruling at 9 a.m. Friday, can overrule those recommendations and impose a life sentence. Jurors on July 22 convicted Sowell of 11 counts of aggravated murder and more than 70 other charges, including abusing corpses and kidnapping. The convictions ended a saga that began [...]

Dow Plunges 519 Points As Fear Grips Wall Street (VIDEO)

Source: CBS News New York – Wall Street focused Wednesday on the bleak landscape ahead for the economy and sold off, wiping out the big gains from a day earlier and then some. The selling was intensified by worries about debt problems in Europe. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 519.83 points. On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve said it planned to keep interest rates ultra-low for two more years. After some initial confusion, the stock market staged a huge [...]

Mothers Exchange Blows As Kenya Drought Deepens

Source: MSNBC KAKUMA, Kenya — The two mothers exchanged blows as they held their wailing infants in their arms after one of the women tried to cut in the long line for children to receive treatment for severe malnutrition. The women faced off a second time after passing their children to onlookers amid the melee: The younger woman head-butted the other to the ground before hospital personnel intervened and separated them. "She ordered me to move after she cut the [...]

Dow Soars 400 Points In Wild Session

Source: Blake Ellis / CNN Money New York – U.S. stocks ended a gut-wrenching session with huge gains — erasing a big chunk of the prior session's massive loss — after the Federal Reserve said it will keep interest rates exceptionally low until 2013. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rallied 430 points, or 4%. The S&P 500 (SPX) added 53 points, or 5%; and the Nasdaq (COMP) gained 125 points, or 5%. Immediately following the Fed's statement, the major [...]

Facebook To Yank Prison Inmates' Pages

Source: CBS News Prison inmates in California found to have updated their Facebook profiles will lose their pages as part of a new policy designed to crack down against criminal abuse of social networks. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it will turn over to Facebook account information it gathers on prison inmates who have updated their pages since being put behind bars. Facebook will then wipe out their pages for violating the company's user policies. "Access to [...]

House Ethics Committee Punts Waters's Ethics Case To Outside Counsel

Source: Carol D. Leonnig / The Washington Post The House ethics committee is poised to pay a half-million dollars by year's end to resolve the mess that remains of its three-year probe of Rep. Maxine Waters. An outside counsel and private law firm will sort out how to handle the most substantive case on the committee's plate this session, as the panel tackles more modest matters. Waters, a powerful California Democrat, and a former senior staffer on the committee have [...]

Record-Setting Money Flows To Wisconsin For Recall Elections To Test GOP Agenda

Source: The Washington Post Record-breaking donations are pouring into Wisconsin for state Senate recall elections on Tuesday that could help shape the future of the national GOP agenda. The recall effort was triggered by Republican Gov. Scott Walker's move to sharply curtail collective-bargaining rights for public employees in the state. That decision ignited huge protests at the state Capitol this year. But the campaigns are now tackling the issues at the heart of the national Republican political agenda. They include [...]

'Flash Mobs' Lead To Curfew In Philly (VIDEO)

Philadelphia's mayor announced a tighter weekend curfew following the threat of violent 'flash mobs.' KYW reports. WATCH:

President Obama Pays Tribute To Fallen Troops At Dover Air Force Base

Source: AP / CBS News President Obama made an unannounced trip to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, today to pay tribute to the 30 U.S. troops killed over the weekend in Afghanistan. Two transport planes brought home the remains of the 30 servicemen, who were killed when their Chinook helicopter was shot down on Saturday. The crash was the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war. Mr. Obama paid his respects to the fallen servicemen [...]

Sen. Harry Reid Has Chosen Three Lawmakers For Deficit Reduction Committee

Source: Felicia Sonmez / The Washington Post A Democratic aide said late Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has selected Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) as the co-chair of the congressional committee charged with reducing the deficit following the debt limit agreement this summer. Reid's other two picks for the 12-member committee, charged with arriving at at least $1.2 trillion further in spending cuts, are Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.). Murray, the highest-ranking Senate woman, has [...]