Newser

After locals spotted a body dangling from a Sacramento building yesterday morning, police have been postulating about what he was up to. Their theory: The 30-something man, who was hanging from at least nine stories up, was a graffiti artist. He had a rope tied around him, rappelling-style, and a...

The president of New York's state senate and a New York City councilman, along with a handful of others, have been arrested amid reports of a plot to fix the city's mayoral race. Malcolm Smith, a Democrat who is the first black state senate president, was reportedly mulling a run...

The woman who was raped on a Rio de Janeiro minibus is an American student who was studying in Rio, a French consular source tells AFP . The US Embassy and State Department have also confirmed the female victim is a US citizen, reports CNN . More details are emerging: The 21-year-old...

Connecticut lawmakers spurred into action by the Sandy Hook school shooting have agreed on what they say is the nation's strongest gun control bill. The bipartisan agreements includes universal background checks for firearm sales, new state-issued eligibility certificates for the purchase of any rifle, shotgun, or ammunition, and a ban...

As lawmakers in Connecticut unveiled tough new gun control measures , a small city in northern Georgia was speeding in the opposite direction. The Family Protection Ordinance that was approved unanimously by the city council in Nelson, population 1,300, makes gun ownership mandatory for all heads of household , the AP...

The theft of metal storm drain grates has become a major problem in communities across the US, costing hard-up local governments thousands and creating a serious safety hazard, USA Today finds. The grates, which weigh around 250 pounds, cover drains that often have a drop of more than 10 feet,...

A clerical error allowed the man suspected of killing Colorado's prisons chief to be released from custody about four years early, officials said today. In 2008, Evan Ebel pleaded guilty to assaulting a prison guard in a court in rural Fremont County. He was to be sentenced to four additional...

Following a Texas district attorney's shocking assassination , dozens of FBI agents today joined the investigation while armed guards stood outside the Kaufman County Courthouse, CNN reports. Fears that a white supremacist gang is targeting law enforcement officials spread even to Houston, where the chief prosecutor has gone under 24-hour protection....

When he was 14, Ali al-Khawahir stabbed his best friend in the back, paralyzing him for life. Now, because of an eye-for-an-eye sentence, al-Khawahir is facing paralysis as well. The Saudi Arabia man can only avoid the sentence by raising more than $266,600, the amount his victim requested in...

A former professor's lawsuit following his firing from the University of Colorado has been stopped in its tracks. The Supreme Court won't hear Ward Churchill's case against the school, Reuters reports. He was fired after an investigation cited problems with his academic work, but the probe was sparked by a...

An Easter church service in Ohio turned tragic yesterday when a man was gunned down—by his own son, say police—while leaving the church with his wife. The associate pastor tells the Star Beacon that Reshad Riddle approached Richard Riddle, 52, and killed him with a single shot, then...

Prosecutors in the Aurora shooting case are seeking the death penalty for James Holmes, they announced in court today, according to the AP . The decision isn't entirely a surprise; District Attorney George Brauchler has a death penalty lawyer on his team, and he had already essentially nixed a defense offer...

He must have been in a rush to hide some eggs. The Easter Bunny was pulled over on Saturday for riding his red motorcycle without a helmet near San Diego, the Los Angeles Times reports. The bunny told a California Highway Patrol officer that he was en route to a...

Mexican drug cartels have long dispatched agents to border states, but a new AP investigation finds that operatives are now infiltrating much deeper into the US, with problems arising in areas from the Chicago suburbs to rural North Carolina. Typically, middlemen have been used to smuggle drugs over the border...

Police in Rio de Janiero have arrested two men—including the driver—after a foreign tourist was raped on a minibus, the BBC reports. Police say the suspects told other passengers to leave the bus before they raped the woman repeatedly. Her boyfriend was handcuffed and badly beaten. The suspects...

At least four people were injured when a man went on a bizarre rampage in a San Jose Walmart yesterday. Witnesses said the man sped around the parking lot, sideswiping at least one other vehicle, before crashing his car into the store's front entrance, traveling about 20 feet before he...

The north Texas district attorney found murdered with his wife yesterday had been carrying a gun to guard against possible assassins, the AP reports. Wary after one of his assistant prosecutors was killed, Mike McLelland kept the weapon on him at all times, even when walking his dog (he figured...

For a fun night, visit the local ... prison? Seems inmates in Venezuela have built their own nightclub and hosted an inaugural bash including strippers and a light show, AFP reports. According to a local paper, the inmates at a prison on Margarita Island invited friends and family over for the...

A Texas district attorney and his wife have been gunned down in a flurry of bullets inside their own home, becoming the second member of his office killed in two months, reports the Dallas Morning News . Sources said the door of Kaufman County DA Mike McLelland was kicked in, in...

Los Angeles police today released the name of a suspect in the kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl who was found hours later wandering around with scrapes and bruises, NBC Los Angeles reports. Police named Tobias Summers, 30, a recently released prisoner with a rap sheet dating back to 2002. Summer...