Officials say the letter has initially tested positive for ricin – a highly toxic oil made from castor beans.”A letter addressed to the president was received at a remote screening facility containing a suspicious substance. We are working closely with Capitol Police and the FBI in this investigation,” a Secret Service spokesman said in a statement.The letter, which was received at an off-site location away from the White House on Tuesday, is currently under investigation after being intercepted at an off-site postal screening center.”This facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery,” White House spokesman Edwin Donovan said in a statement.It arrived the same day as an envelope addressed to US Senator Roger Wicker, which tested positive for ricin. The envelope was postmarked Memphis, Tennessee and did not have a return address.DETAILS TO FOLLOW … Read More
Rep. Steve Cohen deletes tweet calling Cyndi Lauper “hot”
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who made headlines a few weeks ago for seemingly suggestive tweets at a young woman who turned out to be his secret daughter, is in trouble with The Twitter again–this time, for a flirty, intimate tweet he sent to Cyndi Lauper.On Tuesday, the congressman raised eyebrows with the following tweet, calling the singer “hot”: “@cyndilauper great night,couldn’t believe how hot u were.see you again next Tuesday.try a little tenderness.” The tweet was up for only 21 minutes until Cohen deleted it, but it has been saved forever in all its glory thanks to site Politiwoops.The Washington Post reports, however, that Cohen will hold a press conference at 1 pm ET to discuss the tweet, which may have been taken out of context. Cohen, a long-time supporter of the Memphis art scene, may have been referring to her performance at the White House’s Memphis Soul night concert on Tuesday, and not her physical appearance.Continue Reading… … Read More
Memphis cops wary of ‘powder kegs’ during Ku Klux Klan rally
A large portion of downtown Memphis, Tennessee, will be locked down Saturday to avoid hostilities during a rally organized by the Ku Klux Klan. WMC-TV reported on Friday that pedestrian, commercial and auto traffic will be diverted around the area surrounding the Shelby County courthouse, where the…
Cop-killer tied to “sovereign citizen” movement
A 36-year-old software engineer who shot and killed a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer last fall was bipolar and held antigovernment “sovereign citizen” views, an investigation by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office has concluded.Christopher Lacy’s ideological ties to the sovereign citizen movement, whose adherents generally believe they are immune to federal tax and many criminal laws, were documented with more than 100 interviews and search warrants. But the seven-month investigation failed to determine why he shot CHP Trooper Kenyon Youngstrom on Sept. 4.The trooper was fatally shot at close range moments after stopping Lacy’s vehicle, which had an “obstructed license plate” as it traveled on busy Interstate 680 near Alamo, Calif., the sheriff’s office said in a just-released summary statement. That was only the latest murder of a law enforcement official during a traffic stop by a sovereign citizen, most of whom believe the government has no right to regulate their driving. On May 20, 2010, two West Memphis, Ark., police officers were slain by a father-son team of sovereigns during a routine traffic stop.Continue Reading… … Read More
Peabody winners include Newtown and Sandy coverage
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — A local TV station’s coverage of the Connecticut school massacre, the HBO drama “Girls,” and a public-service campaign about Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts’ medical battle were among 39 Peabody Award winners announced Wednesday.Recipients of the 72nd annual Peabody Awards were announced by the University of Georgia’s journalism school. They were chosen by the Peabody board as the best electronic media works of 2012.Connecticut station WVIT-TV won an award for its “quick response and comprehensive coverage” of the December school shooting in Newtown, Conn.Other winners for journalistic works included ABC News for its coverage of Superstorm Sandy. The network embedded a reporting team with a family in Breezy Point, N.Y., according to a description of the winning entries.Documentaries receiving awards included “MLK: The Assassination Tapes,” which aired on the Smithsonian Channel. The film was “painstakingly configured” from rare footage collected at the University of Memphis in 1968. It covers events leading up to the murder of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and its aftermath.”Game Change,” an HBO film about Sarah Palin’s rise to the national political spotlight, also won a Peabody.Continue Reading… … Read More
Obama’s boring brackets
March Madness kicks off on Thursday, which means it’s time for another dull set of Final Four picks from our basketball-loving commander-in-chief. By his standards, President Obama threw caution to the wind this year, selecting Florida, Ohio State, Indiana and Louisville, two top seeds, a second seed and a third seed to advance to the Final Four in Atlanta. But his championship game still features Indiana and Louisville, both number ones.God forbid he pick a sleeper like UNLV (3) or Michigan (4). “I’m going with Louisville,” the president told ESPN’s Andy Katz. “I know it’s not a surprise pick. And I’m going with Indiana. I think this is Indiana’s year.”It’s always a number one seed’s year with the president. Since Obama began publicly filling out the tournament bracket in 2009, he has been almost constitutionally incapable of going against the chalk. His Final Four and championship picks over the past five years have gone as follows (correct picks in bold):2009: Final Four (Louisville (1), Pittsburgh (1), North Carolina(1), Memphis (2)), champion (North Carolina (1))Continue Reading… … Read More
