Edward Brooke, the Massachusetts Republican who was the first African-American to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate, died on Saturday at the age of 95, the state Republican Party said.
Brooke was Massachusetts attorney general when he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1966, at a time when the country was gripped by racial unrest.
Edward Brooke, first black U.S. senator elected by popular vote, dies
The Senate's 46 Democrats got 20 million more votes than its 54 Republicans
On Tuesday, 33 US senators elected in November will be sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden — including 12 who are new to the chamber. The class includes 22 Republicans and 11 Democrats, a big reason why the GOP has a 54-46 majority in the Senate overall.
But here's a crazy fact: those 46 Democrats got more votes than the 54 Republicans across the 2010, 2012, and 2014 elections. According to Nathan Nicholson, a researcher at the voting reform advocacy group FairVote, "the 46 Democratic caucus members in the 114th Congress received a total of 67.8 million votes in winning their seats, while the 54 Republican caucus members received 47.1 million votes."
Has Stanford University found a cure for Alzheimer's disease?
Alzheimer's could be prevented and even cured by boosting the brain's own immune response, scientists at Stanford University believe.
Researchers discovered that nerve cells die because cells which are supposed to clear the brain of bacteria, viruses and dangerous deposits, stop working.
These cells, called 'microglia' function well when people are young, but when they age, a single protein called EP2 stops them operating efficiently.
After surviving a plane crash, a 7-year-old girl treks through the woods to safety
Larry Wilkins was watching television Friday evening when he heard a faint knock on his front door of his home in Lyon County, Ky., east of Paducah. When he opened the door, he discovered a 7-year-old girl standing in the cold. She was bloodied, covered in scratches and barefoot except for a single sock.
“She told me that her mom and her dad were dead, and she was in a plane crash, and the plane was upside down,” Wilkins told NBC News. “She asked if she could stay here. I said, ‘Honey, what can I do for you?’ I got a washcloth and cleaned her up. And of course called 911.”
Suicide watch ignored, NY inmate dies
A mentally ill inmate who hanged himself on New Year's Day in a Rikers Island jail cell was supposed to be placed on suicide watch, but it wasn't implemented, two city officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
A jail psychiatrist who saw Fabian Cruz on Wednesday at a clinic ordered that Cruz be transferred to a special observation unit in a different Rikers facility where he'd be placed under constant watch, but Cruz told a guard at the clinic he didn't want to go and was transferred back to his jail cell, the officials said.
The most dangerous states in America
The number of violent crimes dropped across the United States by 4.4% in 2013 compared to the year before, according to estimates released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In the last decade, the number of violent crimes declined by nearly 15%.
In a previous interview with 24/7 Wall St., John Roman, senior fellow at public policy research organization The Urban Institute said, "A 4.4% reduction in violent crime is astonishing. If you saw a similar increase in GDP, or a similar decrease in unemployment, it would be huge national news."
Israel withholds funds, weighs lawsuits against Palestinians
Israel has decided to withhold critical tax revenue from the Palestinians and is seeking ways to bring war crimes prosecutions in the United States and elsewhere against President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior figures, Israeli officials said on Saturday.
The moves are in retaliation for moves by the Palestinians to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, with the aim of prosecuting Israelis for what they consider war crimes committed on their territory.
Idaho earthquake damages property, causes power outages
n earthquake with magnitude 4.9 occurred near Challis, ID at 17:44:03.00 UTC on Jan 3, 2015. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)
Recommended actions: Expect aftershocks. These secondary shockwaves are usually less violent than the main quake but can be strong enough to do additional damage to weakened structures and can occur in the first hours, days, weeks, or even months after the quake.
Officers salute NYC police boss, mayor at cop's wake
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH'-zee-oh) and Police Commissioner William Bratton have been saluted as they entered a funeral home for an officer's wake.The action by officers Saturday at the wake of Wenjian Liu (WEHN'-jihn loo) was in contrast to the hundreds of police who turned their backs to video screens showing the mayor speaking at last week's funeral of Liu's police partner, Rafael Ramos.
More...
Page 19 of 979
