Push Made For On-Site Passenger Advocate
Two New York lawmakers called Sunday for a passenger advocate at airports to act on fliers' complaints over security screenings.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and state Sen. Michael Gianaris, a Queens Democrat, want the Transportation Security Administration to place an advocate at every airport. The proposal was prompted by an elderly woman's recent claim that she was strip-searched by security officials at Kennedy Airport, which the TSA denied, saying it doesn't conduct strip-searches. Others have since made similar claims.
The TSA said it is planning a phone hotline advocacy effort.
Dozens arrested at Occupy S.F. camp
Police arrested about 55 people during a raid of an Occupy San Francisco encampment.
Officer Albie Esparza said that about 4 a.m. officers began making arrests for illegal lodging outside the Federal Reserve building. No one was injured, but Esparza said some officers were spit on and one was pushed by demonstrators. Esparza said demonstrators had been warned on an hourly basis over a 24-hour period that they were subject to arrest. At least 85 people were arrested Wednesday when police cleared a separate Occupy encampment in nearby Justin Herman Plaza.
Police officers swept through Boston's Dewey Square early Saturday, tearing down tents at the Occupy Boston encampment and arresting dozens of protesters.
Lowe's pulls ads from Muslim TV show
The Lowe's home improvement chain said it will pull its ads from the new reality TV show All-American Muslim after protests from a conservative evangelical Christian group.
The show premiered last month on TLC and features five families from Dearborn, a Detroit suburb with a large Muslim and Arab-American population. The Florida Family Association mounted a campaign against the show and claimed victory after Lowe's announcement.
In a Facebook posting, Lowe's said it remains committed to "diversity and inclusion." California state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, called Lowe's decision "naked bigotry" and said he might call for a boycott of Lowe's stores.
Tea Party takes heat for Obama slam
A Tea Party group in Kansas defended its depiction of a skunk to symbolize President Obama as satire, saying people who don't like it don't have to look at it. Patriot Freedom Alliance said on its website that, like Obama, the skunk is "half- black, half-white, and almost everything it does stinks." Tea Party supporter Chuck Sankey said former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was the target of worse insults.
Local NAACP President Darrell Pope called the depiction racist, The Hutchinson News reported.
Ex-deputy accused of killing two in Mo.
A former Missouri sheriff's deputy is accused of killing his ex-wife and her boyfriend before leading officers on a high-speed chase that ended with a shootout at a Jefferson City hotel hosting a Christmas party for hundreds of people, the State Highway Patrol said.
None of the hotel's guests, which included members of a youth hockey team, was injured in the shootout Saturday night.
Marvin Rice, 44, is accused of killing Annette Durham, 32, and Steven Strotkamp, 39, Highway Patrol Sgt. Paul Reinsch said. Rice served as a Dent County sheriff's deputy from 2004 to 2009.
Also
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- A United Airlines 757 with one of two engines shut down landed safely at Grand Junction Regional Airport. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the Los Angeles-bound plane was flying from Denver with 125 people aboard when the right engine failed.
PHILADELPHIA -- Cardinal John Foley, who for 25 years was the voice of the Vatican's Christmas Midnight Mass, died at 76.
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