Knockout game attacks are spreading throughout the western U.S.
Police in Los Gatos, California are looking for a man who attacked a mother outside a dance studio on Monday afternoon.
The woman had just dropped off her daughter for dance class and was walking out of the building when a man attacked her. He reportedly ran up, punched the woman in the face and waited to make sure she fell before running off.
Police are searching for an African American man in his 20s.
In Denver, Colorado, police now admit four people were hurt in three separate attacks on New Year’s Eve that appear to be Knockout Game attacks.
The witnesses say they were approached by strangers and punched in the face.
One of the victims, Nick Lloyd, had his jaw broken in multiple places by the strike and will need metal plates to reconstruct his face.
Police say the pattern of attacks makes it likely the attacks are related.
A new government report shows that major automakers have been using on-board navigation systems to track where drivers travel.
The report also says that car owners cannot demand the information be destroyed by the car manufacturers.
The Government Accountability Office said in a report Monday that major automakers all had different policies regarding data collection but that every major automaker collected data.
The report included Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan and Honda.
Automakers reportedly used the data to provide real time traffic information to navigation systems and to provide information about nearby restaurants or gas stations. While the companies reportedly took steps to protect privacy of users, and reportedly did not sell the information, there was no real limits to what the companies could do with the information.
The study also tracked GPS manufacturers Garmin and TomTom with app developers Google Maps and Telenav.
None of the companies would tell the GAO how long the data was stored on their servers. However, sources inside the companies say most of them only keep the information for 24 hours.
The record-setting polar vortex not only broke temperature records throughout the United States but also threatened the nation’s power grid and transportation systems.
Forecasters say that the frigid temperatures from the polar vortex will impact 187 million people or almost 59% of the entire United States population.
Amtrak said at least 500 passengers were stranded on trains stuck in high snow or incapacitated by extreme cold in areas around Chicago. Trains from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Quincy, Illinois could not make it into Chicago because of impassable conditions.
Airports in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and other major Midwest and East Coast cities cancelled thousands of flights because of cold temperatures.
Power officials from Texas to Maine expressed concern about the pull on the nation’s power grid. Multiple utility systems are reporting the highest levels of draw in four to six months along with extensive increases in natural gas use. Government officials have been telling residents to stay in their homes because of the bitter cold.
Several major cities faced significant power outages such as Indianapolis where tens of thousands of homes were left in the dark.
Arrests are being carried out in over 10 states as part of an investigation into a massive Social Security fraud scheme.
The joint federal and state investigation alleges that over $24 million has been dispersed in fraudulent disability payments. At least 102 of the people being arrested are beneficiaries that claimed to be unable to work a job or leave their home but were witnessed leading very active lives.
In addition, lawyers, disability consultants, and recruiters are facing multiple charges for their parts in the scheme including coaching people to defraud the government.
A source told the Wall Street Journal a number of former NYPD and NYFD members will be arrested as part of the fraud.
The Social Security Administration has been focusing on fraud under pressure from Congress to tighten up the disability process. Six months ago, investigators arrested 70 people from Puerto Rico on similar charges.
The Centers for Disease Control is reporting that flu is now widespread in over half the United States.
The CDC says that a majority of the cases is the H1N1 virus that caused a worldwide pandemic in 2009.
The flu peaks in the United States between October and March. The CDC said that the spread this year is quick with at least 25 states having confirmed cases.
The CDC says at least six children in the United States have died from H1N1 and cannot say how many adults may have died from it as they do not track adult deaths from the flu. Texas has been particularly hard hit with 25 deaths this flu season.
Texas officials have told health care providers in the state to begin anti-viral treatments even if rapid flu tests come back negative and a patient is showing signs of the flu.
The National Security Agency is being evasive when questioned by a U.S. Senator about their spying on members of Congress.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders sent a letter to the agency on Friday asking if the NSA currently is spying or has ever spied on members of Congress or any other elected American officials. The NSA’s preliminary response to the Senator on Saturday said that Congress has “the same privacy protections as all U.S. persons.”
The letter from the NSA never provides a direct answer to the Senator’s question regarding spying on government officials.
This is the second time the subject of NSA spying on Congress has been sidestepped by administration officials. Attorney General Eric Holder at a congressional hearing last summer said the NSA had no intent to spy on Congress but did not say it had not been done.
The FBI has quietly changed their primary mission.
The FBI Fact Sheet has declared for decades the primary function of the FBI was “law enforcement.” A Washington-based National Security lawyer noticed earlier this year that the Fact Sheet has changed to say the primary function is “national security.”
An FBI spokesman would not confirm the day the change to the FBI’s Fact Sheet was made but said the change is more accurate.
“When our mission changed after 9/11, our fact sheet changed to reflect that,” FBI spokesman Paul Bresson told Foreign Policy online. He pointed out that counter-terrorism is the agency’s biggest mission right now so it’s proper to say their primary function is national security.
The FBI doubled the amount of agents working on counter-terrorism between 2001 and 2009 according to a 2010 Inspector General report.
Seventy new anti-abortion laws went into effect January 1 in 22 states prompting pro-abortionists to howl in protest.
The Guttmacher Institute reports the 70 new provisions are the second most ever behind 90 enacted in 2011.
Planned Parenthood, which is the source of one-third of all abortions each year in the United States, said the actions to protect the lives of babies was the result of “out of touch Tea Party politicians” who used “underhanded tricks” to get laws passed.
The abortion restrictions include requiring minors to get a parent’s permission, waiting periods and prohibitions on public funding of abortions.
Planned Parenthood threatened to target any politician that is against abortion.
New England is in the path of a major snowstorm that will begin Thursday and continue into the weekend.
Two storm cells are merging in the mid-Atlantic region and moving up the Eastern seaboard. Blizzard like conditions are likely from New York through Boston and into Maine.
Officials say it won’t be one of the worst storms to hit the area but the frigid temperatures combined with the snow will make traveling through the area very hazardous. Residents are being warned that long-term power outages are a possibility from the heavy snow and high winds.
The storm is also expected to cause major headaches for travelers who are returning from Christmas and New Years vacations.
Transportation officials are warning that layers of ice are likely to form on highways after nightfall and are advising people to stay in through Friday if possible.
Obama-appointed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has issued an injunction on behalf of two Catholic groups that claim the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that birth control be provided through insurance plans violates their freedom of religion.
The order was issued late New Year’s Eve, just before the mandate was to go into effect.
The injunctions were on behalf of Denver-based Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged and Christian Brothers ministries. Justice Sotomayor said the Obama administration must present their case against the Catholic groups by 10 a.m. Friday morning.
Justice Sotomayor was joined by judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in issuing injunctions. The injunctions from the appeal court included the Archdiocese of Washington, DC and Catholic University.
The Catholic groups faced a fine of $100 per day per person if they did not comply with the law and if they drop their health care coverage will be fined $2,000 per full time employee after the first 20 employees.
A lawyer for the charities said the groups are being given the choice of violating their religious Scriptures or face crippling government fines.