A US Airways Express flight from Texas to Arizona ended up being more dramatic than passengers had expected when they boarded.
First responders boarded the plane upon landing in Phoenix and removed a man who was told to put on a medical mask. A spokesman for US Airways said the airline was notified after the plane left Austin the passenger’s status had been changed to “no-fly” because of medical conditions.
Passengers told Fox News they were told to get tuberculosis tests and vaccinations by a first responder who boarded the plane while it was on the tarmac. Federal and Maricopa County health officials said they had no immediate confirmation the passenger had an infectious disease.
However, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health told ABC15 passengers “faced little risk of contagion.”
Tuberculosis can be spread through the air.
Black Friday brought a wave of violence across the United States.
In Romeoville, Illinois, a driver believed to be part of a shoplifting scheme was shot by police after he dragged a police officer with his car while trying to escape in the parking lot of a Kohl’s department store. The suspected shoplifter and two accomplices were arrested. The officer’s injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
A witness at the store told the Chicago Tribute the sight of a shirtless officer being bandaged by emergency personnel and a car with the window shot out did nothing to slow down shoppers heading into the store.
A police officer in Rialto, California was wounded when he tried to break up a fight after a store manager decided to open early. The fight that wounded the officer was one of three at the store. All the people involved in the fighting were taken into custody.
A man who had purchased a big screen TV at a Target store in Las Vegas was shot as he walked home. The man was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
At least two people at a Utah Wal-Mart were injured after being thrown to the ground in a stampede of people attempting to get $49 tablet computers.
Senior British diplomatic sources revealed to a Kuwaiti newspaper that U.S. officials are conducting indirect discussions with terrorist group Hezbollah by receiving information through British negotiations and communications with the group.
Great Britain does not formally identify Hezbollah as a terrorist group and thus can conduct face-to-face meetings with the group. Because the United States classifies the group as terrorists, U.S. officials cannot meet directly with them.
A diplomatic source in Washington characterized the talks as keeping tabs on the region and the world and preparation for Iran to return to the international community.
Hezbollah is backed by the Iranian government and according to people connected to a meeting last week between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and British Prime Minister David Cameron the move by the U.S. is seen as a way to show Washington’s willingness for diplomacy with Tehran.
The U.S. reportedly said through the British they would “warm up to a direct relationship in the future” with Hezbollah.
A man on fire ran into the offices of an Ocean City, Maryland church, setting the building on fire and killing himself and the church’s rector.
Fire officials do not know how John Raymond Sterner, 56, was set on fire. He ran into the offices of St. Paul’s By-The-Sea screaming for help. After grabbing a woman on the church’s staff and critically injuring her by setting her on fire, he ran through the very old wooden church building causing multiple fires.
The ensuing blaze took the life of 51-year-old Reverend David Dingwall, the rector of the church for the last 8 years.
Police say that Sterner frequently came for meals and assistance at a food pantry and clothing store for the poor that was run out the church.
The Reverend leaves behind a wife and three sons.
The Mayor of Philadelphia has stepped up to say that the “knockout game” spreading across the country in major cities will not be tolerated in his town.
“This is not a game. You can seriously injure or possibly kill someone,” Mayor Michael Nutter said at a press conference. “Your child’s life will be dramatically changed, and probably yours as well as a parent. So let’s cut out the nonsense. There are many other things that people can do to enjoy themselves. This is not one of them.”
The “knockout game” is where a victim is randomly assaulted by striking them in the head with the intention of knocking them out with one punch while the incident is recorded on a cell phone or other device.
The Mayor said anyone caught committing a crime connected to the “knockout game” would face charges ranging from aggravated assault to third degree murder. He has instructed the city’s district attorney to use the most serious charges available for any attack and prosecute to the fullest extent.
Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey encouraged parents to be involved with their children, ask them if they know anyone engaging in the game and pay attention to who their children associate with during the day.
The major storm making its way across the U.S. is now officially blamed for 11 deaths as it bears down on the East Coast in sync with Thanksgiving travel times.
Over half the deaths are in Texas with most released to ice covered roads. One woman was killed when a tree weighed down by ice fell onto her car.
The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings for large parts of the eastern United States through Wednesday afternoon. Forecasters predict big delays at some of the nation’s largest airports – New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Boston and Charlotte, North Carolina – are very likely.
Thanksgiving is one of the peak travel times of the year. Airlines for America, the industry’s lobbying group, say this year could see the most air travellers since 2007 with an estimated 2.56 million passengers. AAA estimates as many as 39 million people will be traveling by car Wednesday and Thursday.
The storm is expected to bring heavy rain to the south that could cause delays at southern airports like Atlanta.
President Obama and other world leaders were hailing an agreement with Iran to put some controls on that country’s nuclear program but throughout the Middle East the news of the agreement was met with anger and skepticism.
Saudi Arabian officials were furious that American negotiators and those connected to the Obama administration had not briefed them at all regarding the deal with Iran. A senior advisor to the Saudi royal family said they had been lied to and that the Obama administration had hidden information from them. He said Saudi leaders were not necessarily upset with the deal but the way it was handled by Washington.
The Saudi government eventually issued a moderately supportive statement about the deal.
“This agreement could be a first step towards a comprehensive solution for Iran’s nuclear program, if there are good intentions,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, Israel reiterated their opposition to the deal. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon said that all options are on the table for his nation.
“We are not in a position of making a mistake or to gamble with our future,” Danon said. “That is why I am saying it very clear. All options are still on the table. And if we see that Iran continues with the effort to build a nuclear bomb, we will do whatever is necessary to protect ourselves.”
The anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation continued their campaign to drive Christians out of America by filing a suit in U.S. District Court challenging the 1954 law that allows clergy members to use untaxed income to purchase a home.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb, appointed in 1979 by Democratic President Jimmy Carter, ruled the law “provides a benefit to religious persons and no one else, even though doing so is not necessary to alleviate a special burden on religious exercise.”
Judge Crabb is the same judge that ruled in 2008 in a suit brought by the same anti-Christian activists that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional.
The defendants in the case are U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and acting IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel. Neither agency commented on the case.
On November 13th, we reported in a story called Knock Out The Jew about Jewish residents in New York City being attacked over the previous months by gangs who attempted to knock out their victims with a single punch. A local rabbi said they were playing a “knockout game.”
Now, police in other northeastern cities are reporting that the “game” has made its way to their communities.
At least three knockout attacks have taken place in the Philadelphia area. Police in Lower Merion Township say two attacks took place in their jurisdiction. Philadelphia police detectives confirmed one attack taking place within the city.
Victim Mark Cumberland told CBS he is still suffering from blurred vision and having trouble breathing from the attack on November 11th. He was walking out of a pizza shop when he was attacked.
Two teens were arrested for attacking an elderly man on October 29th. Lower Marion police say the teens walked up to a 63-year-old man and just punched him in the mouth.
Police in Washington, D.C. confirm at least two attacks they believe to be “knockout game” incidents. In one attack, a woman riding a bike was punched in the nose and knocked to the ground.
The U.S. Air Force Academy admitted to Fox News that they had removed the phrase “so help me God” from three oaths in the official cadet handbook.
Fox News’ Todd Starnes reported that two dozen members of Congress sent a letter to the Academy Superintendent demanding to explain why the phrase was removed from the 2012 edition of the handbook. The phrase was taken out of the Cadet’s Oath of Allegiance, The Oath of Office for Officers and the Oath of Enlistment.
The news comes less than a month after the Air Force Academy announced they were making “so help me God” option in the school’s honor oath after a threat from the anti-Christian Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
“This phrase is a deeply-rooted American tradition – begun by George Washington as the first president of the United States and now stated by many who take an oath of service to our country,” Ron Crews of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty told Fox. “The removal of this phrase is a disservice to the countless men and women who wish to include this phrase as a solemn reminder that they are pledging their fidelity to God and their country.”
Crews pointed out that law requires the words remain part of the oath.