Cheryl K. Chumley

Sheriffs can inspect homes for safe gun storage in Washington state under Democratic weapon bill

A new bill working through Washington state's legislature would allow local sheriffs to enter homes of gun owners to ensure their weapons are properly stored.

February 19, 2013

Illegal immigrants on food stamps won’t face slower citizenship path: USDA

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been quietly assuring illegal immigrants that taking food stamps and other government assistance won't slow their paths toward citizenship.

February 19, 2013

Hugo Chavez sent back to Venezuela to die, report says

Spanish media is saying that cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been sent back to his country to die — not to recover from successful treatment received in Cuba, as previously and widely reported.

February 19, 2013

Coal regulations push Britain to ‘near-crisis’ of energy costs, supplies

Britain is facing an energy shortage that will see household costs for heat and light rise by as much as 60 percent, according to one industry regulator.

February 19, 2013

Red-light camera backlash builds as drivers feel the pinch

Fifteen years ago, red-light cameras were a rarity. Now, 24 states and Washington, D.C., use them with regularity — and backlash is starting to build.

February 19, 2013

Oscar Pistorius scared girlfriend into hiding before shooting her, prosecutor says

Olympian track star Oscar Pistorius faced prosecutors Tuesday, who alleged he purposely shot and killed his celebrity model girlfriend following a shouting match that left her cowering and hiding behind a bathroom door.

February 19, 2013

Broke U.S. Postal Service paying $2M for conference, golf, party

Four hundred U.S. Postal Service executives are heading to San Francisco next month for workshops, meetings — and a dance party.

February 19, 2013

Help wanted: Al-Jazeera marks expansion to U.S. with hiring spree

It's been years in making, but Al-Jazeera has finally joined the ranks of Washington, D.C.-based cable news operations.

February 19, 2013

Diamond heist at Brussels airport nets thieves a $50M bounty

It's the stuff of movies. Thieves cut through a hole in a security fence at Brussels' international airport, drove down the tarmac and stole $50 million worth of diamonds that were stored on a plane headed for Switzerland.

February 19, 2013

Germany’s highest court strengthens gay adoption rights

Germany's highest court ruled Tuesday that one gay member of a couple could adopt his or her partner's stepchild or adopted child — a significant judicial boost to the nation's same-sex adoption law

February 19, 2013

Meet China’s super-secret military hacking unit

Cyberattacks on dozens of U.S. firms have been traced back to a small, nondescript Chinese military unit quietly working in a similarly unimpressive setting — a dull office building just outside Shanghai.

February 19, 2013

Nancy Pelosi says drone strikes on Americans can stay secret

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the White House doesn't necessarily have to confess to killing American citizens by unarmed drones.

February 18, 2013

NYC taxpayers tapped for $20M in costs over union strike

New York City taxpayers spent an estimated $20.6 million to get tens of thousands of stranded students to school, during a monthlong strike by the bus workers' union that began Jan. 16 and ended Friday.

February 18, 2013

Russian lawmaker’s body found stuffed in barrel of cement

Investigators have discovered the body of a 36-year-old Russian lawmaker stuffed into a barrel of cement and are working off the theory he was killed because of unpaid debts.

February 18, 2013

Chicago police chief: Second Amendment supporters guilty of corruption

Chicago's chief of police can't seem to avoid controversy over his statements related to gun control.

February 18, 2013

Dressed to kill: MIT scientists forging new uniform to help soldiers communicate on the battlefield

Scientists with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are fine-tuning a fiber invention that could soon see soldiers speaking to each other — by speaking into their field jackets.

February 18, 2013

NYC police begin roundup to purge streets of the mentally ill

New York City's finest have embarked on a new safety project to rid the streets of those deemed mentally ill.

February 18, 2013

No White House brain drain: Obama launches project to study human mind

Talk about a Big Brother conspiracy story. The White House has announced a 10-year study on the inner workings of the human brain, akin to the Human Genome Project's research into genetics.

February 18, 2013

Mo. GOP Rep. rails against ‘hammer and sickle’ gun bill

A Republican congressman in Missouri is standing strong in the face of a Democrat-backed push to outlaw certain weapons in the state, characterizing the effort as a Communist-style politics and vowing its legislative failure.

February 18, 2013

China flexes its muscle, takes control of key Pakistani port

China has taken control of a Pakistan seaport located on the southwest coast, an economically strategic move that will benefit Beijing.

February 18, 2013