TSA as holiday elf? TSA launches help line for disabled travelers

Just in time for the onslaught of Christmas travelers, the Transportation Security Administration has unveiled a help line designed to assist travelers with disabilities and special medical needs. If recent headlines are any indication, some travelers might say it should have come a little sooner.

The help line, TSA Cares, provides specific information on security and screening procedures at the airport.

“TSA Cares provides passengers with disabilities and medical needs another resource to use before they fly, so they know what to expect when going through the screening process,” said TSA Administrator John Pistole in a statement. “This additional level of personal communication helps ensure that even those who do not travel often are aware of our screening policies before they arrive at the airport.”

In November, the Transportation Security Administration instituted enhanced safety inspections that allow travelers who are asked to submit to a full-body scan to instead undergo a pat-down, which includes TSA agents using their hands to check areas such as the groin and around the bra.

The inspections drew the ire of some passengers, who have lodged thousands of complaints with the agency.

The agency has faced an especially strong barrage of criticism in recent weeks, with several elderly women accusing agents of partially strip-searching them. One had a defibrillator, another had a colostomy bag.

One lawmaker, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), even introduced a bill, called the STRIP Act, that would prevent TSA agents from wearing law enforcement uniforms and police-like badges unless they receive law enforcement training.

"Congress has sat idly by as the TSA strip searches 85-year-old grandmothers in New York, pats down 3-year-olds in Chattanooga, and checks colostomy bags for explosives in Orlando. Enough is enough!" she said at the time. "The least we can do is end this impersonation, which is an insult to real cops."

Into this atmosphere comes TSA Cares. (The toll-free number is [855] 787-2227.)

The agency said in its statement that, if passengers call 72 hours in advance of their trip, TSA Cares will coordinate checkpoint support at the airport.

There would seem to be plenty of potential for checkpoint support. The American Automobile Assn. forecasts that about 91.9 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more during the holiday travel season, a 1.4% increase from last year. This year’s expected travel volume represents about 30% of the total U.S. population.

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Photo: A line of passengers moves through security at Terminal 4 at LAX on Nov. 9. Credit: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times

Judge blocks portions of South Carolina's immigration law

A federal judge in South Carolina temporarily blocked portions of the state’s stringent immigration law Thursday, most notably a provision requiring police to detain any person they suspect to be in the country illegally.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel issued the order after the U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of civil rights groups sued to block portions of the law from going into effect. Government lawyers argued, as they have when challenging similar laws in other states, that the legislation was preempted by federal immigration statutes.

“The Constitution of the USA and the Immigration and Nationality Act have placed the policy-making role regarding immigration in the hands of the national government,” Gergel said in the order.

The judge also blocked provisions that would make it a felony to transport, conceal or protect a person who is entering the country unlawfully and another provision requiring immigrants to carry a “certificate of alien registration” or receipt.

“The United States Supreme Court will ultimately decide this matter in the coming year,” said South Carolina Atty. Gen. Alan Wilson in a statement. “Until then, it appears that many important aspects of the South Carolina law will go into effect."

The rest of the law will go into effect Jan. 1.

Among those provisions is one requiring the verification of legal status of new workers. Under the law, authorities must check the legal status of prisoners and mandates the transfer of illegal immigrants to federal authorities after they have finished their prison sentences.

The legislation, known as SB 20 and signed by Republican Gov. Nikki Haley in June, is among a handful of anti-illegal-immigration laws approved by other states.

Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Utah and Indiana have enacted similar laws, but federal courts have blocked all either fully or partially.

The Supreme Court announced last week that it will take up the Arizona law in coming months, probably deciding the fate of the laws in other states.

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Photo: Jheanelle Wilkins, front left, with the Leadership Conference Education Fund, and Diana Salazar, with the South Carolina Immigration Coalition, lead a protest march against South Carolina law SB 20 to the Charleston Federal Courthouse, where a hearing on the constitutionality of the law was being held Monday morning in Charleston, S.C. Credit: AP Photo/The Post and Courier, Brad Nettles.

Lowe's pulling of ads on Muslim TV show sparks protest

Protesters gathered at a Lowe’s store in a Detroit suburb Saturday, calling for a boycott of the home improvement chain after it pulled advertisements from a reality television show about Muslim families living in Michigan.

About 100 people protested outside a Lowe’s store in the Detroit suburb of Allen Park, the Detroit News reported.

The show, called “All-American Muslim” is filmed in nearby Dearborn, one of largest Muslim American communities in the United States.

The North Carolina company decided to stop advertising on the show, which airs on Discovery Communications Inc.'s TLC channel, after complaints by the Florida Family Assn., a conservative Christian group that lobbies companies to promote "traditional, biblical values."

The program follows the day-to-day lives of five Muslim American families. Cast members talk about how their faith affects their actions and choices.

After the Lowe's action got national media attention, Lowe's spokeswoman Karen Cobb said the company had a "long-standing commitment" to diversity and pulled the ads only after the show became "a lightning rod" for people to voice complaints from a variety of perspectives.

Dozens of demonstrators, both Christians and Muslims, carried signs that read "Boycott Bigotry" and "Lowes Remember All-American Muslims Shop Too." Some held American flags.

"We are going to come back out here again, form our coalition and we are going to boycott Lowe's until they make things right," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

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Photo: From Left, Ghada Saleh, 56, Nabih Ahad, 40, State of Michigan civil rights commissioner and chairman of the Arab-American Civil Rights League, and attorney Ali Hammoud, protest in Allen Park, Mich., Saturday. (AP Photo/Detroit News, Todd McInturf)

Five deaths in rural Illinois town called murder-suicide

Authorities said Saturday that five people, including three children, found dead in a small Illinois farming town were killed in a murder-suicide.

At a news conference Saturday, Livingston County Sheriff Martin Meredith would not identify whom they believed to be the shooter. A semiautomatic pistol was found at the scene.

The five were identified as Sara McMeen, 30; Daniel T. Warren, 29; Skyler Lemke, 8; Ian Lemke, 7; and Maggie Warren, 10 months, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Sara McMeen was the mother of all three children and Daniel Warren was the father of Maggie, according to Livingston County Coroner Michael Burke.

Neighbor Annelise Fiedler told the Associated Press that after hearing a round of shots Friday afternoon, she ran outside to her backyard where she saw Sara McMeen in the next yard.

McMeen was hovering over her baby. Fielder asked her if everything was alright, and “she looked at me and said, 'No, everything is not alright,’” the AP reported. 

McMeen then fired a gun at the infant, Fiedler told the AP.

Meredith, the sheriff, said the investigation is ongoing. Emington is a town of about 100 people about 80 miles southwest of Chicago.

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Photo: Emergency personnel are silhouetted in the backyard of a house where a murder/suicide occurred Friday night in the small town of Emington, Ill., on Friday night. Credit: Nicholas Holstein / Daily Journal

1,500 birds die crashing into Utah parking lot, roads

Utah wildlife officials were cleaning up thousands of dead and surviving migratory birds that crashed into a Wal-Mart parking lot, roads and other land after mistaking them for bodies of water.

Thousands of eared grebes, a duck-like aquatic bird, were migrating toward Mexico when they apparently mistook solid areas around Cedar City and St. George as water. Storm clouds above the city lights probably confused the birds, said Lynn Chamberlain, a spokesman for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

About 1,500 of the birds were killed in the Monday night incident, but officials had rescued and released into water more than 3,000 by Wednesday evening.

Such incidents are rare, Chamberlain said, but not unheard of. “But this is by far the largest we’ve had down here,” he said.  “Sometimes it’s an isolated flock, but this one was thousands.”

In some cases, wildlife officials used cardboard boxes to carry the survivors to bodies of water.

No property damage or injuries to people were reported, Chamberlain said.

Grebes are particularly good at flying, but are not adept at taking off from land because their feet are positioned so far back on their bodies, said Kimball Garrett, head of the ornithology department at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. The positioning of their feet also makes it hard for the birds to walk, he said.

Because of that, the surviving birds were stranded where they landed, Garrett said. “They can propel themselves underwater, but are essentially useless for getting around on land.” 

 

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Photo: In this photo provided by Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, an agency employee frees some surviving grebes on Dec. 13, 2011, at Stratton Pond in Hurricane, Utah. Credit: Lynn Chamberlain / Utah Division of Wildlife Services / Associated Press

Virginia Tech shooting: Officials identify gunman

Authorities have identified the gunman who killed a Virginia Tech police officer and then committed suicide as 22-year-old Ross Truett Ashley. But police are still investigating the motive behind the shooting that locked down the university for hours.

Ashley is beleived to be a part-time college student from nearby Radford University, according to the Associated Press.

Ashley approached Officer Deriek W. Crouse during a routine traffic stop and shot him as he sat in his patrol car, said Corinne Geller, spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police.

Crouse, an Army veteran and married father of five, was not able to return fire.

PHOTOS: Virginia Tech shooting

Ashley then fled on foot farther into the campus as authorities unleashed an intense manhunt. About 30 minutes later, after changing his clothes, he was spotted making "furtive movements" in a parking lot by a Montgomery County sheriff's deputy. By the time the deputy reached the man, he had turned the gun on himself.

But the motive has eluded investigators.

“That’s very much the fundamental part of the investigation right now, determining for what reason this man approached Officer Crouse and took his life,” Geller said.

Authorities have ruled out any history between the two men, and the gunman was not a current or former student at Virginia Tech. The male driver pulled over by Crouse is a Virginia Tech student. He is cooperating with police and has no connection to the shooter, Geller said.

Officials, stressing that they are still in the midst of their investigation, stopped short of calling the shooting a “random” attack.

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Photo: Ross Truett Ashley, 22. Credit: Virginia State Police

Virginia Tech shooting: 1 of 2 dead might be gunman

Virginia Tech officials said there is no longer any threat after two people -- one of them a campus police officer -- were shot and killed Thursday, and hinted that the gunman may be the second unidentified slain man.

At a news conference, university and law enforcement officials would not confirm that the second person found dead in a parking lot was the gunman, though they did say a weapon had been found.

A weapon was found near the second body, the university said in a news release on its website.

PHOTOS: Virginia Tech shooting

“We’re all trying to figure out what is going on,”  said Larry Hincker, a school spokesman.

When asked directly if the gunman was still on the loose, Virginia State Police Sgt. Bob Carpentieri suggested that the media “read between the lines.”

“I really can't give you a specific answer,” he said. “I think investigators feel confident they have located the person" responsible for the shooting.

Virginia Tech shooting: Lockdown lifted, weapon found

Virginia Tech has lifted its campus lockdown following an intense search for a gunman after two people  -- a campus police officer and an unidentified male -- were shot and killed.

University officials have not confirmed that the second person found dead in a parking lot is the gunman, but said that a weapon was found near the body.

PHOTOS: Virginia Tech shooting

During a traffic stop on campus, the suspect shot and killed a Virginia Tech police officer and then fled on foot through a nearby parking lot, officials said.

A second person was later found dead in that parking lot, the university said.

An intense search for the gunman followed, with state police, FBI agents and officers with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searching the campus.

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Virginia Tech shooting: `We are looking absolutely everywhere'

An intense search is underway at Virginia Tech for the gunman who shot and killed two people -- a campus police officer and a student -- and authorities have ordered students and staff to stay indoors and secure themselves until the shooter is found.

"We are looking absolutely everywhere," university spokesman Mark Owczarski said Thursday afternoon. A media briefing is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. EST.

State police officers, FBI agents and officers with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are searching the campus.

PHOTOS: Virginia Tech shooting

Officials have not released the identities of the shooting victims. Finals, which were scheduled to begin Friday, have been postponed.

During a traffic stop on campus, the suspect shot and killed a Virginia Tech police officer and then fled on foot through a nearby parking lot, officials said.

A second person was later found dead in that parking lot, the university said.

A university alert released after the shooting described the possible shooter as a white male wearing gray sweat pants, a gray hat with a neon green brim, a maroon hoodie and backpack.

The campus is the site of the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history, and that tragedy led to widespread security changes at Virginia Tech and other institutions nationwide.

The April 2007 massacre left 33 people dead, including the gunman, Seung-hui Cho, who turned his weapon on himself before authorities could capture him.

In a revision to Virginia's 2007 report on the shooting, it was found that university officials warned their own family members of the gunman more than an hour and a half before the entire campus was alerted.

Parents of the 2007 victims were testifying this week that they believe the university contributed to the death toll by failing to do more to alert students, teachers and the public about a gunman on campus.  

As a result, they say, victims never had the chance to take cover somewhere safe, or even stay away from the campus altogether. The testimony comes as an administrative judge in New York considers Virginia Tech’s appeal of a $55,000 fine levied against it by the U.S. Education Department.

The Education Department says the school violated the law by waiting more than two hours after two students were fatally shot in a dorm before sending out a warning by email.

Cho, 23, fired more than 100 shots at his 32 victims, many of whom were crouched in defensive positions at the time they were killed.

Earlier, Cho had been detained by campus police investigating allegations that he was stalking female students, and he was held at a nearby private mental health facility. Officials deemed him to be an "imminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness," but he still ended back on campus.

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Virginia Tech shootings: Two killed, suspect at large

A suspect remained at large Thursday afternoon on the campus of Virginia Tech after a police officer and at least one other person were shot dead, the university said.

During a traffic stop on campus, the suspect shot and killed a Virginia Tech police officer and then fled on foot through a nearby parking lot.

A second person was later found dead in that parking lot, the university said.

PHOTOS: Virginia Tech shooting

The university said the status of the shooter was unknown and the school remained on lockdown.

A university alert released after the shooting described the possible shooter as a white male wearing gray sweat pants, a gray hat with a neon green brim, a maroon hoodie and backpack.

The campus is the site of the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history, and the tragedy led to widespread security changes on campus and at other institutions nationwide.

The April 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech left 33 people dead, including the gunman, Seung-hui Cho, who turned his weapon on himself before authorities could capture him.

Cho, 23, fired more than 100 shots at his 32 victims, many of whom were crouched in defensive positions at the time they were killed. The university faced widespread criticism and fines in the wake of the shooting. Critics said the university waited two hours after the first bullets were fired -- and two students were killed -- to issue a campuswide alert. Less than half an hour after an alert was finally emailed, 30 others were slain elsewhere on campus by the same gunman.

Cho had been detained previously by campus police investigating allegations that he was stalking female students, and was held at a nearby private mental health facility. He was deemed to be an "imminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness" but Cho still ended back on campus.

Here are posts from the university's Twitter feed, @VTnews:

“Gun shots reported- Coliseum Parking lot. Stay Inside. Secure doors. Emergency personnel responding. Call 911 for help.” That was quickly followed by “Suspect described as white male, gray sweat pants, gray hat w/neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backpack. On foot towards McComas. Call 911”

And then several minutes after that: “A police officer has been shot. A potential second victim is reported at the Cage lot. Stay indoors. Secure in place.”

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