HOUSTON — A prospective juror in a marijuana possession trial was hauled off to jail Tuesday after police said they caught her smoking a joint outside the courthouse.

Attornies in the case had narrowed the jury pool down to 20 people when they took a 45 minute break.

When the break was over, 49-year-old Cornelia Turner Mayo didn’t return to Judge Sherman Ross’ courtroom.

Turns out she was on a smoking break — but what she was allegedly smoking was illegal. Read more »

If this guy had been black, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have been hooting and hollering until he received a multi-million dollar lawsuit. 

MELISSA, Tx — Mark Robinson was driving through downtown Melissa last week when he was pulled over for failing the use his turn signal.

But instead of getting a ticket, the officer took the 24-year-old to jail.

He was booked, strip searched, and sat for 3 hours with criminals. “People talking about using drugs and shooting heroine. They asked me what I was in there for and I said a turn signal violation,” said Robinson. Read more »

Mayor Nutter this morning said the National Rifle Association owed an apology to the family of slain police officer Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski.

Nutter recently signed five local gun bills into law, including one that would outlaw the possession and sale of certain assault weapons. The NRA immediately sued the city on the grounds that the city does not have the authority to enact local gun control. They obtained a temporary restraining order to keep the city from enforcing the new laws. Read more »

Two days before Passover, 17 Valley rabbis spoke out Thursday against sweeps conducted by deputies of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to identify and arrest illegal immigrants for deportation.

The Jewish leaders said they are “deeply troubled by what we see happening in our community as a result of racially targeted actions undertaken” by the sheriff’s office “against the Latino community,” read the five-paragraph statement, followed by an alphabetical list of signing members of the Greater Phoenix Board of Rabbis, whose current president is Rabbi Andrew Straus of Temple Emanuel in Tempe.

“We realize that illegal immigration is a serious problem, and we call upon the federal government and the state of Arizona to employ just and humane tactics and procedures” that would “ensure the security of all who live within the borders,” said the rabbis, who represent primarily Reform, Conservative and Renewal Jewish traditions. Read more »

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to give the sheriff’s office nearly $1 million to capture illegal immigrants, despite strong objections from small-business owners.

Members of the Arizona Small Business Association asked the board to hold onto the money until it was sure Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s saturation patrols were not using racial profiling.

“Kill the money until you know what’s going on,” said Annie Loyd, a small-business owner and an independent congressional candidate for Arizona’s District 1. “All we want is to know what’s going on.” Read more »

This is what politicians are paid to do? 

D.C. City Council Chairman Vincent Gray wants to condemn hate.

On Monday, May 5, Gray announced a resolution condemning hate that he planned to introduce at the City Council’s May 6 legislative meeting.

While the language of the resolution points to 75 D.C. hate crimes in the past two years, Gray, who said he expects it to pass unanimously, introduced longtime local gay-rights activist Peter Rosenstein to add personal emphasis. Read more »

“The police department of Champaign, Ill., is reported to be under pressure from higher authorities to increase its quota of hate crimes convictions. Brett VanAsdlen, an 18-year-old college student on a baseball scholarship, didn’t know this. On April 12 he and a friend saw two homosexuals leaning on each other and holding hands, walking toward them on the sidewalk. ‘Look at those two guys holding hands,’ Brett said to his friend and walked past them. According to Brett’s mother, the next thing he knew, one of the homosexuals (whom he perceived to be drunk) had grabbed him by the shoulder, putting his face up to Brett’s and repeatedly shouting, ‘What did you say?’ Brett told him to go away several times and then pushed him. The homosexual fell over backward. On his back, the homosexual told his partner to call the police. In eight minutes, four officers arrived. Two interviewed Brett and his friend and assured them there would be no problem. Brett had been physically accosted and detained, clearly an assault. The other two officers interviewed the homosexual, who was taken to the hospital.” Read more »

American genealogist Sallyann Sack suspected for years that the collection held answers to questions about her family.

In the 1980s, she put in a request trying to trace the birth parents of her adopted cousin, who had survived Buchenwald as a 9-year-old, then been brought by her aunt and uncle to the United States. A form letter came back saying the search had turned up nothing.

But digging deeper during her time here, Sack was able to cross-reference the woman’s second given name and access records of search requests made to the ITS since it opened in 1955 — often detailed letters by individuals who reveal nuggets of family history while seeking a missing loved one. Read more »

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prosecutors are investigating whether Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took “significant sums” in illegal payments from one or more foreigners, police said on Thursday in a move likely to raise pressure on Olmert to resign and upset peace talks with the Palestinians.

A judicial source told Reuters that Olmert was suspected of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars before he became prime minister in 2006. A police spokesman, lifting a media gag order, named New York financier Morris Talansky as a key witness.  SOURCE>>>

DENVER (cbs4) — A man ran through a third-floor window of the Denver City & County Building Wednesday morning as he was set to appear before a judge on assault charges. he was handcuffed at the time and fell to the ground below.

Witnesses said Josephus Haynes, 43, landed on his head. STORY>>>

By 2035, there will be about 1.96 million active Muslims in Britain, compared with 1.63 million church-going Christians, according to calculations by Christian Research, a think-tank. The think-tank has warned that 4,000 churches could close by 2020 if congregations continue to shrink at current rates. MORE>>>

Charlie Brown was a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 379th Bomber Group at Kimbolton ,England. His B-17 was called ‘Ye Old Pub’ and was in a terrible state, having been hit by flak and fighters. The compass was damaged and they were flying deeper over enemy territory instead of heading home to Kimbolton.

After flying over an enemy airfield, a German pilot named Franz Steigler was ordered to take off and shoot down the B-17. When he got near the B-17, he could not believe his eyes. In his words, he “had never seen a plane in such a bad state.” The tail and rear section was severely damaged, and the tail gunner wounded. The top gunner was all over the top of the fuselage. The nose was smashed and there were holes everywhere

Despite having ammunition, Franz flew to the side of the B-17 and looked at Charlie Brown, the pilot. Brown was scared and struggling to control his damaged and blood-stained plane. Read more »

PHILADELPHIA — Police acting on a tip closed in on an abandoned Southwest Philadelphia row house late Wednesday night and captured the third suspect in the death of a police officer shot in a weekend confrontation with bank robbery suspects.

Eric Floyd, 33, and a woman identified as his girlfriend, were taken into custody in a second-floor bedroom of the dilapidated house in the Kingsessing neighborhood with boarded-up windows shortly after 11 p.m. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said Floyd was unarmed and did not resist.

Police said Floyd made a statement and is cooperating with police. Read more »

Germany experienced some 2,752 new cases of HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, during 2007.

That’s an increase of about 4 percent over the previous year, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the federal institute responsible for disease control and prevention.

While the number of infections decreased among three groups: heterosexuals, drug addicts, and immigrants from countries with a high incidence of AIDS, there was a jump of 12 percent in new cases reported in homosexual men. These account for approximately 65 percent of all cases of HIV in Germany.

Read more »

NEW YORK (WABC) — Protesters took to the streets of New York City Wednesday to object to the verdicts given in the Sean Bell shooting trial. The Reverend Al Sharpton was one of about 200 people arrested as part of the protests.

Also arrested were Bell’s fiance, Nicole Paultre Bell, as well as shooting survivors Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.

“Today, we want motorists to think about how three [other] motorists were shot at 50 times for no reason,” Sharpton said.

New York Governor David Paterson is scheduled to meet privately with Sharpton and Bell’s family Thursday. Read more »