Plan to double-bunk at new Kansas prison worries lawmakers

Kansas legislators are debating how much the decision to house more inmates two-to-a-cell has fueled unrest at state prisons in recent months, and some worry about Department of Corrections plans to open a new prison with a majority of its cells double-bunked. Corrections Secretary Joe Norwood told a legislative committee this week that the cells at the planned new prison in Lansing in the Kansas City area would be large enough to hold two inmates, including maximum-security prisoners.

As DOJ rolls back monitoring of police conduct, more prosecutors…

As DOJ rolls back monitoring of police conduct, more prosecutors should be like Baltimore's Mosby Attorneys can and must do more to curb questionable behavior from bad cops Check out this story on USATODAY.com: https://usat.ly/2kcLloJ On Tuesday, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced her office's decision to dismiss a large number of drug cases in response to troubling police body-camera footage - bringing the total to 213 cases that have been or will be dropped since this issue first emerged over the summer. Mosby's decision should be neither surprising nor controversial.

Immigration agents arrest 498 in sweep of sanctuary cities

Federal agents arrested 498 people from 42 countries in a four-day nationwide operation targeting cities that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said give sanctuary to unauthorized immigrants who have committed crimes. ICE officials said that the sweep, Operation Safe City, which concluded Wednesday, focused on “sanctuary jurisdictions” where the agency is denied access to jails to interview suspects and where its requests to take those arrested into custody are not honored.

Trump administration targets ‘sanctuary’ cities in latest wave of immigration arrests

The Trump administration has arrested hundreds of undocumented immigrants in cities that are hostile to the federal government's deportation crackdown, the latest salvo in a growing battle over sanctuary jurisdictions. Federal officials said Thursday that "Operation Safe City" specifically targeted some of the fiercest opponents of President Trump's immigration policies , including New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Washington.

Violent crime falls in Mass. for sixth straight year

The FBI this week released its annual report on crime in the United States, finding the number of violent crimes in the country on the rise for the second year in a row. The estimated rate of violent crime in the U.S. was 386.3 offenses per 100,000 residents - for a total of more than 1.2 million incidents - in 2016, an increase of 3.4 percent over the 2015 rate.

Interpol admits Palestinian membership, angering Israel

International police agency Interpol voted Wednesday to include Palestine as a member state, in a new boost to Palestinian efforts for international recognition and influence amid long-stalled negotiations with Israel for full statehood. The decision drew an angry Israeli reaction and threat of retaliation.

‘We’re very busy’: FBI investigating 1,000 white supremacist, domestic terrorism cases

The FBI is conducting about 1,000 investigations of suspected white supremacists or other types of domestic terrorists who might be planning violence, top federal officials told Senate lawmakers Wednesday. Christopher A. Wray, in his first congressional testimony as FBI director, confirmed that his office has about 1,000 inquiries that people generally categorize as "domestic terrorism" - a catchall term often used to describe those motivated to commit violence in furtherance of racist causes.

Iraq’s Kurds say 92% voted in favor of independence

Republican Sen. Susan Collins' decision to oppose the GOP push to repeal President Barack Obama's health care overhaul leaves the effort all but dead. Republican Sen. Susan Collins' decision to oppose the GOP push to repeal President Barack Obama's health care overhaul leaves the effort all but dead.

Justices grant execution stay to consider juror racial bias

The U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary stay of execution for a Georgia inmate whose attorneys argue that the 59-year-old black man's death sentence was tainted by a juror's racial bias. Keith Leroy Tharpe, known as "Bo," was set to be put to death at 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday at the state prison by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital.

Otto Warmbier was ‘staring blankly into space, jerking violently’ after return from North Korea

Otto Warmbier died three months ago, shortly after he returned to the United States from North Korea in a coma. Today, his parents appeared on Fox News to describe the condition their son was in when he arrived : "We walked over to the plane, the engines are still humming, they had just landed...when we got halfway up the steps we heard this howling, involuntary, inhuman sound," Fred said.

FBI releases shocking new data on murder rates hidden by Obama administration

The Federal Bureau of Investigation released the 2016 edition of its Crime in the United States report, which is a part of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports . Covering January-December 2016, the FBI report "reaffirms that the worrying violent crime increase that began in 2015 after many years of decline was not an isolated incident."

Full federal court to hear ‘Making a Murderer’ appeal

A federal appeals court will consider arguments Tuesday over whether detectives tricked a Wisconsin inmate featured in the "Making a Murderer" series into confessing and whether he should go free in a case that puts police practices in the spotlight. Oral arguments in Brendan Dassey's case are before all 12 judges of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago.

Mariaa s toll in Puerto Rico hits home for House budget chief

The Latest on the French president's Europe speech : 4:25 p.m. French President Emmanuel Macron says EU countr Residents at La Perla community in Old San Juan cling to their battered residences after the scourge of Hurricane Maria, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017.