Source: My Way News -- Read Full Story

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he feels the pain of employers pinched by intensified efforts to control illegal immigration, but adds that until Congress enacts broad immigration reforms they shouldn't expect any changes in enforcement. In an interview with The Associated Press, Chertoff said this week that the rising complaints from businesses offer some evidence the Bush administration's approach is working. "This is harsh but accurate proof positive that, for the first time in decades, we've succeeded in changing the dynamic and (are) actually beginning to reduce illegal immigration," Chertoff said. "Unfortunately, unless you counterbalance that with a robust system to allow people to come in temporarily and legally, you're going to wind up with an economic problem."

Source: My Way News -- Read Full Story

A political tempest over Barack Obama's comments about bitter voters in small towns has given rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a new opening to court working class Democrats 10 days before Pennsylvanians hold a primary that she must win to keep her presidential campaign alive. Obama tried to quell the furor Saturday, explaining his remarks while also conceding he had chosen his words poorly. "If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that," Obama said in an interview with the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal. But the Clinton campaign fueled the controversy in every place and every way it could, hoping charges that Obama is elitist and arrogant will resonate with the swing voters the candidates are vying for not only in Pennsylvania, but in upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina as well.

Source: CNN -- Read Full Story

Officials of a Catholic liberal arts college shut it down indefinitely Friday and told students to leave after threatening messages were found scrawled in a freshman dorm. Graffiti were found twice this month at St. Xavier University's Regina Hall, including a message Thursday that read, "Be prepared to die on 4/14," President Judith Dwyer said in a statement. Officials closed down campuses in Chicago and suburban Orland Park and canceled all classes for the school's 5,700 students. Buildings where community events are planned will remain open, Dwyer said. "On the considered advice of the multiple law enforcement agencies pursuing the case, we have chosen to close Saint Xavier University indefinitely beginning tonight due to the specific nature of the second message," Dwyer said.

Source: New York Times -- Read Full Story

For years, the veiled world behind the doors of a fundamentalist Mormon polygamist temple tantalized local imaginations in the Hill Country south of here. On Thursday, a Texas ranger described in detail what occurred last week when law enforcement officers, responding to a call for help from a 16-year-old who said she was being sexually abused in the compound, sought entry. In essence, Capt. Barry Caver of the Texas Public Safety Department said at a news conference here, the officers knocked and asked for a key. The church members quietly said no. “They opted not to do that because they would be aiding or assisting us in the desecration of their worship place,” Captain Caver said. The authorities called in a locksmith to open the gate, but they were unable to move the deadbolts to open the front doors of the temple. They tried to use a “jaws of life” tool, normally used to remove people trapped in cars after accidents, to open the doors. But the doors were too tightly constructed, Captain Caver said.

Source: ABC News -- Read Full Story

Dazed and tearful, a fugitive Marine wanted in connection with the murder of a pregnant fellow Marine who had accused him of rape is in custody today in western Mexico, ending a three-month international manhunt. A senior law enforcement official told ABC News that Mexican authorities arrested 21-year-old Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean Thursday evening in a town in the Mexican state of Michoacan, after he was spotted on the street. Mexican police on an anti-kidnapping operation reportedly spotted Laurean wandering the street and became suspicious when they realized he didn't speak Spanish very well. He was taken into custody and later identified in part by his extensive tattoos, The Associated Press reported. "He was walking down the street. He did not resist," said FBI spokeswoman Amy Thoreson. "We had FBI agents, NCIS [Naval Criminal Investigative Service] agents as well as the Mexican authorities [there] at the time."

Source: CNN -- Read Full Story

Arkansans braced Thursday for another hit after a band of hail, heavy rain and twisters pounded Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma the night before. The storms damaged hundreds of homes, flooded roads and left thousands without power. Some residents in the small north Arkansas town of Leslie were being evacuated because of flooding and the threat of mudslides. Workers were sandbagging in places to keep floodwaters at bay. The state already is contending with three weeks of flooding and the aftermath of 10 tornadoes that struck last week. "It's just getting worse," sheriff's dispatcher Nola Massey said. "We're just trying to get everybody to stay home and not get out in it."

Source: ABC News -- Read Full Story

Travelers are confronting another miserable day at the nation's airports today, as American Airlines anticipates more than 900 cancellations. But American's decision to cancel flights today in addition to the more than 1,000 flights it canceled Wednesday for last-second inspections is just one of many headaches for travelers -- and for a struggling airline industry -- already facing a steady stream of problems. Now industry experts say several of the airlines' problems are rooted in one underlying issue: aging planes. Those recently reinspected are some of the oldest planes that U.S. airlines are flying today. While the planes may be safe, the older they get the more likely they are to have maintenance problems, causing another catastrophic delay.

Source: MSNBC -- Read Full Story

The allegedly polygamous group whose compound was raided this week in Texas is either a religious sect or a full-blown cult, depending on whom you ask. The raided compound was founded by jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who took over in 2002 as prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which broke off from the Mormon church in the 1930s over the issue of polygamy. Authorities have reportedly taken into legal custody more than 400 children and 133 women deemed to have been harmed or in imminent danger of harm. While the media and some sociologists call the group a religious sect, other experts see it as a clear-cut cult, defined by charismatic leadership and abuse. According to news accounts of the FLDS, pubescent girls were forced into "spiritual marriages" to older men. Inside the compound's walls, researchers say, a new reality was born, with members indoctrinated so fully they had no concept of reality outside the walls.

Source: Breitbart -- Read Full Story

Navy SEAL Michael A. Monsoor had fast thinking to do when a live grenade came out of nowhere to bounce off his chest: Take the clear path to safety that he had but his comrades didn't, try to toss it safely away, or throw himself on top of it. With barely an instant's hesitation on that Iraqi rooftop, Monsoor took the last course, sacrificing his life to save the men around him. For that, President Bush on Tuesday awarded him the Medal of Honor. In an East Room ceremony, Bush presented the nation's highest military honor to Monsoor's still-grieving parents, Sally and George Monsoor. About 250 guests, including his sister and two brothers, fellow SEALS, other Medal winners, many friends and GOP Sen. John McCain and other members of Congress, looked on quietly. "The Medal of Honor is awarded for an act of such courage that no one could rightly be expected to undertake it," Bush said. "Yet those who knew Michael Monsoor were not surprised when he did." Bush has awarded the medals to 10 people during his presidency. Monsoor is only the third from the Iraq war, and Bush's lip trembled and tears streamed down his cheeks as the official citation was read with the details of his bravery.

Source: Los Angeles Times -- Read Full Story

Frustrations and worries mounted Tuesday at U.S. airports after American Airlines said it was canceling as many as 500 flights for another round of maintenance checks. More flight delays are expected today. Cancellations by the world's largest airline were the biggest yet in a rash of maintenance- related disruptions for passengers over the last month that has been accompanied by fare hikes, increasingly crowded planes, higher fuel surcharges and airline shutdowns. An estimated 54,000 travelers had their plans disrupted Tuesday. Since late last month, American has canceled almost 1,000 flights to inspect the wiring bundles in its MD-80 fleet. The airline operates 300 MD-80s, with an average age of 18 years. American decided to re- inspect its fleet after the Federal Aviation Administration raised concerns about an inspection last month. The airline said it was rechecking the spacing of the ties on the wiring bundles and the direction in which the retention clips and cords were facing.