Court filing: Hunger strike over at Miami detention center

MIAMI (AP) – U.S. immigration authorities say a group of men who had been on a hunger strike at a Miami detention center have resumed eating. According to a status update filed Wednesday in Miami federal court, all the detainees resumed eating voluntarily Dec. 22, a day after a judge authorized restraining and force-feeding them […]

Naples New Year’s Eve fireworks to be set off from barge in Gulf

NAPLES, Fla.- Preparations are underway for the New Year’s Eve fireworks in Naples. This year, the city is lighting the fireworks off from a barge in the Gulf in hopes of relieving some of the traffic congestion afterwards. “We are not going to come down here this year to watch the fireworks,” said Sandra Bitz, […]

Victim in Lehigh Acres 7-Eleven shooting speaks out

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. – One man was injured in a shooting at the 7-Eleven on Lee Boulevard and Gunnery Road in Lehigh Acres Wednesday night. “He just pulled out a gun from his pocket waistband or something,” said the victim, Sebastian Christmas. Christmas says he lived frightening moments being caught in the middle of a shooting spree. “I thought it was like, you know, […]

Florida Everblades player facing arson charges

FORT MYERS, Fla.- A Florida Everblades player is facing second-degree arson charges in a fire at the apartments on Everblades Parkway. Justin Agosta, 25, was booked into the Lee County Jail after authorities were called to investigate the fire that began in the entranceway of an apartment. Investigators with the State Fire Marshal determined the fire had been intentionally set, with household […]

Throngs expected in Times Square for annual New Year’s bash

NEW YORK (AP) – Revelers have begun to fill New York City’s Times Square in the hours before the midnight ball drop, resolving to celebrate New Year’s Eve despite headlines of extremist attacks around the world and a heavy security presence. The first hardy partygoers eager to ring in 2016 arrived in the famed Manhattan […]

Source: Obama to act next week on gun background checks

HONOLULU (AP) – President Barack Obama is expected to take executive action next week to expand when background checks are conducted on gun sales. That’s according to an individual whose gun control advocacy group has been briefed by administration officials about the timing. The person was not authorized to discuss details before the announcement and […]

Rochester cancels fireworks after New Year’s Eve attack plot

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) – Officials in Rochester have canceled a New Year’s Eve fireworks celebration following the arrest of a man federal officials said had planned an attack on a New York bar to prove he was worthy of joining the Islamic State group. Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said at a news conference Thursday evening […]

Ben Carson’s campaign manager, spokesman quit GOP campaign

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The campaign manager for Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says he and another top aide have resigned. Barry Bennett says he and communications director Doug Watts left the campaign on Thursday morning. Bennett says he left because of mounting frustration that Carson was listening more to his longtime business manager, […]

Grilling in December: Records shattered in balmy Northeast

BOSTON (AP) – An unseasonably mild December has shattered temperature records across the Northeast. The National Weather Service says preliminary numbers as of Wednesday show the average temperature in Boston for the month was 45.4 degrees, or nearly 11 degrees above normal. New York City; Burlington, Vermont; Concord, New Hampshire; and Portland, Maine, were all […]

Fire breaks out near Dubai’s New Year’s fireworks display

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Fire broke out Thursday in a residential building near Dubai’s massive New Year’s Eve fireworks display. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which ran up at least 20 stories of the building near the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper at 828 meters (905 yards). Burning […]