Happy Meal 'toy' was sold heroin in window at McDonald's, says police

WPXI TV

Police say heroin was sold in Happy Meal a McDonald's at a store in the Pittsburgh area.

By Gil Aegerter, writer, NBC News

A McDonalds worker is accused of putting something a little more in Happy Meals sold from a Pittsburgh auto: heroin.

Police said they arrested the wife of 26 years old on Wednesday after buying the drug in a McDonalds in the neighborhood of East Liberty, reported NBC WPXI of Pittsburgh station.

Here is how the operation, the Allegheny County Prosecutor told WPXI:

A customer who wanted to buy heroin would go to the speaker window and say, "I'd like to ask for a toy".The customer could then stop at the first window, pay and get a Happy Meal box containing heroin in small bags.The customer would leave without stopping in the second window.

Detectives said that what he did and arrested Shania Dennis in East Pittsburgh. The Prosecutor's Office said that detectives 10 bags of heroin in the Happy Meal box and found Dennis with over 50.

WPXI said he had the opportunity to ask Dennis if he was selling heroin. Your response? "No, I wasn't."

The station reported that it was not clear whether this case is related to the arrest this month of the worker another McDonalds accused of selling heroin in a parking lot in Murrysville, PA restaurant.

Feds to seek death penalty against accused Boston bomber Tsarnaev

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AppId is over the quota
FBI via Reuters

Boston Marathon Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is pictured in an undated FBI handout photo.

By Pete Williams, NBC News justice correspondent

The Justice Department has notified a federal judge that it intends to seek the death penalty if a jury convicts Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for last April’s bomb attacks at the Boston Marathon.

Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on charges that he and his brother built and planted two pressure-cooker bombs that killed three people and injured at least 260 others. He is also charged with killing an MIT campus police officer.

Liz Norden, the mother of Boston bombing victims, responds to news that the Justice Department will seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev if he is convicted.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement: “After consideration of the relevant facts, the applicable regulations and the submissions made by the defendant’s counsel, I have determined that the United States will seek the death penalty in this matter. The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision.”

Among the factors listed by the government were that the killings were intentional, resulted from acts calculated to cause grave risks to public safety, and were committed in a cruel manner. And prosecutors said the defendant has demonstrated no remorse.

“One way or another, based on the evidence, Tsarnaev will die in prison,” Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said in a statement. “In each milestone of this case — today’s announcement, the trial and every other significant step in the justice process — the people hurt by the Marathon bombings and the rest of us so shocked by it will relive that tragedy. The best we can do is remind each other that we are a stronger Commonwealth than ever, and that nothing can break that spirit.”

Liz Norden, the mother of two men who lost legs in the bombing, praised the decision.

"You know, it just makes me relieved that the attorney general believes that it was a terrorist attack or it's the death penalty and we support the decision," Norden told MSNBC's Craig Melvin. 

She noted that the Justice Department officials talked to victims' families before reaching the decision.

While most legal experts predicted the Justice Department would seek the death penalty, the decision will be somewhat controversial.

A poll conducted in September for the Boston Globe found that 57 percent of respondents favored a sentence of life without parole if Tsarnaev were to be convicted, while 33 percent thought death would be the appropriate punishment for the government to seek.

Dan Lampariello / Reuters

Explosion at the Boston Marathon, April 15, 2013.

Executions in the federal system are rare.  In the modern era of the death penalty, since the U.S. Supreme Court forced a change in sentencing laws in the mid-1970s, the federal government has carried out just three executions. 

Timothy McVeigh was put to death in 2001 for his role in bombing the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. The most recent federal execution was more than a decade ago.

The federal execution system has been put on hold by a court battle over the combination of drugs used to administer a lethal injection. One of the drugs is no longer available, forcing the Bureau of Prisons to consider alternatives. 

In the event of a conviction and a recommendation of a death sentence, the execution by lethal injection would be carried out at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind.

A trial date has not been set for Tsarnaev. His next hearing is Feb. 12.

Legal experts have said that seeking the death penalty against Tsarnaev could give him an incentive to plead guilty to avoid being put to death.

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:21 PM EST

Bug-ridden cruise ship returns to port — with sick bay overflowing

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AppId is over the quota
John Makely / NBC News

Passengers look out from the Explorers of the Sea as it returns to port.

John Makely / NBC News

The Explorer of the Seas heads to port in Bayonne, N.J. on Wednesday.

By Henry Austin and Hasani Gittens, NBC News

They made it.

An illness-ridden cruise ship returned home Wednesday, an abbreviated end to a brutal voyage in which 600 passengers and crew were struck down by a fast-moving stomach bug.

The Royal Caribbean liner The Explorer of the Seas pulled into port in Bayonne, N.J., just after 1 p.m. The 10-day cruise was cut short after suspected norovirus left passengers and workers stricken with vomiting and diarrhea.

One woman aboard the ship yelled, "We made it!" as the ship docked. Other passengers, with blankets wrapped around them, stood on deck to watch the ship pull in. 

A Royal Caribbean cruise packed with sick passengers is due back in a N.J. port today. The cruise was cut short after more than 600 passengers and crew members fell ill. Experts believe it could be the Norovirus.

Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention boarded the ship during its port call in the U.S. Virgin Islands to investigate the illness but tests have not yet confirmed the cause. The cruise line said its doctors reported symptoms were consistent with norovirus.

The ship carrying 3,050 passengers and 1,165 crew members departed Tuesday from Cape Liberty, N.J. and had planned to stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

Some people on the ship recovered after illnesses in the first days of the cruise, but Royal Caribbean Cruise Line officials said Sunday that the disruptions caused by the wave of sickness meant they were “unable to deliver the vacation our guests were expecting,” and consultation with medical experts prompted an early return.

CNBC's Simon Hobbs speaks with Royal Caribbean Cruises Chairman & CEO Richard Fain about how he keeps his business afloat amid controversy.

Cruise officials said they will sanitize the ship again and that guests scheduled for the next trip on Explorer of the Seas could be confident that all measures had been taken to prevent future illness.  No one will be allowed aboard for a period of more than 24 hours as an extra precaution, the cruise line said.

The CDC said it recommended to Royal Caribbean that people who still have symptoms be housed in nearby hotels or seen at medical facilities before traveling home.

The cruise line said it is providing all guests a 50 percent refund of their cruise fares and an additional 50 percent future cruise credit. It's also reimbursing airline change fees and accommodations for guests who had to change plans for traveling home. 

The CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Richard Fain told CNBC in a Monday interview that it was “a very unfortunate incident,” adding their people had responded quickly and aggressively to the outbreak.

“We screen our passengers as best we can,” he said.  

Norovirus — once known as Norwalk virus — is highly contagious. It can be picked up from an infected person, contaminated food or water or by touching contaminated surfaces. Sometimes mistaken for the stomach flu, the virus causes bouts of vomiting and diarrhea for a few days. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Related: 

This story was originally published on Wed Jan 29, 2014 2:59 PM EST

Nine dead, including 8 children, in Kentucky house fire

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AppId is over the quota
WFIE

Nine people were killed early Thursday, Jan. 30, when fire tore through a house in Kentucky, authorities said.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, Staff Writer, NBC News

A mother and eight children were killed when a fire ignited by an electric heater tore through a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Nine of an 11-member family were found dead in the house fire that erupted in a Muhlenberg County home in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State Police public affairs officer.

Two parents and their nine children lived in the single-story home, Recke said.

On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State Police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and the eight children killed: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.

The father and another child escaped the fire and were flown to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 miles away for treatment, Recke said.

Leslie Hill, a Vanderbilt Medical Center spokeswoman, said Chad Watson, 36, and Kylie Watson, 11, were both in critical but stable condition.

More than 12 hours after the fire, investigators determined that an electric baseboard heater ignited a combustible material accidentally left too close to the heat source, Recke said.

The temperature in Muhlenberg County dropped to 1 degree overnight, while the region is accustomed to 35 degree temperatures in January, according to Weatherbase.com.

“We normally don’t have weather like that,” said Laura Bennett, who lives two doors down from the devastated house. “They said when they was trying to put the fire out, the water was turning to ice,” she added.

Bennett said the house had no more than three bedrooms and that the eleven family members were “piled up” in the limited space.

Harold McElvain, a former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was “a nice young family.”

“Everybody loved the kids,” McElvain said.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

Members of the Kentucky State Fire Marshall's office look over the remains of a house fire in Muhlenberg County, Ky., Thursday Jan. 30, 2014.

Bennett said that Samuel was playing at her house on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.

“He went home, and then 10 hours later he’s gone.”

A neighbor called the fire department around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the house was “fully engulfed” when they arrive minutes later.

Crews put the fire out within an hour, Recke said. Still, “as I’m facing the house, the right side of the house is basically gone,” he added.

Recke said no other property was damaged in the neighborhood, which is about 150 miles southwest of Louisville.

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed his sympathies to the family and community from the senate floor on Thursday afternoon. “The entire Commonwealth stands beside Muhlenberg County right now, and we’ll do whatever we can to help you recover from this horrific loss.”

Nine people, including eight children, are feared dead after a fire ripped through a home in Greenville, Kentucky. NBC News' Frances Kuo reports.

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:24 PM EST

Crewman lost overboard from cruise ship

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AppId is over the quota

The Coast Guard is searching for a crew member of a cruise ship who fell overboard off the eastern coast of Mexico.

The crewman, identified as Inyoman Bagiada, 45, went overboard from the Celebrity Constellation at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Coast Guard said. 

The Constellation, a 965-foot ship with the capacity to host more than 2,100 passengers, was returning from Cozumel, Mexico, to Port Everglades, Fla., after a five-day cruise. The incident occurred in the Yucatan Channel, between Mexico and Cuba.

The Coast Guard launched an HC-130 maritime search and rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater, Fla., and the Charles David Jr., a 154-foot fast response cutter based in Key West, Fla., to lead the search.

Some Boston Marathon survivors support death penalty decision

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AppId is over the quota

Liz Norden, the mother of Boston bombing victims, responds to news that the Justice Department will seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev if he is convicted.

By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

The federal government’s decision to seek the death penalty against the man accused of setting off two bombs with his brother at the Boston Marathon last year, killing three people and injuring 275 others, was met with support Thursday by some survivors and their families — but also left others, who are continuing to recover, at a “loss of words.”

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on charges that he and his brother, Tamerlan, built and planted the pressure-cooker bombs at the marathon finish line last April 15. Tamerlan died in the ensuing manhunt for the pair.

Liz Norden, whose sons Paul and J.P. both lost a leg in the bombing, said she backed the decision, announced by Attorney General Eric Holder.

“I felt it was very important that all the options are on the table for the jurors to decide, so I support it,” she told MSNBC.

But Rebekah Gregory, 26, who was seriously injured in the bombing along with her son, her fiancé and his sister, told NBC News she was at a “loss for words” over the decision.

Gregory, of Richmond, Texas, has been fighting to keep her left leg since the attack.

“I don’t even know how I feel about that. We’ve tried not to be involved in it as much as possible because I feel like he has already taken up enough of our time as it is. I don’t know what justice is in this situation. No matter if he is dead or alive, it doesn’t change anything for us,” she said, later adding: “He’ll get his judgment on Judgment Day, that’s how I feel.”

Norden said her sons had declined to meet with the Justice Department last summer about the attacks.

“Their only focus and main focus was on their recovery. They don't feel that whatever happens is going to change what happened to them,” she said, noting they’ve “come to terms” with what happened and are “moving on.”

“They're totally focusing on themselves getting better,” she said. “They’re very strong.”

Martin Richard, 8, Krystle Campbell, 29, and Chinese national Lu Lingzi, 23, were killed in the bombings. Tsarnaev is also accused in the shooting death of MIT campus police officer, Sean Collier, 27.

A Richard's family spokesman said the family did not want to comment. Messages left seeking reaction from several survivors were not immediately returned.

Among the factors listed by the government in its decision were that the killings were intentional, resulted from acts calculated to cause grave risks to public safety, and were committed in a cruel manner. And prosecutors said the defendant has demonstrated no remorse.

While most legal experts predicted the Justice Department would seek the death penalty, the decision was expected to be somewhat controversial.

The ACLU of Massachusetts said it was “disappointed” with the decision.

“The ACLU opposes the death penalty in all cases, because it is discriminatory and arbitrary, and because it inherently violates the Constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment,” the group’s executive director, Carol Rose, said in a statement.

"In this case, it is important to keep in mind that the people of Massachusetts, through their elected representatives, have repeatedly rejected the death penalty. Even shortly after the horrible Boston Marathon bombing, a Boston Globe poll found that the people of Boston said two-to-one that they would prefer a sentence of life without parole for Tsarnaev, if he is convicted.”

A poll conducted in September for the Boston Globe found that 57 percent of respondents favored a sentence of life without parole if Tsarnaev were to be convicted, while 33 percent thought death would be the appropriate punishment for the government to seek.

NBC News’ Pete Williams contributed to this report.

South struggles back to normal as officials point fingers after snowstorm

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AppId is over the quota
Christopher Aluka Berry / Christopher Aluka Berry / Reuters

Georgia National Guardsman Command Sgt. Maj. Buddy Grisham (C) is joined by fellow troops as they help people get their stranded cars out of the snow in Atlanta, Georgia January 29, 2014. A rare ice storm turned Atlanta into a slippery mess on Wednesday, stranding thousands for hours on frozen roadways and raising questions about how city leaders prepared for and handled the cold snap that slammed the U.S. South.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday took responsibility Thursday for the state’s slow response to a snowstorm that left people stranded for more than 24 hours on gridlocked interstates, and his top emergency management official said flatly: “I got this one wrong.”

Deal pledged to reporters that the state would be more aggressive in responding to future weather threats.

“I’m not going to look for a scapegoat,” he said. “I am the governor. The buck stops with me. I accept the responsibility for it, but I also accept the responsibility of being able to make corrective actions as they come into the future.”

He added: “We will take those weather warnings more seriously.”

Facing criticism over the city's response to an unusual winter storm, Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed said that while they did not have the experience to deal with the unusual weather, their efforts have made 80 percent of the city's roads passable.

Charley English, head of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said he had made a mistake by activating the state’s emergency response center six hours too late, long after the National Weather Service upgraded its winter storm alert for Atlanta on Tuesday morning.

“I made a terrible mistake, and I put the governor in an awful position,” he said.

Thousands of people were stuck, without food and water, on the interstates in and around Atlanta after the storm struck on Tuesday afternoon. Thousands of schoolchildren were also marooned overnight in their schools or on buses trapped on the road.

In Atlanta on Thursday, the National Guard helped people retrieve abandoned cars that littered the Atlanta interstates. Meanwhile, the mayor and governor struggled with the political fallout.

Mayor Kasim Reed assured people on Tuesday, in a message on Twitter before the snow began to fall: “Atlanta, we are ready for the snow.”

On Thursday, he acknowledged that authorities made a mistake by not staggering their orders for people to go home — schools first, then private businesses, then government employees. Instead, hundreds of thousands of people poured onto the interstates at the same time.

But Reed suggested, in a pair of interviews on NBC’s TODAY and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” that he was being unfairly blamed for traffic that clogged highways outside the city limits.

“I think we need to work much harder on coordination,” he said on MSNBC. But he stressed: “The highways are not the responsibility of the city.”

It was the latest episode of finger-pointing after the storm. On Wednesday, the governor infuriated meteorologists by calling the storm “unexpected” and saying that nobody “could have predicted “the degree and magnitude of the problem.”

In fact, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm alert for Atlanta at 3:38 a.m. on Tuesday, 12 hours before the worst of the traffic set in.

Daniel Shirey / Getty Images

Atlanta student David Hunter and his mother Demetra Dobbins walk up an exit ramp along I-75 North on Wednesday.

Cities in the North are much more accustomed to snowstorms, and in places like New York, powerful mayors have the single-handed authority to order salt-spreaders and plows onto the streets.

But the Atlanta area, as frustrated experts pointed out, is a patchwork of regional governments that often don’t get along with each other.

It also has a deeply ingrained car culture and a mass transit system that serves only a fraction of the metro area’s 5.5 million people. In 2012 voters across the region defeated a one-penny sales tax that would have strengthened regional transit.

After a snowstorm hobbled Atlanta in 2011, Reed, the Atlanta mayor, wrote in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had learned an important lesson about collaboration and cooperation.

“We will work faster and smarter to deliver the kind of response that our residents demand and deserve,” he wrote.

Asked on “Morning Joe” why authorities had not worked better together this time, he said: “I think that we all have responsibility.”

Related:

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 2:46 PM EST

'Absolute COP-out': forecasters coup heated in the GA officials blame game. time

"There was a long time to make adjustments for any type of snow removal" in Atlanta, told NBC the Roker.

By M. Alex Johnson, writer, NBC News

Flat feet under fire from Georgia officials caught in the winter storm that hit the South this week, meteorologists are crazy ray and I want to know: will not tolerate.

Georgia officials with the capital city, Atlanta, paralyzed by less than 3 inches of snow, complained that he warned not what was on the way on Tuesday:

"We have bumped into an unexpected storm that struck the metropolitan area", said the Governor of Georgia Nathan Deal on Tuesday night.On Wednesday, said, "no one in this room could have predicted the extent and the magnitude of the problem that developed."Later Wednesday, he said: "if we close the city of Atlanta and our Interstate system based on"maybe", then be a very productive Government or a city. We can do based on the answers."Asked why the city display not sanders and plows until eight hours after the national weather service issued a winter storm warning early Tuesday, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed called such criticisms "Monday morning quarterbacking."

The national weather service not to comment, but other experts were quick to jump to his defense.

"Bad, bad, bad and bad," said Marshall Shepherd, President of the American Meteorological Society, from critics who argued that the weather service failed in its forecasts.

In a post on a blog created on Wednesday specifically to defend the performance of services forecast this week, pastor said that the weather service issued watches and warnings before the storm arrived, providing time to spare for Georgia officials to make the right decisions.

"However, as soon as I saw what took place with children are trapped in schools, 6 + hour commutes and other horror stories, knew that it was going to go, I knew it." "Some in the medial position or public decision making, social would be 'blame' meteorologists," shepherd wrote in a post titled "One open thanks to meteorologists in Atlanta".

Meteorologist for NBC News to the Roker agreed.

"The Mayor and the Governor was yesterday on TV and they said that this was not intended, and that is not true" Roker said on Wednesday.

Roker and other meteorologists pointed out that the weather service issued its warning for metro Atlanta 3:38 Tuesday - Roker, means "that they were warned of this, and they should have been prepared for this," said. "It's a shame. It really is".

Scroll through the weather service reports the last days revealed that analysts were sounding the alarm of possible "widespread ice accumulation" across the South as soon as Saturday - "expanding in the southeast of the United States Tuesday to Wednesday 's":

National Weather Service

That is exactly what happened.

On Monday, a day before the fall the first snowflake, the Meteorological Service warned of possible heavy snow and snow on the other side of the North Georgia:

National Weather Service

That it is also exactly what happened.

03: 22 Pm on Monday, the weather service issued a notice that specifically had a potential "of" 2 inches of snow, and up to a half inch of meltwater from Atlanta to Athens.

Once again: what exactly happened.

"It absolutely breaks the heart," said Jim Cantore, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.

"There are certainly possibilities that you take with this inexact science predict a winter storm warning," said Cantore Wednesday. But this time, "the national weather service was absolutely spot-on with this".

"It's just an absolute excuse," he said, saying the officials of Georgia:

"Admit that you are wrong. Admit that you took the opportunity to save some money and cagaste it. You cagaste it. And now, the people are suffering, unfortunately, in the city of Atlanta.

92 nuclear missile officers implicated in cheating scandal, Air Force says

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AppId is over the quota
By Jim Miklaszewski, Courtney Kube and Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News

The number of nuclear missile launch officers under investigation for allegations of cheating has ballooned to 92, the Air Force said Thursday.

The new total is nearly three times the initial 34 officers who were implicated in the scandal and nearly one-fifth of the force. The officers have been taken off their missile wing duties during the investigation into the cheating, which happened during a key proficiency exam, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said at a Pentagon news briefing.

Of the 92, 40 are suspected of actually cheating by obtaining answers in advance of the test; the remaining 52 were allegedly aware of the cheating, but failed to report it to superiors.  

"The situation remains completely unacceptable," James told reporters. 

Officials have stressed that there has been no change in the overall nuclear mission and no degradation of the U.S. nuclear capability.

"This is a failure of integrity, not a failure of the mission," James said Thursday.

The original officers in the probe, all assigned to the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, are accused of apparently texting answers to each other, or knew that the cheating was going on and didn't report it, according to officials.

The monthly exam tested the officers' knowledge of the missile launch systems. It was administered in August and September 2013.

Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh said earlier this month the officers shared the exam "electronically.” Text messages were involved, he said. He would not expand on the exact circumstances of the alleged cheating, citing an ongoing investigation.

The investigation into the cheating ring was announced on Jan. 15 by the Air Force.

The 341st Missile Wing provides security for 150 nuclear-armed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles, one third of the entire ICBM force. James said there is no evidence of similar cheating at the other two nuclear missile bases, F.E. Warren in Wyoming and Minot in North Dakota.

Just two days ago, a U.S. military official told NBC News the number of officers under allegations had nearly doubled.

James, who is the service's top civilian official, said Thursday that the systemic micromanagement in the nuclear force has created "undue stress and fear," and that situation at Malmstrom was "not a healthy environment." 

She has said that the alleged cheating at Malmstrom was discovered during a previously announced probe of drug possession by 11 officers at several bases. Initially, that probe only included 10 officers.

Previous reports:

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:25 PM EST

Snow storm chaos: Divers urged not to rescue abandoned cars as South begins recovery

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AppId is over the quota
Christopher Aluka Berry / Christopher Aluka Berry / Reuters

Georgia National Guardsman Command Sgt. Maj. Buddy Grisham (C) is joined by fellow troops as they help people get their stranded cars out of the snow in Atlanta, Georgia January 29, 2014. A rare ice storm turned Atlanta into a slippery mess on Wednesday, stranding thousands for hours on frozen roadways and raising questions about how city leaders prepared for and handled the cold snap that slammed the U.S. South.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday took responsibility Thursday for the state’s slow response to a snowstorm that left people stranded for more than 24 hours on gridlocked interstates, and his top emergency management official said flatly: “I got this one wrong.”

Deal pledged to reporters that the state would be more aggressive in responding to future weather threats.

“I’m not going to look for a scapegoat,” he said. “I am the governor. The buck stops with me. I accept the responsibility for it, but I also accept the responsibility of being able to make corrective actions as they come into the future.”

He added: “We will take those weather warnings more seriously.”

Facing criticism over the city's response to an unusual winter storm, Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed said that while they did not have the experience to deal with the unusual weather, their efforts have made 80 percent of the city's roads passable.

Charley English, head of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said he had made a mistake by activating the state’s emergency response center six hours too late, long after the National Weather Service upgraded its winter storm alert for Atlanta on Tuesday morning.

“I made a terrible mistake, and I put the governor in an awful position,” he said.

Thousands of people were stuck, without food and water, on the interstates in and around Atlanta after the storm struck on Tuesday afternoon. Thousands of schoolchildren were also marooned overnight in their schools or on buses trapped on the road.

In Atlanta on Thursday, the National Guard helped people retrieve abandoned cars that littered the Atlanta interstates. Meanwhile, the mayor and governor struggled with the political fallout.

Mayor Kasim Reed assured people on Tuesday, in a message on Twitter before the snow began to fall: “Atlanta, we are ready for the snow.”

On Thursday, he acknowledged that authorities made a mistake by not staggering their orders for people to go home — schools first, then private businesses, then government employees. Instead, hundreds of thousands of people poured onto the interstates at the same time.

But Reed suggested, in a pair of interviews on NBC’s TODAY and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” that he was being unfairly blamed for traffic that clogged highways outside the city limits.

“I think we need to work much harder on coordination,” he said on MSNBC. But he stressed: “The highways are not the responsibility of the city.”

It was the latest episode of finger-pointing after the storm. On Wednesday, the governor infuriated meteorologists by calling the storm “unexpected” and saying that nobody “could have predicted “the degree and magnitude of the problem.”

In fact, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm alert for Atlanta at 3:38 a.m. on Tuesday, 12 hours before the worst of the traffic set in.

Daniel Shirey / Getty Images

Atlanta student David Hunter and his mother Demetra Dobbins walk up an exit ramp along I-75 North on Wednesday.

Cities in the North are much more accustomed to snowstorms, and in places like New York, powerful mayors have the single-handed authority to order salt-spreaders and plows onto the streets.

But the Atlanta area, as frustrated experts pointed out, is a patchwork of regional governments that often don’t get along with each other.

It also has a deeply ingrained car culture and a mass transit system that serves only a fraction of the metro area’s 5.5 million people. In 2012 voters across the region defeated a one-penny sales tax that would have strengthened regional transit.

After a snowstorm hobbled Atlanta in 2011, Reed, the Atlanta mayor, wrote in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had learned an important lesson about collaboration and cooperation.

“We will work faster and smarter to deliver the kind of response that our residents demand and deserve,” he wrote.

Asked on “Morning Joe” why authorities had not worked better together this time, he said: “I think that we all have responsibility.”

Related:

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 2:46 PM EST

8-year-old hero who saved six declared honorary firefighter funeral

Tyler Doohan was credited with saving the lives of six members of his family when his mobile home was burnt in flames last week.

By M. Alex Johnson, writer, NBC News

The boy from New York State 8 - year - old who died while saving the lives of six people in a roaring fire of trailer was buried Wednesday - complete with its own firefighter helmet and the title of honorary firefighter.

Mourners from across the country attended to Fairport, near Rochester, in honor of Tyler Doohan, a fourth-grade primary school East Rochester.

Tyler ran through his grandfather trailer in suburban Penfield early in the morning of January 20, alerting friends and family to a cut-throat of fire.

They are credited with saving the lives of six people, including two children, 4 and 6 years of age.

But then he returned to hell to try to rescue his grandfather, who uses a wheelchair because he lost part of a leg. They never did. On Wednesday they were buried with a third victim, his step grandfather.

"Compassion has no end and community has no borders," said Phil Buderic, basketball coach at the University of Silver Lake of the Holy family, who traveled with his team of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, to serve as pallbearers at the funeral of Tyler after being touched by the story.

Penfield fire chief Chris Ebmeyer, Tyler declared an honorary firefighter, Catholic Church, presents a personal fire helmet during the service at San Juan de Rochester NBC station reported WHEC of Rochester.

"Tyler should be honest in a way that reflects what he did this morning," Ebmeyer said, marveling at the "courage (and) heroism he displayed for someone so young, at the age of 8.

"Tyler showed that there is something good in the world," the Chief said.

Fire companies cross that country also added name Tyler to their lists of duty in tribute on Wednesday, photos of scrolling of page after page of the Facebook account of fire Worldwide, an international fire community based in Mechanicsville, Virginia.

But she remember him as "the quiet guy who sat in the front row", said Denise Alfieri, Tyler fourth-grade teacher and loved mathematics and drawing.

"Tyler, I'll miss every day," said Alfieri. "To be honest, I'm still looking for walking through those doors, just to see you smile again."

See the most watched videos on MSNBC.com

Gridlock baby, dangerous waits, Candy Crush: Stories from the South's epic snow jam

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AppId is over the quota
Tim Dougherty

Stalled traffic on Interstate 285 outside Atlanta on Thursday morning.

By Erik Ortiz, Erin McClam and Lou Dubois, NBC News

A rare winter storm hatched a nightmare traffic jam that paralyzed parts of the South — especially the city of Atlanta — that was ongoing nearly 24 hours after it began.

Here are some stories from the stranded:

'I didn't know where my 10-year-old daughter was'

Almost 24 hours after she left work, Jennifer Wilkins was finally close to her Atlanta area home Wednesday afternoon.

Jennifer Wilkins has been stranded in her car for more than 20 hours because of the snow and ice in the South. She tells NBC's Andrea Mitchell about it.

She had at least one steep hill left to navigate and figured that she might just hike the final quarter-mile.

She left work at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. For about 12 hours, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., she was "parked on the interstate," she said.

The gas tank worried her. She said she turned the car off for 15 to 30 minutes at a time, "depending on how long I could stand it before I was too cold. Then I would turn it on for 15 minutes to warm up."

But the worst part was a stretch Tuesday afternoon. Wilkins thought her daughter, who is 10, had been sent home from school, but her son reported that she never showed up. It was five hours later when Wilkins learned that the girl had been dropped off safely at a local middle school.

"I didn't know where she was," Wilkins said, breaking down in tears in an interview from her car on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports." "From 1:45 in the afternoon until 6:45 last night, I didn't know where my 10-year-old daughter was."

'Just praying we get home safe'

Vontana Atkins, a wellness coordinator with United Cerebral Palsy of Georgia, said she had been stuck on Interstate 285, near the suburb of Marietta, since 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

She was driving five men to their group home, a trip that should have taken 40 minutes. The men suffer various mental and physical disabilities, she said. They didn't all have their medications with them, and they've been without food and water.

"They're tired and they're hungry, but so far, so good," Atkins said. "I've been talking to them and encouraging them that we're getting there."

Traffic was at a standstill Wednesday morning. Atkins did have a cellphone charger with her and was able to call her office and relatives of the men to let them know how they're faring.

"I called 911 several times, too, but they've been busy," she said. "We're just praying we get home safe."

They've been biding their time watching videos on Atkins' iPad and listening to gospel and country music. One thing Atkins hasn't gotten — sleep.

"I can't. I need to make sure everyone's OK," she said.

Starving and biding time

Tim Dougherty left downtown Atlanta for his home in the suburbs about 3 p.m. Tuesday. He didn't make it home for 26 hours.

The trip normally takes half an hour.

"Taillights. I just see taillights," Dougherty told NBC News by phone from I-285 earlier in the morning. "I have not moved an inch in 15 hours."

Dougherty has lived in the Atlanta area for 17 years but grew up in Indiana, so he's used to ice storms and blizzards.

"But I've never seen anything like this," he said. "I've got to say for a city, this is an epic failure."

By morning, a few people were walking down the interstate offering snacks and water. Dougherty was lucky enough to start with a full tank of gas, although he said he was down to half a tank and idling. He also had a phone charger — and "I am dominating Candy Crush."

Born into gridlock

Nick and Amy Anderson

A baby born on the side of the road in Sandy Springs, Ga., to parents Nick and Amy Anderson.

Tim Sheffield, a police officer in Sandy Springs, Ga., was on his way to check out a traffic accident when he saw a car on the side of the road. The occupants didn't look like they were stuck. He pulled over to check on them.

"I asked the dad: 'Are y'all broke down?' He goes, 'No, we're having a baby,'" Sheffield said.

It was a couple on their way to the hospital. The man was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. The woman was in labor.

Sheffield said he talked them through the delivery of a girl. The woman "did about 99 percent of it, and the father did a lot," he recalled.

"I had time to get the gloves," he said Wednesday in an interview on TODAY. "The father started to pull. I said, 'No, don't pull,' and the baby came out and just happened quick. It was beautiful, and it was on my birthday."

He said the new mother kept her cool the whole time.

"She was a trouper," he said. "She didn't have any anesthesia or anything, any medication or anything. It was 100 percent natural, but she did amazing. She really did."

Journey of peril

Friends Robert Warthen Jr. and James Hunt, both 52, left Atlanta at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and were heading home to Smyrna when they got stuck in the monster gridlock. The drive should have taken 30 minutes.

Warthen said his car's battery died, and they remained stuck on the side of the road along State Route 401 on Wednesday morning.

"We're freezing to death. I'm shaking. I can't feel my feet," Warthen said, his voice choked with emotion.

Earlier in the night, the friends went to a hotel in Marietta, but they didn't have the $159 for a room. Warthen said he saw people smashing windows of parked cars and stealing items, and they decided to leave.

After getting stranded, they repeatedly called AAA but couldn't get through.

"They could pick up the phone and say something!" Warthen said. "Not treat us like we're trash. The government's going to have a lot to answer for."

Stranded trucker: Never seen anything like it

Joe Schmitz, a trucker, was driving from Miami to Atlanta and was almost there when he got stuck at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. More than 20 hours later, he said he hadn't moved.

"I've been driving a truck for 14 years, and I've never with my own eyes witnessed something like this," he told NBC News by phone.

He said that he knew of at least one baby who was stuck in a car without diapers — although Schmitz said he found one for her — and that truckers were taking people in to keep them warm. A truck can run for days on idle, he said.

"There are some people who are really kind of scared," he said, but he added that nobody had a bad attitude.

About 2 a.m., he said, he walked two miles to a gas station, filled five or six bags with food and drinks, walked back and gave them to the stranded.

He said he had been told by authorities that the crisis could stretch through a second night.

Finally to school — and then stuck there

Katie Ganske, a psychologist who works in the city, got an email from E. Rivers Elementary School about 2 p.m. Tuesday. After-school classes were canceled. She got in her car to retrieve her child.

"I looked it up later — it was seven miles, and it took me 8½ hours," she told NBC station WXIA of Atlanta.

By the time she arrived, just before 11 p.m., she decided to stay the night with the roughly 100 kids who were stranded at the elementary school. Her car had spun out on the drive over.

Brave rescue

Neighbors, churches and grocery stores took in strangers. And Chipper Jones, the Atlanta Braves' retired and beloved third baseman, took to his 4-wheeler and rescued a former teammate who was stranded.

It started Tuesday afternoon, when Freddie Freeman, the Braves' current first baseman, tweeted that he was stuck in the brutal jam:

Going on 5 and a half hours in this traffic! Atlanta traffic is the worst but then you add snow...woah!!

— Freddie Freeman (@FreddieFreeman5) January 28, 2014

By late Tuesday night, Jones' girlfriend decided to send him on a rescue mission:

The cavalry arrived:

The rescue was a success:

A memorable night for both of them:

Read more at NBC Sports' HardballTalk.

Out of traffic and jumping in to help

Sheneka Adams of Atlanta was stuck in the traffic Tuesday for four hours.

Even though she was tired, she woke up Wednesday and rushed out the door. Adams, an actress and socialite, volunteers every Wednesday with the group Kashi Atlanta to help out at a homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine streets.

With the winter storm bearing down, she realized there would be an influx of people looking for food and warmth. She was right. There were 500 people, including children, needing a meal.

Adams and her boyfriend, Jacob York, jumped into his Jeep Cherokee and drove to Publix, where they filled an entire cart with water, bologna, cheese and bread.

"I would say we bought out the whole aisle of bread," she told NBC News.

There were so many people that Adams made a second trip to the grocery store.

"Obviously, people have a lot of things going on today," Adams said. "But I couldn't just sit home. There are people out there who still need help."

Nadia Sikander of NBC News contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:55 AM EST

Supreme Court green lights Missouri lethal injection after delay

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Missouri Dept. Of Corrections / AP

By Pete Williams and Tracy Connor, NBC News

A convicted murderer was executed with a controversial lethal injection in Missouri on Wednesday night after a day-long reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Herbert Smulls, 56, who was on death row for murdering a St. Louis jeweler during a 1991 heist, was pronounced dead at 10:20 p.m. central time - less than two hours before his execution warrant would have expired.

Smull was scheduled to die nearly 24 hours earlier, but the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay while the full court weighed two petitions filed by defense lawyers.

The high court denied the petitions and later removed the stay - and then vacated a stay issued by a lower court - and last - minute motions by the defense could not stop the execution.

The defense had challenged Missouri completo current method of lethal injection, which relies on to loosely regulated, out-of-state compounding pharmacy for the drug it uses.

Smulls' lawyers also argued he did not get a fair trial because prosecutors improperly removed a black woman from the jury pool, resulting in an all-white jury.

The condemned man expected out legal the counter-move with a mix of dread and optimism, his legal team said.

"Our client is having a very difficult day," lawyer Cheryl Pilate said several hours before the execution.

"He's trying to remain hopeful while at the same time the people who want to execute him are hovering outside his door."

After the execution, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster issued a statement saying that his "thoughts and prayers" were with the widow, friends and family of victim Stephen Honickman.

Smulls' execution focused fresh attention on prisons' controversial use of compounding pharmacies for drugs used in lethal injections.

With many drug manufacturers refusing to sell their products for executions, death-penalty states have increasingly turned to customer-order specialty pharmacies.

James A. Finley / AP

A 2005 photo of the death chamber at the Missouri Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Mo.

In Smulls' case, his lawyer argued that the state must disclose in court papers the name of the pharmacy that sold the pentobarbital so that it can investigate it and ensure the integrity and sterility of the drug.

His defense team has also argued that pentobarbital could cause extreme pain and cited the Jan. 9 execution of convicted killer Michael Lee Wilson in Oklahoma.

His final words were, "I feel my whole body burning", but he showed no signs of physical distress, according to a media witness.

In a motion filed with the Supreme Court opposing a stay of execution, Missouri noted that Smulls lost numerous challenges to his conviction and sentence in federal and state courts in the 21 years before Tuesday's 11th hour bid for a delay.

"The time for enforcement of Missouri completo criminal judgment against Herbert Smulls is long overdue," state lawyers wrote.

Scores of condemned prisoners across the nation have filed legal challenges to new lethal-injection protocols put in place as the old drugs have become unavailable.

In Ohio, convicted murderer Dennis McGuire failed to win a reprieve by arguing that an untried two-drug compound could trigger an agonizing phenomenon called "air starvation" before death, violating the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

When McGuire was executed Jan. 16, it took him 25 minutes to die and witnesses reported that he repeatedly gasped for air. Three prison guards filed incident reports claiming he said his lawyer told him to put on "a big show," but an investigation by the public defender's office found no evidence of that.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:58 PM EST

Mass transit attack seen as top Super Bowl security risk

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Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters

Un signo de cámara de seguridad de la policía de Nueva York se registra a lo largo del Blvd. Superbowl delante de Super Bowl XLVIII en Nueva York, 29 de enero de 2014.

NUEVA YORK — Atentados como los que se rasgó a través de sitios de tránsito masivo en Rusia por delante de los próximos Juegos Olímpicos de Sochi son una preocupación principal de los funcionarios de seguridad preparándose para el Super Bowl del domingo, dijo el miércoles el jefe de la policía estatal de Nueva Jersey.

Mientras que las autoridades policiales dijeron que no tenían conocimiento de amenazas específicas dirigidas al Campeonato de la NFL el 2 de febrero en East Rutherford, Nueva Jersey, ataques como los mató a 34 personas en dos días en Rusia el año pasado son su mayor preocupación.

"De especial interés para nosotros es lo que estaba pasando en el extranjero en Volgogrado con respecto a los Juegos Olímpicos de Sochi. Como "sabes tanto de esos atentados fueron dirigidos a transporte masivo, Rick Fuentes, Superintendente de la policía estatal de Nueva Jersey, dijo a los reporteros. "Es una preocupación con el transporte público, nos hemos preparado para ello".

Los funcionarios han limitado agudamente aparcamiento MetLife Stadium, donde se jugará juego del domingo y esperar hasta 30.000 personas para llegar en autobús o tren.

Nueva York Departamento de policía Comisario William Bratton dijo que mientras que los funcionarios se centraron en un tipo de tránsito masivo de ataque, no tenían conocimiento de ningún plan específico para apuntar los eventos circundantes o juegos.

"No estamos manteniendo un ojo sobre las actividades alrededor del mundo, pero ciertamente en este momento hay amenazas dirigidas a este evento que somos conscientes de," dijo Bratton.

El estadio se encuentra a unos 10 km al oeste de la ciudad de Nueva York, el sitio de los ataques del 11 de septiembre de 2001. Lo ha bloqueado toda la semana y las autoridades va a escanear todos los vehículos que circulan en, una práctica que continuará el día del partido, dijeron que los funcionarios.

Bratton señaló que la policía de Nueva York estaban usando extensas operaciones de inteligencia desarrolladas desde el atentado del World Trade Center para observar posibles amenazas.

Unas 400.000 personas se estiman que han viajado a la región por los acontecimientos que rodearon el juego, aunque sólo unos 80.000 aficionados se llega a ver el partido Seattle Seahawks-Denver Broncos en persona.

Unos 4.000 oficiales estarán disponibles para el partido del domingo, y los aficionados, serán prohibidos de traer bolsas en el estadio si no son transparentes y no más de 12 pulgadas por 6 pulgadas por 12 pulgadas, con bolsos de las mujeres limitadas a 4,5 pulgadas por 6,5 pulgadas.

La naturaleza contenida del juego resulta más fácil garantizar que los actos públicos, como la maratón de Boston, donde dos olla a presión las bombas fueron detonadas entre una multitud de meta de miles de espectadores, voluntarios y atletas el 15 de abril, matando a tres personas e hiriendo a 264.

'LOBO SOLITARIO' UNA PREOCUPACIÓN

 Pero la feria "Super Bowl Boulevard", a lo largo de un tramo de 3/4 millas de Broadway de Nueva York, presenta un reto diferente, ya que será amplia abierta con hasta 1 millón personas espera para visitar atracciones como el trofeo del Super Bowl y una pista de trineo imponente.

Gran número de policías ha sido asignado al evento y los organizadores han tomado medidas como la eliminación de contenedores de basura a lo largo de la ruta y reemplazarlas con bolsas de plástico transparente que pueden inspeccionarse visualmente fácilmente.

En la planificación del evento, Bratton dijo a policía de Nueva York había preparado para responder a una variedad de ataques.

"Había un montón de focus on the lone wolf, los escenarios 'mochila queda sin garantía', así que estamos preparados", dijo Bratton.

Los bombarderos de Boston dejaron sus explosivos de fabricación casera a lo largo del curso en mochilas negras.

Relacionados: Super Bowl red de seguridad emitidos amplia para proteger eventos relacionados, juegos

Los fanáticos que visitaron la feria el miércoles dijeron confiaban debido a la presencia policial grande.

"Puedo ver a policías acabó, así que creo que es bastante seguro," dijo Steven Ferraro, 18 años, del barrio de Brooklyn de Nueva York. "Cualquier cosa puede suceder en cualquier parte, pero creo que es seguro".

Adicional por David Jones en East Rutherford, Nueva Jersey

Copyright 2014 Thomson Reuters. Haga clic para ver las restricciones.

Nine killed in Kentucky house fire, authorities say

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WFIE

Nine people were killed early Thursday, Jan. 30, when fire tore through a house in Kentucky, authorities said.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, Staff Writer, NBC News

A mother and eight children were killed when a fire ignited by an electric heater tore through a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Nine of an 11-member family were found dead in the house fire that erupted in a Muhlenberg County home in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State Police public affairs officer.

Two parents and their nine children lived in the single-story home, Recke said.

On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State Police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and the eight children killed: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.

The father and another child escaped the fire and were flown to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 miles away for treatment, Recke said.

Leslie Hill, a Vanderbilt Medical Center spokeswoman, said Chad Watson, 36, and Kylie Watson, 11, were both in critical but stable condition.

More than 12 hours after the fire, investigators determined that an electric baseboard heater ignited a combustible material accidentally left too close to the heat source, Recke said.

The temperature in Muhlenberg County dropped to 1 degree overnight, while the region is accustomed to 35 degree temperatures in January, according to Weatherbase.com.

“We normally don’t have weather like that,” said Laura Bennett, who lives two doors down from the devastated house. “They said when they was trying to put the fire out, the water was turning to ice,” she added.

Bennett said the house had no more than three bedrooms and that the eleven family members were “piled up” in the limited space.

Harold McElvain, a former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was “a nice young family.”

“Everybody loved the kids,” McElvain said.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

Members of the Kentucky State Fire Marshall's office look over the remains of a house fire in Muhlenberg County, Ky., Thursday Jan. 30, 2014.

Bennett said that Samuel was playing at her house on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.

“He went home, and then 10 hours later he’s gone.”

A neighbor called the fire department around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the house was “fully engulfed” when they arrive minutes later.

Crews put the fire out within an hour, Recke said. Still, “as I’m facing the house, the right side of the house is basically gone,” he added.

Recke said no other property was damaged in the neighborhood, which is about 150 miles southwest of Louisville.

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed his sympathies to the family and community from the senate floor on Thursday afternoon. “The entire Commonwealth stands beside Muhlenberg County right now, and we’ll do whatever we can to help you recover from this horrific loss.”

Nine people, including eight children, are feared dead after a fire ripped through a home in Greenville, Kentucky. NBC News' Frances Kuo reports.

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:24 PM EST

Puños fugitive sentenced to read the book by Malcolm Gladwell

AP file

Rebecca Rubin, in a photo of the Act without date, delivered at the Canada-washington border in November 2012 after a decade as a fugitive.

By M. Alex Johnson, writer, NBC News

As part of his sentence to help the Earth Liberation Front burned $40 million value of the property, Rebecca Rubin will also need to do some homework: a federal judge ordered to read two books, including one by famed social sciences author Malcolm Gladwell.

Rubin, 40, who evaded capture for a decade until he surrendered in 2012, was convicted in October of conspiracy and fire caused by her role with the Group extremist Eco-terrorismo between 1996 and 2001.

He was sentenced Monday in Portland, ore., to five years in prison and to pay $13 million in restitution.

It was the minimum sentence available for U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, who rejected the request of a 7½-year sentence prosecutors.

Aiken was strongly impressed by a heartfelt letter of apology that Rubin submitted to the Court (.pdf), in which it wrote that while "at the time I thought that my only motivation was my deep love for the land, now I understand that they were also involved impatience, anger, selfishness and self-righteousness."

"Dismiss the adverse emotional and psychological impact that may result from my actions," wrote.

Aiken called the letter a "thoughtful, well established, honest, sincere apology/explanation," added: "I understand more than what you know when you work in a democracy that all things seem that are black and white when you're young." And there are many shades of gray.

In addition to lightening judgment of Rubin, the judge ordered Rubin to read "David and Goliath," the latest book by The New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell, describing how the little guy can beat the establishment by alternative means.

Aiken also trust "of nature" by Mary Christina Wood, expert on environmental law in Rubin reading list.

The New York Times called the book by Gladwell "impressive and reflection", but "deeply repetitive and disconcerting disarray."

Watch videos of crime us news on MSNBC.com

California man arrested after 300 snakes found in your home

Bruce Chambers, / AP

Bobby DeCastro of FOX11 and Wendy Burch of KTLA 5 TV reporters try to circumvent the stink emanating from a House that contains hundreds of snakes, many of them dead or decaying, in Santa Ana, Calif. On the left, Sondra Berg, a supervisor of animal for Santa Ana police services, holds an albino ball Python who was one of the survivors.

By Elizabeth Chuck, writer, NBC News

A primary school teacher was arrested Wednesday after police found at least 300 Pythons slithering inside his home in Southern California - and many more dead snakes.

Police and animal control officers served a search warrant Wednesday 7 a.m. PT in the residencia Santa Ana when neighbors complained of a foul smell from House. Inside, hundreds of snakes were found, all believed that Pythons - some of whom died.

William Fredrick Buchman, a teacher at the elementary school in Newport Beach Mariners, was arrested on charges of animal cruelty, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

The snakes were "mostly live, but there were some dead, along with some mice and rats." I don't know if that's what fed off them, "said Santa Ana Police Department watch Commander Bill Nimmo.

Some of the snakes were caged, he said.

Police did not say if others lived in the House.

Reporters outside the House held their noses against the stench as plastic trays containing snakes were brought out and placed on a sidewalk.

"There are all forms of decay," said Sondra Berg, a supervisor of animal services in the Santa Ana Police Department. "From the skeletons of dead in recent days. There is a plague of rats and mice. They are on the loose around the House. There are rats and mice in plastic tubs that are actually canabalizing each other."

Officials said that front four rooms in the House were packed floor to ceiling with snake cages, reported NBC Los Angeles. They said that Buchman was breeding ball Pythons for sale.

Officials said that the surviving snakes were carried to a veterinary hospital for food and medicines.

Bruce Chambers / AP

A TV cameraman recorded snakes taken from a house in Santa Ana on Tuesday.

This story was originally posted on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 11:37 AM EST

Oklahoma Professor names son after student killed in tornado

Sue Ogrocki / AP

Jennifer Rogers, left and her husband Nyle Rogers, right, smiles while keeping your baby Jack Nicolas Rogers, at their home in Edmond, Okla., Tuesday, January 14, 2014.

By Kristi Eaton, The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY - School wall collapsed about Jennifer Doan Rogers as he desperately tried to protect pupils from third grade as a tornado ripped through their community of Oklahoma. The young teacher had been one of his hands Nicolas McCabe, 9-year-old with an infectious smile.

But it was not enough to protect it.

The tornado monstrous level part of Plaza towers elementary in Moore, killing six of his students - including Nicolas - last spring. Rogers, who was pregnant with eight weeks, was buried under the rubble with a broken back.

"It was actually the closest to me, that was at hand, that not to do so," he said.

Seven months later, Rogers gave birth to a child. She named it after Nicolas.

Rogers, 31, said that he had been thinking for some time. I wasn't sure if it would bring her sadness over his own son the name of his former pupil, a child who wanted to assemble his go-kart, and according to his father, never met a stranger. He was also very close to his mother.

Ultimately, Rogers said, she and her husband decided to Jack Nicolas.

The new mother hoped it would help her infant son, who was born in December, in the recovery of injuries, both physical and emotional - that suffered during the storm. EF5 tornado of first level, with winds over 200 mph, tore a path of 17-mile drive from the devastation of the suburb of Oklahoma City on May 20. The storm killed 24 people and destroyed scores of houses and buildings, including two primary schools.

Father Nicholas, Scott McCabe, struggles to talk about losing his only son. But said that Nicolas, regardless of age or sex, friend them. He often shared his lunch with their friends.

Learning that Professor Nicolas was to appoint his own son once he brought a wave of emotions, said McCabe.

"It is very difficult. He was my only son. "I say I am honored, Yes, but was the last playing Nicolas, said McCabe broke cry."I don't know how to say it, she was the last person to see my son. And it is still a little difficult.

Rogers, is also recovering. She suffered a fracture of the spine and sternum. He refused pain medications for fear to damage your baby, and he wore a corset for several weeks.

"It was much harder than my other pregnancies, of course," said Rogers, who also has two daughters, ages 6 and 3. "It was so limited. I couldn't do much. A while after what happened was in full support and bring to it and only, i.e., was hard."

But it is determined to complete the work necessary to return to the classroom. Although you know that it will be difficult, he said that he hopes to get approval to return to teaching next year - at Plaza Towers.

The school is being rebuilt, this time with reinforced safe rooms that can withstand powerful storms.

"I feel that there is much of me there still," said Rogers. "I think it is difficult at the same time, but it will be a new year and a new building."

© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material does not may be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Nine feared dead, including 8 children, in Kentucky house fire

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WFIE

Nine people were killed early Thursday, Jan. 30, when fire tore through a house in Kentucky, authorities said.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, Staff Writer, NBC News

A mother and eight children were killed when a fire ignited by an electric heater tore through a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Nine of an 11-member family were found dead in the house fire that erupted in a Muhlenberg County home in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State Police public affairs officer.

Two parents and their nine children lived in the single-story home, Recke said.

On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State Police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and the eight children killed: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.

The father and another child escaped the fire and were flown to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 miles away for treatment, Recke said.

Leslie Hill, a Vanderbilt Medical Center spokeswoman, said Chad Watson, 36, and Kylie Watson, 11, were both in critical but stable condition.

More than 12 hours after the fire, investigators determined that an electric baseboard heater ignited a combustible material accidentally left too close to the heat source, Recke said.

The temperature in Muhlenberg County dropped to 1 degree overnight, while the region is accustomed to 35 degree temperatures in January, according to Weatherbase.com.

“We normally don’t have weather like that,” said Laura Bennett, who lives two doors down from the devastated house. “They said when they was trying to put the fire out, the water was turning to ice,” she added.

Bennett said the house had no more than three bedrooms and that the eleven family members were “piled up” in the limited space.

Harold McElvain, a former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was “a nice young family.”

“Everybody loved the kids,” McElvain said.

Timothy D. Easley / AP

Members of the Kentucky State Fire Marshall's office look over the remains of a house fire in Muhlenberg County, Ky., Thursday Jan. 30, 2014.

Bennett said that Samuel was playing at her house on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.

“He went home, and then 10 hours later he’s gone.”

A neighbor called the fire department around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the house was “fully engulfed” when they arrive minutes later.

Crews put the fire out within an hour, Recke said. Still, “as I’m facing the house, the right side of the house is basically gone,” he added.

Recke said no other property was damaged in the neighborhood, which is about 150 miles southwest of Louisville.

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed his sympathies to the family and community from the senate floor on Thursday afternoon. “The entire Commonwealth stands beside Muhlenberg County right now, and we’ll do whatever we can to help you recover from this horrific loss.”

Nine people, including eight children, are feared dead after a fire ripped through a home in Greenville, Kentucky. NBC News' Frances Kuo reports.

This story was originally published on Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:24 PM EST

Gunman Maryland Mall wrote kill people

Jose Luis Magana / AP

Kathren Cameron placed a bear at the Mall later reopened to the public, Monday, January 27, 2014, in Columbia, Maryland.

Hasani Gittens, Editor of noticias, NBC News

The young man who killed two employees of the skate shop and then killed himself inside a mall wrote about killing people in his diary and said that he was willing to die, the Maryland Police revealed on Wednesday.

Howard County Police released details of the magazine by Darion Aguilar via his Twitter account.

Researchers say the Aguilar 19-year-old killed Brianna Benlolo, 21, of College Park, MD., and Tyler Johnson, 25, of Mount Airy, MD., at a skateboard hats store in the shopping center in Colombia and then took his life. Detectives have been trying to determine a motive.

Police now say Aguilar wrote in general terms in his diary about killing people--but he said targeting certain people or places. Police say that the magazine "expresses one general hatred of others" and the willingness to die.

They said it showed that "you knew that he had mental health problems."

Brochure / Reuters

Darion Marcus Aguilar, 19, of College Park, Maryland, identified by police as the gunman on Saturday Columbia Mall shooting, is seen in a photo without date released by the Howard County Police Department.

It also apologized to his family for what he planned to do, they said.

On Wednesday police also detailed how Aguilar riding shotgun before the massacre.

Aguilar took the unfixed Mossberg shotgun 12 gauge in the Mall in a backpack, said the Howard County Police Department on his Twitter account.

Aguilar, who also lived in College Park, MD., assembling the shotgun in a dressing room at Skate hats store.

Aguilar came out of the dressing room, he shot the victims and then committed suicide, police "believed", they said. Before, the researchers said that Aguilar had spent at least an hour at the mall before the spree.

The skate shop had no there are video cameras, so there is no material from the shooting, he said. The police has said that Aguilar had six shots.

At one point, he left the store and injured a woman who was hit in the foot, police said.

Aguilar was dead when officers arrived less than two minutes after the first call to 911, police said.

Researchers have not a motive for the shooting. Police said that they have not appeared any relationship between the employees of the shop and Aguilar.

Police believe that Aguilar purchased legally the shotgun last month. The attack was the latest in a series of shootings in the United States, which has renewed questions about the vulnerability of public places in the United States.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report