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Austin Fire Department arson investigator, Captain Jeffrey Dean, said that 30-year-old Ryan Faircloth on Wednesday reportedly threw a Molotov cocktail device inside the building, CNN reported. Investigators believe that Faircloth intentionally set fire to the building for political reasons. “I think it was one of those things, you know, that this person was not happy with the current political climate, he blamed this office and who they represent for a lot of the issues that he saw as problems with the country and for that reason this was an intentional act,” Deane said....

Shane Belleville, 36, of Holbrook was charged with assault and battery, four counts of civil rights violations, four counts of assault with attempt to intimidate based on race and four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon (motor vehicle). Belleville was arrested by the Holbrook police last Thursday at his home and was arraigned at the Quincy District Court. He was released that day after posting $750 bail. The arrest and subsequent charges came shortly after police responded to a call on April 10 at approximately 1:15 p....

It was an average Saturday morning in Saratoga Springs, Utah. As locals drove up and down the Pony Express Parkway, the name of the parkway being very apropos, drivers were greeted by the familiar sight of mountains and the open road. But things turned a bit weird when drivers witnessed a police chase. Even weirder, the police weren’t after the driver of a speeding car, but rather an escaped horse....

Meet Lachi — pronounced “Lucky” — the latest discovery of the TV show “Romania’s Got Talent.” The police dog and his partner, Ghenadie Rotaru, work for the border police agency in Chisinau, the capital city of the Republic of Moldova. Lachi is a Belgian Malinois, a breed developed for shepherds and cattlemen, according to the American Kennel Club. He recently celebrated his sixth birthday. Video footage obtained by Zenger shows a compilation of Lachi’s tricks, including hopping up a stone staircase on his two hind legs, backpedaling with a trainer and walking those tightropes....

Four symbols were found spray-painted on the front pillars of the building in the 2200 block of Chestnut Street in Center City on Sunday, CBS Philly reported. The swastikas were painted over later in the day, according to the station. In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross said it was “saddened and disappointed” to discover the graffiti. “The graffiti was extremely insensitive and does not reflect the open and inclusive values and Fundamental Principles of the American Red Cross,” it added....

On Saturday, Jessica Covington, 32, was fatally shot in the head and stomach when she was unloading gifts at her northeast Philadelphia home after her baby shower. Police believe the unknown perpetrator was “looking for” the woman and targeted her during the shooting. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called the news “deeply upsetting and heartbreaking” and backed an increased reward for the arrest of the person responsible. Philadelphia city policy sets a $20,000 reward for an arrest in a homicide case, but Managing Director Tumar Alexander authorized police to up the reward to $50,000 after consulting with Kenney....

The Roswell Police Department incident report, which was obtained by Newsweek, states that officers received a 911 call reporting that an individual was suffering from cardiac arrest at Thomas’ home in Roswell, Georgia. Officers arrived to the home at around 7 p.m. local time and were met by an individual outside the home who directed officers to the bedroom shower inside the residence. When they reached the bedroom shower, officers noticed Thomas, 33, unconscious lying on the floor of the shower....

Pasco Sheriff’s deputies said they were called to a store at State Road 54 and Little Road in New Port Richey on November 19 after the suspect, who may have been facing mental health issues or “under the influence of an unknown substance,” climbed into the ceiling. Police said in a statement that the Walmart was temporarily evacuated while deputies worked with the man to try and persuade him to come out of the crawl space....

Talley, 51, was one of 10 victims who were killed in the shooting after he was the first officer to respond to the scene. Boulder police said that they used his handcuffs to later arrest Alissa as a “small gesture” to honor his service. “This week several Boulder Police officers & others responded to a local hospital to formally place Monday’s shooting suspect into custody. As they did, officers informed him the handcuffs used that day were those of Officer Eric Talley....

During widespread demonstrations across the U.S., law enforcement personnel have tried to break up gatherings, which at points have turned violent, with a range of crowd control measures. Scenes of smoke let off amid the crowds and protesters fleeing rubber bullets have drawn criticism, with some raising fears that irritants such as tear gas could exacerbate the spread of coronavirus amid groups. An open letter signed by more than 1,000 health experts raised fears that tear gas and other such irritants “could increase risk for COVID-19 by making the respiratory tract more susceptible to infection, exacerbating existing inflammation, and inducing coughing....

Elisa Rivera, 51, was sentenced Wednesday in Miami federal court, according to a release from the Department of Justice (DOJ). After she serves 60 days in prison, 18 months of supervised release will follow, with the first 60 days being in home confinement, the statement said. Before her hearing on Wednesday, Rivera paid the money she had obtained for herself and others fraudulently back to the federal government. Rivera pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud....

All this common sense is being lost in a rising tide of political child abuse. Political child abuse is the manipulation of “pro-family” and “pro-children” themes to promote political handouts that have little, if anything, to do with family stability or children’s welfare. President Bush will apparently make this pitch in his State of the Union Message by proposing a tax break (an increase in the personal exemption) for families....

Presidential candidates kept us busy: *Republican Rudy Giuliani made false claims over and over about his record as mayor of New York, and even about England’s health care system. *Democrat Bill Richardson also mangled the facts repeatedly, claiming credit for creating more jobs as New Mexico’s governor than actually materialized and using a made-up figure about the performance of U.S. students, among other misstatements. *Republican Mitt Romney claimed undeserved credit for himself as governor of Massachusetts and made false or misleading claims about two of his rivals....

Spaulding’s fate could have implications for his old friend McCain. Since the election, the Arizona senator has pushed for more, not fewer, troops in the Iraq conflict, claiming “without additional ground forces we will not win this war.” It’s a striking stance for a man considered to be the front runner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, considering the American public’s growing impatience for the end of the war....

Since that appearance, Clear Ink–the Internet marketing firm that designed Capitol Hill for Second Life–says three more House members’ offices from both parties have expressed interest in the forum. An avatar for Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already been created; Pelosi’s office says she would consider appearing. Troi Nelson, who built Pelosi’s avatar based on photos, says she aimed for realism, but added a “twinkle” to the Speaker’s eyes. “She has really distinctive features,” Nelson says....

Midway through last night’s Academy Awards, the renegade director won the best documentary Oscar for “Bowling for Columbine.” He not only brought one of his producers to the stage with him, but also every other filmmaker in his category. “They’re here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction,” said Moore in front of 3,000 guests at the Kodak Theatre and hundreds of millions of TV viewers worldwide. “We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times....

The latest Quinnipiac University poll found that while 44 percent of voters in Texas said they supported President Donald Trump, voter support for Biden rose to 45 percent, up two points from a similar poll conducted in June. Pollsters said this month’s poll was conducted between July 16 and July 20 with a 4.3 percent margin of error among the 880 adult respondents who identified as registered voters. Last month’s poll results showed a shift among voters that pollsters said suggested the state could lean Democratic for the first time in a presidential election since 1976....

Approximately 62 percent of Republican conservative-leaning independents surveyed in the CNN/SSRS poll said they wanted their party to nominate someone other than Trump. Among Democrats and liberal-leaning independents, 59 percent said the same about Biden. When push comes to shove, however, respondents of both political affiliations said they would support their prospective nominee if they were at the top of the ticket. About eight in 10 Republicans would support Trump in that scenario, and about 86 percent of Democrats or independents leaning left would support Biden....

Pompeo has amplified direct criticism of the Chinese Communist Party over the past month through several actions, including the restriction of visas against all current and former CCP officials “complicit” in undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy. The Trump administration has chastised the Chinese government in tit-for-tat remarks that escalated at the end of last year, at the outset of both the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy Hong Kong protests....