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Investigators are combing through phone records, locomotive data, radio transmissions and surveillance video to determine if the engineer in last week's deadly Amtrak derailment was using his cellphone while at the controls, federal authorities said Wednesday. Brandon Bostian's phone records show calls were made, text messages were sent and data was used the day of the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said, but it remains unclear if the phone was used while the train was in motion. Investigators won't be able make that determination until after a time-consuming analysis comparing time stamps from Bostian's subpoenaed phone records with those...

Following the brutal beating of a Dundalk man, local lawmakers are asking for the closure of a Baltimore City alternative high school where students allegedly involved in the attack attend. In a letter sent to city school officials on Tuesday, Dundalk representatives asked for an immediate closure of the Baltimore Community High School. "We are not convinced that an acceptable and effective remedy can be implemented before the next school year," the lawmakers wrote. "We request expeditious closing of this school for the good of the students and the Harborview Community in Dundalk."

Nearly 1 million Silicon Valley residents will face strict water quotas — and pricey surcharges for going over — under what will soon be the Bay Area’s most far-reaching rationing plan in four years of drought. For most customers, who live in single-family homes and townhomes, the limit will be 70 percent of what the average household used in the same period in 2013, meaning an average 30 percent cutback. The move comes as the state hands down mandatory reductions for California’s 400 biggest water agencies in response to Gov. Jerry Brown’s emergency drought declaration. The rationing plan will not...

According to the results, 60 percent of Americans believe the nation is on the wrong path. The Princeton Survey Research Associates International underlined that 52 percent of those who identified as Democrats, said they had a favorable view of socialism. 33 percent of Independents shared the view. Among other highlights of the survey, Obama's foreign policy is approved by only 37 percent of Americans and not even one in five like the job Congress is doing. Noteworthy, that fifty percent of Americans say they're open to allowing states to repeal federal laws if half or more of the states, representing...

Many were called. Few chose to respond. The federal Obamacare insurance marketplace HealthCare.gov signed up 147,000 people in 36 states during a special tax season enrollment period, officials revealed Tuesday. HealthCare.gov issued the final tally via Twitter rather than a press release or news call that Obama administration officials have previously used to announce other numbers and results. In all, it appears fewer than 250,000 people signed up nationally. In Hawaii, no people—as in zero—signed up during the special tax season enrollment.

LOS ANGELES — The nation’s second-largest city voted on Tuesday to increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020 from the current $9 an hour, in what is perhaps the most significant victory so far in the national push to raise the minimum wage. The increase — which the Los Angeles City Council passed in a 14-1 vote — comes as workers across the country are rallying for higher wages. The impact is likely to be particularly strong in Los Angeles, where, according to some estimates, more than 40 percent of the city’s work force earns less than...

Northern Ireland -- A judge has ruled that a Christian-run bakery discriminated against a gay customer by refusing to make a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan. Ashers Baking Company, based in County Antrim, was taken to court by gay rights activist Gareth Lee. A Belfast judge said, as a business, Ashers was not exempt from discrimination law. The firm's general manager said they were "extremely disappointed" by the ruling and are considering an appeal. The judge said Ashers is "conducting a business for profit", and it is not a religious group. The firm was found to have discriminated against...

BAGHDAD — Islamic State militants searched door-to-door for policemen and pro-government fighters and threw bodies in the Euphrates River in a bloody purge Monday after capturing the strategic city of Ramadi, their biggest victory since overrunning much of northern and western Iraq last year. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said more than 6,500 families had fled in recent days, with the hospital in the nearby city of Khaldiya reporting many casualties. Ramadi's streets were deserted a day after the city's fall, with only a few people venturing out of their homes to search for food. They said IS militants were...

Update: Nice catch by the GOP, noting that some of Hillary’s exchanges with Blumenthal come from the e-mail address “hrod17@clintonemail.com.” Two months ago, Hillary’s office issued a statement claiming that she only used one e-mail address during her time at State, the “hdr22″ address. Her lawyer, in response to a specific question about the “hrod17″ e-mail address, claimed flat out that that address didn’t exist until after she’d stepped down as secretary. Today’s e-mail revelation proves him wrong. Did Hillary lie to her staff and her attorney about that or did they lie for her? How many other “nonexistent” addresses...

With Hillary Clinton rapidly approaching a month since she answered a question from a reporter, her allies are working to push back on the idea that she is ducking the press. "PUTTING THE VOTERS FIRST, HILLARY ASKS THE QUESTIONS THAT REALLY MATTER," read the subject line of an e-mail -- ALL CAPS in the original! -- that arrived in my inbox this morning courtesy of Correct The Record, a pro-Clinton super PAC directly coordinating with the presidential campaign on rapid response. The missive lays out the facts aimed at putting lie to the "she won't answer questions" narrative. The group...

FULL TITLE: 700 Kenyan Evangelical Pastors Urge Obama Not to 'Preach' Gay Marriage Support During Visit; Archbishop Accuses Obama of 'Ruining' American Society President Barack Obama has been urged by the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, comprised of 700 pastors, not to "preach" and impose his views in support of same-sex marriage on the Kenyan people when he visits the African country in July. "We would like to send a strong message to the U.S. president that the homosexuality debate should not become part of his agenda, as it has been his tendency whenever he comes to Africa," Bishop Mark Kariuki...

President Obama’s strategy in fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) is facing fresh scrutiny after the militant group toppled government forces in the major Iraqi city of Ramadi. The city’s fall represented the biggest military gain for ISIS this year. The White House on Monday acknowledged the seizure represents a “setback” but signaled it is unlikely to alter its approach to fighting ISIS. But there are signs the public has become increasingly worried about ISIS’s gains in Iraq and Syria. Even members of Obama’s own party say the loss of Ramadi should be cause for alarm. “The loss of Ramadi is...

There's more than a touch of absurdity in the way an industry fee in President Barack Obama's health care law is being passed along to state taxpayers. As Alice in Wonderland might say, a curious tax just got curiouser. The burden to states could mount to $13 billion in less than a decade. The Health Insurance Providers Fee was aimed at insurance companies. The thinking went: Because insurers would gain a windfall of customers, they ought to help pay for the expansion of coverage. Insurers say they have raised prices for individuals and small businesses to cover the new tax....

One of the more bizarre spectacles of U.S. government in the modern age is the sight of political leaders complaining that a public program is actually working. In many states that expanded Medicaid and even some that rejected expansion under the Affordable Care Act, enrollment has significantly exceeded projections. To some political leaders, for some reason, this is supposed to be a bad thing. Some Republican governors are in effect calling it "an 'I told you so' moment". In Michigan, for instance, first-year enrollment was projected at 323,000, but enrollment topped out at 605,000. Illinois expected 199,000, and has ended...

Chicago has become the promised land for undocumented migrants with kidney problems, people who in other states receive no medical care due to their immigration status although here they can get free dialysis and kidney transplants. The Illinois legislature last October passed a law that provides funds for kidney transplants for undocumented migrants, the first such legislation in the United States. Religious and community organizations such as Latinos por la Salud and the Mision de Vida, Fe y Esperanza have received requests for help from people arriving from the neighboring states of Wisconsin and Minnesota, while others have traveled much...

Warmer ocean temperatures appear to be fueling more intense hurricanes at the expense of the overall number of storms, says a new study published today in Nature Climate Change. Over the past decade, studies have analyzed ad nauseam how warmer temperatures might be changing the annual number of hurricanes, or the maximum intensity. But in practice, the connection between hurricanes and climate change has been a hard nut to crack because of an equally simple caveat — we just don’t have enough years of good historical data to predict how hurricanes intensity or frequency might change in our warming future....

Investigators of Tuesday's deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia reportedly have obtained a search warrant for the cell phone records of the train engineer in an effort to determine if he was distracted in the moments leading up to the fatal crash. The Inquirer reported that police officials had discussed the possibility of pressing charges against Bostian as early in the investigation as Wednesday morning. However, the Philadelphia District Attorney's office decided there had not been enough evidence collected to do so.

Governor Jerry Brown announced May budget revisions today that added $38 million in funding for the Long Beach-headquartered California State University (CSU) system, boosted community college funding by $600 million and provided $5 million in funding for application assistance for undocumented immigrants statewide.State Senator Ricardo Lara said Brown’s additional funding was a good start, but more needs to be done to help undocumented immigrants. Local officials responded to the news with measured enthusiasm. State Senator Ricardo Lara said Brown’s additional funding was a good start, but more needs to be done to help undocumented immigrants. “I applaud Governor Brown for...

Students in a program that provides otherwise unavailable funding to undocumented students will present their research findings Thursday afternoon in Powell Library. Ruth Batres said she discovered the UndocuBruins Research Program at UCLA and realized it was an opportunity for her to conduct research and spread awareness about violence against women in her hometown, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. “I wanted to do something to help my aunt and my cousin and others like them,” said Batres, an undocumented fourth-year Latin American studies student. Students receive a $1,000 stipend each quarter from the UndocuBruins Research Program which is funded by the UC...

A portrait of the engineer at the helm of a speeding Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia began to emerge on Thursday as the man's lawyer said his client could not remember the crash and rescuers pulled an eighth body from the wreckage. With the engineer facing intense scrutiny over his role in the accident, Philadelphia police said they launched a criminal investigation into Tuesday's crash of the New York-bound train. Bostian was described as quiet and unassuming by people who crossed his path in Forest Hills, a middle-class section of Queens where he resides. Three workers at the nearby...