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A 12-METRE monolith, hacked out of limestone by stone-age humans some nine thousand years ago, has been found at the bottom of the Mediterranean. The enormous stone totem, now split in two and sitting in the Sicilian Channel between Tunisia and Sicily, was hewed from a rocky outcrop some 300m away when the Mediterranean Sea was still a dry basin. It’s now under 40m of water. The new study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, says the area was submerged about 9350 years ago (give or take 200 years) when the last Ice Age retreated. Before that time the...

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) - Officials say nearly 300 Columbus jobs will be lost with the closing of the Apogee Retail call center. The Columbus Telegram reports (http://bit.ly/1Ikppdx ) that the company announced the closing on Tuesday, after workers were informed. The closing is planned for Oct. 4. Apogee is a subsidiary of Savers LLC and operates more than 330 thrift stores in the U.S., Canada and Australia. The Columbus operation employs 176 full-time and 120 part-time workers....

Former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who ignited a national firestorm when he shot and killed African-American man Michael Brown, opened up recently in an interview with The New Yorker. Wilson revealed that since the shooting, he has struggled to find work and has been denied employment in several police departments in the St. Louis area. After working for a shoe store for two weeks, he quit when reporters began calling. His wife, who is also a police officer, also quit her job for her own safety. Wilson also revealed the he actually sought out the Ferguson police department because...

Man killed in police shooting had lengthy criminal past Updated: 08/01/2015 10:19 PM | Created: 08/01/2015 10:09 PM By: Stephanie Claytor, KOB Eyewitness NEws 4 The alleged gunman shot down by Albuquerque police officers Friday was out on bond at the time of the incident. Rafael Molina Jr., 33, was a convicted drug dealer, drunk driver and someone who threatened people with weapons, according to court records. Officers were chasing Molina after a 911 caller told police he had kidnapped a woman. The chase ended on Edith near Garfield, on Bonnie Green's mother's doorstep. "By the time I actually got...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2015/07/31/gop-presidential-candidate-ted-cruz-celebrated-trump-controversial-immigration-comments-dad-says/30944153/

The dashcam video released to the public of the violent arrest of Sandra Bland was edited.Bland was a 28-year-old Black Lives Matter civil rights activist and vocal critic of police brutality who died in police custody after a Texas officer pulled her over for a traffic violation, ordered her out of her car when she refused to put out her cigarette, and aggressively arrested her. Police say Bland committed suicide, yet the Waller County prosecutor says Bland’s case is “being treated just as it would be a murder investigation.”The Texas Department of Public Safety uploaded dashcam police video of the...

IVERNESS, Fla. — A Florida gun store owner has announced that Muslims are now banned from his gun shop. Andy Hallinan, owner of Florida Gun Supply in Inverness, says that, effective immediately, his store is a “Muslim-free zone.” In a controversial video posted online, he speaks of the history of the Confederate flag and goes on to say, “Our leaders are telling you Islam is a peaceful religion full of tolerance and love and hope. Don’t believe their lies.” Hallinan stated that last week’s deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was the final straw for him....

Marines give off their own uniforms for a comrade.(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Vince Maranto entered the Marine Corps during the Korean War in 1951, and for the rest of his life, he lived by the slogan "Once a Marine, always a Marine." And that's the way he wanted to be buried -- in full dress blues. When Maranto died June 30, son Tony remembered his dad's wish, but years removed from the war, Vince Maranto had held onto only his coat. Tony scrambled to assemble pieces of a complete Marine uniform in the days before the funeral, calling around to surplus stores with little...

Tony Hsieh could buy a private island if he wanted to. The Zappos CEO has a reported net worth of $840 million. But Hsieh chooses to live in a Las Vegas trailer park he owns, according to a recent profile in The New York Times. The trailer park is "crammed with shiny silver Airstreams that are rented out to visiting computer coders," according to David Gelles at The Times. Hsieh lives in a trailer in the community he calls "Llamapolis" with his pet alpaca. The trailer park is part of Hsieh's $350 million investment into making Las Vegas a metropolitan...

The sister of Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the suspected Chattanooga, Tenn. shooter, allegedly once told a reporter, “There’s this misconception that Islam is a violent religion. Muslims are actually peaceful.” In 2010, Yasmeen Abdulazeez was interviewed for a Chattanooga Times Free Press article about how “Muslim teens seek acceptance, understanding.” Yameen Abdulazeez reflected on the anti-Islamic harassment she claims to have experienced. …

A QuikTrip convenience store destroyed during unrest in Ferguson will be rebuilt as a community center. Nearly one year ago, massive demonstrations occurred within the St. Louis suburb and across the nation to protest the death of unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown. He was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. The center’s creation was funded by three companies: QuikTrip, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Starbucks. The center’s focus will be on much needed job-training and placement for African-Americans. The Urban League has also pledged to train and find jobs for 500 young people in this area by the end...

OCALA, Fla. — Thousands of people rode in motorcycles and trucks to attend a rally and Pride Ride Sunday in Ocala to show support for the Confederate flag. The event was intended as a peaceful rally in support of the Confederate flag, but gunshots rang out nearby and now police are investigating. No one was hurt, but police said at least six shots were fired from an apartment complex near the Livestock Pavilion where the 17-mile ride started. Residents of the predominately African-American neighborhood dispute that the gunfire came from their complex. They said they were being harassed by the...

As I have noted, I never bet more than a six-pack on politics. That keeps it at a level that is fun but not serious. In that regard, I made a bet last spring with state Senator Mike Doherty over whether Chris Christie would formally enter the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. I said yes. Mike said no. Frankly I was a bit surprised. Mike is a conservative Republican from Warren County who has been quite outspoken in his assessment of Christie's overbearing ego and ambition. I thought he of all people would predict that Christie would make...

Political reaction to the announcement that the Army plans to cut 40,000 soldiers within the next two years was predictable in Arizona. With Fort Huachuca scheduled to lose 114 soldiers by 2017, local Congresswoman Martha McSally issued a statement Thursday warning that the force reduction was “short-sighted,” and properly reminded people that the local post is conducting some of the military’s most important missions at a time when national security has never been more threatened. Arizona Sen. John McCain said the aggression of ISIS in the Middle East and events in the Ukraine have “overturned” any conceivable strategic rationale for...

Calling Iraq and Syria a "single battle space," Sen. Lindsey Graham said he'd place around 10,000 troops in Syria today if he were president, in order to eradicate the heart of the Islamic State group's attempted caliphate. That call amounted to one of the most aggressive proposals by a 2016 presidential candidate regarding dealing with Syria, which has been engulfed in years of fighting between the government, rebels and Islamic militants. In remarks before The Atlantic Council on Wednesday, Graham, R-S.C., said half-measures like arming the Kurds to fight the Islamic State group were insufficient, and name-checked two of his...

More than 10,000 students are expected to benefit from a last-minute bill passed by legislators this week that makes Oregon only the second state (after Tennessee) to offer free community college. The idea, according to state Sen. Mark Hass (D-Beaverton), is that a lot of needy students who might like to attend community college are currently failing to apply for federal grants that could pay for much of their education. The new legislation, Senate Bill 81, offers a carrot: If eligible students apply for and receive federal grants for community college, Oregon will pay the balance of their tuition. The...

UPDATE: 6:45 a.m. Monday: The Cape Horn Fire is now estimated to be around 2,000 acres. Crews have confirmed six homes have been destroyed, all on the eastern half of Cape Horn and containment is 0%. The fire spread rapidly overnight and evacuations have been issued by the Bonner County Sheriff's Office in the Cape Horn and Bayview areas using reverse 911.

The Washington Post ventured down to Bastrop, Texas on Saturday and found an undetermined amount of people who fear that President Obama is plotting to impose martial law in the Lone Star State as part of a military operation called Jade Helm. Other citizens of Bastrop, mainly Democrats, said that this paranoia was racially motivated because the president is African American. It is unknown exactly how many people hold to these views.

It’s not just the white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan seeing surging membership as the S.C. General Assembly prepares to take up the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the S.C. State House. Law enforcement sources tell FITS an equally ominous trend is elevated black gang activity – which is being exploited by militant black groups in an effort to counter the pro-flag movement. These sources tell us rival gang leaders are putting aside past differences – uniting and mobilizing in anticipation of upcoming pro-flag rallies being held at the State House. In fact they’re...