Beck Diefenbach / Reuters file

Gay marriage supporters cheer during a rally moments before hearing that Proposition 8 had been overturned outside the Ninth Circuit Courthouse in San Francisco, Calif., on Feb. 7, 2012. A federal court later declined an appeal to revisit California's gay marriage ban in June, clearing the way for the Supreme Court to consider whether the ban violates the U.S. Constitution.

Gay rights groups cheered the Obama administration’s weighing in on a landmark Supreme Court case to allow same-sex marriage, while opponents decried the move as “war.”

But ultimately, constitutional and Supreme Court scholars say the government’s action of filing a legal brief on Thursday in support of repealing California’s Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, will have little impact on the outcome of the case though it would carry some symbolic meaning.

Previous administrations have weighed in on cases brought to the nation’s highest court in which they were not directly involved -- such as the Truman and Eisenhower presidencies over the desegregation of schools, and the Reagan administration urging the justices to overrule the legalization of abortion, said Michael Klarman, a Harvard Law School professor and author of “From the Closet to the Altar: Courts, Backlash, and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage.”

“I don’t think that the government’s brief (on Prop. 8) would be that influential and I don’t say that because I think in general that’s the case, but I think everybody already knew what the administration’s position was,” he told NBC News.

“The president has made this such a salient issue and has been so clear about his position that I don’t think the brief really adds anything that we didn’t know,” he added, referring to Obama’s calls since last May for same-sex couples to have the right to marry, including his reference to the issue in his 2013 inaugural address.

Obama administration steps into gay marriage battle

The justices will hear oral arguments on Prop. 8 on March 26, with a decision expected in June.

In the legal filing, the Justice Department went further than the California case and suggested it was unconstitutional to block gay couples from getting married in at least seven other states where civil unions are offered instead. Those states, the department said, violate the Constitution if they offer civil unions to gay couples but deny them the right to marry.

While the administration takes no position in its brief beyond those states, its reasoning would have even broader implications. If the administration's legal theory were ultimately accepted, no state could, under constitutional guarantees against discrimination, deny same sex couples the right to marry.

But the administration is technically not a litigant to the Prop. 8 case, like it is in the other case that the justices will hear in late March over the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law barring recognition of same-sex couples.

G. Edward White, author of "The American Judicial Tradition: Profiles of Leading American Judges” and a Supreme Court scholar at the University of Virginia School of Law, said he thought the legal impact of the administration’s move in Prop. 8 would be “virtually zero.”

“I really don’t think one should attach any legal significance to this particular intervention,” he said before the brief was released.

Noting that Obama “been quite late to alter his view on same-sex marriage” -- he did so last May, announcing he supported it -- White thought this was a way to remind everybody that the administration “has now officially changed its mind on the issue.”

“My takeaway is really that this is a symbolic act on the part of the administration,” he said. “They’re doing it for political currency purposes. The justices are going to understand that’s what it is.”

William Eskridge, a professor at Yale Law School and a constitutional law expert who has authored many works on legal issues facing same-sex couples, said he didn’t think the brief would “necessarily change any minds” or be “as important for the outcome of the case” as the separate filings this week by about 130 notable Republicans as well as large businesses in support of same-sex marriage.

Clint Eastwood to Supreme Court: Drop California's ban on same-sex marriage

Klarman, of Harvard, agreed, saying he thought the brief by the Republicans could influence Justice Anthony Kennedy, whom he considers the swing vote on gay marriage.

“I think someone like Justice Kennedy … is interested among other things in how much political backlash there would be to a ruling in favor of gay marriage. The fact that there's so many Republicans now committing to support it is highly relevant,” he said.

“I think it matters that Obama was re-elected," he also noted. "If there were a President Romney who would be committed to opposing the decision then I think, you know, a swing justice might be more hesitant. I think it matters that Obama is president and I think it matters that Obama already came out in favor of this, but I don’t think the brief really adds much information.”

Though the experts don’t expect the legal briefs to carry much weight among the justices, parties on both sides of the issue were roused by the move.

ProtectMarriage.com, which brought the legal challenge to keep Prop. 8 on the books after the state of California decided not to defend it, decried the effort, calling it a “frontal assault” on the law by the Solicitor General in an email to supporters.

The group also said the bid was “a stunning declaration of war against the longstanding meaning of marriage and its obvious ties to society’s interesting in both mothers and fathers raising the next generation.”

Meanwhile, the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the sole sponsor of the challenge to Prop. 8 that also organized the brief by moderate and conservative Republicans as well as Libertarians, welcomed the government to its side.

“The brief filed by the Solicitor General is a powerful statement that Proposition 8 cannot be squared with the principles of equality upon which this nation was founded,” the group said in a statement. “AFER looks forward to having Solicitor General (Donald) Verrilli and the federal government by our side as we make the case for marriage equality for all before the Supreme Court.”

Related:

Once 'inconceivable,' Republican leaders sign pro-gay marriage brief
Widow to Supreme Court: Same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional
US asks Supreme Court to strike down law denying benefits to same-sex couples

A 24-year-old Pennsylvania woman abandoned her 8-month-old daughter in the woods with the hopes of getting “a fresh start,” according to police.

Jennifer Cutruzzula was spotted by a neighbor walking into the woods with her child, only to emerge alone. The neighbor called police and went into the woods and found the baby girl on a muddy hillside next to a bottle of milk.

“She walked into this area with the intention of abandoning the child,” said Alleghany County District Attorney Stephen Zappala.

Cutruzzula told police she left her child because she wanted “a fresh start,” according to a criminal complaint.

Authorities say the infant is fine after being treated and released from a local hospital. The baby is currently in the custody of Child and Youth Services, according to WPXI-TV Pittsburgh.

Cutruzzula is charged with endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering. She is being held on $50,000 bail.

Zappala said the Pittsburgh-area woman will undergo a mental evaluation.

“I have never see anything like this. I don’t know how anyone could leave a child in the woods and walk away,” said Zappala.

REUTERS/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department/Handou

Ammar Harris is shown in this undated Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department handout photo.

The suspect in last week's triple slaying on the Las Vegas Strip has been arrested in Los Angeles, the Clark County District Attorney's Office said on Thursday.

Ammar Harris, 26, was taken into custody in LA in connection with the shooting death of Oakland rapper Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr. aka Kenny Clutch, officials said.

Details about his arrest were not immediately available. KSNV, NBC's affiliate in Las Vegas, reported that the suspect was hiding out in LA at a friend's home that a task force of officers had been watching.

Las Vegas police expect to have more information about the arrest at an afternoon press conference.

Police accuse the suspect of being the driver of a Range Rover from which gunfire erupted, killing the 27-year-old rapper.

Clutch died at the wheel of a Maserati.

The Maserati crashed into a taxicab which subsequently exploded, killing the driver and the 48-year old passenger.

Harris was identified by police as the lead suspect in the case.

Harris could be seen online boasting about the stacks of money that have come his way thanks to being a pimp, according to reports.

In one video, Harris "flashes a thick stack" of $100 bills.

In a Web posting, he boasts of the flock of women at his home, all of whom are working for him.

In another, he talks about the birthday party he is organizing on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean, replete with a $1,000 bikini contest, the AP reported.

A disturbing video of teenagers pointing a gun at one of their peers, taunting him, has led to a police investigation in New Mexico.

The video, in which a reportedly autistic boy is cornered in a bedroom while another kid holds a weapon up to his face, shows at least two other teens laughing and yelling.

One, referring to the gun, says "It's f***ing loaded, b*tch," then props his foot up on a bed. He tells the boy, "Kiss my shoes." The other says, "dude, you better f***ing kiss his shoe."

NBC affiliate KOB.com reported the video was recorded in January, but only recently posted onto Facebook. The father of the boy who was being taunted shared the video, which was taken down from Facebook, with the news station; the faces of all the teens have now been blurred to protect their identities.

The 16-year-old boy who was being terrorized in the video was autistic, his father told KOB.com.

Calls from NBC to the Los Alamos police department were not immediately returned, but the school district confirmed the incident took place at a house in Los Alamos, off of school grounds.

"There were not any arrests," Los Alamos Superintendent Gene Schmidt said. "Two detectives did come onto our campus to interview potential witnesses. From what I understand, later on, a citation was issued."

KOB.com reported that the teen with the gun was charged with aggravated assault, but it was not clear if the other teens faced charges or if anyone was physically harmed.

The students all attended Los Alamos High School, Schmidt said.

He couldn't comment on disciplinary action in the case, but said, "We do have an active protocol when the school is concerned that bullying may or may not be taking place. We work very actively to set up a safety plan for those people involved. ... Our administrative team was aware of this investigation, and a parallel universe was developed in which safety plans for students at the high school was developed and deployed." 

Eighteen cats and two birds were killed during a Connecticut house fire, but firefighters were able to save eight other pets. 

The blaze broke out just after 1:30 a.m. in the town of Berlin, and the female homeowner, Katherine O'Leary, was able to escape without being injured.

Matt Odishoo, the deputy fire marshal of Berlin, said the fire department brought most of the surviving animals out and revived them, before turning them over to animal control.

The surviving animals include seven cats and one sheep dog named Quigley. They are in the custody of Berlin Animal Control.

"They look healthy. They're traumatized, obviously, but they look healthy. They're good weights," Jan Lund, the animal control officer for Berlin, said.

For more, visit NBCConnecticut.com

One cat is missing.

O'Leary is expected to check on her animals on Thursday.

Animal control plans to go over the pet records and make sure the pets are neutered in good health before returning them to O'Leary.

No local ordinance in Berlin limits the number of pets a resident can have, Lund said, and neighbors have not issued any complaints with animal control.

Officials believe that the fire appears to have started in mudroom. It caused extensive fire and water damage, fire officials said.

The cause is under investigation.

Paul Sakuma/AP file

A customer pickets up a Mega Millions lottery ticket in Palo Alto, Calif., on March 30, 2012.

Florida will start selling tickets to the popular Mega Millions game later this year.

Florida Lottery officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that the state will join 42 other states in selling tickets. Tickets will go on sale on May 15. 

The state already sells tickets to Powerball, another multistate game. It also has its own game called Florida Lotto. 

Lottery Secretary Cynthia O'Connell said retailers and lottery players have been asking the state to join Mega Millions for years. 

Lottery officials contend that adding Mega Millions will generate additional money for the state, despite past fears that adding games would erode sales of existing games. 

Last summer the Florida Lottery wrapped up the most financially successful fiscal year in its history, with sales of $4.45 billion. 

NBC New York

Bahsid Mclean, 23-year-old son of Tania Byrd, was charged with second-degree murder, among other charges Wednesday.

A 23-year-old man accused of killing his mother, cutting up her body with a saw and dumping it on the curb throughout their Bronx neighborhood said at a court appearance Thursday that his mother was dying and that he was trying to help.

Bahsid McLean, 23, was denied bail at the appearance where he was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly killing his mother, 45-year-old Tania Byrd.

"I didn't do anything wrong," McLean shouted in court. McLean, wearing a black garbage bag, had several other outbursts during the court appearance where he is also charged with unlawful dissection of a human body. It was not immediately clear what he meant when he said his mother was dying.

Read original story on NBCNewYork.com

McLean's attorney said outside of court that his client is not taking the medication he needs, but would not specify what that was or the condition he has.

McLean's friend, William Harris, 26, faces the same unlawful dissection charge for allegedly helping McLean dispose of Byrd's body. Lawyer information for Harris was not immediately available.

Law enforcement officials tell NBC 4 New York that both men have admitted to chopping up the body and using a shopping cart to dump the parts along the curb in Morrisania, but each is pointing the finger at the other for killing Byrd.

Officials say the two men tell different stories. The son says he left the apartment he shared with his mother at about 3 a.m. Monday to go to the ATM. When he returned, he has told investigators, his friend had stabbed Byrd to death and threatened to kill him and his 6-year-old brother if he didn't help get rid of the body.

His friend, meanwhile, has told investigators that the son told him he killed his mother, and showed him a photograph of her, dead, asking for his friend's help in disposing of her corpse.

The two suspects agree that they went to a Bronx hardware store to purchase supplies for the job, including a power saw and gloves. Investigators say there are bloodstains at the apartment, and that it appears someone tried to clean up the mess with bleach.

An empty power saw box was also found there. The saw was found at the apartment of the friend's girlfriend, officials said.

Law enforcement officials say the pair cut up the body on Monday night and dumped it around 9:30 p.m. Surveillance camera video shows the son in the apartment building lobby, leaving the elevator with numerous bags, and then video outside the building shows two men wheeling away a shopping cart.

Officials say a man walking his dog along 158th Street in Morrisania early Tuesday morning came upon a plastic bag of what he thought were books. As he moved to open the bag, he noticed a vehicle circling the block and became nervous, so he took the bag around the corner and looked inside, finding two hands and a shoulder.

He sent his son to call police and continued walking the dog. About two blocks away on Eagle Avenue he and the dog came upon a suitcase, and the dog sat down next to it. The man opened the suitcase and found a woman's torso, wearing a bra, according to law enforcement officials.

Responding police found a plastic bag further down Eagle Avenue that contained a leg and a foot, and then nearby on Cauldwell Avenue, they found a black suitcase with a leg and the woman's head.

Previous report on this story:

• Two NYC men arrested after woman killed, cut up with power saw

/

Actor and producer Clint Eastwood is seen in September 2012 in Westwood, Calif.

Clint Eastwood has joined about 130 self-described moderate and conservative Republicans in signing a brief to the Supreme Court arguing against California’s Proposition 8, which bans marriage for same-sex couples.

Former Bush administration officials, including Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of Defense, and Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania governor and Secretary of Homeland Security, also were among those who signed the brief, which argued that the Constitution prohibits denying same-sex couples access to the legal rights and responsibilities of marriage, according to a copy of the brief released Thursday by the American Foundation for Equal Rights.

Breitbart.com, which first reported that Eastwood had signed the brief, said he was a "long-time Republican with strong libertarian leanings," who had "become increasingly vocal politically." Eastwood's conversation with an empty chair representing President Barack Obama on the final day of the Republican convention briefly became a major topic on the campaign last fall.

The nation’s high court will hear arguments in the case on March 26. Thursday is the last day for briefs to be filed in the case, and officials told NBC's Pete Williams that the Justice Department will urge the court to approve gay marriage in California.

Six other former governors, including Jon Huntsman of Utah and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, and ten former and two current members of Congress signed the brief, which was organized by AFER. Members of the George W. Bush, Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain presidential campaigns also signed.

In the brief, the group said it was better for children to grow up with married parents, and that legalizing same-sex marriage would ease couples’ access to benefits and rights afforded to heterosexual couples but would pose “no credible threat to religious freedom or to the institution of religious marriage.”

They noted that many of those adding their names did not previously support same-sex marriage. But since a number of states have allowed gays and lesbians to wed, they, "like many Americans, have reexamined the evidence and their own positions and have concluded that there is no legitimate, fact-based reason for denying same-sex couples the same recognition in law that is available to opposite-sex couples."

Rather, they “concluded that marriage is strengthened, not undermined, and its benefits and importance to society as well as the support and stability it gives to children and families promoted, not undercut, by providing access to civil marriage for same-sex couples,” the brief continued.

Some on the list included who have had a change of heart on the issue include Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for California governor in 2010, and David Frum, a special assistant to Bush from 2001 to 2002.

Once 'inconceivable,' Republican leaders sign pro-gay marriage brief

Numerous briefs have been filed in support of Prop. 8 by 20 states, religious groups, academics and legal scholars, as well as many against by businesses, labor unions, veterans, California plus thirteen states as well as the District of Columbia, and gay rights and religious groups.

National Football League players, Chris Kluwe, a punter for the Minnesota Vikings, and Bredon Ayanbadejo, a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, also filed a separate brief in the case that was released Thursday afternoon. The pair has been outspoken supporters of gay rights.

The California Supreme Court said in 2008 that the state had to allow same-sex marriage, and for a short period, some 18,000 same-sex couples wed in the Golden State. But with the passage of Prop. 8 later that same year, gays and lesbians were later prohibited from marrying. Various lower courts said the law was unconstitutional, with the most recent one determining such a fundamental right like marriage, that gays and lesbians had once enjoyed, could not be taken away.

The Supreme Court will also hear arguments in late March on Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage. The Obama administration has encouraged the justices to strike down Section 3. In its argument, the administration noted that Proposition 8 and similar measures in other states were evidence that anti-gay discrimination remained a major problem.

Related:

Widow to Supreme Court: Same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional
US asks Supreme Court to strike down law denying benefits to same-sex couples
Supreme Court to take up same-sex marriage issue

Chester County District Attorney's Office

Shakeem Carter, 20, whose tattoo reads "cutthroat," is accused of murder.

A man who bears a "cutthroat" tattoo on his neck is accused of slashing a teen's throat from ear-to-ear for $350.

"It's horrific. I just can't comprehend how this beast could do something like this," said Kayanna Stutzman, a friend of the victim's family.

Two weeks after investigators found blood all over the walls of a burned-out apartment and then Kevin Allen's body in the ashes, prosecutors charged 20-year-old Shakeem Carter with killing the Norristown, Conn., high school student.

Read original story on NBCConnecticut.com

Carter, also from Norristown, killed Allen for $350 the teen had on him, according to Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan.

"I can rest and sleep now, knowing that he will be rotting in hell," Allen's mom, Jacqueline Castille-Dixon, said after Carter was charged.

On February 13, police found Allen's body in his father's burning apartment in the Hanover Garden complex in North Conventry Township, Chester County.

Blood was found smeared on the staircase to the second floor apartment and in the entryway.

Carter allegedly sliced Allen's throat from ear to ear. He also stabbed Allen more than 20 times before setting his body on fire, according to the district attorney.

The suspect followed the teen home on a SEPTA bus and attacked him inside the apartment building, according to authorities.

Investigators say the money Carter allegedly stole from Allen was a gift from the teen's father.

"What's the value of a young man's life today? Three hundred and fifty dollars, sadly, is the value of a young man's life today," Hogan said.

A month after a Texas district voted to allow school employees to carry firearms on campus, a mechanical malfunction following a concealed handgun class has injured one of its workers, according to reports.

The employee from the Van Independent School District had stayed for one-on-one training after class with the concealed handgun license training instructor on Tuesday when a mechanical malfunction with his weapon caused his gun to misfire, NBC affiliate KETK reported. The bullet ricocheted, striking the employee in the left leg; his injury was not life-threatening, the affiliate said.

After being treated at the scene, the employee was transferred to the nearby city of Tyler for treatment, according to KETK.

ABC affiliate KLTV.com in East Texas reported that the man who was injured in Tuesday's incident was a maintenance worker at the school, and that he was in fair condition.

Van Independent School District, located about an hour east of Dallas, decided on Jan. 23 to authorize certain school employees to carry concealed handguns on school property and school events, KETK reported. The decision came a week after another school district in the area, Union Grove, passed a similar measure.

Per state law, school employees need to get a weapons license to carry a concealed handgun on school property.  KLTV reported Tuesday's incident was after a school-sponsored weapons class, but it was unclear whether it was held on school grounds.

Philip Kamrass / AP

Max Karmazyn, right, sitting next to his grandmother Brenda Schwarzkopf, left, salutes during the burial of his late grandfather, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, at the United States Military Academy on Feb. 28, in West Point, N.Y.

Norman Schwarzkopf, the general who commanded the 30-country coalition that drove Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait, was remembered both as a larger than life military figure and trusted adviser during his burial ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Thursday.

A 1956 graduate of the military academy, “Stormin’ Norman” was remembered by family, friends, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Vice President Dick Cheney at a memorial service in the West Point chapel. The Desert Storm commander with a tough-as-tacks reputation died on Dec. 27 in Tampa, Fla., of complications from pneumonia. He was 78.

Powell, who delivered the general’s eulogy, called Schwarzkopf an "indispensable advisor" to Cheney and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the lead-up to and during the invasion of Kuwait.

"When anyone thinks of Desert Storm, they think of Stormin' Norman, The Bear; ... he was a larger than life figure," Powell said.

Schwarzkopf served two tours in Vietnam, staying on after a conflict that left many former brothers-in-arms disillusioned with the military.

He was appointed commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa in 1988. In 1990, he took command of the U.S.-led forces that drove back Hussein’s forces in Operation Desert Storm.

It was the first war televised in real time, and Schwarzkopf, a bulldog clad in desert camouflage, used his TV appearances to send a message to his adversary.

“With those cameras grinding away, I knew I wasn’t talking just to friendly audiences, but that Saddam and his bully boys were watching me on CNN in their headquarters,” Schwarzkopf wrote in his 1992 autobiography.

For the most part, Schwarzkopf receded from public life after Desert Storm, apart from a brief term as a military analyst for NBC. He lived out his retirement in Tampa, emerging to campaign for the re-election of President George W. Bush in 2004.

Despite the urgings of some of his supporters, Schwarzkopf never ran for public office. During the service his daughter, Cynthia, mused that her father was "too honest" to be a politician. She then apologized to Cheney, saying she wrote that before she knew he was attending.

Schwarzkopf “stood tall for the country and Army he loved,” President Obama said in a statement on the general’s passing in December.

The general was buried near his father in the West Point cemetery. Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf was a 1917 graduate of the military academy who went on to help found the New Jersey State Police.

“I just would be very happy if the history books said that I was a soldier who served his country with honor and loved his troops and loved his family,” Schwarzkopf once said. “That’s enough for me.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Desert Storm commander Norman Schwarzkopf dies at 78
• Remembering Gen. 'Stormin' Norman' Schwarzkopf

Fresno Police Department

Five of the seven children missing from Fresno, Calif.

Police believe the seven children who vanished from their Fresno, Calif., home on Saturday were taken by their estranged father.

Ranging in age from 5 to 12, the kids were left at home while their mother and stepfather went to a grocery store, according to the Fresno Police Department.

Police believe that their biological father "picked up all of the children." He was identified as Xa Yang and is thought to live in Sacramento, about 170 miles north of Fresno.

Neither authorities nor the children's mother had been able to contact the father, who had not been involved in the children's lives "for at least three years," according to a police statement.

Because the seven children, along with their belongings, were removed from an apartment complex in the early evening without any
apparent commotion, investigators do not suspect foul play.

There was no immediate concern for the children's safety, police said.

While they have not issued an "Amber Alert," which are normally issued in suspected abductions, police are seeking the
public's help.

Anyone with information can call Detective Josh Mendizabal at (559) 621-2499 or (559) 621-7000.

Miami Police are enforcing a curfew for children under the age of 17, citing safety.

Curfew hours are 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday to Thursday and midnight to 6 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Children under 17 are not allowed to "linger, stay, congregate, move about, wander, or stroll in any public place in Miami-Dade County, either on foot or in a vehicle during curfew hours," according to police.

NBC Miami

"I don't really need a curfew, but I do feel that a curfew is important because young kids like my age are dying in the streets," Keith Stewart said.

Players for Team Pete Basketball said they don't like the move.

"I don't really need a curfew," Keith Stewart said, "but I do feel that a curfew is important because young kids like my age are dying in the streets." 

Other Miami youths said they support the curfew.

"Make them go home, do a little homework, get them home early," Robert Sanchez said.

Said adult Cesar Barrero: "Kids at that age … there's nothing for kids to do from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock in the morning."

More from NBCMiami.com

Police say exemptions include if a child is with a parent or legal guardian or someone over 21 years old who has permission to be responsible for the child; and if the juvenile is working or traveling to or from work, traveling interstate, or has written permission to run an errand from a parent or guardian.

Other exemptions are if a child is helping in an emergency, traveling to or from a school or a religious, civic or county-sponsored event, is emancipated by marriage or court order, is homeless, is exercising First Amendment rights, or is on the property of his residence or a neighbor's residence who does not object, if the child is attending or coming back from a public event that began before 10 p.m. and has written permission, and if the child's activity is authorized by the county commission.

Police have not yet given reasons for the curfew, besides safety. But many people point to rashes of violent and sometimes deadly street crimes often involving young people.

"You know what's going on," Pete Soriano of Team Pete Sports said. "You got drug dealing, you got shootouts, kids getting killed left and right."

At Overtown's Gibson Park, manager Benjamin Hanks supports the curfew -- recalling all too well the night three people were shot at a youth football game last September. He believes a police presence, and the curfew, will help make the city's parks and streets safer.

"I think it's overdue that we need cops' supervision, more for preventive measures for the safety of people," Hanks said.

NBCMiami.com

NBC New York

U.S. Marshals search for a sex offender who is believed to have fled in the wake of Sandy.

NEW YORK -- Among the hundreds of people displaced from their homes after Sandy are sex offenders required to register with the government, and U.S. marshals are trying to find the ones who have disappeared.

Officials say the majority of displaced sex offenders have followed the rules and registered their new addresses. But some have not.

"It's critical because the people in the community are simply unaware that this individual is in their midst," Charlie Dunne, U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of New York, told NBC 4 New York.

Dunne said marshals work with state and local law enforcement to track down sex offenders after a natural disaster.

In the tri-state, marshals say dozens of sex offenders who changed addresses have had legitimate reasons for moving.

"Their houses had been damaged or they had gone into homeless shelters or hotels so obviously we're not going to prosecute those people," said Dunne.

More news from NBCNewYork.com

But there are some who are believed to be on the run after the hurricane.

For example, in Suffolk County, officials have examined 500 registered sex offenders in areas that could have been affected by the storm. Some 450 of them were living where they were supposed to be, leaving 50 that needed to be tracked further. Of those, 40 had relocated for reasons that checked out and five were picked up by the marshals, leaving about five that still hadn't been found, officials said.

"We're looking to prosecute the people that are taking advantage of the situation to proactively abscond thinking we won't be looking for them because we're too busy," Dunne said.

And for decades, the marshals have always been able to find people.

"You might as well be in compliance because we're gonna find you. We're gonna continue to look for you," Dunne said.

NBCNewYork.com

Related:

Full coverage of Sandy's aftermath from NBC News

Sara Francis / U.S. Coast Guard via AP, file

An aerial image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig Kulluk aground off a small island near Kodiak Island on Jan. 1. Shell announced Wednesday that it had put off further drilling in Alaska's Arctic Ocean for the year.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Royal Dutch Shell will not drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic seas this year, the company said Wednesday in a widely expected decision that follows a series of high-profile setbacks in 2012.

Both critics and supporters of Shell's controversial Arctic offshore foray welcomed its decision to give up on drilling there for 2013 while the company tries to get its drill ships ready and answers to U.S. investigators.

Michael LeVine, senior Pacific counsel for environmental group Oceana in Juneau, Alaska, said Shell and the government agencies regulating the company faced a "crisis of confidence."

"The decisions to allow Shell to operate in the Arctic Ocean clearly were premature," LeVine said in a statement. "The company is not prepared and has absolutely no one but itself to blame for its failures."

Few observers doubted that a postponement of Shell's drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas was coming after the company said earlier this month its two Arctic offshore rigs would head to Asia for repairs and upgrades.

But ConocoPhillips reaffirmed on Wednesday that it will continue with its own plans to drill one or two exploration wells in the Chukchi Sea in 2014 and that it expected to submit more information on the plans to federal regulator by the end of March.

Analysts say the Arctic's allure for oil drillers remains strong given the complications of politics and violence they face in other parts of the world.

Shell has spent more than $4.5 billion searching for oil in Alaska's Arctic seas since it won licenses to drill in 2005. Yet its season last year was delayed by problems with equipment, and 2012 ended dramatically with the grounding of the Kulluk drill ship in a storm as it was being towed south for the winter.

"Our decision to pause in 2013 will give us time to ensure the readiness of all our equipment and people," said Marvin Odum, director of Shell Upstream Americas.

David Yarnold, of environmental group Audubon, said Shell had "come to its senses," since drilling amid ice floes near the nurseries of threatened wildlife was not "smart or safe."

The Anglo-Dutch company's move into Alaska's Arctic waters -- the first since the Macondo disaster of 2010 -- was expected to face criticism, but technical problems with its rigs led to even deeper concerns.

'A disappointment'
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in a statement that she was a strong supporter of Shell's activities off her state's northern coast if they meet the "highest safety standards."

"This pause -- and it is only a pause in a multiyear drilling program that will ultimately provide great benefits both to the state of Alaska and the nation as a whole -- is necessary for Shell to repair its ships and make the necessary updates to its exploration plans," she said.

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, also a Republican, said in a statement: "While Shell's decision to pause drilling in Alaska is a disappointment, I commend the company's commitment to safety and responsible development."

"Much progress has been made toward developing the vast resources in Alaska's Outer Continental Shelf, and we recognize this is a long-term endeavor," the governor added. "Taking the long view, we are at the early stage of a new era of oil exploration in the Arctic, one that will continue for decades in a measured and responsible way."

Even before the Kulluk ran aground on Dec. 31 after escaping its tow lines, Shell's 2012 drilling program was stalled by troubles with support vessels and regulatory scrutiny of the other rig, the Noble Discoverer, owned by Noble Corp.

After the Arctic drilling season closed at the end of October, a fire broke out on the Discoverer. There were also engine failures on the Aiviq, the specially designed ship pulling the Kulluk, before it lost its tow connection.

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