Heavy traffic was reported in southwestern Connecticut on Monday morning after thousands of New York City-bound workers from the suburbs took to the roads because a train crash last week wrecked a section of commuter-rail track.

But fears that roads in the area could turn into one giant “parking lot” -- with the addition of some 30,000 commuters who normally take the Metro-North commuter rail line -- did not appear to have been realized.

The train crash -- just outside Bridgeport on Friday -- injured 72 people. Nine people remained hospitalized on Sunday, with one critical, according to the AP. A 2,000-foot stretch of track was damaged and repair crews are expected to have to work around-the-clock for several days.

Full coverage from NBCConnecticut.com

Connecticut Metro- North Rail Commuter Council, which was set up by the Connecticut state legislature, said in a message on Twitter that traffic was “not bad.” “Buses from stations shuttling half full but slow. Carmagedon avoided?” it tweeted.

And Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia told the Connecticut Post that traffic was calm around the city Monday morning. On Sunday night, a reverse 911 call was made to city residents asking for them to carpool.

"It is better than I thought it would be. People are heeding my advice and the governor's message to either work from home or carpool to work,” Moccia said.

Get more on travel disruptions, replacement services from NBCConnecticut.com

Sandra Dria, of Waterbury, told the paper that her journey down Route 8 was just like "a normal day.”

However heavy congestion was reported along Interstate 95 and the Merritt Parkway, NBCConnecticut.com said Monday morning.

Jennifer Pascucci and Lisa Zarny, of Orange, who work in food service at Stamford Hospital, told the Post they tried to drive to work, but found the Merritt Parkway was choked at Exit 49, so they parked the car and planned to catch a bus-train. "We can't exactly work at home,'' Zarny said.

Gary Maddin, of Milford, Conn., told The Associated Press that it took him an hour to make what is normally a 20-minute drive from his home to the Bridgeport train station. From there, he planned to board a shuttle bus to Stamford where he could catch a train to Grand Central Station in New York.

"It's a lot," he said. "It's a nightmare just to get into the city today."

A spokeswoman for Connecticut State Police, citing Lt. J. Paul Vance, said just after 9 a.m. Monday that traffic on the relevant stretch of I-95 was “light,” as people appeared to have made other arrangements or avoided the area.

On Sunday, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned that he expected the commute to be "extremely challenging."

At a news conference in Hartford Sunday, Malloy said that "residents should plan for a week's worth of disruptions."

He said that if all 30,000 affected commuters took to the highways to get to work, "we would literally have a parking lot," according to the Associated Press. And if a substantial number of affected consumers hit the roads, traffic would be "greatly slowed."

"If you are going to New York and you get to New York or you're transporting yourself to New York you may decide that perhaps you should stay there for the duration of this disturbance," Malloy added.

About 700 people were on board the trains Friday evening when one heading east from New York City's Grand Central Terminal to New Haven derailed just outside Bridgeport. It was hit by a train heading west from New Haven. Both trains were traveling at about 70 mph.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Conn. train outage expected for days following crash that injured 72
• 'Absolutely staggering': Dozens injured in Connecticut train crash

This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 6:14 AM EDT

Las Vegas Police via AP

18-year-old Jacob Dismont, left, and 21-year-old Michael Solid were booked into the Clark County jail on charges related to the killing of a teenage boy over an iPad.

Two men have been arrested in the killing of a teenage boy over an iPad in Las Vegas, police said Sunday.

Jacob Dismont, 18, and Michael Solid, 21, were booked Saturday into the Clark County jail on charges of open murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.

According to investigators, Marcos Arenas, 15, was walking down a street with the iPad on Thursday when a passenger got out of a vehicle and tried to steal the device from him.

Dismont is accused of trying to wrest the tablet away and dragging Arenas toward the SUV when the youth wouldn't let go of the device. After Dismont re-entered the vehicle and Solid sped away, the teen was dragged until he fell, police said. The vehicle ran over Arenas and he died at a hospital.

"I think both the public and police department share the same sentiment that this was a senseless act of violence," police spokesman Bill Cassell told The Associated Press.

The suspects succeeded in making off with the device, officers said.

Ivan Arenas said he bought the iPad for his son less than two months ago. The family has never had a lot, the father said, and his son valued everything he had.

"For him to lose his life over an iPad, it's just not fair," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Never in my life would I imagine that me buying my kid an iPad for his birthday would end up with him getting run over."

Similar thefts of iPads, IPhones and other Apple devices have become so widespread nationwide that the crime has earned the nickname, "Apple picking," Cassell said.

"This is a nationwide phenomenon where thieves are targeting individuals who are carrying them," he said.

Police urge victims of such crimes to always let go of the devices.

Brian Blanco / EPA

Clutching the Powerball tickets that she estimates she won $8 on, Denise Godsey looks over at a gaggle of gathered television news trucks at a Publix in Zephyrhills, Fla.

The residents of a small Florida town known for its bottled water are now thirsty to know if one of their neighbors is the sole winner of the largest Powerball jackpot in history.

Lottery officials confirmed early Sunday that the one winning ticket for the estimated $590.5 million prize was sold at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla.

But so far, only the losers have come forward.  

“I wish it was it was me. But it wasn’t,” said Cindy Frappier as she exited the lucky Publix on Sunday.  

“I’m happy for whoever did win,” said Roberta Cutting as she made her way into the store.

Zephyrhills is about 30 miles northeast of Tampa, and is where the popular bottled water that bears its name is produced.

It is also a hotbed for skydiving, and attracts thrill seekers from around the world — which increases the possibility that the lotto winner is not from the area, but an out-of-towner who just happened to drop in on the supermarket on while visiting.

Many of the shoppers on Sunday wondered aloud whether or not they know the soon-to-be millionaire, and many hoped some of the winnings would go back into the town with a population of 13,337. 

Joan Albertson drove to the Publix early Sunday morning with her camera in hand, in case the winner emerged. She said she had bought a ticket at a store across the street, and the idea of winning that much money was still something of a shock.

"Oh, there's so much good that you could do with that amount of money," Albertson said. "I don't even know where to begin."

Others, like local Danny Rike, are still holding out hope that they've actually won. Rike participated in a Powerball office pool, and though none of his co-workers have alerted him that they’ve won — no one has said they lost, either.

“It could be a good surprise for tomorrow when I go into work,” he said.

Crunching the numbers reveals that the enormous jackpot could fund the city of Zephyrhills government for 12 years. The $148 million in taxes on the gargantuan purse could fund the federal government for almost 27 minutes.

If the winner takes the lump sum, it will be a $370 million payday, the second largest ever in the U.S.

It traditionally takes days or weeks for big winners like the one on Saturday to come forward. "It never happens this quickly," Florida Lottery spokesman David Bishop told the Associated Press. "If they know they won, they're going to contact their attorney or an accountant first so they can get their affairs in order."

The winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball of 11. The chances of winning were 1 in 175.2 million.

The country's largest ever jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012. But that prize was split between winners in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois.

The store where the winning ticket was sold will receive an $85,000 bonus commission, according to Shelly Gerteisen, a spokeswoman for the Florida Lottery.

Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous said that there are a lot of rumors about who won, but the store doesn't know. "We're excited for the winner or winners," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

President Barack Obama on Sunday stressed the importance of personal responsibility and “what it means to be a man” in his commencement address at historically-black Morehouse College in Atlanta.

In the midst of a driving rain, Obama told graduates at the all-male private college that they have obligations to “those still left behind” to be role models for the entire African-American community, both personally and professionally.  

“My whole life, I’ve tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father wasn’t for my mother and me,” Obama said, referring to his own dad who left his family when the president was just a baby. “I want to break that cycle where a father’s not at home, where a father’s not helping to raise that son and daughter. I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man.”

The speech was strikingly more personal than the commencement he delivered two weeks early at The Ohio State University when he called on graduates to be engaged citizens. On Sunday, Obama emphasized to the some 500 graduating men of Moreouse to “keep setting an example for what it means to be a man,” praising students who worked multiple jobs to earn a degree while also supporting a family.

He celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Morehouse alumnus, whose legacy has opened doors for graduates that have never before existed.

“Laws and hearts and minds have been changed to the point where someone who looks just like you can somehow come to serve as president of these Unites States of America,” he said.

Though opportunities exist now that never have before for black men, the president warned that the legacy of discrimination is still an issue the college graduates will need to overcome.

“Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. I had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing the right thing,” Obama said.

“But there is no longer any room for excuses,” he added.

The day before, First Lady Michelle Obama took to the commencement circuit, speaking to outgoing seniors at Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School in Tennessee on Saturday.

“Do not waste a minute living someone else’s dream…It takes a lot of work, a lot of real work to discover what brings you joy,” she told graduates.  “It just doesn’t happen; it requires you spending some time.  And you won’t find what you love simply by checking boxes or padding your GPA.”

A week earlier she told graduates at Eastern Kentucky University to get outside their comfort zones and spend time with those who have opposing views.

The president has one more upcoming commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy on Saturday.

The president and CEO of The Associated Press said Sunday that the government's seizure of AP journalists' phone records was "unconstitutional" and already has had a chilling effect on newsgathering.

Gary Pruitt says the Justice Department's secret subpoena of reporters' phone records has made sources less willing to talk to AP journalists.

The Justice Department disclosed the seizure of two months of phone records in a letter the AP received May 10. The letter did not state a reason, but prosecutors had said they were conducting a leaks investigation into how the AP learned about an al-Qaeda bomb plot in Yemen before it was made public last year. Pruitt said the AP story contradicted the government's claim at the time there was no terrorist plot.

Pruitt spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Earl Neikirk / Bristol Herald Courier via AP

Emergency personnel attend to the injured after a car veered into paradegoers in Damascus, Va., on Saturday, injuring dozens.

DAMASCUS, Va. -- An elderly driver plowed into dozens of hikers marching in a Saturday parade in a small Virginia mountain town and investigators were looking into whether he suffered a medical emergency before the accident.

About 50 to 60 people suffered injuries ranging from critical to superficial, but no fatalities were reported. Three of the worst injured were flown by helicopter to area hospitals. Their conditions weren't immediately available.

Another 12 to 15 victims were taken to hospitals by ambulance and the rest were treated at the scene, where some paramedics and other first-responders were participating in the parade.

It happened around 2:10 p.m. during the Hikers Parade at the Trail Days festival, an annual celebration of the Appalachian Trail in Damascus, near the Tennessee state line about a half-hour drive east of Bristol.

Damascus Police Chief Bill Nunley didn't release the driver's name or age but said he was participating in the parade and he had traversed the Appalachian Trail in the past. Multiple witnesses described him as an elderly man.

Nunley said the man's 1997 Cadillac was one of the last vehicles in the parade and the driver might have suffered an unspecified medical problem when his car accelerated to about 25 mph and struck the crowd on a two-lane bridge along the town's main road. The driver was among those taken to hospitals.

"It is under investigation and charges may be placed," Nunley said.

Witnesses said the car had a handicapped parking sticker and it went more than 100 feet before coming to a stop.

"He was hitting hikers," said Vickie Harmon, a witness from Damascus. "I saw hikers just go everywhere."

Amanda Puckett, who was watching the parade with her children, ran to the car, where she and others lifted the car off those pinned underneath.

"Everybody just threw our hands up on the car and we just lifted the car up," she said.

Keith Neumann, a hiker from South Carolina, said he was part of the group that scrambled around the car. They pushed the car backward to free a woman trapped underneath and lifted it off the ground to make sure no one else was trapped.

"There's no single heroes. We're talking about a group effort of everybody jumping in," he said.

Nunley cited quick action by police, firefighters, paramedics and hikers to tend to the victims, including a volunteer firefighter who dove into the car to turn off the ignition. The firefighter, whose name wasn't released, suffered minor injuries.

Mayor Jack McCrady encouraged people to attend the festival on Sunday, its final day.

"In 27 years of this, we've never had anything of this magnitude, and is it our job to make sure it doesn't happen again," he said.

McCrady said a donation fund was being set up to assist the injured, some of whom don't have medical insurance.

"We want to make sure they don't suffer any greater loss than they already have," he said. 

The New York college student who was shot during a home robbery early Friday was killed by police gunfire, officials said at a news conference Saturday.

Nassau Co. Police

Nassau County police on Saturday named 30-year-old Dalton Smith of Hempstead as the man who attempted to rob the off-campus home where Hofstra University junior Andrea Rebello was shot and killed.

According to NBC New York affiliate WNBC, Nassau County Police said Andrea Rebello, 21, was killed by police fire, not by the armed gunman attempting to rob the off-campus house where she lived with her twin sister, Jessica, and several other women.

Police identified Saturday the man allegedly involved in the home robbery as Dalton Smith, 30, of Hempstead.

According to WNBC, Rebello, a Hofstra University student, and Smith were both shot and killed as he was trying to back out of a rear door holding the woman in a headlock and pointing a gun to her head, police said. 

An officer fired eight rounds, seven of which hit the suspect and one that hit Rebello, police said, according to WNBC.

According to a police statement, officers responding to a robbery in progress arrived on scene at 2:30 a.m. to find Smith armed with a gun. Three female victims -- the two sister and a third woman -- and one male victim were held inside the home, according to police. Wearing a ski mask, Smith had forced his way inside the house, according to WNBC.

Smith allowed the third unidentified woman to leave, and she called 911, WNBC reported.

Police say Smith was on parole for robbery in the first degree and had an extensive criminal history that includes assault.

A warrant for his arrest was issued last month for absconding from parole.

Officials toured the scene of a two-train collision in Connecticut that injured dozens of people and halted rail traffic from New York to Boston on Friday.

Area hospitals reported seeing 70 people after the rush-hour collision. Two remained in critical condition on Saturday.

“The damage is absolutely staggering,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal told reporters on Saturday after a tour of the scene. “Ribbons on the sides of cars are torn away like ribbons of clothes. Tons of metal tossed around like toy things. The insides of cars are shattered.”

“We are fortunate that even more injuries were not the result of this very tragic and unfortunate accident,” Blumenthal said.

An eastbound Metro-North train derailed at 6:10 p.m. on Friday and was struck by a westbound train between the Bridgeport and Fairfield stations, National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener told reporters on Saturday.

Investigators from the NTSB arrived in Connecticut at about 9 a.m. on Saturday morning and planned to begin documenting the scene of the crash, Weener said. Investigators planned to spend between seven to 10 days on scene, and will conduct interviews with the train’s crew members, passengers, and witnesses.

“We will not be determining the probable cause of the accident while we’re here on the scene, nor will we speculate on what may have caused the accident,” Weener said.

Later on Saturday, investigators said they had zeroed in on a fractured part of the rail line as being of particular interest. It has not been determined whether that fracture happened before or as a result of the accident, they said.

The FBI is no longer a part of the investigation, authorities said.

St. Vincent Hospital in Bridgeport, Conn. said on Saturday that it saw a total of 44 patients, six of whom were admitted for treatment. All those patients remained in the hospital on Saturday and were reported to be in stable condition.

Bridgeport Hospital saw a total of 26 patients and admitted three. Two of those patients were in critical condition a day after the accident, and a third was being held for further treatment.

Passengers who were on the two trains described the rending collision in vivid terms.

“We came to a sudden halt. We were jerked. There was smoke,” passenger Alex Cohen, a Canadian who was riding the westbound train toward New York, told NBC Connecticut.

“People were screaming, people were really nervous,” Cohen said. “We were pretty shaken up. They had to smash a window to get us out.”

A female conductor helped other passengers evacuate the train despite herself sustaining back injuries, authorities said at a press conference late Saturday afternoon.

The Metro-North train that departs New York City’s Grand Central Station for New Haven, Conn., at 4:41 p.m., with an estimated 300 passengers, derailed near the I-95 overpass in Bridgeport, MTA said in a statement. The train that leaves New Haven’s State Street station for Grand Central at 5:30 p.m., carrying about 400 passengers, struck the derailed train, the statement said.

Amtrak service between New York City and New Haven, Conn. remained suspended on Saturday following the accident, Amtrak said in a release. Trains would not run through Sunday, and the train service said it could not give an estimate on when schedules may return to normal.

Amtrak service between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., remained as scheduled, Amtrak said.

Metro-North, which runs between New York City and its northern suburbs in New York and Connecticut, is one of the busiest commuter rail services in the U.S. There are four tracks on that segment of the New Haven Line, an MTA statement said, but two are out of service for replacement of overhead wires.

There was "extensive damage" to the track and the wire from the collision, MTA said. The train cars will remain in place until the investigation is completed.

NBC News Carlo Dellaverson and M. Alex Johnson contributed to this report.

Related:

• 60 injured, five critically, as trains collide in Connecticut
  

This story was originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 11:31 AM EDT

A US Airways flight made a belly landing at Newark International Airport in the early morning hours on Saturday after the plane reported a problem with its landing gear, a spokesman for the airline said.

No injuries were reported after Express Flight 4560 landed just after 1 a.m. carrying 31 passengers and three crew from Philadelphia, US Airways spokesman Davien Anderson said in a statement. The De Havilland DASH-8 100 turboprop plane was operated by Piedmont Airlines, he said.

“Passengers were evacuated, transported to a terminal and loaded on buses,” Anderson said. “All passengers departed the airport shortly after the landing after being reunited with their belongings and baggage.”

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the emergency landing and assessing the extent of damage to the plane, the agency said on its Twitter feed on Saturday.

The plane declared an emergency after its left main landing gear failed to extend, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The FAA is also investigating the incident.

“The aircraft landed successfully on Runway 4L at about 1 a.m. The airport was closed until 2:55 a.m.,” the FAA said in a statement. “Runway 4L remained closed until 9:34 a.m.”

The aircraft sustained “minimal damage,” FAA spokesman Arlene Salec told NBC New York.

WNBC

An 82-year-old man is accused of killing his son and grandson in their home in a small Texas town.

Police in Fairview, Collin County, found the bodies of Paul Tanner Jr., 59, and Ryan Dawson Tanner, 23, shortly before noon Friday.

Paul Tanner's estranged wife called police after seeing a body slumped over in a chair inside the home in the 1300 block of Red Oak Trail.

The responding officers entered the home and confirmed that the person spotted through the window was deceased. While searching the home, officers discovered another body in a bedroom.

Police said both were shot in the head, most likely early this week.

More news from NBCDFW.com

The Tanners lived in the home with 82-year-old Paul Alexander Tanner Sr., who was later found at an Addison motel and taken into custody.

Police said the grandfather was unconcious when they found him and was treated at an area hospital.

Police said they know of only one domestic call to the home, and that it did not involve the grandfather.

NBC 5's Mark Schnyder contributed to this report.

Sixty people were injured, five of them critically, and rail traffic from New York to Boston was shut down after a Metro-North commuter train derailed and plowed into a second train Friday in Fairfield, Conn., Gov. Dan Malloy said.

An eastbound train derailed at 6:10 p.m. ET and struck a westbound train between the Fairfield and Bridgeport stations, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority official told NBC News.

"We have no reason to think it was anything other than an accident, but that has to be explored," Malloy said.

"We came to a sudden halt. We were jerked. There was smoke," Alex Cohen, a Canadian passenger on the westbound train en route to New York, told NBC Connecticut.

"People were screaming; people were really nervous. We were pretty shaken up. They had to smash a window to get us out," he said.

NBC Connecticut: 60 injured, five critically, in Metro-North train collision

Malloy said 60 people were transported to area hospitals, most of them with only minor injuries. Five, however, were critically injured, one of them very critically, he said.

The Metro-North train that departs New York City’s Grand Central Station for New Haven, Conn., at 4:41 p.m., with an estimated 300 passengers, derailed near the I-95 overpass in Bridgeport, MTA said in a statement. The train that leaves New Haven’s State Street station for Grand Central at 5:30 p.m., carrying about 400 passengers, struck the derailed train, the statement said.

There was no immediate word on what caused the derailment or how fast either train was going. That will be determined by the National Transportation Safety Board, which will lead the investigation.

Amtrak services were suspended between New York and New Haven early Saturday, Amtrak said in a statement. Limited Northeast Regional services were available between Boston and New Haven, and all Amtrak services were operating normally between New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., the statement said.

Metro-North, which runs between New York City and its northern suburbs in New York and Connecticut, is one of the busiest commuter rail services in the U.S. There are four tracks on that segment of the New Haven Line, MTA's statement said, but two are out of service for replacement of overhead wires.

There was "extensive damage" to the track and the wire from the collision, MTA said. The train cars will remain in place until the investigation is completed. MTA gave no estimate for the duration of the investigation or subsequent repairs.

Passengers should expect sharply curtailed service through the weekend and beyond, Malloy said. "We have a very old system on our Connecticut section. We're involved in hundreds of millions of dollars in replacement of that system.

"It will slow the recovery," he said. "Obviously, we don't have alternative tracks to go to."

Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com

Christian Abraham / AP

Emergency workers arrive at the scene of a train collision Friday, May 17, in Fairfield, Conn. Rail traffic is expected to be snarled for several days.

This story was originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 7:18 PM EDT

A "direct threat" against a U.S. congresswoman — posted on a military-oriented Facebook page that graphically belittled her and her efforts to stem sexual misconduct within the branches — has been referred to U.S. Capitol Police for investigation. 

The threat was made last week against Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and her husband shortly after Speier sent a letter May 8 to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel informing him of the Facebook page which, according to Speier, helped "contribute to a culture that permits and seems to encourage sexual assault and abuse." U.S. Capitol Police have asked Speier and her staff not to divulge the nature of the threat.

Before that page was taken down Friday afternoon by Facebook, Speier's staff was able to confirm that several active-duty Marines had posted messages on the page, which disparaged the congresswoman and made numerous sexual jokes about women in the military. At least three people who had "liked" the page — and who had posted comments there supporting its content — list themselves as active-duty service members on their personal Facebook pages. As of Friday morning, the page — called "F*** You Jackie Speier — was active and had 182 "likes."

Speier's staff has not been able to determine the identity of the person or people or who created the Facebook page — or several earlier versions of the same page (with other names) that contained the same content, commentary and photos. Those previous iterations were also dismantled by Facebook. 

In her May 8 letter, also sent to Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, Speier said it was her "understanding that not only is the Marine Corps Inspector General aware of this page and monitoring it, but they have been doing so for over three years." 

Speier has authored three bills aimed at transforming the military justice system’s treatment of sexual assault cases. Those include the STOP Act (HR 1593), which seeks to take all cases of sexual assault outside of the chain of command by creating an independent office within the military to handle the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of such crimes. The bipartisan bill has 122 co-sponsors but has not been placed into consideration for a House vote. 

Before the anti-Speier Facebook page was removed, it displayed a banner photo of a topless woman holding up her middle fingers as well as multiple posts and pictures making fun of military rape, including an image posted Friday morning with a caption that joked about raping a pregnant woman.

In addition, there were photos posted mocking Jewish concentration camp prisoners, African Americans, and President Barack Obama, shown with a rope around his neck. But the page's primary theme involved deriding women in the military, particularly those within the Marines. The administrator posted pictures titled "this is my rape face," and "I can 'bang' even when I'm not on my back!!" atop the image of a woman holding a gun in her camouflage uniform.

Courtesy Facebook

A screen grab shows one of the photos posted on a page about Jackie Speier.

There also was a picture of Speier, photoshopped with a black eye. One poster — whose personal Facebook page lists his occupation as "Military infantry" — wrote of Speier: "I still firmly believe someone needs to struggle snuggle the s*** outta her."

The Pentagon acknowledged that it is aware of the Facebook page.  

"Secretary Hagel made clear that sexual assault is a despicable crime and one of the most serious challenges facing the Department of Defense," Cynthia O. Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Friday in reaction to the page. "Leaders will be held accountable for preventing and responding to sexual assault in the ranks. The Secretary will respond directly back to Congresswoman as appropriate."

"Unfortunately, we cannot offer comment," added Shennell Antrobus, spokesman for the U.S. Capitol Police. "As a matter of Department policy, we do not discuss information relating to the security of Senators, Members of the House, or the Capitol Complex."

Facebook declines to comment on individual pages within its network but it does list a strict set of "community standards" that govern allowable content.

"We maintain a robust reporting infrastructure that leverages over 1 billion people who use our site to keep an eye out for offensive or potentially dangerous content," said Alison Schumer, a Facebook spokeswoman. "This reporting infrastructure includes report links on pages across the Facebook site, systems to prioritize the most serious reports, and a trained team of reviewers who respond to reports."

Facebook, which also lists its "law enforcement guidelines," has been known to cooperate with police agencies with active investigations that may delve into a suspect's Facebook accounts and activity. 

Related:

• Male rape survivors tackle military assault in tough-guy culture
• Senators seek to reform military's 'unacceptable' sex abuse policies
• Gillibrand leads charge for protocol changes in sexual assault cases
• US military faces historic tipping point on rape epidemic
• Army sergeant assigned to sex-abuse prevention investigated for pimping, sexual assault
• Air Force's sex-abuse prevention honcho charged with sexual battery

Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Former O.J. Simpson defense attorney Yale Galanter testifies during an evidentiary hearing for Simpson in Clark County District Court on May 17, 2013, in Las Vegas, Nev.

A former attorney for O.J. Simpson took the stand Friday and said the former football player knew two companions would be armed with guns when they went to a Las Vegas hotel room to retrieve memorabilia that he claims was stolen from him.

Simpson, 65, is serving nine to 33 years after being convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping for the 2007 confrontation. In seeking a new trial, Simpson's claims are that he didn't know a weapon was used and he got bad legal representation at his trial.

Simpson has said attorney Yale Galanter didn't argue at the trial that he was not aware his two companions were carrying guns during the confrontation at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in September 2007 because Simpson was drunk at the time. On the stand Friday, Galanter said he poured "blood, sweat and soul" into Simpson's defense but added that he couldn't mount that defense because the former NFL star was not intoxicated at the time.

"The truth of the matter is that when you look at the entire trial I don't think I could have fought harder or done more," Galanter said. "I gave every ounce of blood, sweat and soul into this defense team."

Galanter also said Simpson told him he had asked one of his companions to bring "heat" to the hotel room meeting, and that he was aware another man would also have a gun. He also testified that he told Simpson to call the police instead of going in himself.

Simpson testified Wednesday that guns never came up as he and the other men discussed going to the memorabilia dealers' room to size up the merchandise, that he didn't see anyone pull a gun inside the room, and that his pals later denied a weapon was shown before they left with some items.

Simpson famously did not take the stand during the sensational 1995 trial at which he was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend.

He also did not take the stand during the robbery trial five years ago — a decision that will be key in arguments that Galanter gave him bad advice during the 2008 robbery trial.

If Simpson doesn’t prevail at this proceeding -- and legal experts say he's a long shot, he must serve five more years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

Related:

O.J. Simpson takes stand in bid to have robbery conviction overturned

Terry Pickard / NBC News

Surviving sailors from the USS Franklin hold a reunion at Patriots Point in Charleston on Friday.

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -- Two dozen surviving veterans from the World War II aircraft carrier USS Franklin gathered on Friday, probably for the last time, to honor and remember one of the most remarkable naval episodes of the war.

It was before dawn on a late winter morning in 1945 when a Japanese dive bomber dropped two 500 pound bombs on the Franklin. The year-old carrier nicknamed “Big Ben” was serving in the Pacific theater and, at that moment, had maneuvered closer to Japan than any other U.S.-flagged carrier during the war.

Sam ‘Dusty’ Rhodes was asleep in the ship’s bunk area when the bombs hit. Rhodes was a water tender 3^rd class and was responsible for operating the ship’s massive boilers – and with debris from the massive explosions raining down on him, that is just what he did.

Rhodes said he and other crew members ran to the one of the unaffected firerooms and attempted to raise enough steam to light the remaining boiler. When the flame caught from Rhodes’ Zippo lighter, “that’s when the ship’s heart started to beat again,” he recalled.

Above on the flight deck, the scene was nothing short of catastrophic. The Franklin was dead in the water, listing to one side and cut off from communications as fires burned everywhere. More than 800 sailors died in the attack, with hundreds more wounded.

Terry Pickard / NBC News

Flags line the walkway to the USS Yorktown, where a '13' was painted to honor the number of the USS Franklin.

But the Franklin didn’t sink, and that is the legacy crew members like Rhodes like to remember. The Franklin would become the most heavily damaged aircraft carrier of the war to make it back to port.

“We saved the ship,” Rhodes said. “In the Navy, you save the ship. It’s your home.”

William Schauer was a Naval electrician and fireman 1^st class, just out of high school when he reported for duty on the deck of the Franklin, three months before the attack. Looking back on that day 68 years later, he said he was certain he was going to go down with the ship that morning, and “that was the end.”

“But we were there for a purpose,” and despite suffering such heavy losses, Schauer says he still considers their mission – keeping the ship afloat – accomplished.

At the reunion on Friday, Medal of Honor recipient and retired Gen. James Livingston saluted the assembled veterans. He said their “refusal to allow her to sink” allowed the Franklin to limp back to port instead of ending up buried forever on the ocean floor. “That’s a testimony to what you are as men,” he said.

Terry Pickard / NBC News

The tattered battle flag from the USS Franklin hangs on display at the USS Yorktown.

In the belly of the USS Yorktown, another decommissioned carrier that saw battle in the Pacific and now survives as the centerpiece of the Patriots Point Naval Museum in this bucolic Charleston suburb, a tattered and smoke-tinged flag is mounted overhead. It was the original battle flag that flew on the mast of the Franklin’s flight deck the day of the attack -- the same flag that Rhodes remembers looking up and noticing through the haze of black smoke after the bombs hit. Seeing it meant they still had a chance, he remembered, “because we would strike the colors before abandoning ship.”   

“Big Ben” made it all the way back to New York for repairs, where it sat on V-J Day when the war finally ended. It never saw action again, and was sold for scrap in the 1960s. The flag, along with the bell and a gun turret also on display at the Yorktown, are all that remain of one of the most momentous spectacles of heroism and fortitude of World War II. And with what could be the final gathering of the men who saved the ship, it is up to a new generation to remember the Franklin.

Sheriffs in Colorado filed a federal lawsuit Friday ahead of the implementation of new state gun laws that broaden background checks and limit the size of ammunition magazines, saying that the bills would be nearly impossible to enforce.

The laws "severely restrict citizens' rights to own, use, manufacture, sell, or transfer firearms and firearms accessories," the sheriffs said in their complaint in the U.S. district court.

"This is a bipartisan effort," said Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith. "These are Democratic sheriffs and Republican sheriffs who came together."

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, magazine-maker Magpul Industries, and the Colorado State Shooting Association were among other groups that filed suit alongside sheriffs against the laws, which are set to take effect June 1.

Scarred by some of the deadliest incidents of gun violence in American history, including last year's Aurora movie theater shooting and the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, the state's gun control bills gained national attention as various states and the federal government debated new gun restrictions.

The sheriffs said in the filing that their ability to enforce the laws, particularly the ban on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, will be constrained by other concerns.

"The Sheriffs have limited resources and limited public funds to spend on investigations," they said in the court documents. "They cannot expend those resources to conduct investigations that would be necessary to monitor compliance with the new magazine restrictions. No documentation has ever been required for the retail or private purchase of magazines, making it a practical impossibility for the Sheriffs to determine whether one of the many magazines already in existence was obtained after the effective date."

The sheriffs also said that Coloradans would find it difficult to comply with expanded background check regulations that would require transfers between individuals to be conducted through a federally licensed firearms dealer. That's because many licensed firearms dealers in the state "are unwilling to conduct the transfer under such conditions," they argued.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers released a statement on Friday saying that his office would pursue court rulings on the gun legislation “as expeditiously as possible.”

“Colorado citizens, and law-abiding gun owners in particular, deserve such clarification,” Suthers said in the statement.

The state has 64 sheriffs, said Chris Olson, executive director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado. The lawsuit is being brought forth “by individual sheriffs” and his organization is not a party to the suit, he said.

At least one lawman has said that deciding which laws are constitutional should stay out of the hands of Colorado’s sheriffs.

Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson, whose county includes the Aurora movie theater where 12 people were killed last year, released a statement in January pushing back against sheriffs who said they would not enforce new gun laws.

“Public safety professionals serving in the executive branch do not have the constitutional authority, responsibility, and in most case, the credentials to determine the constitutionality of any issue,” Robinson said in the statement. “Law enforcement officials should leave it to the courts to decide whether a law is constitutional or not.”

Robinson identified himself as a supporter of Second Amendment rights in the statement, and said he would like to see better mental health services and stricter penalties for people who commit gun crimes.

Related:

• Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper signs landmark gun-control bills
• Colorado sheriff blasts colleagues over refusal to enforce gun laws
• After Newtown, states slow to embrace new gun laws

Will the winner of the next Powerball drawing be one of the luckiest people in the world? Or will more money really, as the man once said, mean more problems?

At a massive $600 million as of Friday afternoon, the prize was the largest estimated Powerball jackpot ever after a drawing Wednesday failed to yield a winner.

But what is a modern Croesus to do with all that dough? While some winners manage to fulfill their dreams and keep in the black, others go overboard – and some lottery winners wind up dead.

It’s the American dream with an adrenaline epidural, and no one knows how they’re going to react until their number gets called.

James A. Finley / AP file

Winners of the $224.2 million Powerball jackpot pose for a group photo in Clayton, Mo. on April 13, 2006. Sandra Hayes is third from the left.

The National Endowment for Financial Education estimates that as many as 70 percent of Americans who experience a sudden windfall will lose that money within a few years. People handed a hefty check also usually experience erratic emotions ranging from elation to resentment to anger, according to the NEFE.

Or you could wind up like the luckless Hurley of "Lost" fame.

The best way to deal with a life-changing windfall might be to stick to a budget and a routine, at least according to some past winners.

Missouri child services worker Sandra Hayes split a $224 million Powerball jackpot in 2006 with a dozen co-workers. She kept her job with the state for a month after taking a $6 million lump sum, she told The Associated Press.

“I had to adapt to this new life,” Hayes said. “I had to endure the greed and the need that people have, trying to get you to release your money to them. That caused a lot of emotional pain. These are people who you’ve loved deep down, and they’re turning into vampires trying to suck the life out of me.”

Even the biggest winner can lose it all, she told the AP: “If you’re not disciplined, you will go broke. I don’t care how much money you have.”

With unexpected riches can come unwanted publicity, too. New Jersey bodega owner Pedro Quezada made tabloid headlines with his $338 million Powerball win in March, the fourth largest jackpot ever.

Julio Cortez / AP file

Pedro Quezada, the winner of the Powerball jackpot, holds up a promotional check during a news conference at the New Jersey Lottery headquarters, on March 26, in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Then the Passaic County Sheriff’s office got a whiff of his winnings, and announced Quezada owed $29,000 in child support and had an outstanding warrant in his name.

Quezada, a father of five from the Dominican Republic, said he wanted to help others at a press conference after he turned in the lucky ticket he bought at his neighborhood liquor store.

“My family is a very humble family and we’re going to help each other out,” Quezada said as he grasped a giant yellow New Jersey Lottery check.

For still other winners, the wheel of fortune has taken a more macabre turn after they raked in their loot.

Chicago dry cleaner Urooj Khan won $1 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket last summer – then dropped stone dead of what a medical examiner later said was cyanide poisoning. The man had bought the ticket at a Windy City 7-Eleven, and said later that he tipped the clerk $100 after discovering that he had won.

Authorities dug up Khan’s body in February looking for more clues, but said it was too badly decomposed to give them a fresh lead.

Then there are the winners who take the swelling of their bank account in stride.

Cindy and Mark Hill of Missouri won half of a $587.5 million jackpot in November of 2012 – and by all accounts managed to keep their cool despite their sudden riches.

“I called my husband and told him, ‘I think I am having a heart attack,’” Cindy said at the time, according to a Missouri Powerball press release. “I think we just won the Lottery!”

They pocketed a cool $136.5 million after taxes, but as of earlier this year they hadn’t let their eyes fill with dollar signs according to an article that caught up with the fortunate duo in February.

The nouveau riche Hills paid for a new fire station and baseball field in their hometown of Camden Point, Mo., Mayor Kevin Boydston told Reuters. They gave another $50,000 toward a sewage treatment plant for local residents, he told the news agency.

“I’ve said all along that these lottery winnings could not have gone to a better couple,” Boydston said. “They are giving back to the community, just like they said they would.”

The couple’s fiscal good sense gave Mark Hill’s mom reason to brag, beyond the fact that her boy was a newly minted millionaire.

“I’m real proud of them,” Shirley Hill told Reuters. “They have stayed grounded. That’s their nature.”

Related:

• Powerball jackpot soars to $600 million
• Winner of the $338 million Powerball jackpot owes $29,000 in child support
• Powerball winners introduced to the nation: 'We're still stunned by what happened'

If you have two bucks and a dream, Powerball has a game for you.

The jackpot of the multi-state lottery game has surged to $600 million ahead of Saturday's drawing -- the second-largest pot in U.S. lottery history.

In the drawing in the 43-state game at 10:59 p.m. ET Saturday, the winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22, 52 and Powerball 11.

The estimated jackpot surpasses Powerball's previous record set in November 2012, when the jackpot jumped to $587.5 million before two winners split the prize.

The largest jackpot ever claimed was a $656 million Mega Millions prize split three ways in March. 

The estimated cash value of Saturday's drawing, should a winner choose to be paid in one lump sum, now stands at $376.9 million -- before taxes, of course.

Erik S. Lesser / EPA

A customer purchases Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets at a store in Decatur, Ga. The combined jackpots of the games are estimated at $800 million.

A U.S. Navy SEAL was killed when an armored vehicle flipped during a training exercise at Fort Knox, Ky., a military official told NBC News.

The SEAL was a petty officer third class and part of a group based in Virginia Beach, Va., the official said. His name was not immediately made public.

Eight SEALs were riding in the armored vehicle, one on the top, when it flipped during a turn late Wednesday night, the official said. All eight were taken to the hospital, and one died there.

The official said that the men were training on a course routinely used by SEALs and others in the military.

This story was originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 11:13 AM EDT

The start of tornado season was late but deadly, and now severe weather with the potential for twisters threatens parts of the Plains and Midwest -- including major cities -- heading into the weekend, forecasters said.

Severe thunderstorms looked likely to build over the Plains through the weekend and into Monday. There is some chance of tornadoes developing, the channel said, as moist air from the Gulf of Mexico meets a jet stream moving eastward from the Rocky Mountains.

Late afternoon thunderstorms were expected to move in over Oklahoma City and Kansas City on Sunday, Weather Channel meteorologist Michael Palmer said. More severe thunderstorms were predicted to build over St. Louis and Springfield, Mo. on Monday, he reported.

As many as 16 tornadoes struck northern Texas on Wednesday evening, leveling homes in the towns of Granbury and Cleburne and claiming the lives of six adults. One of the twisters was preliminarily classified EF-4 by the National Weather Service, meaning its winds reached speeds of 160 to 200 miles per hour.

Overall, tornadic activity has been slow this May, typically the month when twisters do some of their worst damage, said the Weather Channel’s Tom Moore.

“We’ve had a shortened season, so to speak,” Moore said, mostly due to blasts of cold air that brought a late chill to central parts of the country.

Any twisters that develop over the Plains on Saturday are likely to form in remote regions, but the foul weather could move closer to cities on Sunday, covering a wide swath from Oklahoma City and Tulsa to Joplin, Mo., and Springfield, Mo.

“I suspect that there will be some tornadoes on Sunday,” Moore said. “There’s a slight chance it could grow a little bit of a tail, that it could get down to Dallas and Fort Worth.”

Hail as large as two inches in diameter could fall from northwestern parts of Oklahoma to North Dakota on Saturday, moving into Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota on Sunday, the Weather Channel said. The severe weather was slow moving but expected to head further eastward into the later part of next week.

Related:

• 'I couldn't stop screaming': Witnesses describe Texas tornadoes
• Search for Texas tornado survivors: Some victims 'not even near their homes'
• Texas tornadoes devastate neighborhood built by residents, Habitat for Humanity