An 11-year-old girl who died in a fight in Long Beach on Friday suffered blunt force trauma to her head, and her death was ruled a homicide, coroner’s officials said Monday.

Long Beach police officers responded just before 6 p.m. Friday to a hospital after being notified that Joanna Ramos, who was unconscious and not breathing, had been brought into the emergency room by her family. She was taken in for surgery, placed into intensive care in critical condition, and died just before 9 p.m.

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She had no visual signs of trauma to her body, police said.

Joanna and a fellow student from Willard Elementary School had been in a fight after school in an alley. With seven others looking on, the girls took off their backpacks, put their hair in a bun, said “Go” and started hitting each other.

The fight lasted about one minute. It did not involve weapons and no one was knocked to the ground, police said.

Once the fight was over, both girls left the area and went their separate ways.

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Later, Joanna had a bloody nose and wasn't feeling well so she was taken to the hospital, her family said.

Several classmates of both girls told NBC4 that the girls were fighting over a boy. Joanna's friends said the two simply could not get along.

Detectives have interviewed the other classmate and onlookers. They were also trying to identify other witnesses and anyone who knows what led to the fight.

No arrests have been made.

While the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office will determine the cause of death, police will continue to do interviews.
Officers will present their findings to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which will review the case and determine if any charges will be filed.

Police said no one has alleged or suggested that Joanna was being bullied.

None of the students interviewed told detectives that school officials were made aware of the impending fight.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Long Beach Police Department Homicide Detail at (562) 570-7244.

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The company behind the controversial Keystone oil pipeline between Canada's Alberta oil fields and the United States on Monday said it would start construction of a southern leg while studying ways to address environmental concerns in the key central portion.

The central stretch has been blocked by the U.S. State Department due to its potential impact in Nebraska, where Republicans as well as Democrats have raised concerns.

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TransCanada Corporation said it intends to apply in the near future for approval of the central section once it works out an alternative route. "We would expect our cross border permit should be processed expeditiously and a decision made once a new route in Nebraska is determined," TransCanada President Russ Girling said in a statement issued by the company. 

In the meantime, the company noted Monday, the section from Cushing, Okla., to the Texas Gulf Coast will be built. The $2.3 billion section should be in service by late 2013, it stated, and will help to move crude oil backed up in Cushing.

The section north of Nebraska is currently being built and the entire $7 billion pipeline, if approved, would stretch 1,700 miles.

The project has become a lighting rod over energy policy, with Republicans claiming that President Barack Obama is undermining efforts to secure oil and natural gas from friendly sources.

Republicans earlier passed a bill that imposed a Feb. 21 deadline to approve or deny the project, but the Obama administration is waiting for Keystone's alternative before it makes a decision.

THE BOTTOM LINE: How Keystone could raise oil prices for some

The Obama administration had suggested development of an Oklahoma-to-Texas line to alleviate an oil glut at a Cushing storage hub.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama welcomed the announcement.

"Moving oil from the Midwest to the world-class, state-of-the-art refineries on the Gulf Coast will modernize our infrastructure, create jobs, and encourage American energy production," Carney said in a statement. "We look forward to working with TransCanada to ensure that it is built in a safe, responsible and timely manner, and we commit to take every step possible to expedite the necessary federal permits."

TransCanada itself noted that the Obama administration had not ruled out the pipeline. "Reapplying for the Keystone XL permit is supported by words used in President Obama's statement January 18, 2012 when he said the denial of the permit was not based on the merits of the pipeline but rather on an imposed 60-day legislative timeline to make a decision on the project," it stated.

The overall project stalled at the State Department level in January as environmental objections over the pipeline's route and increased development of the Alberta oil sands boiled over, raising difficult political problems for Obama as the election year got under way.

Environmental groups have fought the pipeline tooth and nail, arguing that it would increase pollution from Canada's oil sands production and that jobs estimates are inflated.

The State Department is involved because the project would cross into the U.S. from another country.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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BP and lawyers for tens of thousands of businesses and individuals hit by the 2010 gulf oil spill were trying to work out a settlement on Monday after a judge delayed the start of the trial by a week.

Citing three people familiar with the talks, Bloomberg news agency reported Monday that BP and the plaintiffs were discussing a $14 billion settlement.

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"I had almost given up on the possibility of a global settlement before a trial began," Edward Sherman, a professor at Tulane University Law School and specialist in complex litigation, said Sunday. "Now, with an extra week, it seems to improve the chances."

A settlement could also be a key step toward BP reaching a broader settlement with its drilling partners, and with federal and state governments.

During a conference call between BP and a plaintiffs steering committee on Sunday, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier cited "some progress" in settlement talks, two people close to the case told The Associated Press.

BP and the committee in a joint news release said they were working to reach an agreement that would "fairly compensate people and businesses affected by the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill."

The massive scope of the case — a maze of claims and counterclaims between the companies, federal and state governments and plaintiffs' attorneys — has elicited comparisons to the tobacco litigation of the 1990s.

Mountains of legal briefs
Roughly 340 plaintiffs' lawyers have worked on the case. BP has spent millions of dollars on experts and law firms. More than 300 depositions have been taken. Millions of pages of legal briefs have been filed. One Justice Department lawyer said it would take him 210 years to read all the pages submitted into the record if he read 1,000 pages a day.

Bloomberg's sources said under the proposed settlement BP would close its $20 billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility and shift the facility's remaining $14 billion to the plaintiffs.

The steering committee is overseeing lawsuits filed by individuals and businesses following the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico. The blast killed 11 workers and injured 17, and led to 206 million gallons of oil spewing from the blown-out well, soiling miles of coastline.

Even with a settlement, much work would remain:

• The U.S. government has sued BP and others for violating the Clean Water Act and other laws, which could result in fines totaling tens of billions of dollars.
• Gulf states are also seeking compensation for their losses.
• BP is also suing and being sued by its drilling partners.

Apart from BP, which owned 65 percent of the Macondo well, the main corporate defendants are Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig, and Halliburton, which provided cementing services for the well. Several other companies are also involved in the trial.

BP has accepted responsibility for the disaster, and estimated its legal and cleanup costs for the spill will total $43 billion. Some analysts have said that figure could top $60 billion, especially if there were a finding that its activities at the project were "grossly negligent."

Earlier this month, BP said it had set aside $6.1 billion to cover claims by businesses. Lawyers for those plaintiffs said the amount was too low, and that BP should also award punitive damages, which the oil company says are not warranted.

Many industry analysts and experts say a quick settlement is in BP's best interest. 

If no settlement is reached, Barbier will preside over a three-phase, non-jury trial that could last the better part of a year. The first phase is designed to identify the causes of the deadly blowout and to assign percentages of fault to the companies involved in the ill-fated drilling project.

Financial analysts estimate BP could wind up paying anywhere from $15 billion to $30 billion over the lawsuits.

An AP analysis found that the company could conceivably face up to $52 billion in environmental fines and compensation if the judge determines the company was grossly negligent.

The decisions and actions that led to the explosion and spill already have been painstakingly investigated by the Coast Guard, federal regulators and a presidential commission. Their probes concluded that BP, Transocean and Halliburton deserve to share the blame for a string of risky decisions that were designed to save time and money.

Separately, BP has had discussions in recent days with the federal government and cement contractor Halliburton, according to several people close to the case.

Families of crew who died have other needs
Relatives of the 11 killed in the Deepwater Horizon blast say they are hoping for something more elusive: justice for lost loved ones.

Sheryl Revette, whose husband, Dewey, worked for Transocean and was among the 11 killed, doesn't have anything to gain financially from the trial. She wants an apology from the oil giant, something she said she hasn't received yet, even though she settled her claims against BP last year.

"I've never heard a word from them," said Revette, 48, of State Line, Miss. "But an apology isn't going to bring my husband back."

From the beginning of the disaster, many relatives of workers who died on the rig have felt that their tragic losses were unjustly overshadowed by corporate finger-pointing, legal wrangling, and concerns about the spill's environmental and economic impact along the Gulf Coast.

"Nobody cares about the 11 men who died," said Arleen Weise, 58, of Yorktown, Texas, whose 24-year-old son, Adam Weise, was killed in the blast. "Did everybody have to forget about those men?"

A BP spokesman said the company has expressed its sympathies to the victims' families from the outset. In a press release less than a week after the explosion, former BP CEO Tony Hayward said: "We owe a lot to everyone who works on offshore facilities around the world and no words can express the sorrow and pain when such a tragic incident happens."

Chris Jones, whose brother, Gordon, was also killed on the rig, had planned to drive in from Baton Rouge with other relatives to attend the start of the trial. He said he has mixed feelings about the prospect of a settlement that would eliminate the need for a trial. Jones said he would be disappointed if BP manages to "write a check to solve their problems."

"I was ready to go to trial and see their feet held close to the fire," he said Sunday after learning of the postponement. "It seems like the easy way out to pay whatever the plaintiffs are willing to take."

Jones, an attorney, said he's not surprised that the oil giant would seek to avoid a long, costly trial.

"I know that is part of the game, so to speak," he said. "As long as they're paying a lot of money for the damage they caused, it would give me some relief."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Updated 11:15 p.m. ET: CHARDON, Ohio - A teen gunman opened fire inside a high school cafeteria at the start of the classes on Monday, killing one student and wounding four others, police said.

The suspect was taken into custody near his car a half-mile from the suburban Cleveland school after a teacher chased him from the building, according to FBI officials.

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Police have not formally identified the suspected gunman, but students, parents of students and local media said his name was T.J. Lane, which was confirmed by NBC News.

FBI agent Scott Wilson would not comment on a possible motive for the attack.

Prayer vigils will be held at the school and several area churches Monday night for the victims of the shooting.

The injured students were rushed to area hospitals where a boy identified as Daniel Parmentor, 17, died at MetroHealth System in Cleveland. Parmentor, a high school junior, went to a nearby vocational school where he studied computer science, and was waiting in the cafeteria for a bus when the gunman opened fire.

"We are shocked by this senseless tragedy," said a statement from Parmentor's family, provided by MetroHealth. "Danny was a bright young boy who had a bright future ahead of him. The family is torn by this loss. We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time."

Two of the wounded were listed in critical condition, and another was in serious condition.

Police Chief Tim McKenna said authorities "have a lot of homework to do yet" in their investigation.

Bob Farinacci, who is representing Lane, read a statement on behalf of his family:

"They want to give their most heartfelt and sincere condolences to the family of the young man who passed and their continuing prayers are with all those who were injured. This is something that could never have been predicted. T.J.'s family has asked for some privacy while they try to understand how such a tragedy could have occurred and while they mourn this terrible loss for their community."

Farinacci added that Lane is a sophomore with "pretty impressive" grades who doubled up on classes this year to graduate by May.

"He pretty much sticks to himself but does have some friends and has never been in trouble over anything that we would know about," Farinacci said. 

Lane attended Lake Academy Alternative School for at-risk students that is operated out of the Lake County Educational Service Center, said Brian Bontempo, superintendent of the Lake County Educational Service Center, which operates the academy.

The Ohio shooting is the worst at a U.S. high school in 11 months and the worst in Ohio since late 2007, according to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Suspect in custody following Ohio school shooting

‘In shock’
Panicked students screamed and ran through the halls when gunfire broke out around 7:30 a.m. at the 1,100-student Chardon school, about an hour’s drive east of downtown Cleveland.

Freshman Danny Komertz, 15, said he saw one student who authorities say was killed trying to get under a table to protect himself and shield his face.

Komertz described the shooter as an outcast who had apparently been bullied.

Komertz says that there were at least 100 students in the cafeteria at the time and that most fled immediately as shots were fired.

Three of the male students shot were believed to be from Auburn Career Academy, a vocational school with 700 juniors and seniors, taken from 11 surrounding school districts including Chardon High School, Superintendent Maggie Lynch said. 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer identified the wounded students as Joy Rickers, 18, Nick Walczak, 17, Russell King, 17, and Demetrius Hewlin, 16.

The teacher who chased the gunman out of the school was identified by students as Frank Hall, an assistant football coach.

Nate Mueller, a student who said he was sitting in the cafeteria at a table with three of the victims, told WKYC.com that his ear was grazed by one of the bullets as he turned away from the gunman.

“He didn’t say anything the entire time. He took one shot, and then that’s when we looked to see what was happening because it sounded like a firecracker almost, and at that point I looked back, I saw him shoot -- which hit one of my other friends that was sitting at the table with us. And then, as I was turning around ... that’s when he hit me.”

Mueller said the shooting didn't seem real. "It all feels like a movie. ... I am sure tomorrow I’ll be devastated."

Sketchy reports emerge on alleged high school gunman

The gunman, who used a revolver, had been a friend of Mueller's until the end of junior high school. Mueller said at that point the gunman had entered a "gothic" phase.

“He still had friends. He was still a nice kid … we didn’t think he would hurt anybody,” he said.

“He was not like a jock, a popular kid," student Evan Erasmus told Channel 5. “He has friends, but he would be considered the outcast type."

Erasmus told Channel 5 that a student tweeted he was going to bring a gun to school but no one took him seriously. Other reports said it was a text.

Jonathan Sylak, a senior at the high school, said he never saw a text or tweet but had heard about it.

 “It is a nice, safe community, and from what we have observed, very little crime... But you never know what is going on in other people’s minds,” Sylak told MSNBC TV.

"I am still in shock,” Sylak said.

 Asked about the connection of the alleged shooter and the victims, Sylak said, “I don’t think it was random.”

“They were definitely targeted, I think,” he said.

‘Distraught’
Heather Ziska, 17, said she was in the cafeteria when she heard popping noises in the hall. She said she recognized the male student as he came into the cafeteria and started shooting.

She said she and several others immediately ran outside, while other friends ran into a middle school and others locked themselves in a teachers' lounge.

"Everybody just started running," said 17-year-old Megan Hennessy, who was in class when she heard loud noises. "Everyone was running and screaming down the hallway."

Police recovered a handgun and gave it to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for examination, that agency said.

A law enforcement source said the Geauga County sheriff's office and federal agents were executing search warrants in the case, but the official did not provide locations.

"I'm just distraught," Victoria, a Chardon High student, told Fox 8. She said the cafeteria wasn't crowded at the time of the shooting, adding that she knew the shooter, who is a junior.  Victoria said she saw him shoot another student in the back before she and a friend fled the area.

Chardon schools will be closed on Tuesday as a day of reflection following the shooting, Superintendent Joe Bergant said at an afternoon news briefing.

The school system in Chardon has received an excellent rating from the Ohio Department of Education for 10 consecutive years and draws students from a number of surrounding communities.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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LONG BEACH, Calif. -- The two 11-year-old girls had planned their after-school fight. When the time came, a few shoves and punches were exchanged, and it was over within a minute. But hours later one of them was dead.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office was investigating how Joanna Ramos could leave the alley near her Long Beach elementary school with a bloody nose and end up dying in an intensive care unit.

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The cause of death, and the circumstances behind it left family, friends and authorities confused and seeking answers.

"I personally don't hear of 11-year-old fights like this, especially girls. I can't say they never happen but I think everyone was completely caught off-guard by this event." police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said Sunday.

Pratt urged caution about linking the fight to the girl's death with certainty until a coroner's report is released. Police, who have interviewed the other girl involved in the fight, were investigating and said that no arrests are immediately planned.

Ramos, returned to the after-school program after the fight and some time later vomited, the girl's aunt Patricia Catalan, told the Press-Telegraph newspaper at a memorial in the elementary school.

The girl's mother was called when she wasn't feeling well.

"My daughter started complaining, saying she doesn't feel good, let's go home, so we went to home and I changed her clothes, and she go to sleep, that's the only thing that I know," Joanna's mother, Cecilia Villanueva told KNBC-TV. "We took her to the hospital but it was too late. She was in a coma."

Ramos died at a hospital at 9 p.m. Friday, about six hours after the fight near Willard Elementary, police said. Authorities have not released the girl's name but Villanueva told KNBC the girl who died was her daughter, Joanna.

"I want to know what happened," she said through tears.

'They started hitting each other'
Stephanie Guadalupe, a friend of Joanna, said the girls were fighting over a boy.

"I told the teacher and she said she would talk to all the girls on Monday," Guadalupe said.

"They took off their backpacks, and they put their hair in a bun, and then that's when they said 'go' and that's when they started hitting each other," Joanna's friend and classmate Maggie Martinez, who watched the fight, told KNBC.

Martinez and other friends said they tried to stop the fight, but were held back by boys who were watching and wanted it to continue.

"There are times when words do not convey the sense of sadness we feel," Mayor Bob Foster said at a press conference. "This is one of those times."

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Hells Angels member missing since October has been arrested on suspicion of gunning down a fellow member of the biker gang at a funeral for the local chapter's president, police said.

Steve Ruiz surrendered Saturday night after San Jose police surrounded his motel in Fremont, according to police Sgt. Jason Dwyer.

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Ruiz, 38, had been the subject of a widespread manhunt since Steve Tausan was shot and killed during memorial services for Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew on Oct. 15. Police believe that Ruiz shot Tausan when a fight broke out at the San Jose funeral, which was monitored by police.

Dwyer would not say what led officers to the Days Inn motel in Fremont or if any weapons were recovered, but added that Ruiz was considered "armed and dangerous."

A front desk clerk at the motel, Rey Bayangos, said Ruiz had checked in just two hours before police arrived.

"They used the phone at the front desk, called and asked him to surrender peacefully, and he did surrender," Bayangos said. "It happened all of a sudden."

Casino brawl
Tausan, 52, was one of 4,000 people attending services for Pettigrew, the president of the Hells Angels' San Jose chapter. Pettigrew was slain during a brawl with a rival biker gang in a Nevada casino on Sept. 23.

Police said Tausan, who was Pettigrew's close friend, and others confronted Ruiz at the funeral over his perceived failure to have protected Pettigrew during the casino melee, prompting Ruiz to pull a gun on Tausan.

A week after Tausan was killed, police stormed a house in Stockton but came up empty. Investigators also said in December that they had "credible evidence" that Ruiz, a former San Jose resident, had been seen in the city.

Ruiz was booked into Santa Clara County Jail. Dwyer did not have bail information or know if he had been assigned a court date.

The Ruiz arrest marks the latest development in a saga of violence between two rival biker groups -- the Hells Angels and Vagos -- which has led to multiple deaths and injuries.

Rivalry
The U.S. Justice Department has named both groups as outlaw gangs engaged in drug and weapons trafficking and other violent crimes.

Police have said they trace the rivalry to a push by Vagos into the northern coastal town of Santa Cruz, long claimed as Hells Angels territory.

Tensions flared when members of the rival gangs fought outside a Santa Cruz Starbucks in January 2010. Seven months later, in August 2010, the two groups exchanged gunfire, leaving five people wounded in Chino Valley, a northern Arizona town.

The Pettigrew killing -- coming 11 months after the Chino Valley fight -- in turn sparked tensions within the Hells Angels' ranks that led to yet another slaying in California, police said.

Vagos was founded in the 1960s in a Southern California desert community. The Hells Angels, which has over 230 chapters with an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 members worldwide, was founded in 1948 in Fontana, California.

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The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

 

 

JACKSON, Tenn. -- One man was killed and 19 other people injured after a shooting at a nightclub, police in West Tennessee said Sunday.

Officers were called to the Karma Lounge in downtown Jackson at about 2 a.m. Sunday and arrived to find one man dead, 17 people with gunshot wounds and two who were trampled, according to Jackson Police Lt. Tyreece Miller.

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Miller said a dispute among several people led to the shooting. Evidence indicates at least three people used handguns to fire into the crowd.

According to WMCTV, the nightclub had advertised a Lane College and LeMoyne-Owen College after-game party. 

Lecarlos Todd, 19, of Memphis, was killed. Another shooting victim was in critical condition Sunday night at a local hospital.

Authorities released photos of two men taken by the club's video cameras. Miller said investigators want to question them.

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

It may have been nearly 85 degrees in parts of Florida, but rain poured over Daytona, resulting in the first-ever postponement of the Daytona 500 race, the Associated Press reported.

As heavy rain soaked Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, NASCAR workers never had a big enough window to dry the track.

Rain saturated the famed speedway, sending fans scattering for cover. Puddles of water formed in parts of the infield, and many fans got drenched as they tried to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation.

NASCAR officials spent more than four hours waiting for a window to dry the famed track, but it never came. When the latest storm cell passed over the speedway around 5 p.m., they had little choice but to call it a day.

NBC Sports: First one-day delay in 54-year history of the race

The 500-mile race has been rescheduled for noon Monday, when the National Weather Service forecast showers and a high of 75 degrees. Officials are prepared to wait all day and into the night to avoid a Tuesday race, which would strain teams that must get to Phoenix for next week's race.

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NOAA.gov issued a small craft advisory and reported light rain, punctuated by brief downpours through 8 p.m.  

The Weather Channel reported that Sunday's rain has been the result of a weak upper-level system and that it would rain on and off throughout the evening.

Follow more Daytona 500 coverage on NBCSports.com.

Potential candidates for New York City mayor are taking stands on the police department’s surveillance of Muslim students, ranging from support to worry that the police department may be violating civil liberties, the Associated Press has reported.

The NYPD used undercover officers and informants to infiltrate Muslim student groups at colleges across the Northeast. The monitoring was part of the department's anti-terrorism efforts. Officers tracked student websites and blogs, monitoring who was communicating with the groups. On one occasion, an undercover officer was sent on a whitewater rafting trip with students from the City College of New York.

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The AP’s investigation has triggered an uproar among civil liberties activists, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who leaves office after the 2013 election, has said that he finds "worrisome" the idea that his successor might abandon NYPD policies that have kept New Yorkers safe.

New York City Comptroller John C. Liu, who is expected to run for mayor, warned that "we should not as a matter of policy profile people based on religion or race — it goes against everything this city stands for."

Liu, a Queens Democrat, faces a federal investigation into his fundraising operation after reports of inconsistencies in his campaign finances.

At a hearing in October, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that a department squad called the Demographics Unit mapped the city’s Muslim population, according to The New York Times. 

Councilmembers at the hearing said they worried New Yorkers' civil liberties were being violated.

“It looks like we are targeting Muslim neighborhoods and communities,” Councilman Brad Lander said at the time. “That’s not good for us. We have people out there who are partners who feel the trust is betrayed.”

The Associated Press and The New York Times contributed to this report.

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The U.S. military has identified the remains of the last American service member unaccounted for in Iraq, the Associated Press has reported.

Staff. Sgt. Ahmed Kousay al-Taie was an Army interpreter from Ann Arbor, Mich. He was born in Iraq and moved to the U.S. as a teenager. He joined the Army Reserve in December 2004.

The military’s mortuary in Dover, Del. positively identified part of his remains. Army officials provided no details about how his remains were discovered.

In 2006, al-Taie left Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone by motorcycle to visit his wife, an Iraqi he had married the year before. At his relative’s house, three cars pulled up. Hostage-takers handcuffed al-Taie, then 41, and forced him into one of the cars, Mag. Gen William Caldwell said in a statement in 2006. One of the kidnappers took his cell phone.

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Officials in Iraq offered up to $50,000 for information that would lead to al-Taie, according to an Army press release.

Caldwell said troops had conducted 51 search operations based on 328 tips. Those raids resulted in 35 suspects, many of whom were detained and offered valuable information, Caldwell said.

"We have fairly good information that tells us where we think he could still be held and who perhaps may have him," Caldwell said in 2008. Three soldiers were killed and six wounded during those search operations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Acting on an anonymous tip, authorities discovered nearly 50,000 abandoned chickens at an egg farm just south of Modesto, Calif. The hens hadn’t been fed for two weeks, the Modesto Bee reported, and nearly all were so sick they had to be euthanized.

The birds’ carcasses were sent to a landfill; about 2,000 surviving hens were sent to sanctuaries where they are being treated and will be adopted out as companions.

A&L Poultry, the owner of the abandoned egg farm, issued an apology by way of Fox40, saying the company was shutting down its egg production.

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The company stated the chickens were abandoned by accident: “An attempt to arrange for delivery of the chickens to a third party in order to avoid the usual business practice of euthanizing the chickens resulted in an unacceptable situation A&L Poultry did not intend, and profoundly regrets.”

Annette Patton, the executive director of Stanislaus Animal Services Agency, told the Modesto Bee that she will ask the Stanislaus County district attorney’s office next week to prosecute the owner of A&L Poultry, Andy Keung Cheung.

A&L Poultry produced between 12.5 million and 15 million eggs a year, which, although a large number, represents a fraction of the egg production industry in that county, the Modesto Bee reported.

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A Fort Myers man was arrested at the Redneck Yacht Club in Florida for driving over a small car several times early Saturday morning.

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office reported to Redneck Yacht Club around 5:00 a.m. A 16-year-old girl, accompanied by her 37-year-old stepfather, told deputies that she had left her 1994 Toyota Corolla in a field while she went "mudding" with friends.

While she was away, she heard that a car had been run over. When she returned to her car, she realized it had been crushed.

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A security guard informed deputies that around 3:00 a.m., he witnessed a large group of spectators near the car urging two large trucks to run it over, shouting that, "the owner doesn't care."

The trucks attempted to run over the car but couldn't and left. A large white van with five-foot wheels then approached the car and the crowd again urged it to run over the car.

Read the original story on nbc-2.com

The van smashed both sides of the hood before driving over the entire car. The driver then drove over the car several more times.

A witness led deputies to the driver of the van and he was identified as Norman Nowling, 40, of Fort Myers.

He was taken to the Charlotte County Jail for criminal mischief.

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A dehydrated squirrel monkey died at a Harvard Medical School research facility in December, the third monkey to die at the New England Primate Research Center in 19 months.

The Boston Globe reports  that the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited Harvard for failures to comply with federal animal welfare regulations, including injuries to monkeys.

William Chin, executive dean for research at Harvard Medical School, told the newspaper that the incidents are unacceptable. He said problems with management systems and implementing basic procedures were found in a review in 2010.

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Chin says new leaders are addressing the issues.

Harvard and agriculture officials say the Dec. 27 death and non-fatal dehydration of a second monkey was caused by employees' failure to check a malfunctioning water dispensing system.

Read more on boston.com

Another squirrel monkey’s leg was fractured in January, when it was caught under a door, according to the Boston Globe. Also, the newspaper reported that a group of rhesus macaques escaped from their pen in December, resulting in an injury to one monkey’s foot.

“They’ve had a tough stretch, and it’s certainly something that’s gotten our attention and we look forward to them correcting the situation,” David Sacks, a USDA spokesman, told the Boston Globe.

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Allegations of teachers committing sex crimes against California children increased last year, even though total teacher misconduct complaints declined, according to figures compiled by the state's Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

During the 2010-11 school year, the commission opened 129 cases involving allegations of sexual crimes against children. That was up from 112 cases the previous year.

Over the same period, there was also an increase in the number of allegations of non-sexual crimes against children – from 234 to 254.

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In contrast, the total number of cases opened for all reasons declined – from 5,662 to 5,400, according to figures published in the Workload Report for the Divisions of Professional Practices Discipline.

Read the original story on NBCLosAngeles.com

Authorities have seen a surge in complaints in recent weeks since a longtime teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, Mark Berndt, was arrested and charged with 23 counts of lewd conduct.

Former substitute teacher Jorge Hernandez was investigated for suspected crimes at three schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. After a third case in 2007, he was compelled to leave.

However, this was not reported to the Credentialing Commission, and Hernandez found work with the Inglewood school district.

The commission is empowered to suspend or revoke the credentials of teachers once they are suspected of a crime or other serious misconduct, and removed from the classroom.

Whether notification was made within the required 30 days of change in employment status has come into question in two of the high profile cases coming to light in the glare of the Miramonte uproar.

While teaching third grade at Inglewood's Beulah Payne Elementary School in 2008, Hernandez allegedly molested an 8-year-old girl, according to Sanford Jossen, the attorney who has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the girl and her mother.

"How many times does one have to hear someone yell, 'fire,’'' Jossen said.

Hernandez was arrested in 2010 after he drove to another school, Gage Elementary in Huntington Park, and allegedly exposed himself to children outside.

During a post-arrest search of his home, authorities found videos they characterized as child pornography. Jossen's suit states that one of the videos depicts the molestation of the girl at Payne Elementary.

Hernandez jumped bail prior to a 2010 hearing, and is believed to have fled to Jalisco, Mexico, to escape prosecution.

In the Berndt case, after he was removed from his classroom at the beginning of 2011, a year elapsed before LAUSD reported this to the Credentialing Commission.

Supt. John Deasy acknowledged the error and said his district would renew efforts to comply with the reporting requirements.

The Commission revoked the credentials of 267 teachers during the 2010-11 school year, only one more than the previous year, and suspended 243 – an increase of 36.

The Credentialing Commission's awareness of cases relies on reports from outside agencies, including law enforcement and school districts.

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Love them or hate them, strip joints have a timeless allure – but that didn’t stop one club from adopting a new strategy to lure men inside.

“It was harassment, it was constantly, every single day for awhile, sometimes more than once a day,” Bret Lusskin said.

He is talking about spam text messages he says he got from Tootsie’s Cabaret in Miami Gardens.

See video, read the original story at NBCMiami.com

“There’s no way to stop it, you just start getting text messages every single day and what are you gonna do?” Lusskin asked. “Something has to be done, and clearly they just unrepentantly took advantage of people that night, they never told anybody that it was a marketing ploy.”

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Lusskin is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed against the club’s parent company, alleging that Tootsie’s “surreptitiously obtained” dozens of cell phone numbers from patrons by holding a contest. The winner received a Rolex. Participants just had to fill out a form and include their cell number.

“We allege that they advertised the watch in order to lure people into providing their cell phone numbers,” said attorney Scott Owens, who filed the suit.

Within days, Lusskin said, he started receiving the text ads. Over more than a year, he got more than 280 in all.

“I didn’t win anything, all I did was get freaking hundreds of text messages,” he said. “I would not have signed if it had told me that I was going to be getting bombarded by text message solicitations from them.”

The lawsuit alleges that what Tootsie’s did violates federal law, specifically the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which stipulates a $500 fine for every violation.

“With the 280 messages times a hundred people times $500 per message, you’re talking in excess of $10 million for this class action lawsuit,” Owens said.

Tootsie’s refused to comment on the issue. The club’s lawyer told NBC 6 it is company policy never to comment on pending litigation.

His court filings make clear that he does not think the suit has any merit. In them, he writes repeatedly that the defendants deny the allegations.

NBC 6 had no luck trying to bring a camera anywhere near the club, even while standing on public property nearby.

“Uh, you can’t point it at the front door, guys,” said a man in a suit who walked up to NBC 6’s team. He stood in front of the camera to block the shot.

If you text, there is a good chance you have received text spam, such as the junk cars message that is currently going around.

Priscilla Perez says her 12-year-old son got a text from Tootsie’s.

“I got mad, actually, and I felt like he was being violated,” she said. “How do you send him this message, 12 years old, come to Tootsie’s?”

Owens says if you get a junk text, do not respond to it. Instead, save it for evidence, and call the Federal Communications Commission to report it.

Lusskin said his texts from Tootsie’s stopped only after he sued the club.

“As we’ve seen in this case, it can get out of control, so someone has to stand against that tide before it turns into email spam, where it just proliferates to the point that text messaging is just useless,” he said.

More on the Web: Get information on how to file a complaint with the FCC here.

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Don't call it a drought (yet). But don't call it a snow-heavy winter, either.

Snowpack levels in the Sierra mountains -- a key indicator in determining how much water will be available to Central Valley farmers and municipal water users alike -- are at 30 percent of normal, according to reports, which spells setback for natural resources in 2012.

Read the original story at NBCBayArea.com

Already, farmers have been informed that they'll get around half of the water they've requested, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

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Reservoirs are at 110 percent of normal, according to the newspaper, thanks to last year's wet winter.

The snowpack has another month to improve: April 1 is when the snowpack is at its peak, and when state water-watchers can determine exactly what they can promise to farmers in the hot and dry Central Valley. 

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BEVERLY, Mass. -- An off-duty police sergeant shot a police officer from a nearby town in Northeastern Massachusetts Friday night, then returned to the scene and killed himself as authorities closed in, the local district attorney said.

Authorities responded to a Starbucks in Beverly after a 911 call at about 5:45 p.m. ET Friday and found Beverly police Officer Jason Lantych shot multiple times, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. Lantych is in serious condition and undergoing surgery, he said.

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Off-duty Hamilton police Sgt. Ken Nagy shot Lantych and fled, the district attorney's office said. A warrant was issued for Nagy's arrest on a charge of assault with intent to murder, and authorities said he was believed to be armed and dangerous.

The 43-year-old Nagy returned to the Starbucks at about 10:30 p.m. ET, and police there began to cordon off the scene. Nagy fatally shot himself in his car as officers approached him, Blodgett said.

"He has taken his life," Blodgett told Boston.com. "It is a tragic day."

Nagy and Lantych knew each other but the motive for the shooting is unclear, the district attorney's office said. Beverly and Hamilton are towns about 5 miles apart in northeastern Massachusetts.

Boston.com reported that the investigation was ongoing and that dozens of police officers and emergency medical personnel were gathered at the roped-off Starbucks parking lot Saturday morning.

Nagy was promoted to sergeant last summer after 19 years of service, according to a July 3 story from the Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle. His wife, Katie, smiled as she pinned a badge on Nagy's uniform, and their two young sons clapped, the newspaper reported.

When asked his feelings about the promotion, Nagy told the newspaper, "It feels great. I worked hard over the 19 years to get here."

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Msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The son of Robert F. Kennedy has been charged with harassment and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly clashing with two nurses who tried to stop him from taking his 2-day-old baby boy from a Westchester maternity unit, NBC New York has learned.

According to a Mount Kisco, N.Y. police report obtained by NBC New York, Douglas Kennedy, 44, took his baby from the newborn unit of Northern Westchester Hospital on Jan. 7, against the instructions of hospital staff who told him the infant needed to stay there. He faces misdemeanor charges.

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Kennedy and his wife, Molly, who was in the hospital to recover from a cesarean section, disputed the accusations in a statement to NBC New York, saying "these allegations are absurd."

The nurse in charge of the unit, Anna Margaret Lane, said in a deposition that Kennedy wanted to take the child "to get fresh air" that evening. As he tried to leave, he was accompanied by a doctor from the hospital's emergency room, identified in court papers as "Dr. Haydock," later determined to be Dr. Timothy Haydock, a longtime family friend.

Read the original story and see security video at NBCNewYork.com

While the nursing staff sought to get Kennedy to return the baby to his bassinet, Haydock reportedly encouraged Kennedy to walk with the baby by telling nurses that he was with him, according to Lane's deposition.

Kennedy ignored the pleas of the nursing staff and carried the newborn -- identified in court papers as "B.K." -- to the elevator, police said.  As the nursing staff tried to calm him and dissuade him from leaving the hospital, Kennedy turned and walked toward a stairwell leading to the outside of the hospital. 

Lane blocked the doorway, "placing both hands on the doorknob" to prevent Kennedy from leaving, police said. Kennedy grabbed the nurse by her left wrist and twisted it to that he could pass into the stairwell, police said.

The baby's head "began to move from side to side, and in an attempt to stabilize the baby's head, nurse Cari Maleman Luciano reached toward the infant's head," police said. 

"Instinctively as a nurse, I raised both my arms toward the neck of the baby to steady the violent shaking of the baby's head and neck," Luciano told investigators in a deposition.

While holding the child in his right arm, Kennedy kicked Luciano in the pelvis with his right foot, knocking her backward onto the floor, police said.

As he did this, Kennedy fell onto the floor with the baby in his arms. Kennedy then got up and ran "down the stairs with the infant until he was stopped by security and escorted back to the infant's room," the police report said.

The police report did not say whether the infant was harmed but Kennedy's lawyer told NBC New York the baby was not injured and slept during the altercation.

The statement to NBC New York from Kennedy and his wife said there was no crime committed.

"The nurse had no right to attempt to grab our child out of his father's arms and I, Douglas, was shocked and appalled when she did so," the statement said.

Haydock said in a statement to NBC New York that Kennedy, whom he has known for more than 40 years, was not putting his healthy baby at risk by seeking to take him for a walk outside.

"I witnessed the incident and I can state unequivocally that the nurses were the only aggressors," he said. "To charge Mr. Kennedy with a crime is simply incomprehensible to me."

Kennedy attorney Robert Gottlieb criticized the nurses' handling of the case.

"What happened to that baby and any danger to that baby was the fault not of Douglas Kennedy but the nurses involved in this case," Gottlieb said. "There is no question about it during the entire incident, Mr. Kennedy was acting very politely, calmly, politely."

Elliot Taub, the two nurses' attorney, said Lane and Luciano "called a ‘code pink,’ that is, it looks like its someone trying to abscond from the hospital with a newborn. That alerts the security staff and when it escalated, they hit what's called a 'code purple,' which means there is someone who is acting inappropriately, highly offensive, is a danger in the hospital."

Kennedy is the 10th child of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy. He and Molly have four children.

A Brown University graduate, Kennedy started his journalism career with The New York Post and most recently worked as a general assignment reporter and bi-monthly news program host for Fox News.

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NASHVILLE – Authorities are investigating the contents of a threatening letter containing powder sent to the office of former Vice President Al Gore on the city’s south side Friday afternoon.

Police said two interns were opening mail at the office when they discovered a threatening letter filled with a white powdery substance, according to Newschannel5.com in Nashville.

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The building at Bedford Avenue, near the Mall at Green Hills, was immediately evacuated and authorities were called in to investigate.

"These type of letters, even if a hoax, are a serious crime that will be thoroughly investigated by the FBI and referred to the U.S. Attorneys Offices for prosecution," the FBI said in a statement Friday. 

According to WSMV-TV in Nashville, FBI spokesman Keith Moses said investigators ruled out a link to the series of letters distributed to offices of senators nationwide this week. Letters also containing a powdery substance proved to be harmless.

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