Jake Daniels / AP

Keith Dane, center, representative for the Humane Society of the United States, and Joe Tydings, right, a former senator from Maryland who authored the original Horse Protection Act in 1970, speak to the media on the steps of the federal courthouse, Tuesday.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- Former Tennessee walking horse hall of fame trainer Jackie McConnell was fined $75,000 and sentenced to three years’ probation in federal court on Tuesday for using a banned and abusive practice on show horses that involving putting caustic chemicals on their ankles.

McConnell faced 52 counts of transporting and showing abused horses and had pleaded guilty in May to a single charge of animal cruelty in an agreement with prosecutors that called for probation and a fine.

U.S. District Judge Harry Mattice Jr. accepted McConnell's plea, imposing the fine, which could have been up to $250,000, and probation at a federal court hearing in Chattanooga on Tuesday. McConnell faced up to five years in prison if the agreement had not been accepted.

McConnell was required by the court to write a letter about the soring of horses, the pain it causes and the long-term effects, The Chattanoogan said. He was also asked to say how widespread soring is in the letter.

McConnell was banned for life from the Tennessee Walking Horse organization's biggest event and stricken from its hall of fame along with written and photographic mentions after ABC News showed the video in May of him abusing horses.

Secretly filmed
The federal charges stemmed from a banned practice called "soring" in which the front legs of walking horses, known for their high-stepping gait or “big lick,” are slathered with caustic chemicals to induce pain that causes them to kick even higher.

An animal rights activist working undercover in a horse barn secretly recorded McConnell and some colleagues abusing horses in March and April 2011. The video was used as a basis for the prosecution.

The video showed horses being beaten with wooden sticks and poked with electric cattle prods. The horses' ankles were covered with caustic chemicals and then wrapped with plastic to increase their pain.

Keith Dane, director of equine protection for the Humane Society of the United States, said he wanted a tougher sentence but that McConnell's case still would send a message that soring would not be tolerated.

"It was our hope that McConnell would do prison time for these terrible crimes but there are gaps in the federal law that need to be strengthened," Dane said.

On its website, the Human Society said a federal bill had been been introduced by Representatives Ed Whitfield, a Kentucky Republican, and Steve Cohen, a Democract from Tennessee, that would amend the Horse Protection Act "to end the failed system of industry self-policing, ban the use of certain devices, strengthen penalties, and make other needed reforms to finally end this torture."

Dane told The Chattanoogan that McConnell "has shown no remorse. For decades his income was based on the torture of horses."

Former Senator Joseph Tydings, the sponsor of the Horse Protection Act in 1970, told the paper that horse owners in Tennessee and Kentucky had for decades "tortured horses by altering them with a phony gait that is based on violent cruelty to the horses. In Tennessee, the officials have known what is going on, but they have done nothing about this ‘big lick.’”

"It's been about the culture, the money, the celebration. They don't give a d*** about the poor horses,” he added.

Two other men pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in the case and were sentenced to probation as well.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Updated at 5:45 p.m. ET: CHICAGO -- As Chicago teachers union delegates met Sunday to go over the details of the proposed contract hammered out late Saturday night, some worried the union would not approve the deal.

A faction of the union sees it as a "back room deal" that does not have unified support. While Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and her team are ready to present the details this afternoon, already there is a vocal faction promising to vote no.   

A source close to the union says late into Saturday night, Lewis' caucus shouted obscenities at her and the other leaders - "You sold out" and "Rahm's getting everything they wanted, what the hell did we get?"   

Lewis, who is exhausted from a tense week, indicated that she's done negotiating and asked "Will my own caucus defy me?"

At the heart of those who oppose this new deal - they feel the negotiating team did not fight for paraprofessionals and special education teachers and students.

Read full coverage at NBCChicago.com

Compounding the delegates anger is today at sundown is the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah and many of the Jewish delegates feel pressured to vote  even though  they shouted at Lewis there is "no way to vote on something we haven't seen." 

On the other hand, union members could vote to accept the new contract, ending the city’s week-long teacher strike -- the first one in 25 years -- opening school doors for 350,000 students as early as Monday. But delegates could ask for 24 hours to talk to individual members in their schools before making a decision on what to do next.

“We are a democratic body and therefore we want to ensure all of our members have had the chance to weigh-in on what we were able to win,” said CTU President Karen Lewis. “We believe this is a good contract, however, no contract will solve all of the inequities in our District."

Delegates are not the ones who will sign off on the new contract, union leadership explained. That responsibility remains with the union rank and file.

Negotiators started the day with a vow to remain at the table all day, to hammer out final details in an agreement which could open classroom doors again on Monday.

Related:

"Hopefully we can do it," said CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said on Saturday before heading into talks to end the week-long teacher strike. "But like I said, the devil's in the details in the contracts, and we want it in writing."

The talks, which began at 9 a.m. Saturday, took most of the day and were still going on 12 hours later. Both sides are working out the details to a "tentative" contract that could suspend the strike and put students back in class.

Once the language of the contract is decided, it will go to the union's House of Delegates for approval. Both sides have expressed a desire to have the contract ready for approval by Sunday.

Even though an agreement is still being negotiated, Sharkey thinks the strike itself was a victory for his members.

"Educators in the city of Chicago feel like they've had their voices heard for the first time in a very long time," he said. "Frankly we're tired of the political establishment taking credit for every gain the schools make, when we're the ones who do all the work."

Earlier in the day, Mayor Rahm Emanuel had no words about the possibility of an agreement and refused all questions pertaining to the strike as he worked the crowd at the Mexican Independence Parade.

Around the same time in Union Park, an estimated 2,500 teachers and supporters gathered for a "Solidarity Rally."

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Lewis was one of the 20 speakers who took to the stage during the rally and applauded the teachers for standing their ground while reminding them the work was not over.

"We are still on strike," Lewis told the crowd decked out in red. "We have a framework; we do not have an agreement."

On Friday, leaders on both sides of Chicago's teacher strike said they have a "framework" in place to end the stalemate that's embroiled the city and kept students out of classes for a full week.

Chicago's first teacher strike in 25 years could end Sunday if the union's House of Delegates approves that action. The delegates are not the ones who will sign off on the new contract, however, union leadership explained. That responsibility remains with the union rank and file.

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New York power utility Consolidated Edison Inc locked out its unionized workers early on Sunday after contract talks broke down, both sides said, raising the possibility of power cuts during a summer heat wave.

The company asked to extend negotiations for two more weeks, it said, but the union, which had threatened a strike, refused. In response, the firm told union members not to report for work on Sunday.

Reuters reported that the action increased the risk of power outages if a continuing heat wave puts extra strain on the electrical grid for New York City and suburban Westchester county.

However, a utility official told the New York Daily News that customers should not expect to see any adverse effects.

"Both sides are far apart," said company spokesman Mike Clendenon. "We asked the union to extend the talks for two weeks but they refused."

"We can't operate the system reliably for customers if the union can still call a strike at a moment's notice," he said.

He did not use the term "lockout" but said the company notified unionized workers not to report for work. ConEd managers have been specially trained to handle emergency or maintenance work, he said.

John Melia, a spokesman for the Utilities Workers Union of America (UWUA) said that as of 2 a.m. Sunday (EDT) its 8,500 ConEd power workers were locked out.

"ConEd took the extreme measure of locking out its unionized workforce putting the city of New York and Westchester county in peril during a heat wave."

The lockout came as the summer's second heat wave hit the city of over 8 million people, with stifling temperatures near 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), raising demand for power to operate air conditioners.

Both sides continued talking for over an hour after the midnight Saturday deadline expired, but failed to reach a settlement over a new contract for the company's unionized workers. A major sticking point in the contract was ConEd's plan to phase out defined pensions.

The union membership had authorized its leaders to call a strike at midnight on Saturday, when the collective bargaining agreement expired. A similar strike in 1983 lasted nine weeks, while a blackout in July 1977 - caused not by labor action but by lightning strikes - resulted in looting and civil disorder in the largest U.S. city.

As the deadline approached, 200-300 union members staged a rally in downtown Manhattan, chanting "If we go out, the lights go out."

Tony Ballone, a union delegate, told Reuters the main issues were pensions, wages and health care. "They (ConEd) want to take everything we have fought for 50 years."

"We're the first responders, we come out in rain and snow, we keep the lights on. All we want is a fair contract," he said.

With Con Edison workers locked out, company managers are left to fix whatever problems arise as New Yorkers crank up their air conditioners.

The utility had only just returned power to Brooklyn and other areas of the city blacked out in a heat wave 10 days ago. Still, with the lockout coming over a weekend, when many businesses in Manhattan are typically closed, demand for power will be lower than a weekday.

That would lessen the risk the utility will have to reduce voltage, commonly called a brown out, as the utility was forced to do last week in Brooklyn and Queens.

Still, the UWUA union stressed that without its skilled workers, the Big Apple could be facing outages if a deal is not agreed. Con Ed has 13,000 employees including union members.

Temperatures in New York City were expected to reach 92 degrees on Sunday and 90 degrees on Monday before slipping into the 80s on Tuesday before the Fourth of July holiday, according to AccuWeather.com. The normal high for this time of year is 83 degrees. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Interpol via AP

Britain's High Court on Thursday blocked a U.S. bid to extradite Shawn Sullivan to Minnesota, saying the state's restrictive treatment program for sex offenders was too draconian.

LONDON -- Minnesota prosecutors' efforts to have a convicted sexual predator brought to trial in the United States were thwarted on Thursday when Britain's High Court dropped extradition proceedings, saying the U.S. hadn't guaranteed the suspect would be kept out a program some deem draconian. 

Shawn Sullivan, 43, is accused of molesting two girls and raping a third in the 1990s in Minnesota. Sullivan fled the United States and eventually ended up in London, where authorities caught up to him two years ago. 

Judges Alan Moses and David Eady said in a ruling finalized Thursday that if Sullivan were returned to the U.S., he could face a real risk of being placed in the state's civil commitment program -- which provides for the indefinite detention of people found to be sexually dangerous -- and suffer "a flagrant denial of his rights." 

'Slap in the face'
One of Sullivan's accusers called the decision "a slap in the face." 

"That whole argument is just irrational," Jessica Schaefer, 29, told The Associated Press. Sullivan allegedly molested her and her cousin when they were both 11.

"It's just another loophole in the justice system that caters to the criminals. All they have to do is find a loophole or a technicality and they walk. ... "I feel like I'm just pleading for justice, and I'm not getting anywhere." 

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The AP does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault without their consent. The Minnesota women Sullivan is accused of attacking as children agreed to let the AP use their names. 

Two Minnesota prosecutors in the counties where Sullivan faces charges defended their decision not to guarantee Sullivan would be kept out of the program, saying it was "not in the interests of public safety." 

"I think it's way beyond reasonableness for them to interfere in how we conduct business," said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. 

Irish conviction
Sullivan escaped to Ireland as prosecutors prepared to file charges, and while staying there was convicted of sexually assaulting two 12-year-old girls. Sullivan, a dual U.S.-Irish citizen, moved to London using an Irish passport that spelled his last name in Gaelic as "O'Suilleabhain." 

The British judges made clear in an earlier decision that they would have supported Sullivan's extradition had it not been for the sex treatment program, which they described as among the toughest in the U.S. 

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The program, which began in its current form in the mid-1990s, allows courts to commit a person for sex offender treatment if a judge decides the person is sexually psychopathic or sexually dangerous. As of April 1, 641 people were in Minnesota's program. 

The program faces constitutional challenges by some who say it holds people indefinitely after their prison sentences. One 64-year-old man received a provisional discharge earlier this year when he was allowed to move into a Minneapolis-area halfway house. Only one other person was ever released from the program, and was soon taken back into custody on a violation. 

The justices in London outlined a litany of concerns in their June 20 decision, noting offenders don't have to be mentally ill to be committed; their offenses don't have to be recent; and in some cases, they don't even have to have been convicted of a crime. 

UK judge Moses said on Thursday that "the United States will not provide an assurance," thus allowing Sullivan's appeal, according to The Independent newspaper.

"The appellant will be discharged from the proceedings," the judge said, according to the paper.

'Open the floodgates'
Officials with the Minnesota Department of Human Services said they don't know of any instances where someone without a criminal conviction has been placed in the program, though they acknowledged it's theoretically possible. 

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, who charged Sullivan with molesting the 11-year-old girls, said authorities hadn't decided whether to pursue civil commitment. However, he said making such a guarantee "could open the floodgates." 

"It's a very slippery slope to go down once you start making agreements," Backstrom said.

NJ man returning to stand trial over girl's killing

Peter Wold, Sullivan's criminal defense attorney in Minnesota, said the British judges balked at the prospect of indefinite detention. "That offended them, and it should offend a lot of people, to have the prospect of people being committed with no end in sight," he said. 

Human rights concerns periodically complicate efforts by U.S. prosecutors to extradite suspects. For example, European Union countries typically won't extradite suspects who could face capital punishment to the U.S. unless American prosecutors give assurances they won't seek the death penalty. 

Still, Bruce Zagaris, a Washington, D.C.,-based attorney specializing in international criminal law, said this was one of the first cases he had seen in which the U.K. has said no to extradition. 

"I think foreign courts no longer give us the benefit of the doubt," Zagaris said.

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Sullivan still faces a civil case in Minnesota, and Michael Hall III, the attorney representing the three alleged victims, said he expects that to go forward. He said significant punitive damages are possible. 

Sullivan's attorney in the civil case was out of the office Thursday and did not return a message. 

Hannah Treziok, who was 14 when she says Sullivan raped her, said she was disappointed with the British court's ruling but that she had prepared herself for this possibility. 

"The reality is, we, the victims, have for 18 years been fighting the good fight, and there is no shame in that," she said. "Even though it is not the exact outcome that we desired ... we brought him out of the shadows and exposed him for who and what he really is." 

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

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Andrew Kelly / Reuters

Protesters lay in front of a mock tank as part of a demonstration in New York on Sunday to mark the 23rd anniversary of the The Tiananmen Square protest in China.

The United States urged China to free all those still jailed over the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations on the 23rd anniversary of the brutal crackdown.

State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner issued a statement late on Sunday calling on the Chinese government on Sunday "to provide a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing."

The statement said the U.S. "joins the international community in remembering the tragic loss of innocent lives" -- a comment unlikely to be welcomed by China’s ruling Communist Party.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, are believed to have died when the government sent in tanks and soldiers to clear Tiananmen Square on the night of June 3-4, 1989, violently crushing six weeks of protests.

Regaining moral high ground? Google tells Chinese when they're being censored

More than two decades later, Beijing still considers the incident a "counter revolutionary rebellion" and has refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing or consider compensation for those killed, The Australian newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, China censors blocked internet access to the terms "six four," "23," "candle" and "never forget" on Monday, broadening extensive efforts to silence talk about the anniversary.

Searches for the terms related to the anniversary, such as "six four" for June 4, were blocked on Sina Weibo, the most popular of China's Twitter-like microblogging platforms. Users encountered a message that said the search results could not be displayed "due to relevant laws, regulations and policies."

Chinese activist: My nephew may be being tortured

"It's that day again and once more numerous posts are being deleted," a Sina microblogger wrote. Sina was not immediately available for comment.

China's censors also blocked access to the term "Shanghai stock market" on microblogs after the index fell a bizarre 64.89 points on the anniversary.

PhotoBlog: Thousands remember Tiananmen Square crackdown

In another twist, the Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2346.98 points on the 23rd anniversary of the killings in either a deft piece of manipulation or an uncanny double coincidence. The numbers 46.98 are June 4, 1989, backwards.

"Whoa, these figures are too freaky! Very cool!" said a microblogger. "The opening figure and the drop are both too creepy," said another. 

For more coverage of China, see Behind The Wall

The anniversary of the date on which troops shot their way into central Beijing in 1989 has never been publicly marked in mainland China.

The government has never released a death toll of the crackdown, but estimates from human rights groups and witnesses range from several hundred to several thousand.

Yao Jianfu, author of a new book of interviews with Chen Xitong, the Beijing mayor at the time of the crackdown, told Reuters that Chen had said "this was a tragedy that should have been averted but wasn't".

"I never foresaw there would be shooting, because Mao Zedong said that ordinary people should not be shot at and suppressing student protests comes to no good," said Yao.

The government has restricted the movements of dozens of dissidents, former prisoners and petitioners during the anniversary period and warned them against speaking to journalists or organizing activities, said Songlian Wang of rights group Chinese Human Rights Defenders.

A coalition of lawyers and rights activists began a one-day fast in their homes on Monday to commemorate the anniversary, said a Shandong-based lawyer, Liu Weiguo.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong, said organizers, who had erected a replica of the Goddess of Democracy that was built in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Chinese tourists stopped on Tiananmen Square shook their heads and appeared mystified when asked about the anniversary. There were no obvious signs of extra security on the already well-guarded square.

But a trinket vendor said he was well aware what day it was.  "Do foreigners also know about June 4?" he asked a Reuters reporter in a hushed tone, looking around to make sure nobody heard him. "I think it is important we remember but nobody will talk about it now." 

Reuters and msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

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HEMET, Calif. - A high school student in a pickup truck ran into a group of teenagers who were crossing a street outside a California high school Wednesday, leaving nine people injured and backpacks and clothing strewn across an intersection, officials said.

The accident occurred shortly after school ended for the day at Hemet High School, Riverside County fire officials said in a statement.

Eight out of the nine people hospitalized were students, officials said.

The driver, a student at the school, named by police a David Carrillo,18, ran into a group of people who were in an intersection headed toward the student parking lot and the school's football stadium, principal Emily Shaw said.

"The kids were in the crosswalk doing everything right," Shaw said.

Three of those victims were in critical condition, including 15-year-old Helen Richardson, who was in a "conscious coma" and intubated, according to her mother Trisha Telezinski.

Read more at NBC4 Southern California

Witnesses reported hearing Carrillo yell out, "My brakes have gone out," Telezinski said.

Early reports indicated eight pedestrians were taken to the hospital, and at least five of the victims were students, according to CAL FIRE. California Highway Patrol later clarified that nine people were hospitalized, eight of them students at the high school, which had just let out at the time of the crash, according to NBCLosAngeles.com.

NBC4 News said highway patrol officials believe the truck may have had a mechanical problem and has been impounded for inspection.

Drugs and alcohol have been ruled out as a factor, officials said, adding that criminal charges against the driver, if any, will be determined after the evidence has been examined.

A statement released by California Highway Patrol Officer Darren Meyer said the truck was travelling "at a speed greater than the 25 MPH school zone speed limit.”

"The driver stopped immediately after the collision to assist the victims," Meyer said.

Parent Rick Chavez witnessed the accident while waiting at the red light just after picking up his son, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.

“The guy went through the red light. …I saw the truck and started screaming out ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa!’” Chavez told the newspaper. “He plowed right into the kids. Two girls were really bad. I thought they were gone. I was in shock.”

NBC4's Olsen Ebright, Samantha Tata and Beverly White, msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Alastair Jamieson / msnbc.com

Jim L., left, and other members of the Occupy Mile End protest group at their camp in east London on Thursday.

LONDON -- An eviction notice has been served on dozens of Occupy protesters who have set up camp in a park next to Team USA's Olympic track and field training base.

About 50 demonstrators are occupying Mile End Park – two miles from the main London 2012 site and next door to a sports stadium where American athletes will prepare for events in July.

The park is also visible from the priority traffic lanes that will be used to whisk VIPs and other participants from central London to the Olympic Village, which is located to the east of the U.K. capital.

The protesters say they are part of the anti-capitalist Occupy movement, which has seen sit-ins and clashes with police in cities including New York, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Oakland.

An Occupy London camp was forcibly removed from the grounds of St Paul's Cathedral by police at the end of February, resulting in 20 arrests.

Local authorities have now secured a court order to close down Occupy Mile End, which began five weeks ago and includes about a dozen tents, a campfire and makeshift toilet facilities.

Police evict Occupy London protesters from camp

Tower Hamlets Borough Council applied for the order following complaints from local residents. The manager of a nearby nature reserve also accused camp members of damaging important trees by taking branches for firewood, according to a report in the East London Advertiser newspaper.

One of the protesters, who gave his name as Jim L., told msnbc.com the group had agreed to leave the site voluntarily on Sunday.

"This is one of Britain's poorest boroughs and we don't want to take council resources away from things like schools and hospitals so we have agreed to vacate the site without costing the council a penny," he said.

Mark Taylor, spokesman for the Mile End Residents' Association, said locals were "looking forward" to a "constructive and companionable relationship with Team USA."

He said: "We are very pleased that the council has secured a possession order to reclaim the park for its intended purpose. It's very sad that trees had to be pulled down for firewood and children's activities disrupted before the council acted."

Slideshow: When the Olympics is your neighbor

/

A diverse community in East London will welcome the world to Britain for the 2012 Olympic Games. Meet residents and hear how they feel about having a huge, world stage in their backyard.

Launch slideshow

Council officials insisted that nobody from the United States Olympic Committee, Team USA or the London 2012 organizers had expressed concern about the Occupy protest on their doorstep.

A spokesman for the council told msnbc.com: "The USA track and field team will be training at Mile End Stadium during the Olympic Games. They have funded extensive improvements to the stadium, and will be providing a variety of community benefits including free coaching sessions and opportunities to watch the team training.

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"We are working with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) on security issues, understandably these issues are sensitive and therefore we are not able to comment in detail, but we do not anticipate that these will impact on the local community."

The council said it would go to the High Court to have the protesters moved if they did not leave the site, which is owned by a private trust on behalf of the council for use as a public park.

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Jim L. said the Occupy camp would move to a new, unidentified, site on Sunday. He added that there was little chance of protests targeting the Olympic Games.

"It would be impossible because of the security, in my own view," he said. "We're not against the Olympics as everybody likes a bit of sport, but I believe it is just one big advertising event for the benefit of corporate sponsors."

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He said the camp location had been chosen to highlight the issue of poverty in Tower Hamlets and not because of the proximity to Team USA's stadium.

Slideshow: Venues for 2012 London Olympic Games

Oda / Getty Images

From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Launch slideshow

"There are huge problems here -- lack of affordable housing, unemployment and poverty," he said. "This is not so much a protest as a process, which is why we've come here – to listen to people and gather support. There isn’t much point in trying to occupy private land in order to disrupt the institutions of capitalism.”

American competitors at the Games will have several bases across London for different sports. Other sites include the University of East London campuses in Docklands and Stratford.

Langdon School, in the nearby Poplar area, will be home to the Canadian Olympic team.

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courtesy Hawkins family

Former British Royal Marine Ed Hawkins was seriously injured in Afghanistan in 2010. He left hospital last year and is currently on a work placement.

LONDON -- Fisher House, the Maryland-based charity which provides overnight accommodation for families visiting hospitalized military members, is expanding onto foreign soil for the first time with a facility for British troops.

Construction has begun on a $6.8-million building with 18 en-suite rooms that will allow relatives to stay close to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where the U.K.'s most seriously wounded military personnel are treated.

As well as providing servicemen and women a place to relax away from hospital wards, it will have communal living space including a family room, play area, lounge and kitchen and a private garden.

Fisher House, which was founded during the first Gulf War in 1990, has more than 50 projects in the U.S., as well as others located on American bases in Germany. However, this is its first truly international venture.

'Unique American model'
Talk show host and former U.S. Marine Montel Williams and the charity’s chairman, Ken Fisher, attended a ground-breaking ceremony at the site.

Courtesy Fisher House

Montel Williams at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Fisher House project at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, on April 23.

"This is a great honor for Fisher House, as we share with our British brothers and sisters our unique American model for caring for military families," Fisher said.

"This will be a sanctuary for the people who need it most: those who have made deep personal sacrifices – whether on the battlefield or on the home front – to keep us safe.  We thank them even though we know it will never be enough."

Almost 10,000 British troops are in combat alongside 90,000 U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. Figures from Britain's Ministry of Defence, collated by The Guardian newspaper, show 832 have been seriously wounded since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001.

Many families travel for hundreds of miles to be by their loved ones' bedside -- sometimes for weeks at a time, because of the need for months or even years of surgery and rehabilitation. Military accommodation exists for family members but only six bedrooms are available at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Sue Hawkins, whose son Ed was almost killed by an improvised explosive device while on a patrol in Afghanistan in May 2010, said the new facility would "be a great source of comfort, particularly at a time when families are surrounded by so much uncertainty."

The blast killed his corporal and seriously wounded Ed, who was serving with the Royal Marines. He was flown back to Birmingham for several months of treatment.

"When we were told about Ed, we just left for the hospital," Sue Hawkins told msnbc.com. "We had no idea how long we would be there or even if he would survive. I can remember everything about that day, because of the shock, but that last thing you have time to think about it is planning where to stay."

Five-hour round trip
Faced with a daily five-hour round trip from their home in Hampshire, Sue and her husband Michael spent many nights across the road from the hospital in a former nurses' accommodation block, before moving to the military facility – a converted house in a residential street.

"There were times when Ed became very distressed and we were able to reach him quickly when the hospital called," she said. "That sort of comfort and care is very important. We know first-hand how important it is to have a 'home from home' in difficult, emotional and challenging times. Fisher House truly is a massive step in the best direction possible.”

Ed Hawkins, who is now 26, left hospital last year and is currently on a work placement.

British soldier Nick Gibbons, who lost a leg in a bomb in Afghanistan in 2008, also attended the ground-breaking ceremony on April 23. He told ITV News: "It's what you need really, your family around you. Facilities like this are great because it not only allows the family to stay here, it gives you a better relationship with your family. It's a stressful time. The last thing you want is them travelling."

Fisher House has contributed $2 million to the project, with the rest of the building cost provided by U.K. veterans' charity Help for Heroes, whose high-profile supporters include Prince Harry. It will be operated by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Charity and funded by Help for Heroes when it opens next year.

President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have previously made a sizeable donation to Fisher House, which also operates a Hero Miles Program that uses donated frequent flyer miles to bring family members to the bedside of injured service members. 

Montel Williams told the Birmingham Mail that he was a regular visitor to Fisher House sites in the U.S., cooking meals for soldiers and their families. "I'll definitely be coming to Birmingham to do the same," he told the newspaper. "I'll bring my sister and my chef with me and we'll rustle up things like crab cakes and fish. It'll be real American-style cooking."

Msnbc.com's David Arnott contributed to this report.

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A Nevada principal has a lesson for U.S. News and World Report, which ranked his high school 13th best in the nation: It’s wrong.

Principal Jeff Horn says the magazine used incorrect data to place Green Valley High School of Henderson, Nev., just outside Las Vegas, above nearly 22,000 other public schools, elite prep and technical academies nationwide. The publication released its "Best High Schools" rankings on Tuesday.

"This is a great school and there are a lot of amazing things happening around here,” Horn told msnbc.com on Tuesday. "But the information it was based on is incorrect."

According to the Las Vegas Sun, the rankings published online showed Green Valley with 477 students and 111 teachers, a 4 to 1 ratio. Horn said Green Valley has 2,850 students and a student-teacher ratio closer to 24 to 1. The school also has a 64 percent pass rate on the Advanced Placement exams, not 100 percent as reported in the rankings, Horn said.

“My son first pulled up the report online and was reading it when he said, ‘Did you know you had 477 students?’" Horn said, adding “That's when I started reading it and saw the inaccuracies. Not only were there inaccuracies, but other things were skewed as well.”

Robert Morse, director of data research with U.S. News and World Report, told The Associated Press that the publication was aware of the discrepancy.

"We're looking into it," he told the AP.

According to the AP, Morse said the publication gathers enrollment numbers from the National Center for Education Statistics' Common Core of Data database. The federal statistics center, run through the U.S. Department of Education, collects and analyzes school data from state and local officials, the AP reported.

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Officials with the Education Department didn't immediately return messages seeking comment from msnbc.com.

It's unclear where along the process mistakes were made. Horn said he wasn’t aware of any school official providing data to the publication, and he said he told the local newspaper that he also noticed what appeared to be skewed enrollment figures for other high schools in southern Nevada.

The Las Vegas Sun reported that U.S. News was correct in reporting 17 school districts in Nevada, but made an error when it reported 5,864 full-time teachers and 123,697 students. The Clark County School District has nearly 18,000 teachers and more than 308,000 students, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

Said Horn: “We’ve been getting calls from our local news stations congratulating us and I have had to correct them."

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A man and a woman were killed and another woman seriously injured in a possible double-shooting and suicide at a church in Maryland late on Thursday.

A custodian at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Ellicott City, Md., found two women in the church office who appeared to have been shot, police said.

One woman was pronounced dead at the scene, the other was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

Police found a man dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in the nearby woods, police said. A gun was found near the body.

Read the original report at NBC Washington

The women's and man's identities have not been confirmed.

The Baltimore Sun reported that police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said it was too early in the investigation to speculate about a connection between the women and the man.

It quoted Steve Fairall, who lives on Main Street in Ellicott City, saying he often rides his bike in the neighborhood around the church.

"It's pretty upper-middle-class. It's a nice neighborhood, a lot of families," he reportedly said.

When he heard about the shootings, he "just thought it was somebody targeted. I didn't think it was any crazy gunmen running around,” the newspaper said.

Msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

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RICHMOND, Va. - The mother of Yeardley Love, the University of Virginia student killed by a member of the men's lacrosse team, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the team's coaches, the university's athletics director and the state, claiming they ignored her attacker’s erratic behavior.

Sharon Love filed the lawsuit in Louisa County Circuit Court on Tuesday ahead of the second anniversary of the death of her 22-year-old daughter, a women's lacrosse player. The lawsuit seeks $29.45 million in damages from the state, head coach Dom Starsia, assistant coach Marc Van Arsdale and athletics director Craig Littlepage.

A jury convicted George W. Huguely V, 24, of Chevy Chase, in February of second-degree murder in Love's May 3, 2010, death. A jury also convicted him of grand larceny and recommended he serve a total of 26 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 30.

Read the full story at WBAL11

Sharon Love also filed a $30.5 million wrongful death lawsuit against Huguely last week.

The lawsuit against the state and the coaches was first reported Thursday by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The complaint alleges that the coaches ignored Huguely's erratic behavior, including two alcohol-related arrests, frequent intoxication and attacks on another female student, a teammate and a Virginia tennis player. The lawsuit cites another incident in which Huguely allegedly choked Love until others stopped him.

Jurors find Huguely guilty in Virginia lacrosse slaying

"It was well known to the players and coaches on the UVA men's and women's lacrosse teams that Huguely's alcohol abuse and erratic, aggressive behavior was increasingly getting out of control, especially his obsession with Love and his aggressiveness and threats to Love," the complaint says.

Despite these incidents, the lawsuit says, nobody at the university disciplined Huguely or tried to get him into treatment for alcohol abuse or anger management.

Brian Gottstein, a spokesman for Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, said in an email to The Associated Press that he was aware of the lawsuit but it had not yet been served on the defendants.

"If it is served, we will vigorously defend the case," he said. "While we certainly recognize the terrible loss suffered by the Love family, that loss was not caused by the commonwealth or anyone employed at the University of Virginia."

An attorney for the Love family did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.