Texas girl recovers after fatal gun attack
HOUSTON -- A 15-year-old suburban Houston girl who survived an attack in which her parents and four younger siblings were killed said she's on the road to recovery.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Cassidy Stay also thanked first responders Saturday during a gathering in her hometown of Spring to honor her and her family.
Stay was released from a hospital Friday, two days after the attack in which her skull was fractured by a bullet graze.
Authorities say her aunt's ex-husband, Ronald Lee Haskell, stormed into the family's home Wednesday and fatally shot her parents and four siblings, who ranged in age from 4 to 13 years old. They say Stay survived by playing dead and called police to warn that Haskell intended to go to her grandparents' house next.
United weighs in on airport wage dispute
NEWARK, N.J. -- A dispute over workers' wages at Newark Liberty International Airport could be nearing a resolution, the airport's primary carrier said.
United Airlines said in an email Friday to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the airport's operator, that it still questions whether the agency has the legal power to impose a wage increase. But the airline also said its vendors may be contractually bound to comply with the order.
The Port Authority in January ordered wage increases of $1 an hour after July 31 for workers who make less than $9 per hour, such as baggage handlers and cabin cleaners. The agency also said workers would make $10.10 hourly by next February and see subsequent increases tied to the Consumer Price Index.
In the email, United said its contracts typically require vendors to abide by applicable local, state and federal laws. The airline wrote: "If the Policy becomes effective, and assuming it is validly issued, the vendors would be required to comply with the Policy or they would be in violation of their contracts with us."
The email came near the end of a 30-day public comment period on the Port Authority's order, which applies to workers at New York's three major airports.
Port Authority board members have said recently they support eventually expanding the wage increases to contract workers at all the agency's facilities, which include bridges and tolls, the ports of New York and New Jersey, the World Trade Center site, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
2 lawmakers tour shelter for child aliens
FORT SILL, Okla. -- Two Republican members of Congress toured a temporary shelter Saturday at Fort Sill near Lawton, where more than 1,100 child aliens are being housed.
Reps. Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee visited the facility holding some of the more than 57,000 unaccompanied children who have entered the U.S. illegally since October. Most are children and teens from Central America.
"This is a humanitarian crisis in our country that we have to figure out," said Bridenstine, who added that many of the children are victims of human traffickers who tell families that they will get a free pass if they make it to the United States.
"This is about protecting the children," he said.
Blackburn said the U.S. should reduce financial aid to the nations the children are fleeing, to pay the cost of caring for them while they remain in the U.S.
"We need to let these countries know that we will take the cost of this from their foreign aid accounts," Blackburn said.
Blackburn said she opposes President Barack Obama's call for $3.7 billion in emergency funding to deal with the crisis along the nation's southern border.
"Money has been appropriated for border security," she said.
Activists protest at governors meeting
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Activists staged a protest Saturday outside the Nashville hotel where the National Governors Association was meeting.
Members of a group called the Freedom Side Collective waved signs, gave speeches on a bullhorn, and chanted and sang from a covered sidewalk outside the entrance of the Omni hotel.
They opposed private prisons and deportations of people in the country illegally. They also called for ending zero-tolerance policies in schools that can lead to incarceration of students.
A Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman said five protesters were arrested for trespassing, but they were later released when a judicial commissioner declined to sign the warrant.
The heavy law enforcement presence surrounding the event kept the protesters out of the hotel, and there was no noticeable disruption of the governors meetings inside.
More than 50 activists traveled from states including Texas, Florida and Ohio to participate in the protest.
A Section on 07/13/2014