Canadian suspected of killing 3 Mounties caught, ending lockdown in eastern city
MONCTON, New Brunswick — A man suspected of gunning down three Royal Canadian Mounted Police was caught and charged Friday, ending a 30-hour manhunt that closed schools and forced residents to hide inside their homes of this eastern Canadian city. “I’m done,” a witness heard him tell police.
Police said at a press conference that they received a tip that led them to a wooded residential part of Moncton, New Brunswick, where they found 24-year-old Justin Bourque, suspected in the deadliest attack on Canada’s national police force in nearly a decade.
US employers add jobs at pace not seen since 1999, recover last of positions lost in recession
WASHINGTON — For the first time since 1999, American employers have added more than 200,000 jobs a month for four straight months, offering more evidence that the U.S. economy is steadily growing while much of Europe and Asia struggle.
Last month’s gain of 217,000 jobs means the economy has finally recovered all the jobs lost to the Great Recession. And it coincides with indications that American consumers have grown more confident. Auto sales have surged. Manufacturers and service companies are expanding.
“I don’t think we have a boom, but we have a good economy growing at about 3 percent,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo. “We’re pulling away from the rest of the world.”
Still, Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed that pay remains subpar for many workers, millions who want full-time work are still stuck in part-time jobs and the number of people out of work for more than six months remains historically high.
Monthly job growth has averaged 234,000 for the past three months, up sharply from 150,000 in the previous three. The unemployment rate, which is derived from a separate survey, matched April’s 6.3 percent, the lowest in more than five years.
Gay conservatives worry more fighting of ‘therapy’ in Texas GOP platform might backfire
FORT WORTH, Texas — Gay Republicans in Texas say they may stop fighting their party’s proposed endorsement of “reparative therapy” over worries that even tougher anti-gay language could be added to the party platform.
Jeff Davis is chairman of the Texas Log Cabin Republicans, a gay conservative group. He says a fight to remove the therapy language during the state party convention on Saturday could backfire.
Davis said Friday that gay delegates haven’t settled on a strategy, but that it may be better to adopt a longer-term strategy to educate conservatives on the harms of psychological treatments that seek to turn gay people straight.
The new anti-gay language passed through a key committee late Thursday.
VA chief: Reprisals against employees who complain about care won’t be tolerated
SAN ANTONIO — Investigators said they are examining allegations that supervisors in the veterans’ health system retaliated against 37 employees who complained about practices such as months-long delays in scheduling of appointments, and the acting head of the sprawling system responded Friday that such reprisals would not be tolerated.
“I think that is wrong. It is absolutely unacceptable,” Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson said at a news conference Friday following a visit to a San Antonio VA facility.
“There have been questions raised about intimidation or even retaliation. There is a law that forbids that, and we’ll follow the law,” Gibson said.
His comments came after the Office of Special Counsel said it was looking into possible retaliation against 37 employees of the VA who filed so-called “whistleblower” complaints. The office is an independent watchdog separate from the VA which looks into whistleblower complaints from across the federal government.
The office said it had blocked disciplinary actions against three VA employees so far, including one who was suspended for seven days after complaining to the VA’s inspector general about improper scheduling.
North Korea says it has detained another American tourist for an unspecified crime
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea says it has detained an American tourist for committing an unspecified crime, the third U.S. citizen being held there.
The state Korean Central News Agency said authorities were investigating him for committing acts inconsistent with the purpose of a tourist visit. It did not give details.
“American citizen Jeffrey Edward Fowle entered the DPRK as a tourist on April 29 and acted in violation of the DPRK law, contrary to the purpose of tourism during his stay,” KCNA reported, referring to the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
By wire sources