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N.C. A&T locked down after armed-person report
North Carolina A&T State University's campus in Greensboro was locked down Friday morning after school police received a report of a person with a weapon on campus, the school said on its website and its Twitter account.
No shots have been fired and no injuries have been reported, according to a school representative.
Post by: CNN's Chuck Johnston, CNN's Jennifer Moore, CNN's Paul Caron
Filed under: Education • North Carolina
2nd suspect charged in Texas college shooting
A second suspect has been charged and arrested in connection with the shooting at Lone Star College in Houston, Texas.
According to Harris County Sheriff's Office, Trey Foster, 22, was arrested early Friday morning in Plano, Texas. He has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Three people, including a maintenance man who was accidentally shot and two people who were fighting each other, were injured during fight at Lone Star College campus in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday, officials say.
Post by: CNN's Chuck Johnston
Filed under: Crime • Education • Texas
Syracuse fired assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine in November 2011.
No federal criminal charges against ex-coach Fine, feds say
Federal criminal charges will not be filed against former Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernard "Bernie" Fine, who was accused of sexually abusing children, U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian announced Friday.
A yearlong investigation of Fine "revealed insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal charges," according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of New York. As a result, the office is closing its investigation, it said.
Post by: CNN's Chuck Johnston, CNN's Jason Hanna, CNN's Mariano Castillo, The CNN Wire
Filed under: Basketball • College basketball • Crime • New York • Sports • Syracuse
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Police: Hostage standoff ends peacefully in Pittsburgh
[Updated at 1:59 p.m.] The man suspected of taking a hostage in Pittsburgh's Gateway Center high-rise Friday morning has surrendered peacefully, and his hostage was not harmed, Pittsburgh Police Chief Nathan Harper said.
[Updated at 1:20 p.m.]Police are negotiating with a "relatively calm" gunman believed to be holding at least one person hostage in a downtown Pittsburgh high-rise, the city's police chief said Friday.
Police have identified the man, a former military member with a criminal record, and they brought his mother to the scene, Chief Nathan Harper said.
The suspect walked into CW Breitsman Associates' office Friday morning and asked for a particular man, so police believe a male hostage was targeted, Harper said. CW Breitsman handles money for pension funds. The chief said the gunman never worked there, and it's unclear how he was related to the company.
The situation is contained to one room of a suite on the 16th floor of Gateway Center Building No. 3, Harper said. As of 10:55 a.m., no one had been hurt and no shots had been fired, he added.
Police received calls shortly after 8:15 a.m., reporting a man with a gun. Some witnesses reported he was carrying two duffel bags. Harper said the suspect also claimed to have a bomb.
Several people who work in the building told local television stations that police had evacuated them from the building. Harper said since the incident was contained to one room, evacuations were minimal, and people were still occupying other parts of the skyscraper.
Jim Garra, who works at AXA on the 16th floor, told WTAE that when he arrived at work around 8:10 a.m., security officers were milling about. When he took the elevator to his office, he found a commotion, including a woman he described as "hysterical, on the phone," describing an intruder in the building. Garra said he locked the door to his office until police came to evacuate it.
Public transportation has been shut down at Gateway Center, and police have blocked off nearby roads as well.
Post by: CNN's Chuck Johnston, The CNN Wire
Filed under: Crime • Pennsylvania
T.J. Lane is accused of shooting students in the Chardon High School cafeteria in February.
Ohio school-shooting suspect to be tried as adult
A 17-year-old accused of killing three students and injuring others during a shooting at an Ohio high school this year will be tried as an adult, Geauga County Judge Timothy Grendell has ruled.
T.J. Lane is charged with three counts of aggravated murder, two of attempted aggravated murder and one of felonious assault in connection with February shooting at Chardon High School, about 30 miles east of Cleveland.
Authorities said Lane opened fire on students in Chardon High School's cafeteria.
Post by: CNN's Chuck Johnston, CNN's Jason Hanna, The CNN Wire
Filed under: Cleveland • Courts • Crime • Justice • Ohio
One person died and more than two dozen were hurt when a school bus collided with a truck in Pennsylvania.
1 killed, dozens injured in Pennsylvania school bus crash
More than two dozen students were injured and at least one person was killed when a packed school bus collided with a semi-trailer truck in southern Pennsylvania on Wednesday, officials said.
At least one person was killed in the crash, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Scott Kovach said.
Medical helicopters were transporting six students to hospitals, said Geraldine Budzina, a dispatcher with Somerset County 911.
Two other school buses were taking 22 students with less serious injuries to a hospital, she said.
As many as 70 students may have been on the school bus, she said.
Filed under: Pennsylvania
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Student shot at Ohio high school dies, police say
More on this story from CNN affiliates WOIO-TV, WEWS-TV, WJW-TV and WKYC-TV.
iReport: Are you there? Let us know but please stay safe.
[Updated at 4:04 p.m. ET] Chardon Police Chief Timothy McKenna said in a press conference today that two of the victims in Monday's shootings were in critical condition, one was in serious condition and one was in stable condition.
[Updated at 2:58 p.m. ET] Danny Komertz, a student at Chardon High School said that he saw shooter T.J. lane point a gun directly at a group of students before shooting them.
"I looked straight ahead and I saw a gun pointing at a group of four guys sitting at a table and he was able two feet away from them," Komertz said. "He just fired two quick shots at them. I saw one student fall. I saw the other hiding, trying to get cover underneath the table."
Komertz said that he felt that by his demeanor, the shooter was targeting that group.
"It was clearly to me that he was aiming right at them," Komertz told CNN. "He wasn't shooting around the cafeteria at all. He was directly aiming at the four of them."
Komertz said he then ran out the door with his friends. While he was trying to escape he said he heard another two shots fired from behind him.
"I just can't believe it. I don't think it's real," said student Danny Komertz, who witnessed the shooting. "And I just, it kills me that I saw someone hiding, and now that someone is now dead."
[Updated at 2:13 p.m. ET] A fatally wounded student was identified by the hospital that treated him as Daniel Parmertor.
"We are shocked by this senseless tragedy," Parmertor's family said in a statement released by MetroHealth Medical Center. "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."
[Updated 1:19 p.m. ET] A student who hid in a classroom at Chardon High School said that T.J. Lane, the suspect in Monday's shooting, "was a nice guy" who he never suspected would shoot anyone.
"He just came from a really broken down home and he was living with his grandparents," Evan Erasmus, a senior at the school told CNN. "He was more of a quiet type of kid. He was really nice, though, if you did talk to him."
Erasmus said that Lane and some of the victims "used to be friends" but more in middle school and early high school.
"He was one of the nicest kids there…," Erasmus said. "It was really shocking that it was him."
Erasmus told CNN that he believed T.J. Lane was either a sophomore or junior at the school.
He said that Lane was sitting about a table away from some of the victims.
Erasmus said he heard the victims "were all sitting there and then he just stood up and that's when it all started."
Meanwhile, he and the other students in a nearby classroom, "turned the lights off and we headed into a corner" after the shooting.
[Updated 12:52 p.m. ET] Witnesses and one of the shooting victims have identified the gunman as T.J. Lane, according to The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.
[Updated 12:04 p.m. ET] Police say one student has died from the shootings at Chardon High School this morning. Five students were shot in total, officials said.
[Updated 11:58 a.m. ET] A parent of children who attend Chardon High School says the gunman in today's shooting had specific targets and was not shooting randomly, according to a report from CNN affiliate WJW-TV.
[Updated 11:43 a.m. ET] The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says it has been given one handgun from the Ohio high school shooting scene to do an emergency trace.
The Geauga County sheriff's office is executing searches in the case with the assistance of ATF agents, a law enforcement official said.
[Updated 11:13 a.m. ET] Geauga County Sheriff Daniel McClelland says a K-9 unit tracked the shooting suspect, who was apprehended "some distance from the school," according to a report on CNN affiliate WJW-TV.
Post by: CNN news blog editor Mallory Simon, CNN's Brad Lendon, CNN's Chuck Johnston, CNN's Mark Pearson, CNN's Melissa Gray, The CNN Wire
Filed under: Cleveland • Crime • Ohio
Ohio State and Penn State both lost their iconic head coaches to different scandals since they met in Columbus in 2010.
Ohio State to Penn State: We support you
When Penn State arrives for their first road game since the child rape allegations involving Jerry Sandusky broke, they will arrive at a school that knows something about scandals.
That's why Ohio State says they plan a warm welcome for the Penn State football team in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend, and are asking students to do the same.
Jared Kamrass, the undergraduate representative to the University Athletic Council, spoke at a pre-game press conference this afternoon, announcing that OSU students attending the game Saturday should come to the game, looking to represent the campus by being well-behaved at the game.
"Separate to football, we will also be unveiling a social media campaign, encouraging students to change their Facebook and Twitter profile pictures, to an image we have designed, that honors the victims of the alleged tragedies at Penn State," Kamrass said.
The image includes a blue ribbon which is a common symbol for child abuse prevention.
Ohio State has asked students to change their profile pictures to this logo.
Earlier this year, Ohio State's Jim Tressel, who was seen by many as above reproach, resigned in disgrace after withholding program violations from the NCAA. The Ohio State college newspaper, The Lantern, posted an article about how Joe Paterno's departure sparked reactions similar to what happened with Tressel.
While the OSU scandal was of a very different nature than the one at Penn State, the Buckeyes program was profoundly impacted by the allegations. Several players allegedly swapped team and personal memorabilia and equipment for tattoos and other benefits. Tressel became aware of the transactions, which violate NCAA rules, but did not report them on a form all coaches are required to submit.
Post by: CNN news blog editor Mallory Simon, CNN's Chuck Johnston
Filed under: College football • Jerry Sandusky • Joe Paterno • Penn State • Sports
The Bengals wide receiver is tackled after making a catch against the Denver Broncos last weekend.
Authorities: 2.5 pounds of pot sent to home of Bengals player
A package containing 2.5 pounds of marijuana was delivered to the Kentucky home of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Jerome Simpson earlier this week, drug enforcement officials in California said Thursday.
Authorities tracked the package from a mail distribution center in Sacramento to Simpson's home in the Cincinnati suburb of Crestview Hills, Kentucky, said Michelle Gregory of the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. The package originated in Eureka in northern California, she said, and was one of 40 packages authorities were tracking.
The California authorities notified those in Kentucky, who monitored the delivery. Aleen Smith, identified as Simpson's girlfriend, signed for the package, Gregory said.
A search of the home, to which Simpson consented, revealed six more pounds of marijuana along with scales, boxes and packaging materials consistent with a distribution operation, Gregory said.
Post by: CNN's Brad Lendon, CNN's Chuck Johnston
Filed under: California • Crime • Kentucky • Marijuana • Pro football • Sports
The United Airlines plane sits on the runway at the airport in Toronto.
Coffee spill caused diversion of United Airlines flight
Don't underestimate the power of a spilled cup of coffee.
A United Airlines flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany, was diverted to Toronto this week after the pilot dumped a cup of coffee on the plane's communication's equipment. The unwanted liquid triggered a series of emergency codes, including one for a hijacking, according to Transport Canada, the agency that regulates transportation in Canada.
Filed under: Air travel • Canada