Minnesota leaders visit bombed mosque
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Lt. Gov. Tina Smith visited the Dar Al Farooq Islamic center in Bloomington on Sunday morning, the day after a bomb rocked the building.
Dayton described the incident as “so wretched. Not Minnesota.”
An FBI investigation into an “incendiary explosive device” used at the Islamic center continued Sunday.
No one was hurt in the explosion, which heavily damaged an imam’s office at the center and sent smoke through the building. Windows in the office were shattered, either by the blast or by an object thrown through them.
The blast was reported at 5:05 a.m. Saturday as about a dozen people gathered for morning prayers.
When police arrived, they found smoke and fire damage to the building, said Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts. Agents from the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives soon joined the investigation.
Deputy AG says reporters not targeted
WASHINGTON — Prosecutors don’t intend to go after reporters for doing their jobs, a Justice Department official said Sunday.
“We’re after the leaker, not the journalist. We’re after people who are committing crimes,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told Fox News Sunday. His comments come two days after officials pledged to clamp down on government leaks they believe undermine American security.
Still, Rosenstein left open the possibility that prosecutors could more forcefully try to get reporters to reveal their sources and that reporters could be investigated for breaking other, unspecified laws.
Officials are reviewing guidelines that make it difficult for prosecutors to subpoena journalists about their sources, Rosenstein reiterated Sunday. He said some of the “procedural hurdles” may be delaying leak investigations.
Plane lurches, puts people in hospital
An American Airlines flight lurched violently over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, sending drinks and people flying and putting 10 people in the hospital after landing in Philadelphia.
Passenger Alex Ehmke told NBC News that everything in his field of vision shot up 4 feet, and he told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that “it felt like the whole plane was in free fall.”
His wife, a reporter for ProPublica, documented the aftermath on Twitter: beverages sprayed across the ceiling of an Airbus A333, coffee trapped in the housing of the cabin lights.
In the row behind him, Ehmke said, a man had flown up from his seat, hit the ceiling and landed on his father — hard. The man was one of three passengers who was hospitalized after the plane landed.
According to American, the other seven injured were crew members.
In the half-hour or so before the flight reached Philadelphia, Ehmke said, the pilot apologized for what the Federal Aviation Administration and American Airlines later described as “severe turbulence,” cause unknown.
Tulsa tornado injures about 30 people
TULSA — A tornado near midtown Tulsa early Sunday injured more than two dozen people, including two with life-threatening injuries, knocked out power to thousands of customers, heavily damaged businesses and blew debris through the streets.
No deaths were reported after the storm that struck shortly after 1 a.m., according to city spokesman Kim Meloy.
Emergency Medical Services Authority spokesman Kelli Bruer said the ambulance company transported 13 people to area hospitals — eight from a TGI Fridays restaurant, four from a Whataburger restaurant, and one person who was in the area.
St. Francis Hospital spokesman Lauren Landwerlin said about 30 people were treated at the hospital, including many taken by private vehicles.
The timing of the storm meant fewer people were injured, according to Meloy, who noted that hundreds, if not thousands, of people were in the area only hours earlier.
National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Teague said an EF2 tornado, with wind speeds of 111 to 135 miles per hour, touched down shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday and possibly two other, smaller tornadoes touched down later near Inola and Claremore, about 25 miles east and northeast of Tulsa.
A Section on 08/07/2017