40-year-old staff sergeant Robert Bales who shot and killed 16 Afghan civilians was sentenced to life in prison on Friday with no chance of parole, the Associated Press reported. Bales had pleaded guilty in June in a deal to avoid the death penalty. The verdict was announced at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle.
Army Maj. and psychiatrist Nidal Hasan was convicted on all counts of murder he was charged Friday in the 2009 shooting rampage many experts deem as a terrorist attack at Fort Hood, in which he opened fire on fellow soldiers
School district officials in San Bernandino said that they will discontinue a policy requiring elementary students to kneel down before being dismissed in class. Principal Dana Carter at Calimesa Elementary School instituted the policy, calling for students at various times of the school day to kneel and wait for the principal or administrator to dismiss them, news reports said.