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Police search Charlie Sheen's house for weapons
Authorities were at the home of Charlie Sheen late Thursday night, investigating a possible violation of a temporary restraining order and searching for weapons, police said.
"It's not a raid," said Los Angeles police spokeswoman Norma Eisenman.
The actor took to Twitter immediately afterward, informing his 2.5 million followers, "all good here on homefront. all reports are false. I'll explain more very soon."
The restraining order was filed March 1 after Sheen's estranged wife Brooke Mueller requested it alleging that he had threatened to kill her.
FULL STORYThe day's most popular stories
The five most popular stories on CNN.com in the past 24 hours, according to NewsPulse.
Wisconsin Assembly passes labor bill: After weeks of demonstrations in the state capital, Wisconsin Republicans cleared a final hurdle to a controversial proposal on Thursday.
Charlie Sheen issues half-apology to Cryer: Charlie Sheen still continues to bash his former "Two and a Half Men" boss Chuck Lorre - but when it comes to costar Jon Cryer, Sheen is rethinking his negative comments.
How the human penis lost its spines: You've read the headline, and it probably made you giggle. Go ahead. Get it out of your system. Then take a deep breath and consider how evolution affected a few specific body parts.
Lohan gets 2 weeks to decide on plea deal: Lindsay Lohan must decide by March 23 if she will accept a plea deal that would send her to jail or move closer to a trial in the necklace theft case.
Controversy precedes radicalization hearings: A controversial congressional hearing Thursday on the radicalization of Muslim Americans touched on sensitive questions involving terrorism and tolerance.
'Koch' name pervades online reaction to Wisconsin bill
If you've been following the reaction to the controversy over the Wisconsin bill to restrict collective bargaining rights, you're probably aware of the sentiments permeating comment boxes and social media. If not, let's bring you up to speed:
- Solidarity with union workers: "I stand with the SLOBS who teach my kids, empty my trash, protect my neighborhood, put out my fires, fix my roads." - linc0lnpark
- Support for the measure: "I live in Wisconsin, I voted for Governor Walker, and I support him and what the Senate did last night 100%. All of the Democrats that fled the state need to be recalled. All of the Union supporters that have infiltrated my state from other places, can pack their crap up and leave – NOW. Oh, and fire all the teachers that called in 'sick' too." - kat101160
- Comparisons to uprisings in the Middle East: "Thanks to Twitter, I can watch the beginning of democracy in the Middle East and the end of it in the Midwest." - achura
There's also a deeper, equally pervasive thread making the rounds accompanied by the hashtag #Koch. Such comments are full of insinuation, speculation, rumor and innuendo over Gov. Scott Walker's connection to Koch Industries, a private, Kansas-based company with diverse holdings in nearly 60 countries, including a presence in Wisconsin.
VIDEO: The two most influential names in politics you've never heard of
The company also has a long history of supporting free-market principles through its political action committee, KOCHPAC, which contributed $43,000 to Walker’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign.
Tweets and comments such as, "Welcome to #FitzWalkerStan we used to be called Wisconsin. We are a division of Koch Industries," or "Walker is deaf to the voice of people. He is a puppet of Koch brothers" speak to speculation that Walker is in the pocket of Koch Industries.
50 people in 50 days: Woman disappeared after leaving Ohio workplace
Editor's note: Nancy Grace's new show on HLN, "Nancy Grace: America's Missing," is dedicated to finding 50 people in 50 days. As part of the effort, which relies heavily on audience participation, CNN.com's news blog This Just In will feature the stories of the missing.
This is the 39th case, and it will be shown Thursday at 9 p.m. on HLN.
After working the second shift as an assembly line supervisor at a Honda plant in Union County, Ohio, 29-year-old Patricia Adkins (pictured) clocked out at midnight on June 29, 2001.
Friends say she was going to spend the Fourth of July week with a married co-worker with whom she'd been having an affair. The two allegedly were headed to a remote part of Canada.
When the single mother didn't pick up her daughter as scheduled on July 8, relatives reported her missing. Police say they've questioned the married co-worker several times, and that he is the only person of interest in the case, but no charges have been filed.
Tensions between police, protesters reach boiling point outside Wisconsin capitol
Outrage and frustration erupted outside the Wisconsin state capitol as scores of protesters tried to push their way inside the building before today's controversial vote.
Eager to get inside to make their voices heard during the vote, they chanted and screamed "Let Us In" and "Shame" to guards standing at the door. Some pounded on the door's windows, others tried to sneak in through windows with the help of friends inside.
The Capitol building was on total lockdown for almost two hours. We saw two Democratic legislators turned away at the door. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson was also not allowed inside at first.
The tension escalated quickly and for a moment it felt like the situation was going to erupt into fist-flying brawl between the officers and protesters.
We were caught in the middle of the large swarm trying to barrel its way past police officers barricading one of many doors into the Capitol. A handful of livid protesters tried to rip the door open. One protester screamed in my ear "keep pushing forward, let's get in there." A couple of protesters were restrained by the Capitol police officers and pulled back before the scrum erupted into a more dangerous situation.
A few video cameras captured the melee and several protesters, weary of how the fight would appear in the news media, started chanting "peaceful, peaceful, peaceful."
Eventually the officers were able to push the crowd back and shut the door again and regain control of the heated moment.
Later a few entrances were re-opened into the capitol building but many protesters are still saying that access to the capitol building is being denied.
Army disciplines 9 for not flagging Fort Hood suspect
The secretary of the U.S. Army has disciplined nine officers for failing to warn of problems with Maj. Nidal Hasan - the officer accused of committing the 2009 Fort Hood shootings - before he was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas.
Secretary John McHugh's move comes after the service reviewed the circumstances leading up to the Fort Hood shootings, in which 13 people were killed and 43 others were wounded.
McHugh "initiated adverse administrative action against nine officers for administrative and leadership failures relating to the career" of Hasan, according to an Army statement released Thursday.
The officers were not identified. The Army statement said the severity of the discipline varied depending on the actions of each officer.
The Army report found no single factor led ultimately to the shooting but "certain officers clearly failed to meet the high standards expected of their profession."
In addition, the Army secretary has ordered a review of how evaluations of personnel are conducted and procedures for training and counseling
Giffords to attend shuttle Endeavour launch
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords plans to attend the launch of the space shuttle endeavor on April 19, almost three months after she was shot in the head outside a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket, spokesman C.J. Karamargin said.
Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, is the shuttle mission's commander.
Wisconsin Assembly passes controversial labor bill
The Wisconsin state Assembly on Thursday afternoon passed a controversial bill that curtails most state workers’ collective bargaining rights, one day after state Senate Republicans used a technical procedure to get around the intentional absence of 14 Democrats and pass the measure in their chamber.
Throngs of people upset at the developments have been protesting on the grounds of the Capitol throughout the day.
The bill will reach Gov. Scott Walker's desk for final approval. The bill would, among other things, allow public workers to collectively negotiate wages only and bar unions from taking dues from public workers’ checks. Walker has argued the bill is necessary to help the state correct its deficits and avoid massive layoffs and property tax hikes.
Here is a running account of some of the latest developments:
5:02 p.m. ET: Detail on the vote: The Assembly passed the measure 53-42.
4:47 p.m. ET: The Assembly has passed the bill.
4:41 p.m. ET: The Assembly appears to be voting.
4:33 p.m. ET: Still debating the bill, Democrats in the state Assembly are arguing that the Senate's move to pass the measure yesterday was illegal in part because the bill still addresses fiscal matters.
Senate Republicans, before passing the measure yesterday, stripped the bill of appropriations so that they could vote for the bill without a quorum. This way, they could vote without the presence of the 14 Democrats who fled the state.
Assembly Democrats, however, are arguing that the measure still has changes in appropriations, inclduing a change in appropriations for a tax credit.
4:22 p.m. ET: Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has received two death threats, Fitzgerald spokesman Andrew Welhouse said. Both threats were e-mailed from the same address, according to Welhouse.
4:04 p.m. ET: Although Democratic state Sen. Jim Holperin apparently is returning to Wisconsin, one of his fellow Democrats in the state Senate, Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, says she and other Senate Democrats are staying in Illinois. She says the matter of whether the Wisconsin Senate legally passed the measure last not hasn't been settled.
She said that because the legality of the Senate's move last night still has to be determined, she and other Senate Democrats still will stay away from Wisconsin because they don't want to be forced to appear in the Senate to deal with the measure.
Vinehout told CNN's Brooke Baldwin that she doesn't know where Holperin is, but she said that if he is on his way back to Wisconsin, he doesn't have the most current information. She added that the courts will need to decide whether yesterday's "legislative trickery" by Senate Republicans was legal.
U.S. set to send disaster relief teams to Libya
The United States will soon be sending disaster relief teams into eastern Libya, the WH National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon said.
The teams' activities should not be viewed as military operations, Donilon said.
"It can no way shape or form be seen as military intervention," Donilon said. The teams will assess that humanitarian aid is being delivered. "This is purely humanitarian to better assist in a humanitarian way the people of Libya."
'Muslims in America' hearings: Lawmaker calls proceeding 'an outrage'
At 9:30 a.m. ET Thursday, the House Homeland Security Committee opened the first in a series of hearings looking into alleged radicalization in the Muslim community in the United States. Below, you'll find a running account of some of the highlights of Thursday's hearing, which ended shortly before 2 p.m.
The hearings, titled "The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and That Community's Response," were called by the committee's chairman, Rep. Peter King, a nine-term Republican from Long Island, New York. On Monday, CNN reported that his personal security had been beefed up because of controversy over the impending hearings. Some have said they fear the hearings will stoke bigotry. Others say they will foster fear of Muslims in general, and suggest that anyone who practices Islam could be radicalized. One of those critics is Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, the sole Muslim member of Congress, who will testify. "This hearing actually could set us back because it reinforces the al Qaeda narrative, which is that America is at war with Islam. ... This hearing seems kind of like a targeted persecution," Ellison said.
King has responded by saying, "To back down (from holding the hearings) would be a craven surrender to political correctness and an abdication of what I believe to be the main responsibility of this committee - to protect America from a terrorist attack."
CNN's Peter Bergen examined cases since 9/11 of so-call homegrown terrorist threats. Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar, wrote that the hearings could promote the idea that America is really at war with Islam and would actually help terrorists appeal and recruit more fighters. Check out Prothero's thoughts on CNN.com's Belief Blog.
Charlie Sheen sues over show
Actor Charlie Sheen, fired from his hit comedy series, and his production company have filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television and Chuck Lorre, the creator of "Two and a Half Men," a Los Angeles Superior Court spokeswoman said Thursday.
The lawsuit claims intentional interference with contractual relations, breach of contract and violation of the California labor code, among other allegations. The production company, 9th Step Productions, is a corporation formed by Sheen to contract out his acting services on the series, according to the lawsuit.
Warner Bros. Television fired Sheen on Monday.
FULL STORY
Shark attack blogger draws supporters from across the world
Shark attacks happen. But when was the last time someone attacked by a shark blogged about the horrific experience and the struggle to recover?
Meet 38-year-old Nicole Moore, a mom and registered nurse from Orangeville, Ontario, whose blog "My Story of Survival" has comments from people across the globe. The blog was originally intended to update friends and family about what happened, and how she was doing. But it's attracted attention around the world.
Moore was vacationing in Cancun, Mexico, in late January and went into the ocean to wash off sand after playing volleyball. Waist-deep, she felt a tug on her arm.
Ohio man is first executed with lone dose of pentobarbital
Johnnie Baston on Thursday became the first person in the United States executed with the single-dose drug pentobarbital.
Pentobarbital, a barbiturate that has been used in animal euthanasia and as a mild anesthetic in humans, was used in a U.S. execution for the first time in December, when it was administered as the first drug in a three-drug cocktail used in a lethal injection given to an Oklahoma inmate.
Montreal cops investigating hockey hit
Police in Montreal said Thursday they will investigate a hit in Tuesday night's National Hockey League game as a possible crime, Canadian media report.
The hit by Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara on the Montreal Canadiens' Max Pacioretty left Pacioretty with a severe concussion and a fractured vertebra, according to a CTV report.
Thursday's intriguing people
Felicia Pearson
When she was 14, Pearson shot and killed a 15-year-old girl, her autobiography says. Pearson served time in prison and was eventually cast in the HBO drama “The Wire.” She played “Snoop,” an assassin. In a 2007 Washington Post profile, Pearson said her experience in the streets helped her be more authentic in the show, which she said saved her life. Horror writer Stephen King once called her "perhaps the most terrifying female villain to ever appear in a television series." On Thursday, WBAL-TV reported that Pearson, now 30, was arrested with about 30 other people in an early-morning drug raid conducted by hundreds of police and federal agents.
Gotta Watch: Burger brawls, dumb robber; monkey waiters
Burger brawl – Imagine how much money we'd save on paying for law enforcement if there weren't so many silly crimes? But then we wouldn't have video like this to show you. Here, a disgruntled customer at Burger King lunges at an employee over a sandwich costing $1.06.
[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/03/10/bts.burger.king.brawl.wsvn"%5D
Newly released photos of Hitler's wife
Life.com has obtained a set of newly released photos from the personal albums of Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler's longtime girlfriend and, in their final hours, wife.
The photos "reveal new dimensions" of the woman who married Hitler as the Russian army closed in on his Berlin bunker and then committed suicide with him a day later. He was 56. She was 33.
Report: U.S. stops using school buses after Frankfurt shootings
A week after a gunman killed two U.S. service members aboard a bus at Germany's Frankfurt Airport, the U.S. military has stopped using blue American-style school buses to transport troops, the newspaper Stars and Stripes reports.
The distinctive buses were criticized as "obvious targets for terrorists," according to the Stripes report.
Frankfurt Airport officials told the newspaper the blue buses have not been seen at the facility since the shooting, which left two U.S. airmen dead and two wounded.
Thursday's live video events
After days of protest and finger-pointing, a controversial hearing on so-called "Muslim radicalization" begins on Capitol Hill. CNN.com Live is there for gavel-to-gavel coverage of the event.
Today's programming highlights...
9:30 am ET - 'Muslim radicalization' hearing - Rep. Peter King, the New York Republican who called this hearing, calls it a serious look at the extent of "radicalization" in the American Muslim community. Critics say it's McCarthyism with a new target. Following the hearing, Rep. King will discuss the day's events with reporters.
On the Radar: Pro-union protest, Lohan's plea, NATO's plan, Heat's struggles
Public unions –– Pro-union demonstrators plan to rally outside the Wisconsin capitol Thursday - the morning after the state's Republican-led Senate passed Gov. Scott Walker's proposed restrictions on collective bargaining for public employees. Senate Republicans got around a long-running Democratic walkout on Wednesday evening by stripping financial provisions from the bill.
Lohan plea - Actress Lindsay Lohan heads back to court Thursday to say if she will accept a plea deal on a felony charge of stealing a $2,500 necklace. At her last appearance in February, the judge warned Lohan that any plea deal would involve jail time.
NATO and Libya - NATO officials scheduled a meeting Thursday to discuss a response to Libya's civil war. Alliance defense ministers gathering in Brussels, Belgium, will discuss whether to implement a no-fly zone over Libya to minimize civilian casualties from the Libyan air force attacks.
Miami Heat - The NBA franchise that added league MVP LeBron James and Chris Bosh last summer finds itself in a five-game losing streak. Breaking that skid may be a tough task as Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers come to Miami for a 7 p.m. ET game. SI's Zach Lowe looks at what might be behind the Heat's problems.
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