Amid increasing gun violence in the United States, some grocery stores around the country now have vending machines that are stocked with ammunition. A company has installed automated kiosks in grocery stores, allowing gun owners in three US states to purchase rounds from these devices, as per a report in The Telegraph.

In certain stores in Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama, people can now obtain ammunition for their firearms by just scanning their ID on a machine that resembles a drinks vending machine. The machines’ manufacturer, American Rounds, claims that operating them is just like using an ATM. “Our automated ammo dispensers are accessible 24/7, ensuring that you can buy ammunition on your own schedule, free from the constraints of store hours and long lines,” the company said on its website.

These vending machines, according to the firm, contain “built-in AI technology, card scanning capability, and facial recognition software.” According to American Rounds, the software can confirm the buyer’s identity and ascertain if the machine matches the identity scanned. Customers use a touchscreen to pick the ammunition they want to purchase, then the machine scans their ID to retrieve it through a hole in the bottom.

According to Newsweek, “there are eight machines installed or in the process of being installed across four states.” The first machine was installed at a Pell City, Alabama, Fresh Value grocery shop. Since then, four have been placed at Super C Marts in Oklahoma and one in Canyon Lake, Texas, at Lowe’s Market. Another is being placed at LaGrees Food Stores in Buena Vista, Colorado, and another is scheduled to be installed shortly in a Lowes Market in Canyon Lake, said CEO of American Rounds, Grants Magers.

He told the outlet, “We have over 200 store requests for AARM (Automated Ammo Retail Machine) units covering approximately nine states currently and that number is growing daily,” he told Newsweek. Mr Magers stated that the company supported “law-abiding, responsible gun ownership.”

“Currently ammunition is sold off the shelf or online. These environments lead to inadvertent sales to underaged purchasers and or, in the case of retail stores, a high theft rate. What we loved about this concept is the AARM units use state-of-the-art ID scanners combined with facial recognition before a transaction can be made,” he added.

Further, as per Oklahoma TV station KOCO-TV, there is no limitation on the quantity of ammunition customers can purchase and the vending machines would be restocked every two to four weeks.

However, a machine in Alabama was recently removed after its legality was debated.

Tuscaloosa City Council President Kip Tyner said that he initially thought the machines were a joke after he received calls about them. President of the Tuscaloosa City Council Kip Tyner stated that when he first started receiving calls regarding the machines, he assumed they were a prank. “I got some calls about ammunition being sold in grocery stores, vending machines. “I thought it was a lie. I thought it was a joke-but it’s not,” he said.

Notably, the machines are authorised by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and are lawful, according to Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley.

Discussing the same, Mr Magers told Newsweek: “American Rounds made the business decision to relocate the Fresh Value Automated Ammo Retail Machine located in Tuscaloosa to another store location. This was strictly a business decision based on sales at that specific store.”

A woman in Texas, United States, was arrested after she allegedly dragged a child to a bathroom and forced him to drink water from a toilet, as per a report in the New York Post. According to a news release from the Woodway Public Safety Department, Claudia Velediaz-Bonifazi was placed in custody on April 3 after the child arrived at school in tears and notified teachers and counsellors about the event.

As per the police statement, the boy told his teachers and counsellor that he was “dragged to the bathroom by his hair and his head was forced into the toilet where he was forced to drink toilet water.” He also informed that he “was missing pieces of his hair” as a result of the incident.

His claims prompted further investigation into the matter by Woodway Police and Child Protective Services, who found that the boy had reportedly been the victim of multiple past “violent incidents.” According to the police officers, the abuse included “being punched, hit with miscellaneous objects, and not being fed for long periods of time.”

Further, the woman was arrested for intentionally hurting the kid. The Woodway Public Safety Department released a statement that said the boy was “in her care,” but it did not specify if the child was related to Claudia Velediaz-Bonifazi. Meanwhile, the boy was moved to a relative’s place for safety.

In February, a woman in Alabama allegedly drove over her seven-year-old child after forcing him to walk home from school as a punishment. According to the New York Post, the incident happened when Sarai Rachel James, 27, picked up her son from school and got to know of his misbehaviour by the school’s principal. As a punishment, she made the boy get out of her car and asked him to walk or run the rest of the way home, which was about eight blocks away. 

When she slowed down, the boy tried to grab the door handle of the car before his mother accelerated. Her action resulted in the boy being pulled under the car and run over by the rear tyre. Police Chief Michael Abercrombie told People that the boy survived the accident and sustained minor injuries. The woman was arrested on February 8 and charged with aggravated child abuse, according to Marshall County Sheriff’s Office online booking records.

An 8-year-old girl in the United States died after being “violently sucked” into a large pipe while swimming at a hotel in Houston, Texas, on Saturday, as per a lawsuit filed by the victim’s family. Aliyah Jaico was swimming with her family in a lazy river at the Doubletree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow Hotel when she suddenly disappeared, Fox News reported. Hours later, her body was found “inside a large pipe in the pool area,” Houston police said in a statement. 

“Her poor little body was contorted when she was sucked into this hole and pipe 20 feet back,” Richard Nava, a lawyer representing the family, told reporters at a news conference. “They had to break up concrete and cut pipe in order to extract her… it was absolutely horrific,” Mr Nava said, per Fox News. 

The lawsuit states that the young girl was suddenly pulled into a 12 to 16-inch unsecured open gap in the swimming pool flow system. When she initially disappeared, her family did not know where she had gone, triggering a frantic search. According to the police, she was reported missing at about 5:45 pm Saturday. She was found around 11:30 pm and was pronounced dead by paramedics, cops said, adding that they were “continuing to investigate the incident”. 

The family filed the lawsuit earlier this week, seeking wrongful death damages of $1 million. According to the suit, the 8-year-old “loved to swim,” and her mother, Jose Daniela Jaico Ahumada, had rented a room at the hotel that day “to enjoy a day of swimming with her family”. 

“It took the fire department 13 hours to actually get her physical body removed from the pipe,” Justin Martinez, a communications representative for the Nava Law Group and the Jaico family, told The Washington Post. 

Separately, Mr Nava said that there was “an issue with the flow of the water” inside the pool that caused Aliyah to be sucked into what the lawsuit describes as an “unsecured open gap”. The hole was about 12 to 16 inches wide and the fire department had to “break up” the concrete pipe to retrieve the 8-year-old’s body, he added. 

“We are seeking justice for Aliyah, because this could have been avoidable,” Mr Nava said, adding that Aliyah’s loved ones were “devastated” by her death. 

The hotel is operated by Unique Crowne Hospitality LLC, according to the lawsuit. 

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In a statement to the Post, a Hilton spokesperson said the company was “deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a young girl”. But it also added that the property is “independently owned and operated by a third party”. Hilton said it “does not own, manage, or control the day-to-day operations of the property and does not employ any of the property’s staff or its third-party operators”. 

A spokesman for Unique Crowne Hospitality said that the company is “deeply saddened” by Aliyah’s death. “We offer our sincere and deepest condolences to her family and loved ones at this difficult time,” the statement said. “Our commitment to providing a safe and secure environment for our guests is paramount and we will continue to cooperate fully with all authorities investigating this incident,” it added. 

Hundreds of schools across the United States are set to close on April 8th due to a total solar eclipse. The eclipse will plunge several states into darkness as the moon covers the sun completely, according to Newsweek.

The path of totality will start in Mexico and move across parts of the United States, casting a complete shadow. This comes just a few months after the “ring of fire” eclipse in October 2023. Millions are expected to witness this astronomical event, with astronomy enthusiasts traveling to states in the path of totality, as per the news report.

However, safety concerns are emerging amid the excitement. Authorities warn that looking directly at the sun can cause permanent eye damage. There are also concerns about traffic disruptions and strain on local resources due to the large crowds expected.

The eclipse will be visible in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience totality. The eclipse will then move to Canada before exiting North America on the Atlantic coast.

Many schools in affected states have already announced closures. Parents are advised to check with their schools and stay updated with local news reports.

Texas has been proactive, with several counties issuing disaster declarations and advising residents to stock up on supplies. Some school districts, which initially planned eclipse-related activities, have reversed course due to safety concerns. Students will be given special eclipse glasses to take home and use for independent activities.

Schools in Indiana are also closing or switching to e-learning on the day of the eclipse.

Houston:

A US power company admitted Thursday that its equipment may have sparked the largest wildfire in Texas’ history.

Xcel — the parent of Southwest Public Service Company, which provides electricity to part of the state — said it was working with officials investigating the cause of the blaze that charred more than a million acres (over 400,000 hectares).

“Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the company said.

Hundreds of homes are thought to have been destroyed in the fire, which is known to have killed at least two people and over 3,000 farm animals.

Xcel, which is facing at least one lawsuit, denied its equipment was improperly maintained.

“However, we encourage people who had property destroyed by, or livestock lost in, the Smokehouse Creek fire to submit a claim to Xcel Energy through our claims process,” the statement said.

The Washington Post reported the admission came after it saw evidence the grid in Texas was under stress in the hours before the blaze broke out in strong winds on February 26.

The paper said Whisker Labs, a firm that monitors electricity supply grids recorded 50 faults in the system.

These are typically logged when a power line has been toppled, or has touched trees — events that typically result in the kind of sparks that can start fires in dry countryside.

It is not uncommon for US power companies to be blamed for destructive wildfires.

Hawaii’s Maui county last year began legal action against the island’s electricity provider over the deadly fires that leveled the historic town of Lahaina.

Videos taken before the blaze ripped through the town, killing 100 people, apparently showed downed cables setting light to vegetation.

In California, the almost 1-million-acre Dixie fire of 2021 began after power lines owned by Pacific Gas and Electric touched a tree.

A year earlier, the company pleaded guilty to more than 80 counts of involuntary manslaughter over the horrific Camp fire.

US infrastructure is frequently old and increasingly not fit for the growing demands placed on it.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Texas:

Indian origin trailblazing computer engineer and professor Ashok Veeraraghavan has been awarded the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in engineering, one of the highest academic honours in Texas.

The Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology (TAMEST), which presents this award to rising researchers in the state, said Veeraraghavan, professor of electrical and computer engineering at George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University, was chosen for his revolutionary imaging technology that seeks to make the invisible visible.

The award is given annually to star researchers in the state engaged in pathbreaking work in medicine, engineering, biological sciences, physical sciences and technology innovation.

This year’s engineering award went to Veeraraghavan, recognising his group’s “revolutionary imaging technology that seeks to make the invisible visible,” according to a statement from TAMEST.

Originally from Chennai, where he spent most of his pre-adult life, Veeraraghavan told PTI, “I am delighted to receive this award. It is the recognition of the wonderful and innovative research that many students, postdocs and research scientists, in the computational imaging lab at Rice University have done over the last decade” Veeraraghavan’s computational imaging lab conducts research on imaging processes holistically, from optics and sensor design to machine learning processing algorithms, to tackle imaging challenges that are otherwise beyond the reach of current technologies.

“Most imaging systems today are designed in a way that does not take all these three things into account together; they are designed separately,” Veeraraghavan said.

“Co-design opens up new degrees of freedom and allows us to achieve some imaging functionalities or performance capabilities that are otherwise not possible,” he added.

Veeraraghavan’s research seeks to provide solutions for imaging scenarios where the visualisation target is inaccessible to current imaging technologies due to the scattering of light in participating media.

“There are many examples of this,” he said.

“One familiar example is when you’re driving a car and it’s foggy, so you can’t see too far out. In this case, fog acts as the scattering medium. If you’re doing satellite imaging, clouds can act as the scattering medium. And if you’re doing biological imaging, it’s skin that acts as the obscurant so you can’t see blood cells or the structure of the vascular system, for example,” he explained.

“In all of these contexts, the main challenge is that light interacts with the participating media and scatters, which means you lose information about the image you are trying to capture. I think imaging through scattering media is one of the most challenging problems that’s left in imaging. So that is what the core focus of my lab is, and we’ve made significant advances toward solving that problem.” Luay Nakhleh, the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering and professor of computer science and biosciences at Rice, congratulated Veeraraghavan for his achievement saying he “richly deserves this special recognition”.

“In fact, this is extra special for our school since it is the second year in a row that one of our faculty receives the O’Donnell Award, with Jamie Padgett being last year’s recipient.” Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Rice’s executive vice president for research and a professor of materials science and nanoengineering, physics and astronomy, praised Veeraraghavan and underscored the impact of his research.

“I’m so pleased to see Ashok recognised with the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award, joining an accomplished group of prior Rice University recipients of the honour,” Ramesh said.

“Ashok has used math and technology to solve some of the most difficult problems in imaging. His work has broad applications for the advancement of human health, microscopy, national security, autonomous vehicles, photography and so much more.” 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A 16-year-old high school student in Texas died after collapsing during a cross-country meet.

According to The Cinco Peso Press, the school newspaper at Chisholm Trail High School in Fort Worth, Angel Hernandez, who had finished first in a three-mile race, lost his life on October 13.

Teachers at the school conveyed the heartbreaking news to students during their classes, revealing that Mr Hernandez had passed away at a hospital following the race.

One of his teammates, Alejandro Bailey, told the paper, “As the moment was happening all any of us could think about is that hopefully he could pull through this and that we needed him. I was trying to focus on just trying to stay strong for him.”

Mr Bailey also remembered his dear friend and said that he “was like family to the team.”

Chisholm Trail head coach Joe Gifford told MileSplit that “after crossing the finish line, Mr Hernandez collapsed. It’s what you’d expect from a kid at the district championships after running a PR.”

Initially, Mr Hernandez was assisted to the water station by one of his teammates, but unfortunately, he fell back down.

“When the firemen arrived, Angel [Hernandez] was not breathing and they did all they could do to resuscitate him and they transported him to the hospital,” Gifford added. 

Cross country coach Randall Durant, in his statement after Mr Hernandez’s death, said, “Every conversation you had with Angel, he was kind of like an old soul a little bit which means he was mature. He was always interested in what you were doing and what you had to say, and not always just about himself. He was very in tune with other people.” 

A cave diver known for his record-breaking dives and contributions to scientific research has died while exploring one of the deepest underwater caves in the United States. According to The Independent, Brett Hemphill was the president of a non-profit organisation called Karst Underwater Research (KUR). He was 56 years old and had an illustrious career as a cave explorer. He spent over 25 years smashing diving records and collecting scientific data. 

Mr Hemphill’s body was recovered on Sunday, days after the 56-year-old had gone missing during an expedition with his colleague Andy Pitkin. He was last seen on video tying off a guideline at approximately 570 feet before the team became separated. Mr Hemphill never resurfaced from the cave, the KUR said in a statement, as per The Independent. 

Two divers then began exploring the Phantom Springs Cave in West Texas on October 4. The KUR said that it suspected that Mr Hemphill was stuck over a mile inside an underwater cave, and so multiple recovery divers travelled “thousands of miles” to assist in the search. 

“All cave recovery divers are self-supported – there are no organizations that fund those efforts. Cave diver recoveries are logistically difficult and this one is especially so,” the statement said.

Divers then finally recovered Mr Hemphill’s body from the cave on Sunday, four days after he divided underwater. His colleague Any Pitikin issued a statement through the research centre to announce that his body had been found and recovered. “Please allow us some time to come to terms with his loss, as up until now we have been focused on the recovery,” the statement said.

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The 56-year-old had a passion for discovery at a young age, having explored an undiscovered section of a cave during a youth dry cave excursion, according to his biography on the KUR website. From there, he went on to lead several exploration groups and broke a number of underwater diving records. 

According to People Magazine, Mr Hemphill broke the United States deep underwater cave record at Weeki Wachee Springs in the state of Florida in 2018. In 2014, his team also made the deepest connection between two underwater caves in the United States, the Weeki Wachee and Twin Dees caves.

The 56-year-old even explored and researched caves in cities across the globe, including the Bahamas, Cay Sal Banks, Dominican Republic and the Yucatan Peninsula, according to his profile on the research centre’s website.

Billionaire Elon Musk has expressed concern over a video showing streaming across the US border with Mexico into Eagle Pass, Texas. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mr Musk demanded “preventive action” while claiming that about two million people are entering through the US border every year. This comes as an overwhelmed city of Texas declared an emergency on the issue, according to New York Times (NYT). Texas’ Mayor Rolando Salinas said 7,200 people have illegally crossed the border in the previous week, with 2,500 on Monday alone.

“Strange that there is almost no legacy media coverage of this. About 2 million people – from every country on Earth – are entering through the US southern border every year. The number is rising rapidly, yet no preventive action is taken by the current administration,” Mr Musk said in his post.

Strange that there is almost no legacy media coverage of this.

About 2 million people – from every country on Earth – are entering through the US southern border every year.

The number is rising rapidly, yet no preventive action is taken by the current administration. https://t.co/EF7HTS1ktT

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 20, 2023

He reacted to a video that showed thousands of migrants standing under the bride at Eagle Pass, waiting to cross into the US. One of the clips also showed them casually walking towards the US border.

The arrivals included a large number of people from Venezuela. The substantial increase has put additional strain on local governments in California, Arizona and Texas. The lone shelter provider in Texas failed to accommodate the sudden surge in the number of migrants and many were released onto the streets of the city, said the NYT report.

“They are walking around the streets. The hospital is getting swamped also,” Mr Salinas told the outlet, adding that the situation is similar to what the city experienced in 2021.

Eagle Pass has a US Customs and Border Protection processing facility which opened in 2022 with a capacity for 1,000 people.