WATCH LIVE COVERAGE: Boston Marathon Bombing -- 2 Confirmed Dead, 23 Injured; NY Post claims "Saudi National" ID"d

Update: 2:23 PM PST: The Boston Globe is reporting over 100 injured.

Update 2:03 PM PST: The New York Post claims "Saudi National" has been ID"d, is under custody.

Update 1:56 PM PST: CBS News reports that law enforcement official divulged that there is a  surveillance photo of potential suspect.

Update 1:33 PM: From the New York Post — “A federal law-enforcement source confirmed to The Post there are at least 12 dead and nearly 50 injured. Fox News reported that Massachusetts General Hospital was treating 10 people with amputated limbs and all operating rooms were on hold.

Authorities have a identified a suspect, who is currently being guarded in a Boston hospital with shrapnel wounds.”

Update 1:12 PM: According to the Boston Police Department, there are 23 injured and 2 dead.

BOSTON, Massachusetts — At least six people were wounded when two large explosions struck near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, sparking scenes of panic, witnesses and US media said.

Witnesses said the streets were littered with debris and blood and described paramedics racing off with stretchers. TV footage showed an explosion sending up a white plume of smoke along the sidelines of the race.

CNN reported that at least six people were wounded. Local radio said the first explosion took place near a sports store and the second went off near a viewing stand. Local officials could not immediately be reached.

There were no immediate reports of any deaths, and it was not immediately clear whether the explosions were accidental.

Zara Bielkus, a 30-year-old spectator from Boston, said she heard two explosions seconds apart. Police then locked down the area.

“When we heard them, everyone looked at each other and went very quiet, and within a minute police came,” she said.

The Boston Marathon is one of the biggest annual athletic events held in the United States, with nearly 27,000 racers who must qualify to compete and tens of thousands of spectators.

AlterNet Editor"s note: watch live coverage below, via NBC.com. 

 

Mon, 04/15/2013 – 12:51

 
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WATCH LIVE COVERAGE: Boston Marathon Bombing -- 2 Confirmed Dead, 23 Injured; NY Post claims "Saudi National" ID"d

Reporters Say Exxon Is Impeding Spill Coverage in Arkansas

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Reporters covering the oil spill from ExxonMobil’s Pegasus pipeline in Mayflower, Arkansas, are reporting that they’ve been blocked from the site and threatened with arrest.

On Friday morning, Inside Climate News reported that an Exxon spokesperson told reporter Lisa Song that she could be “arrested for criminal trespass” when she went to the command center to try to find representatives from the EPA and the Department of Transportation. On Friday afternoon, I spoke to the news director from the local NPR affiliate who said he, too, had been threatened with arrest while trying to cover the spill.

Michael Hibblen, who reports for the radio station KUAR, went to the spill site on Wednesday with state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. McDaniel was in the area to inspect the site and hold a news conference, and Hibblen and a small group of reporters were following him to report on the visit. Upon arrival, representatives from the county sheriff’s office, which is running security at the site, directed the reporters to a boundary point 10 feet away that they should not pass. The reporters agreed to comply. But the tone shifted abruptly, Hibblen told Mother Jones on Friday:

It was less than 90 seconds before suddenly the sheriff’s deputies started yelling that all the media people had to leave, that ExxonMobil had decided they don’t want you here, you have to leave. They even referred to it as “Exxon Media”…Some reporters were like, “Who made this decision? Who can we talk to?” The sheriff’s deputies started saying, “You have to leave. You have 10 seconds to leave or you will be arrested.”

Hibblen says he didn’t really have time to deal with getting arrested, since he needed to file his report on the visit for both the local affiliate and national NPR. (You can hear his piece on the AG’s visit here.) KUAR has also reported on Exxon blocking reporters’ access to the spill site.

Since the spill happened a week ago, cleanup crews have collected 19,000 barrels of oil and water.

Hibblen says county officials seem to be deferring to Exxon when it comes to reporters. “This gets back to who’s really in charge, and it seems like ExxonMobil,” he said. “When you throw the media out, that’s when the media really get their tentacles up.”

Politics | Mother Jones

Reporters Say Exxon Is Impeding Spill Coverage in Arkansas

Reporters Say Exxon Is Impeding Spill Coverage in Arkansas

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Reporters covering the oil spill from ExxonMobil’s Pegasus pipeline in Mayflower, Arkansas, are reporting that they’ve been blocked from the site and threatened with arrest.

On Friday morning, Inside Climate News reported that an Exxon spokesperson told reporter Lisa Song that she could be “arrested for criminal trespass” when she went to the command center to try to find representatives from the EPA and the Department of Transportation. On Friday afternoon, I spoke to the news director from the local NPR affiliate who said he, too, had been threatened with arrest while trying to cover the spill.

Michael Hibblen, who reports for the radio station KUAR, went to the spill site on Wednesday with state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. McDaniel was in the area to inspect the site and hold a news conference, and Hibblen and a small group of reporters were following him to report on the visit. Upon arrival, representatives from the county sheriff’s office, which is running security at the site, directed the reporters to a boundary point 10 feet away that they should not pass. The reporters agreed to comply. But the tone shifted abruptly, Hibblen told Mother Jones on Friday:

It was less than 90 seconds before suddenly the sheriff’s deputies started yelling that all the media people had to leave, that ExxonMobil had decided they don’t want you here, you have to leave. They even referred to it as “Exxon Media”…Some reporters were like, “Who made this decision? Who can we talk to?” The sheriff’s deputies started saying, “You have to leave. You have 10 seconds to leave or you will be arrested.”

Hibblen says he didn’t really have time to deal with getting arrested, since he needed to file his report on the visit for both the local affiliate and national NPR. (You can hear his piece on the AG’s visit here.) KUAR has also reported on Exxon blocking reporters’ access to the spill site.

Since the spill happened a week ago, cleanup crews have collected 19,000 barrels of oil and water.

Hibblen says county officials seem to be deferring to Exxon when it comes to reporters. “This gets back to who’s really in charge, and it seems like ExxonMobil,” he said. “When you throw the media out, that’s when the media really get their tentacles up.”

Politics | Mother Jones

Reporters Say Exxon Is Impeding Spill Coverage in Arkansas

March on the RNC: Romneyville RT News Coverage

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[98] Exclusive NDAA Coverage: Call to Action with Chris Hedges

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[98] Exclusive NDAA Coverage: Call to Action with Chris Hedges