In brief: Thousands attend slain Muslims’ funeral

RALEIGH, N.C. – The fathers of three young Muslims allegedly slain by a neighbor who was angry over parking spots stood before their caskets Thursday and urged a crowd of thousands to protect others by demanding justice.

More than 5,000 people came to the funeral of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21; and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, who were killed Tuesday in the couple’s Chapel Hill apartment.

A self-described “gun toting” atheist with a reputation for bullying his neighbors, Craig Stephen Hicks turned himself in and was jailed on first-degree murder charges.

Chapel Hill police said they are investigating whether religious or ethnic hatred motivated Hicks in any way, and federal investigators said hate crimes haven’t been ruled out. The FBI also announced Thursday that it has opened a “parallel preliminary inquiry.”

The funeral crowd was so large it had to be moved from a mosque to an athletic field at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where all three studied before Barakat and Mohammad moved to Chapel Hill to pursue careers in dentistry.

Veterans suicide prevention bill now law

WASHINGTON – Acknowledging the struggles of the nation’s veterans, President Barack Obama on Thursday signed legislation intended to reduce a military suicide epidemic that is claiming lives by the day.

“If you are hurting, know this: You are not forgotten,” said Obama, addressing soldiers and veterans as he prepared to sign the law.

The law requires the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department to submit to independent reviews of their suicide prevention programs and make information on suicide prevention more easily available to veterans.

It also offers financial incentives to psychiatrists and other mental health professionals who agree to work for the VA and assist military members as they transition from active duty to veteran status.

N.Y. Times media columnist Carr, 58, dies

NEW YORK – Media columnist David Carr, who wrote the Media Equation column for the New York Times and penned a memoir about his fight with drug addiction, collapsed at his office and died Thursday.

Just hours before his death he had moderated a “Times Talks” conversation with Edward Snowden, director Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald about the documentary “Citizenfour,” which chronicles Snowden’s leak of National Security Agency documents. Carr joined the Times in 2002 as a business reporter, covering magazine publishing. His Media Equation column focused on issues of media in relation to business, culture and government.

Carr, 58, who lived in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and their daughter and had two other children, also wrote “The Night of the Gun,” a 2008 memoir about addiction and recovery.

Hormone treatment approved for Manning

WASHINGTON – Defense Department officials said Thursday that hormone treatment for gender reassignment has been approved for Chelsea Manning, the former intelligence analyst convicted of espionage for sending classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.

The officials said the hormone therapy was approved Feb. 5 by Col. Erica Nelson, commandant of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Manning is serving a 35-year sentence.

The treatment would enable the Army private formerly known as Bradley Manning to make the transition to a woman. Manning changed her legal name in April 2014.

Goo that killed seabirds identified

SAN FRANCISCO – The mysterious gray goo that killed 170 seabirds in the San Francisco Bay Area has been identified as a synthetic oil.

Scientists at state and federal laboratories have yet to determine where the sticky gunk that looked like rubber cement came from or how it got into the bay.

Lab officials determined Thursday that the goo that first turned up on shorelines east of San Francisco in mid-January contained a mixture of non-petroleum-based fats or oils. Non-petroleum oils include synthetic oils, such as silicone fluids, tung oils, and wood-derivative oils such as resin/rosin oils. Animal fats and oil, and edible and inedible seed oils from plants are included, too.