The nightmare of being uninsured in America

The nightmare of being uninsured in America
Martin family seeks to trademark ‘I am Trayvon'
Poll: Sharp drop in support for Afghan war
Democratic lawmakers blast police in U.S. teen killing
Panetta says focus on strategy, not polls in Afghanistan
Memorial service underway for slain Iraqi-American woman
Catholic bishop had no "duty" to report child abuse: lawyer
JetBlue flight diverted, passengers say captain restrained
FBI said to have gathered intelligence on California Muslims
NRC to keep SCE's Calif nuclear units shut
Miami Police detective says racism "alive and well"
U.S. judge dismisses most charges against militia members
Wildfire raging near Denver kills elderly couple
Americans angry with Obama over gas prices
Broccoli, cellphones and the Obama healthcare law
Democratic lawmakers blast police in U.S. teen killing
U.S. judge bars import of drug used in death penalty
Authorities drop remaining charges in arms bribery case
Judge acquits militia members of sedition, conspiracy
In New York, airplane phone calls could land you in court
Wildfire raging near Denver kills two people
Why college students stop short of a degree
Skeptical justices question Obama healthcare law
FBI assisting in murder investigation of Iraqi woman
Wisconsin shooting puts "castle" law under scrutiny
'Joe the Plumber' loses bid to revive suit
Indiana train derailment involved hazardous materials
BP refinery leaks acid in Texas City; no injuries
Strauss-Kahn lawyers contest pimping investigation
Federal agents kill man in phony murder-for-hire plot
Painkiller Opana, new scourge of rural America
Memorial service underway for slain Iraqi-American woman
Democratic lawmakers blast police in U.S. teen killing
NRC to keep SCE's Calif nuclear units shut
FBI said to have gathered intelligence on California Muslims
U.S. judge dismisses most charges against militia members
Catholic bishop had no "duty" to report child abuse: lawyer
Wildfire raging near Denver kills elderly couple

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Today almost 50 million Americans do not have health care coverage, according the latest Census Bureau figures.

Martin family seeks to trademark ‘I am Trayvon'

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Trayvon Martin's mother Sybrina Fulton is seeking to trademark phrases with her son's name.

Poll: Sharp drop in support for Afghan war

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Support for the war in Afghanistan is slipping fast, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released Monday. More than two-thirds of those surveyed, 69 percent, think the United States should no longer be fighting, a 16 percent jump from just four months ago. A similar number, 68 percent, say the war effort is [...]

Democratic lawmakers blast police in U.S. teen killing

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday blasted police handling of a racially charged case in which a neighborhood watch volunteer shot dead an unarmed black teenager in Florida, accusing local law enforcement officials of botching the investigation. The lawmakers, speaking at a congressional forum attended by the parents of the slain teenager, called for the immediate arrest of 28-year-old George Zimmerman, the white Hispanic who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on February 26 in what Zimmerman said was self-defense. ...

Panetta says focus on strategy, not polls in Afghanistan

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OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday it was important for NATO-led forces to continue implementing their strategy to end the conflict in Afghanistan despite growing signs of public fatigue after 10 years of war. "We cannot fight wars by polls. If we do that we're in deep trouble," Panetta told a news conference in Canada. "We have to operate based on what we believe is the best strategy to achieve the mission that we are embarked on," he said. ...

Memorial service underway for slain Iraqi-American woman

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SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Mourners gathered to pay respects on Tuesday for an Iraqi-American woman who died after being severely beaten in her California home by a killer who left a threatening note suggesting a hate crime, a Muslim rights group said. Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother of five, was found unconscious in the dining room of her rented home in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon on Wednesday morning by her 17-year-old daughter, police said. She was taken to a local trauma center with a severe head injury, police said. ...

Catholic bishop had no "duty" to report child abuse: lawyer

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KANSAS CITY (Reuters) - A Catholic Bishop in Kansas City did not have a legal obligation to report suspected child sexual abuse by a local priest even if he knew about it, a lawyer for the bishop said on Tuesday. In a preview to the upcoming trial of Bishop Robert Finn of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, a lawyer for Finn asked Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence to dismiss the charge against him because he said there was another Diocese official who should have reported the priest to police. "Bishop Finn had no statutory duty to report. ...

JetBlue flight diverted, passengers say captain restrained

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(Reuters) - A JetBlue flight bound for Las Vegas was diverted to Texas on Tuesday following what federal authorities described as erratic behavior by the captain, who passengers said had to be restrained after he pounded on the locked cockpit door. The FBI is investigating the incident on Flight 191 from New York, which had 135 passengers on board when the pilot-in-command decided to redirect the plane to Amarillo, Texas. JetBlue said in a statement the flight was diverted due to a "medical situation" involving the captain but made no mention of any commotion on board. ...

FBI said to have gathered intelligence on California Muslims

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. civil liberties advocates said on Tuesday the FBI had engaged in secretly collecting intelligence about Muslims in the San Francisco Bay area in recent years, including details about a sermon delivered at a mosque. The American Civil Liberties Union called for an inquiry into the FBI's data collection, citing investigative practices from between 2004 and 2008 that it said raised the possibility of privacy violations. ...

NRC to keep SCE's Calif nuclear units shut

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HOUSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday said it will not allow Southern California Edison's San Onofre nuclear generator in California to restart until the agency is sure that the company has addressed premature degradation of tubes in the plant's steam generators. Both reactors at the 2,150-megawatt plant near San Diego have been shut since January due to the discovery of premature wear on tubes inside giant steam generators made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and installed in 2010 and 2011. ...

Miami Police detective says racism "alive and well"

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MIAMI (Reuters) - A black veteran Miami police officer said on Tuesday that "racism is alive and well" in the United States and is evident in the case of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed African American teenager gunned down by a neighborhood watch volunteer in central Florida last month. George Zimmerman, the white Hispanic crime watch volunteer, has managed to avoid arrest under Florida's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law because he said he shot and killed Martin in self-defense. ...

U.S. judge dismisses most charges against militia members

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DETROIT (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed conspiracy charges against seven members of a U.S. militia group known as the Hutaree, saying prosecutors failed to prove that they were doing more than talking about their hatred of the government. The seven were accused of plotting to kill law enforcement officers as a way to incite a wider rebellion against the U.S. government. Defense attorneys had argued that what the seven had done was protected by their free speech rights. ...

Wildfire raging near Denver kills elderly couple

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DENVER (Reuters) - A Colorado wildfire raging out of control in the foothills and canyons near Denver has killed an elderly couple and destroyed 23 homes, and authorities warned on Tuesday that evacuation orders could be expanded to another 6,500 residences. The blaze, thought to have been ignited by embers from a controlled-burn operation last week, has charred 4,500 acres. ...

Americans angry with Obama over gas prices

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling high gasoline prices, although most do not blame him for them, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online poll released on Tuesday. Sixty-eight percent disapprove and 24 percent approve of how Obama is responding to price increases that have become one of the biggest issues in the 2012 presidential campaign. In the past month, U.S. fuel prices have jumped about $0.30 per gallon to about $3. ...

Broccoli, cellphones and the Obama healthcare law

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If Congress has the power to require that Americans obtain health insurance, U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday asked hypothetical questions on what would be next - insisting that people eat broccoli, buy a cellphone or get burial insurance? During a second day of arguments over President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law, conservative Chief Justice John Roberts likened healthcare services for the sick to such emergency services as police, fire and ambulance assistance. "You don't know when you're going to need it. You're not sure that you will. ...

Democratic lawmakers blast police in U.S. teen killing

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U.S. judge bars import of drug used in death penalty

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday barred U.S. authorities from importing an anesthesia drug used in carrying out death sentences because the Food and Drug Administration never approved the drug for use in the United States, and he ordered supplies be confiscated. A group of death row inmates had sued the FDA last year over improperly allowing shipments into the country of sodium thiopental, a sedative used as the first of three drugs administered in carrying out executions. ...

Authorities drop remaining charges in arms bribery case

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. federal prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the remaining charges arising out of a bribery sting involving arms sales and an FBI agent who posed as an African defense official, letting three men who had already pleaded guilty off the hook. A U.S. district judge said he would grant the Justice Department's request to dismiss its case against Jonathan Spiller, a British citizen residing in the United States, and two Americans, Haim Geri and Daniel Alvirez. The three had previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate a U.S. ...

Judge acquits militia members of sedition, conspiracy

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DETROIT (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday acquitted seven members of a U.S. Midwestern militia group of all major sedition and conspiracy charges against them, two years after the FBI began arresting them following a long undercover surveillance operation. The seven, members of a group known as the Hutaree, were accused of plotting to kill law enforcement officers as a way to incite a wider rebellion against the U.S. government. Defense attorneys had argued their actions were protected by their First Amendment free speech rights. In her ruling on Tuesday, U.S. ...

In New York, airplane phone calls could land you in court

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Refusing to turn off a cell phone or laptop during takeoff from a New York area airport could soon land airline passengers a one-way ticket to court. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said on Tuesday it is exploring suing the worst offenders who fail to comply with guidelines for turning off electronic devices on the runway and sometimes cause costly and annoying delays. ...

Wildfire raging near Denver kills two people

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DENVER (Reuters) - A Colorado wildfire raging in the foothills and canyons near Denver has killed two people, and more than 900 homes were ordered evacuated as a result of the blaze possibly ignited by embers from a controlled-burn operation, authorities said on Tuesday. The fire, which has destroyed at least 15 homes and sent rolling plumes of thick smoke drifting over Denver's southern suburbs, has charred 4,500 acres in an area roughly 20 miles from the western edge of Colorado's most populous city. ...

Why college students stop short of a degree

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - Aspiring journalist Fruzsina Eordogh dropped out of Loyola University Chicago last spring, just a few classes shy of graduating. Saddled with $50,000 in student loans, she decided that spending more time in class would derail her from pursuing opportunities in the job market. Eordogh, now 26, has worked full-time since June as an online reporter at the Daily Dot, a digital publication covering Internet culture, and is chipping away at her financial obligations even as many of her former classmates have gone on to graduate school. ...

Skeptical justices question Obama healthcare law

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration faced skeptical questioning from a U.S. Supreme Court dominated by conservatives on Tuesday during a tense two-hour showdown over a sweeping healthcare law that has divided Americans. A ruling on the law's key requirement that most people obtain health insurance or face a penalty appeared likely to come down to Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, two conservatives who pummeled the administration's lawyer with questions. ...

FBI assisting in murder investigation of Iraqi woman

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EL CAJON (Reuters) - The FBI is assisting in the murder investigation of an Iraqi-American mother who died after being severely beaten in her southern California home by a killer who left a threatening note that may suggest a hate crime, police said on Monday. Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother of five, was found unconscious in the dining room of her rented home in El Cajon, near San Diego, on Wednesday morning by her 17-year-old daughter, police said. She was taken to a local trauma center with a severe head injury, El Cajon police chief Jim Redman told reporters on Monday. ...

Wisconsin shooting puts "castle" law under scrutiny

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MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - The decision by authorities not to charge a homeowner who shot dead an unarmed black man in a small Wisconsin town three weeks ago has drawn scrutiny to the state's new "castle doctrine" law and comparisons to the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida. Authorities ruled the killing of Bo Morrison, 20, by a Slinger, Wisconsin, homeowner on his porch justifiable in possibly the first such case under an expanded castle doctrine law enacted late last year, prosecutors said. ...

'Joe the Plumber' loses bid to revive suit

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(Reuters) - Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, the Ohio congressional candidate better known as "Joe the Plumber," has lost a bid to revive his lawsuit against three Ohio officials accused of illegally accessing his personal information. The Cincinnati-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit on Tuesday upheld a federal court's decision to dismiss Wurzelbacher's suit against Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley and two other department officials. ...

Indiana train derailment involved hazardous materials

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(Reuters) - Indiana environmental officials are monitoring the aftermath of a freight train derailment and fire in northern Indiana Tuesday morning that may have caused hazardous substances to enter the Elkhart River. Amy Hartsock of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management said it is too soon to know if any of the molten sulfur or toluene carried by some train cars entered the river, which is fed by a nearby wetland. Environmental officials do not know if foam seen on the river is a result of the derailment. "We are watching it very closely," Hartsock said. ...

BP refinery leaks acid in Texas City; no injuries

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HOUSTON (Reuters) - Hydrofluoric acid (HF) leaked from an alkylation unit at BP Plc's 406,570-barrels-per-day refinery in Texas City, Texas on Tuesday morning, triggering alarms in the plant and warnings to area residents, company and city officials said. No injuries were reported at the refinery, the fifth-largest in the United States, or in the surrounding community, the officials said. "We have a small leak of hydrofluoric acid at the refinery," BP spokesman Tom Mueller said shortly after 10 a.m. local time. "Water is being sprayed on it. We expect to secure the leak shortly. ...

Strauss-Kahn lawyers contest pimping investigation

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PARIS (Reuters) - Lawyers for disgraced former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Tuesday he was being hounded for his "libertine ways" and that they would challenge a judicial inquiry where he is suspected of participating in pimping in France. Strauss-Kahn's French lawyers hit back after an overnight announcement that he had been formally put under investigation in a prostitution scandal in the northern city of Lille, on counts that could expose their client to up to 20 years in jail. "We are convinced a great injustice has been committed," said Strauss-Kahn's lawyer, Henri Leclerc. ...

Federal agents kill man in phony murder-for-hire plot

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A U.S. federal agent shot dead one of four men facing arrest in South Texas for being part of a murder-for-hire squad enlisted by undercover agents posing as Mexican drug cartel members, according to court documents released on Monday. A Drug Enforcement Administration agent shot Jerome Corley on Saturday in Laredo, Texas, where federal authorities busted three men, including an Army sergeant and a recently discharged officer, who thought they would be hired as assassins for Mexico's brutal Zetas drug cartel. ...

Painkiller Opana, new scourge of rural America

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AUSTIN, Indiana (Reuters) - Back in high school in Houston, Texas, C.J. Coomer got good grades and played football. He was dark-haired and handsome, popular with his friends and doted on by his family. But when his mother got divorced and moved to be near family in rural Scott County, Indiana, Coomer began running with a crowd there that abused prescription painkillers to get high. His weight dropped from 210 pounds to just 140 pounds (64 kg), he couldn't work, and was constantly borrowing money. ...