Thursday, May 24, 2012

Man tells police he killed NY boy Etan Patz in 1979

Man tells police he killed NY boy Etan Patz in 1979


Man tells police he killed NY boy Etan Patz in 1979

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:15 PM PDT

New York Police Department Commissioner Kelly announces the arrest of Hernandez in relation to the case of Patz in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - Police on Thursday arrested a New Jersey man who they said had confessed to the 1979 killing of 6-year-old Etan Patz in a case that drew national attention to the plight of missing children and had frustrated law enforcement officials for more than three decades. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Pedro Hernandez, 51, confessed to luring the boy to the small food market where he stocked shelves with the promise of a soda, then choked him and disposed the body in a plastic bag he threw in the trash. ...


Finn dies in ski accident on Alaska's Mount McKinley

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:48 PM PDT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A Finnish climber has died after falling some 2,000 feet while attempting to ski down a notoriously steep chute on Mount McKinley in Alaska, the National Park Service said on Thursday. Ilkka Uusitalo, 36, fell from an elevation of 17,800 feet through snow, ice and rocks on Wednesday, before coming to rest 60 feet down a glacial crevasse, the Park Service said. One of Uusitalo's expedition partners rappelled into the crevasse but found that he was likely dead, the Park Service said. ...

Soldier convicted of bomb plot near Texas Army post

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:58 PM PDT

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A jury on Thursday convicted a soldier of attempting to build a bomb and use it to blow up a restaurant near the Fort Hood Army post in Texas to get revenge for the suffering of fellow Muslims in the Middle East at the hands of the military. Private First Class Naser Jason Abdo, 22, was arrested last July after a tip from a gun store owner who became alarmed by Abdo's befuddled attempts to purchase smokeless gunpowder and weapons. Abdo was also convicted of attempted murder of U.S. officers or employees, and four counts of possessing a weapon to commit a violent crime. ...

Trayvon's killer said to make self-incriminating statements

Posted: 24 May 2012 05:01 PM PDT

George Zimmerman appears before judge at bond hearing in Sanford, FloridaORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman made statements to police that help establish his guilt in the second-degree murder case against him for killing unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, prosecutors said in a court filing on Thursday. The claim came in a motion by prosecutors to keep some of Zimmerman's statements under seal pending his trial in a case that triggered civil rights protests across the United States, while sparking widespread debate over guns, self-defense laws and U.S. race relations. ...


Gun dealer gets 5 years in prison in U.S.-Mexico gun case

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:59 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A gun store owner who conspired with leaders of a small New Mexico border town to run nearly 200 firearms to a violent Mexican drug cartel was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison, authorities said. Ian Garland, 52, the owner of Chaparral Guns, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Robert Brack in federal court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman said. Brack also ordered three years of supervised release for Garland, whose shop was in Chaparral, New Mexico. ...

New Orleans newspaper cuts print edition to three days a week

Posted: 24 May 2012 07:00 PM PDT

A copy of The Times-Picayune is displayed on a deserted downtown street after the evacuation of New OrleansNEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The 175-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper will reduce the number of days it publishes a print edition to three a week, making the Louisiana city the largest in the United States without a daily newspaper. Advance Publications, which owns the Times-Picayune, said on Thursday it made the change because of the upheaval in the newspaper industry and the necessity to focus on its digital publications. ...


New bust of Limbaugh gets security camera protection

Posted: 24 May 2012 05:53 PM PDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Rush Limbaugh is no stranger to the limelight, but now a newly installed bust of the acerbic talk show host at the Missouri Capitol will get around-the-clock attention from a security camera to protect it from vandalism - at taxpayer expense. Adam Crumbliss, chief clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives says he spent $1,100 in public funds to keep a camera trained on Limbaugh's bust in the Hall of Famous Missourians, into which he was inducted 10 days ago amid a hail of criticism. ...

Alaskan crews gear up to tackle Japan tsunami debris

Posted: 24 May 2012 05:54 PM PDT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Cleanup workers will soon attack a jumble of debris from Japan's 2011 tsunami that litters an Alaskan island, as residents in the state gear up to scour their shores for everything from buoys to building material that has floated across the Pacific. The cleansing project slated to start on Friday on Montague Island is expected to last a couple weeks, and organizers say it marks the first major project in Alaska to collect and dispose of debris from the tsunami. The March 2011 tsunami, caused by a magnitude 9. ...

Small bomb explodes at Phoenix charity, wounding two

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:30 PM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A small flashlight bomb blew up at a Salvation Army distribution center on Thursday, slightly wounding two employees, authorities said. The donated yellow flashlight exploded when an employee at the center switched it on, said Tom Mangan, a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The employee and another worker suffered superficial injuries. Witnesses told police the device was similar to others resembling flashlights that exploded this month in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb. No one was seriously injured in those incidents. ...

Most Americans think campaign money aids rich

Posted: 24 May 2012 04:53 PM PDT

A supporter of US Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) holds a fake bill with Obama's face at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, North CarolinaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most Americans, no matter what their political party, believe there is too much money in politics and reject the idea that people should be allowed to spend what they want, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Thursday. Seventy-five percent of Americans feel there is too much money in politics, and only 25 percent feel there is an intrinsic right to unfettered election spending, an argument commonly used by opponents of controls on campaign finance. ...


Fifth day ends without verdict in ex-Senator Edwards' trial

Posted: 24 May 2012 03:43 PM PDT

Former U.S. Senator Edwards and daughter Cate leave for lunch during the jury deliberations at the federal courthouse in GreensboroGREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Jurors deciding the fate of former U.S. Senator John Edwards in his campaign finance trial appeared on Thursday to be immersed in a detailed review of money spent by a supporter on the ex-presidential candidate's mistress and political aide. The North Carolina jury asked for a closer look at 20 more pieces of evidence on their fifth day of deliberations on whether Edwards broke federal election laws when he ran for president. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles asked the 12 jurors if they would like to have all of the trial exhibits at their disposal. ...


Two prosecutors cited for misconduct in Senator Stevens case

Posted: 24 May 2012 03:52 PM PDT

The late Republican Senator Stevens of Alaska sits in van outside U.S. Federal Courthouse in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. prosecutors in the corruption case of the late Alaska Senator Ted Stevens face suspensions without pay for engaging in reckless professional misconduct by failing to disclose evidence that could have helped him, the Justice Department said on Thursday. A report by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal ethics office, concluded the prosecutors in several instances failed to disclose the evidence to the defense in violation of their obligations, but their actions had not been intentional. ...


Competing student loan plans blocked in U.S. Senate

Posted: 24 May 2012 03:41 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats and Republicans on Thursday blocked each other's proposals to extend low-interest federal student loans as a deadline neared for an anticipated election-year compromise. On a mostly party-line vote, Republicans stopped a Democratic bid to fund a one-year renewal of the 3.4 percent interest rate by eliminating a tax loophole for the wealthy. Democrats fired back, also on a mostly party-line vote, by blocking a Republican plan to cover the $6 billion cost by taking money from President Barack Obama's overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system. ...

Senior U.S. priest defends response to child sex abuse complaint

Posted: 24 May 2012 02:28 PM PDT

Monsignor William Lynn returns to the courthouse after lunch recess during his second day on the witness stand for his sexual abuse trial in PhiladelphiaPHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A senior church official on Thursday defended his response to a child abuse victim who was told that a predator priest could not be punished because he had sex with women too and therefore was "not a pure pedophile." Under intense cross-examination by the prosecution, Monsignor William Lynn of the Philadelphia Archdiocese testified in his own defense for the second day at his trial on charges of child endangerment and conspiracy. He is accused of covering up child sex abuse allegations against priests, often by transferring them to unsuspecting parishes. ...


Suspect confesses to killing New York boy in 1979: police

Posted: 24 May 2012 04:42 PM PDT

New York Police Department Commissioner Kelly announces the arrest of Hernandez in relation to the case of Patz in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - Police on Thursday arrested a New Jersey man who they said had confessed to the 1979 killing of 6-year-old Etan Patz in a case that drew national attention to the plight of missing children and had frustrated law enforcement officials for more than three decades. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Pedro Hernandez, 51, confessed to choking the young boy in the basement of the small food market where Hernandez worked stocking shelves, then disposed of the body in a plastic bag that he threw in the trash. ...


Small bomb explodes in Phoenix distribution center, two hurt

Posted: 24 May 2012 04:35 PM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A small explosive devices detonated at a Salvation Army facility in downtown Phoenix on Thursday, slighting injuring two employees, authorities said. The charitable group's distribution center and the nearby area were evacuated as a precaution after the explosive device went off in the afternoon, said Sergeant Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman. The bomb squad was called to the scene, Crump said. Witnesses told police the device was similar to others resembling flashlights that exploded earlier this month in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb. ...

Mother of accused L.A. arsonist can be extradited to Germany

Posted: 24 May 2012 04:31 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the mother of a man accused of setting dozens of fires across Los Angeles this year can be extradited to Germany to face charges including failing to pay a surgeon for breast augmentation. Dorothee Burkhart, 53, is also accused in Germany of failing to return security deposits on rental properties she leased and accepting fees and deposits on apartment units she did not own, according to the extradition document. Her extradition is pending a final determination from the U.S. Secretary of State, prosecutors said. ...

U.S. mom with flesh-eating disease remains critical

Posted: 24 May 2012 04:32 PM PDT

(Reuters) - The new mother of twins fighting a flesh-eating infection in South Carolina remained in critical condition on Thursday, but a hospital spokeswoman said she showed slight improvement. Lana Kuykendall, 36, has now undergone 11 surgeries to remove dead tissue since she was admitted to the hospital on May 11 with a painful spot on her leg, Greenville Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Sandy Dees said. She remains sedated and intubated although she is able to breathe on her own, her brother, Brian Swaffer, said. ...

Storms brewing for Midwest before summer-like holiday weekend

Posted: 24 May 2012 01:00 PM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Forecasters put seven states on alert for severe weather on Thursday, saying a storm system brewing in the Upper Mississippi Valley could spawn tornadoes later in the day. But the dangerous conditions Thursday were expected to dissipate overnight and give way to sunny, summer-like conditions across much of the country for the long Memorial Day weekend. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and hail would rake portions of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan on Thursday. ...

Harrisburg's new receiver to be affirmed

Posted: 24 May 2012 01:39 PM PDT

HARRISBURG (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania judge approved the appointment of Harrisburg's new receiver on Thursday, when the man who previously held the post for the financially distressed capital explained why he quit unexpectedly. Commonwealth Court Judge Bonnie Leadbetter said at a hearing that she would issue an order confirming retired U.S. Air Force Major General William Lynch as receiver. She announced her decision after David Unkovic, the former receiver, testified about why he suddenly resigned at the end of March. ...

Fire on submarine put out, investigation begins

Posted: 24 May 2012 03:18 PM PDT

US Navy handout of the USS Miami submarine docked in PortsmouthBOSTON (Reuters) - Firefighters braving "incredible heat and smoke" extinguished a fire that broke out aboard a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine docked in Maine and caused extensive damage, a Navy official said on Thursday. Seven people were injured putting out the fire that broke out on Wednesday night on the USS Miami, docked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, but the blaze at no time threatened the ship's nuclear facilities, Rear Admiral Rick Breckenridge said at a briefing. ...


State budgets spring new, smaller holes

Posted: 24 May 2012 02:33 PM PDT

(Reuters) - For some U.S. states the new fiscal year will bring an old problem: shortfalls. Budget gaps totaling $54 billion emerged in state budgets for fiscal 2013, according to a the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank that tracks state fiscal issues. Not all states are created equal when it comes to budgets as not all have fiscal years starting in July and not all are drafting their budgets. Still some "30 states have projected - and in many cases have already closed - budget gaps," the center said. ...

Aging, discouraged workers behind labor changes: Fed's Dudley

Posted: 24 May 2012 11:22 AM PDT

Dudley, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - Demographic factors like an aging labor force, as well as more discouraged workers, are the likely behind the drop in the U.S. participation rate, New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said on Thursday. The participation rate, a measure of how many Americans are looking for work, fell in April to a 30-year low at 63.6 percent of the population, as more people dropped out of the workforce. But Dudley also expressed optimism that the high national jobless rate, at 8. ...


Bin Laden film got no Special Ops help: U.S. admiral

Posted: 24 May 2012 03:19 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. admiral who oversaw the operation to kill Osama bin Laden denied on Thursday that he or his staff helped advise Hollywood film makers shooting a movie about last year's secret raid to kill the al Qaeda leader. A conservative legal group this week made public documents which it said showed how the Obama administration arranged special access to top officials for film makers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, the director and screenwriter of "The Hurt Locker," a 2008 film about the Iraq war that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. ...

Departing prosecutor Fitzgerald rules out politics

Posted: 24 May 2012 10:32 AM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Departing U.S. prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, known for being tough on corrupt politicians, ruled out running for political office himself on Thursday, but said public service is "in my blood." "I'm not wired for campaigns or running for elective office," Fitzgerald, 51, said the day after he announced he would leave his post as the top Justice Department official in the Northern District of Illinois after 11 years. "I love public service. I don't know what I'm going to do next. But public service is in my blood," Fitzgerald said at a news conference. ...

Protests planned after minister calls for gays to be fenced in

Posted: 24 May 2012 02:12 PM PDT

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - A North Carolina group said it plans to hold a public protest on Sunday to denounce a Baptist minister's anti-gay and lesbian sermon that has drawn hundreds of thousands of views on the Internet. Pastor Charles Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, North Carolina told his congregation during a May 13 sermon that the Bible and God opposed homosexuality and that gay and lesbian people should be put in concentration camps. "Build a great big large fence 50 or 100 miles long," Worley said according to the video posted on YouTube. ...

Two prosecutors cited for misconduct in Senator Stevens case

Posted: 24 May 2012 12:51 PM PDT

The late Sen. Stevens of Alaska sits in van outside U.S. Federal Courthouse in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. prosecutors in the corruption case of the late Alaska Senator Ted Stevens face suspensions without pay for engaging in reckless professional misconduct by failing to disclose evidence that could have helped him, the Justice Department said on Thursday. A report by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal ethics office, concluded the prosecutors in several instances failed to disclose the evidence to the defense in violation of their obligations, but their actions had not been intentional. ...


Romney opens new front vs Obama: schools are failing

Posted: 24 May 2012 12:39 AM PDT

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Romney pauses while talking about children's education in WashingtonWASHINGTON/REDWOOD CITY, California (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney opened a new front on Wednesday in his fight against President Barack Obama, accusing him of presiding over a failing U.S. education system in the grip of union bosses who refuse to accept reforms. In a rare diversion from his campaign focus on the weak economy, Romney laid out an education plan in a speech that represented his most overt appeal to date to Hispanic voters who have largely sided with the Democratic incumbent. ...


Sea breezes aid fight to curb Southwest wildfires

Posted: 24 May 2012 01:45 PM PDT

A Cal Fire aircraft drops flame retardant on the Topaz Ranch Estates Fire in WellingtonPHOENIX (Reuters) - Winds bringing a blast of damp Pacific Ocean air cut firefighters a break on Thursday as they battled to stamp out several dangerous forest and brush fires burning in five Southwestern U.S. states. Blazes in rugged, mountainous areas of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah have forced the evacuation of a few small towns and torched at least 170 square miles (440 square km) of forest, brush and grass since mid-month. ...


Accused Ohio high school shooter to be charged as adult

Posted: 24 May 2012 12:55 PM PDT

Chardon High School suspected gunman TJ Lane is escorted into court for his court appearance, by Sheriffs deputies in ChardonCHARDON, Ohio (Reuters) - Suspected Ohio high school shooter T.J. Lane will be charged as an adult for the killings of three students in February and should not be released from jail on bail, an Ohio judge ruled on Thursday. Geauga County Judge Timothy Grendell made the ruling after a hearing. If convicted as an adult, the 17-year-old could be sentenced to life in prison. He would not face the death penalty. A Geauga County sheriff's deputy testified Thursday that Lane told him shortly after the killings that he had aimed for the victim's heads because, "I didn't want them to suffer. ...


16-year-old boy in court for shootings after NBA game

Posted: 24 May 2012 07:09 PM PDT

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A 16-year-old boy who police said confessed to shooting into a crowd and wounding eight people outside an NBA basketball game made his first appearance on Thursday before a judge, who set his bail at $160,000. The boy was arrested on Tuesday and was charged with eight counts of shooting with intent to kill. He remained in jail on Thursday night. "The defendant was arrested and interviewed where he confessed to shooting into the crowd," an Oklahoma City homicide detective said in an affidavit filed with the court. ...

Gun dealer gets 5 years in prison in U.S.-Mexico gun case

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:59 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A gun store owner who conspired with leaders of a small New Mexico border town to run nearly 200 firearms to a violent Mexican drug cartel was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison, authorities said. Ian Garland, 52, the owner of Chaparral Guns, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Robert Brack in federal court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman said. Brack also ordered three years of supervised release for Garland, whose shop was in Chaparral, New Mexico. ...

Soldier convicted of bomb plot near Texas Army post

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:58 PM PDT

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A jury on Thursday convicted a soldier of attempting to build a bomb and use it to blow up a restaurant near the Fort Hood Army post in Texas to get revenge for the suffering of fellow Muslims in the Middle East at the hands of the military. Private First Class Naser Jason Abdo, 22, was arrested last July after a tip from a gun store owner who became alarmed by Abdo's befuddled attempts to purchase smokeless gunpowder and weapons. Abdo was also convicted of attempted murder of U.S. officers or employees, and four counts of possessing a weapon to commit a violent crime. ...

Finn dies in ski accident on Alaska's Mount McKinley

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:48 PM PDT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A Finnish climber has died after falling some 2,000 feet while attempting to ski down a notoriously steep chute on Mount McKinley in Alaska, the National Park Service said on Thursday. Ilkka Uusitalo, 36, fell from an elevation of 17,800 feet through snow, ice and rocks on Wednesday, before coming to rest 60 feet down a glacial crevasse, the Park Service said. One of Uusitalo's expedition partners rappelled into the crevasse but found that he was likely dead, the Park Service said. ...

Small bomb explodes at Phoenix charity, wounding two

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:30 PM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A small flashlight bomb blew up at a Salvation Army distribution center on Thursday, slightly wounding two employees, authorities said. The donated yellow flashlight exploded when an employee at the center switched it on, said Tom Mangan, a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The employee and another worker suffered superficial injuries. Witnesses told police the device was similar to others resembling flashlights that exploded this month in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb. No one was seriously injured in those incidents. ...

Man tells police he killed NY boy Etan Patz in 1979

Posted: 24 May 2012 06:15 PM PDT

New York Police Department Commissioner Kelly announces the arrest of Hernandez in relation to the case of Patz in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - Police on Thursday arrested a New Jersey man who they said had confessed to the 1979 killing of 6-year-old Etan Patz in a case that drew national attention to the plight of missing children and had frustrated law enforcement officials for more than three decades. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Pedro Hernandez, 51, confessed to luring the boy to the small food market where he stocked shelves with the promise of a soda, then choked him and disposed the body in a plastic bag he threw in the trash. ...


New bust of Limbaugh gets security camera protection

Posted: 24 May 2012 05:53 PM PDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Rush Limbaugh is no stranger to the limelight, but now a newly installed bust of the acerbic talk show host at the Missouri Capitol will get around-the-clock attention from a security camera to protect it from vandalism - at taxpayer expense. Adam Crumbliss, chief clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives says he spent $1,100 in public funds to keep a camera trained on Limbaugh's bust in the Hall of Famous Missourians, into which he was inducted 10 days ago amid a hail of criticism. ...

Alaskan crews gear up to tackle Japan tsunami debris

Posted: 24 May 2012 05:54 PM PDT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Cleanup workers will soon attack a jumble of debris from Japan's 2011 tsunami that litters an Alaskan island, as residents in the state gear up to scour their shores for everything from buoys to building material that has floated across the Pacific. The cleansing project slated to start on Friday on Montague Island is expected to last a couple weeks, and organizers say it marks the first major project in Alaska to collect and dispose of debris from the tsunami. The March 2011 tsunami, caused by a magnitude 9. ...

Suspect confesses to killing New York boy in 1979: police

Posted: 24 May 2012 04:42 PM PDT

New York Police Department Commissioner Kelly announces the arrest of Hernandez in relation to the case of Patz in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - Police on Thursday arrested a New Jersey man who they said had confessed to the 1979 killing of 6-year-old Etan Patz in a case that drew national attention to the plight of missing children and had frustrated law enforcement officials for more than three decades. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Pedro Hernandez, 51, confessed to choking the young boy in the basement of the small food market where Hernandez worked stocking shelves, then disposed of the body in a plastic bag that he threw in the trash. ...


Trayvon's killer said to make self-incriminating statements

Posted: 24 May 2012 05:01 PM PDT

George Zimmerman appears before judge at bond hearing in Sanford, FloridaORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman made statements to police that help establish his guilt in the second-degree murder case against him for killing unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, prosecutors said in a court filing on Thursday. The claim came in a motion by prosecutors to keep some of Zimmerman's statements under seal pending his trial in a case that triggered civil rights protests across the United States, while sparking widespread debate over guns, self-defense laws and U.S. race relations. ...


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