Subtropical Storm Beryl swirls toward southeast coast

Subtropical Storm Beryl swirls toward southeast coast
Gunman in Indiana standoff had three bullet wounds: coroner
Colorado farm linked to listeria outbreak files for bankruptcy
Woman shot by Colorado homeowner to face trespass charges
Biden tells West Point cadets: prepare for new threats
No need to wait for November to know election outcome
Astronauts float inside SpaceX Dragon capsule
Mississippi school district agrees to not handcuff students to objects
Wildfires hit six U.S. states, small towns evacuated
Gunman in Indiana standoff dies after shooting himself
Penn State ex-president sues over Sandusky emails: report
Wildfires hit six U.S. states, small towns evacuated
Gunman in Indiana standoff had three bullet wounds: coroner
Colorado farm linked to listeria outbreak files for bankruptcy
Subtropical Storm Beryl swirls toward southeast coast
Wildfires hit six U.S. states, small towns evacuated
Woman shot by Colorado homeowner to face trespass charges
Biden tells West Point cadets: prepare for new threats
No need to wait for November to know election outcome
Astronauts float inside SpaceX Dragon capsule

Posted: 26 May 2012 03:29 PM PDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - Subtropical Storm Beryl moved slowly toward the U.S. southeastern coast on Saturday, threatening heavy rains and dangerous surf for Memorial Day weekend beachgoers in northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Beryl was centered about 220 miles east-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, carrying maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. It was moving southwest, with tropical storm-force winds extending about 115 miles from the storm's center. The storm was not expected to develop into a hurricane, said Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the U.S. ...

Gunman in Indiana standoff had three bullet wounds: coroner

Posted: 26 May 2012 05:50 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A Texas gunman who held hostages in an eight-hour standoff with police in an Indiana real estate office suffered three gunshot wounds, including two to the head, a coroner said on Saturday. Police have said he shot himself twice in the head after the standoff on Friday in Valparaiso, about 40 miles southeast of Chicago. Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris said Roy Ferguson, 48, sustained gunshot wounds below his chin and to his right temple and a third wound to the right upper part of his torso. Harris said the wounds were established in a preliminary examination of Ferguson. ...

Colorado farm linked to listeria outbreak files for bankruptcy

Posted: 26 May 2012 05:03 PM PDT

DENVER (Reuters) - The Colorado farm that grew cantaloupes linked to a listeria outbreak that killed more than 30 people last year has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, court documents showed. Jensen Farms of Holly, Colorado, listed $2.1 million in assets and more than $2.5 million in liabilities in documents filed on Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver. In its bankruptcy papers, the farm listed numerous wrongful death lawsuits it faces in the wake of the outbreak. ...

Woman shot by Colorado homeowner to face trespass charges

Posted: 26 May 2012 02:16 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A 21-year-old woman who was shot after she wandered drunk into a Colorado couple's home in the middle of the night will face charges of felony trespassing, her lawyer said on Saturday. Zoey Ripple walked through an unlocked screen door leading into the bedroom of the couple, who said they shouted for her to leave before the husband fired a single gunshot in the dark when she kept coming into the room. Ripple, who was unarmed, was shot in the hip during the incident on Wednesday in Boulder, Colorado. In a 911 call, the couple said she appeared to be "kind of stoned or something. ...

Biden tells West Point cadets: prepare for new threats

Posted: 26 May 2012 10:12 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most of the cadets who graduated on Saturday from West Point were in elementary school when hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and enrolled in the U.S. military academy with wars raging in Iraq and Afghanistan. Vice President Joe Biden lauded the brave choices of the Class of 2012 - and their so-called "9/11 generation" - with a commencement address focused on the United States' new foreign policy challenges including cyber threats and a rising China. ...

No need to wait for November to know election outcome

Posted: 26 May 2012 09:33 AM PDT

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Many folks may fret themselves into a frenzy over the November U.S. elections and whether the world will come to an end on December 21, but for about 1,500 people gathered in New Orleans for the United Astrologers Conference, all will be revealed this week. "Some of the world's top astrologers are here to answer questions about the election, the global economy and perhaps even the Super Bowl," said Madalyn Hillis-Dineen, a 30-year practitioner of astrology and a coordinator of the conference that occurs every four years. ...

Astronauts float inside SpaceX Dragon capsule

Posted: 26 May 2012 09:25 AM PDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station opened the hatch and floated inside a Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon capsule on Saturday, the first privately owned spaceship to reach the orbital outpost, NASA said. Running ahead of schedule, station commander Oleg Kononenko and flight engineer Don Pettit opened the hatch to Dragon just before 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), NASA mission commentator Josh Byerly reported from Mission Control in Houston. The bell-shaped capsule, which was making its second test flight, arrived at the space station on Friday. ...

Mississippi school district agrees to not handcuff students to objects

Posted: 25 May 2012 09:07 PM PDT

(Reuters) - The Jackson, Mississippi, school district has agreed to stop shackling students to fixed objects, after it was sued for handcuffing pupils to railings and poles at a school for troubled children, officials said on Friday. The Southern Poverty Law Center sued Jackson Public Schools in 2011 over its treatment of students at the district's Capital City Alternative School. Students at that campus have been suspended or expelled from other schools. ...

Wildfires hit six U.S. states, small towns evacuated

Posted: 26 May 2012 03:06 PM PDT

Santa Fe, New Mexico (Reuters) - A wildfire burned out of control for a fourth day in the steep mountains of southwestern New Mexico on Saturday, one of several blazes that have consumed more than 200 square miles (520 square km) of rugged land in six U.S. states. Efforts to contain the blazes spreading in sparsely populated areas of Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah have been hurt by gusting winds and tinder-dry late-spring conditions. ...

Gunman in Indiana standoff dies after shooting himself

Posted: 26 May 2012 07:04 AM PDT

VALPARAISO, Indiana (Reuters) - A gunman took hostages in an Indiana real estate office on Friday, then released them after an eight-hour standoff and fatally shot himself in the head, authorities said. The gunman died at a hospital in Valparaiso, Indiana, about 40 miles southeast of Chicago, police said. "We believe there was some issue over some money," said Valparaiso Police Chief Michael Brickner. He added the man had been to the office previously to complain and had a confrontation with employees. ...

Penn State ex-president sues over Sandusky emails: report

Posted: 25 May 2012 07:36 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Pennsylvania State University's former president filed suit on Friday to force the school to turn over emails that are relevant to its probe of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, the Centre Daily Times newspaper reported. Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, goes on trial next month on charges he molested 10 boys over a period of 15 years. Trustees fired President Graham Spanier and head football coach Joe Paterno in November 2011 over the scandal. ...