Florida weighs warning against voter purge

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• Florida weighs warning against voter purge
• Five bodies found in smoldering car in Arizona desert
• Liquor sticker shock stirs up Washington state drinkers
• Tornado, heavy rains leave U.S. mid-Atlantic battered
• Canadian miner's complaint can proceed under El Salvador law
• Firefighters drop by chopper to tackle New Mexico blaze
• Obama takes time to relax in Chicago hometown
• American Airlines, flight attendants fail to cut costs
• Photo of breastfeeding National Guardswomen stirs U.S. debate
• Insight: California city's pension vote: a precedent for U.S.?
• Five bodies found in smoldering car in Arizona desert
• Liquor sticker shock stirs up Washington state drinkers
• Tornado, heavy rains leave U.S. mid-Atlantic battered
• Florida weighs warning against voter purge
• Photo of breastfeeding National Guardswomen stirs U.S. debate
• Firefighters drop by chopper to tackle New Mexico blaze
• Insight: California city's pension vote: a precedent for U.S.?

Florida weighs warning against voter purge Posted: 02 Jun 2012 01:47 PM PDT (Reuters) - Florida, a key electoral battleground where the 2000 presidential election was decided by a few hundred ballots, will decide in the coming days whether to heed a Justice Department warning to stop its campaign to purge ineligible voters, a state spokesman said on Saturday. The warning issued this week by the head of the Justice Department's voting section said the effort appeared to violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities. It demanded a response by Wednesday. ...

Five bodies found in smoldering car in Arizona desert Posted: 02 Jun 2012 05:49 PM PDT PHOENIX (Reuters) - The bodies of five people burned beyond recognition were found on Saturday inside a smoldering SUV in a desert between Phoenix and the Mexican border that is a popular route for smuggling migrants and drugs, a local sheriff said. The discovery came in the Vekol Valley in Pinal County, and investigators were looking for any possible suspect connected to the deaths, said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. Early on Saturday, U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted a white Ford Explorer in the area that was parked off the side of Interstate 8, Babeu said. ...

Liquor sticker shock stirs up Washington state drinkers Posted: 02 Jun 2012 05:48 PM PDT KIRKLAND, Washington (Reuters) - Washington state has extricated itself from decades in the liquor business, a move that is likely to give drinkers a headache when they reach for bottled spirits on local store shelves. Under a measure approved by voters in November, Washington on Friday became the first state since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 to privatize a government-run liquor retail and distribution system dating to the 1930s. ...

Tornado, heavy rains leave U.S. mid-Atlantic battered Posted: 02 Jun 2012 03:31 PM PDT (Reuters) - High winds, heavy rains and at least one tornado damaged homes, businesses, and boats across the mid-Atlantic region, causing at least one serious injury but no deaths, officials said on Saturday. The violent storms that struck Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia on Friday collapsed a fabric dome near Pittsburgh, stranded motorists on flooded roads, and ruined homes and boats. One man in Bel Air, Maryland, near Baltimore suffered broken bones when the concrete block wall of his automotive garage business collapsed on him during the storm. ...

Canadian miner's complaint can proceed under El Salvador law Posted: 02 Jun 2012 03:06 PM PDT TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian company Pacific Rim can move forward under El Salvador law with a case against that country's government for blocking a gold mining project, but cannot file suit under a regional trade agreement, a World Bank arbitration panel ruled. The panel, known as the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, found Pacific Rim "did not and does not have substantial activities in the USA" to argue its case under the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States, or CAFTA. ...

Firefighters drop by chopper to tackle New Mexico blaze Posted: 02 Jun 2012 01:02 PM PDT SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Crews battling New Mexico's largest-ever wildfire dropped from helicopters into remote terrain on Saturday to fight blazes burning in deep, rugged canyons in the mountains of the southwest. The Whitewater-Baldy Complex blaze has consumed 227,000 acres and is only 15 percent contained, although progress has been made in spite of hot, windy conditions, Fire Information Officer Brienne Magee said. Specialized heli-rappellers have been dropped in from helicopters, and elite "hotshot crews" called in to fight the blaze that was started by lightning on May 16. ...

Obama takes time to relax in Chicago hometown Posted: 02 Jun 2012 11:28 AM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - Life's simple pleasures are complicated when you are the president of the United States. Barack Obama, savoring fine late spring weather after a rare night under his own roof - the first since April, 2011 - took a three-block stroll early on Saturday through his old Chicago neighborhood. He was preceded by a wave of dark-suited secret service agents and stalked by a slow-rolling convoy of armored SUVs. Looking relaxed and chatting with close adviser Valerie Jarrett, Obama was paying a visit on long-time Chicago friend Martin Nesbitt. ...

American Airlines, flight attendants fail to cut costs Posted: 02 Jun 2012 09:38 AM PDT (Reuters) - American Airlines failed to agree on cost-cutting measures with its flight attendants' union, setting the stage for a judge to rule on voiding the contract for the bankrupt carrier, a subsidiary of AMR Corp, the union said in a statement late on Friday. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, citing a need to cut labor costs, while its flight attendant and pilot unions have pushed for a merger with rival carrier US Airways Corp to reduce expenses. ...

Photo of breastfeeding National Guardswomen stirs U.S. debate Posted: 02 Jun 2012 10:56 AM PDT (Reuters) - Two members of the U.S. National Guard photographed breastfeeding in uniform are not expected to face discipline in spite of rules forbidding the use of uniforms to promote a cause, a military spokesman said on Saturday. Instead, the incident will be used as a "teachable moment" to make clear the U.S. military is not opposed to breastfeeding, Washington National Guard spokesman Keith Kosik said. "I believe recent events are being viewed as an educational opportunity and I do not anticipate the citizen-airmen in question will receive formal disciplinary action," Kosik said. ...

Insight: California city's pension vote: a precedent for U.S.? Posted: 02 Jun 2012 08:25 AM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A radical plan to slash public employee pension benefits gets voted on by the residents of Silicon Valley's San Jose on Tuesday - a decision that could set an important precedent for many other cities, not only in California but across the nation. The nation's 10th-largest city is also one of the wealthiest, but over the past several years it has cut its municipal workforce by a quarter, laying off cops and firefighters, shuttering libraries and letting street repairs fall by the wayside. ...

Five bodies found in smoldering car in Arizona desert Posted: 02 Jun 2012 05:49 PM PDT PHOENIX (Reuters) - The bodies of five people burned beyond recognition were found on Saturday inside a smoldering SUV in a desert between Phoenix and the Mexican border that is a popular route for smuggling migrants and drugs, a local sheriff said. The discovery came in the Vekol Valley in Pinal County, and investigators were looking for any possible suspect connected to the deaths, said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. Early on Saturday, U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted a white Ford Explorer in the area that was parked off the side of Interstate 8, Babeu said. ...

Liquor sticker shock stirs up Washington state drinkers Posted: 02 Jun 2012 05:48 PM PDT KIRKLAND, Washington (Reuters) - Washington state has extricated itself from decades in the liquor business, a move that is likely to give drinkers a headache when they reach for bottled spirits on local store shelves. Under a measure approved by voters in November, Washington on Friday became the first state since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 to privatize a government-run liquor retail and distribution system dating to the 1930s. ...

Tornado, heavy rains leave U.S. mid-Atlantic battered Posted: 02 Jun 2012 03:31 PM PDT (Reuters) - High winds, heavy rains and at least one tornado damaged homes, businesses, and boats across the mid-Atlantic region, causing at least one serious injury but no deaths, officials said on Saturday. The violent storms that struck Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia on Friday collapsed a fabric dome near Pittsburgh, stranded motorists on flooded roads, and ruined homes and boats. One man in Bel Air, Maryland, near Baltimore suffered broken bones when the concrete block wall of his automotive garage business collapsed on him during the storm. ...

Florida weighs warning against voter purge Posted: 02 Jun 2012 01:47 PM PDT (Reuters) - Florida, a key electoral battleground where the 2000 presidential election was decided by a few hundred ballots, will decide in the coming days whether to heed a Justice Department warning to stop its campaign to purge ineligible voters, a state spokesman said on Saturday. The warning issued this week by the head of the Justice Department's voting section said the effort appeared to violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities. It demanded a response by Wednesday. ...

Photo of breastfeeding National Guardswomen stirs U.S. debate Posted: 02 Jun 2012 10:56 AM PDT (Reuters) - Two members of the U.S. National Guard photographed breastfeeding in uniform are not expected to face discipline in spite of rules forbidding the use of uniforms to promote a cause, a military spokesman said on Saturday. Instead, the incident will be used as a "teachable moment" to make clear the U.S. military is not opposed to breastfeeding, Washington National Guard spokesman Keith Kosik said. "I believe recent events are being viewed as an educational opportunity and I do not anticipate the citizen-airmen in question will receive formal disciplinary action," Kosik said. ...

Firefighters drop by chopper to tackle New Mexico blaze Posted: 02 Jun 2012 01:02 PM PDT SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Crews battling New Mexico's largest-ever wildfire dropped from helicopters into remote terrain on Saturday to fight blazes burning in deep, rugged canyons in the mountains of the southwest. The Whitewater-Baldy Complex blaze has consumed 227,000 acres and is only 15 percent contained, although progress has been made in spite of hot, windy conditions, Fire Information Officer Brienne Magee said. Specialized heli-rappellers have been dropped in from helicopters, and elite "hotshot crews" called in to fight the blaze that was started by lightning on May 16. ...

Insight: California city's pension vote: a precedent for U.S.? Posted: 02 Jun 2012 08:25 AM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A radical plan to slash public employee pension benefits gets voted on by the residents of Silicon Valley's San Jose on Tuesday - a decision that could set an important precedent for many other cities, not only in California but across the nation. The nation's 10th-largest city is also one of the wealthiest, but over the past several years it has cut its municipal workforce by a quarter, laying off cops and firefighters, shuttering libraries and letting street repairs fall by the wayside. ...

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