Accused Colorado gunman sent notebook to psychiatrist: report

Accused Colorado gunman sent notebook to psychiatrist: report
Obama pledges to tackle gun violence after Colorado killing
New accusation surfaces in Philadelphia church sex abuse scandal
Soldier said he endured slurs from sergeant charged in death
Midwest drought worsens, food inflation to rise
Nebraska wildfires rage as dry heat scorches central U.S
Protest over California police shooting turns violent, 24 arrested
California governor unveils ambitious water plan
Wisconsin panel clears judges who signed recall petitions
Senate panel clears intel bill with tight curbs on leaks
Michael Jackson's mother denies kidnap in family power struggle
Wal-Mart sued by disabled over payment machine access
Justice department mulls actions to disrupt Internet spies: ex-FBI official
At Arizona sheriff's trial, Latino driver tells of humiliation
Report of suspected Colorado shooter's notebook surfaces
Police investigate fatal chase into Niagara Gorge
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, audit details 2009 financial meltdown
Oil group sues over law on scarce biofuel
In New Mexico, daredevil skydives from 18 miles above Earth
Sleeping aid in Kerry Kennedy's blood after crash: report
Drought lights fire under food prices, USDA says
New York police violated rights of Occupy protesters: report
US House passes Fed audit bill; measure seen dying in Senate
Asian-American soldier who shot himself said to endure racial taunts
Nebraska wildfires rage; blaze forces Arkansas town evacuation
Locked-out NY power workers charge utility with safety risks
Freeh report on Penn State amended with minor corrections
About 50 political groups win tax-exempt status: IRS
NY's transportation agency projects deficits from 2012
Michigan Supreme Court hears emergency manager law appeal
Obama pledges to tackle gun violence after Colorado killing
New accusation surfaces in Philadelphia church sex abuse scandal
Michael Jackson's mother denies kidnap in family power struggle
California governor unveils ambitious water plan
Soldier said he endured slurs from sergeant charged in death
Wisconsin panel clears judges who signed recall petitions
Midwest drought worsens, food inflation to rise
Nebraska wildfires rage as dry heat scorches central U.S
At Arizona sheriff's trial, Latino driver tells of humiliation
Senate panel clears intel bill with tight curbs on leaks

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 05:49 PM PDT

AURORA, Colo. (Reuters) - The man accused in the movie theater massacre at the opening of the new "Batman" film mailed a notebook detailing his plans to a psychiatrist at his university before the attack, Fox News reported on Wednesday, as the first funeral was held for one of the 12 people killed. The package allegedly sent by 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes had been in a mailroom at the University of Colorado since July 12 but remained unopened until its discovery on Monday, a law enforcement source told FoxNews.com. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. ...

Obama pledges to tackle gun violence after Colorado killing

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 06:49 PM PDT

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to work with Democrats, Republicans and community leaders to "arrive at a consensus" on how to reduce gun violence across the United States. Closing out a multi-day trip that began in Aurora, Colorado, where he met with families and victims of the movie theater massacre there, Obama told a mostly African American audience that such tragedies are replayed on a smaller scale in cities throughout the country on a daily basis. ...

New accusation surfaces in Philadelphia church sex abuse scandal

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 06:18 PM PDT

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man sued the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Wednesday for alleged sexual abuse by a priest, marking the 10th civil suit filed against the church since a 2011 grand jury report detailed sexual abuse by clergy in the area. The suit names Rev. John R. Liggio, the archdiocese and the Order of St. Augustine, which it claimed provides teachers to the school. It alleges a priest at suburban Malvern Preparatory School sexually abused a youth in 1997 and 1998. The student was under the age of 16 at the time of the alleged abuse. ...

Soldier said he endured slurs from sergeant charged in death

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 05:28 PM PDT

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (Reuters) - A black soldier testified at a court-martial on Wednesday that he endured racial slurs from the same U.S. Army sergeant whose hazing, according to military officials, led a Chinese-American soldier to commit suicide. Private Marcus Merritt said he also considered killing himself to escape the verbal abuse of Sergeant Adam Holcomb, who Merritt said called him "niglet" and threatened to send him home from Afghanistan in a body bag. "He was in my face constantly," Merritt said on the second day of Holcomb's military trial in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. ...

Midwest drought worsens, food inflation to rise

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 04:46 PM PDT

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scattered rain brought some relief to parts of the baking U.S. Midwest on Wednesday, but most of the region remained in the grips of the worst drought in half a century as the outlook for world food supplies and prices worsened. The U.S. Agriculture Department forecast that food prices would now out-pace other consumer costs through 2013 as drought destroys crops and erodes supplies. "The drought is really going to hit food prices next year," said USDA economist Richard Volpe, adding that pressure on food prices would start building later this year. ...

Nebraska wildfires rage as dry heat scorches central U.S

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 04:45 PM PDT

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - Firefighters in three Nebraska counties battled expanding wildfires on Wednesday and an Arkansas town of 1,300 people was evacuated because of an approaching fire, as the central part of the United States suffered through another day of stifling heat. Authorities evacuated the entire town of Ola, Arkansas, population 1,300 people, on Wednesday afternoon because of an encroaching wildfire. The town, 74 miles west of Little Rock, was especially vulnerable because a warehouse in which fireworks were stored is feared to be in the path of the flames. ...

Protest over California police shooting turns violent, 24 arrested

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 04:52 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Police in the Southern California city of Anaheim arrested 24 people overnight after protesters smashed store windows and started fires in anger over the police shooting of an apparently unarmed man. It was the second major clash between police and protesters since Saturday when an officer shot dead a man police said was a gang member in Anaheim, which is home to Disneyland. "I'm here to say that vandalism, arson and other forms of violent protest will simply not be tolerated in our city," Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait told reporters on Wednesday. ...

California governor unveils ambitious water plan

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 06:13 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan for two giant tunnels that would dramatically reconfigure the state's water delivery system. The nearly $24 billion project aims to help restore the habitat of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and improve the reliability of water supplies to the arid central and southern parts of the state. ...

Wisconsin panel clears judges who signed recall petitions

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 05:12 PM PDT

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Wisconsin state judges who were among nearly a million residents who signed petitions that triggered an unsuccessful recall election against Republican Governor Scott Walker did not breach their judicial obligations, a state ethics panel has found. The Wisconsin Judicial Commission concluded the judges "had not otherwise acted in a manner that would reflect adversely on ... impartiality or the appearance of impartiality," according to a brief letter to the judges on June 26. The Judicial Commission does not publicly disclose its rulings. ...

Senate panel clears intel bill with tight curbs on leaks

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 04:16 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Budget legislation passed by the U.S. Senate intelligence committee authorizes a crackdown on security leaks, including curbs on how many officials can talk to the media and steps to punish unauthorized disclosures, lawmakers said on Wednesday. The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, passed the Democratic Party-controlled committee by a 14-1 vote on Tuesday, Chairman Dianne Feinstein and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss said in a statement. Media reports in recent months based on high-profile leaks about U.S. ...

Michael Jackson's mother denies kidnap in family power struggle

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 06:17 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's three children were given a new guardian on Wednesday in an escalating power struggle within the famous musical family involving the singer's multimillion-dollar estate and the well-being of his elderly mother. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff gave temporary guardianship of the children to their cousin Tito Jackson Jr. ...

Wal-Mart sued by disabled over payment machine access

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 04:54 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc has been sued by disability rights advocates who accused the world's largest retailer of failing to make payment machines accessible to disabled customers who use wheelchairs and scooters. In what they called the first case of its kind, the plaintiffs accused Wal-Mart of discriminating against disabled customers by mounting "point-of-sale" terminals in many stores at elevated heights that cannot be reached. ...

Justice department mulls actions to disrupt Internet spies: ex-FBI official

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 04:09 PM PDT

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - The Justice Department may put national security experts with cybersecurity training into department offices around the country in order to take legal action against computer facilities used in attacks on government agencies and private companies, according to a former high-ranking FBI official. The department would then be able to sue Web-hosting firms and other third parties and get court approval to seize Web addresses or shut down hosting companies to disrupt attack networks, former FBI Executive Assistant Director Shawn Henry told Reuters Wednesday. ...

At Arizona sheriff's trial, Latino driver tells of humiliation

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 04:18 PM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A U.S. Latino citizen fought back tears at an Arizona sheriff's racial profiling trial on Wednesday as he described being pulled over by a deputy and having his groin frisked during a traffic stop he said was motivated by his ethnicity. Contractor Daniel Magos, 67, testified at the civil trial of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio that he was pulled over by a deputy as he drove with his U.S.-born wife to meet a client in December 2009, ostensibly because of a missing license plate on the trailer of his pickup truck. ...

Report of suspected Colorado shooter's notebook surfaces

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 01:28 PM PDT

AURORA, Colo. (Reuters) - The man accused of the shooting rampage in a Denver-area screening of the latest "Batman" movie mailed a notebook detailing his plans to a psychiatrist days before the attack, FoxNews.com reported on Wednesday, as the first funeral was held for one of the 12 people killed. The package allegedly from the suspected shooter, 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes, remained unopened in a mailroom, perhaps for as long as a week before its discovery Monday, FoxNews.com reported, citing a law enforcement source. ...

Police investigate fatal chase into Niagara Gorge

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 03:50 PM PDT

BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) - Police have launched an investigation into the death of a man who fell into Niagara Gorge as he was being chased by a police officer, authorities said on Wednesday. Ryan Dube, 18, was killed and the officer with the Niagara Regional Police Service suffered a broken leg in the incident at about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, authorities said. During the chase, both of them mistakenly hopped a waist-high retaining wall and Dube fell to his death, they said. The wall is roughly 30 to 40 yards above the gorge. ...

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, audit details 2009 financial meltdown

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 03:32 PM PDT

(Reuters) - The mayor of Pennsylvania's distressed capital city Harrisburg on Wednesday released a long-delayed audit that sheds light on the collapse of the city's finances and points the finger at the previous mayor. The fiscal 2009 audit reveals that the city ended the year with a $227 million deficit, when it had closed out 2008 with a surplus of $46 million. "It was the year in which the proverbial 'chickens came home to roost'," wrote Mayor Linda Thompson in the introduction to the audit. ...

Oil group sues over law on scarce biofuel

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 03:37 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the second time in five months, the U.S. government is being sued to overturn a law that forces oil refiners to use a scarce biofuel. Under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, refineries were required by the Environmental Protection Agency to use 6.6 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels - a fuel made from non-grain sources such as wood chips - in 2011. The U.S. oil industry's leading lobby group, The American Petroleum Institute filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington saying no commercial quantities of the biofuel were available. ...

In New Mexico, daredevil skydives from 18 miles above Earth

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 03:49 PM PDT

(Reuters) - An Austrian daredevil jumped from a balloon flying at an altitude more than 18 miles above Earth on Wednesday, falling at speeds topping 500 miles per hour in a training run for his attempt to make the world's highest skydive. Felix Baumgartner landed safely in a desert near Roswell, New Mexico after leaping from an estimated 96,940 feet wearing a pressurized space suit equipped with an oxygen supply. The test parachute jump was the second for Baumgartner, who is on a quest to complete a record-breaking skydive from 120,000 feet in the coming weeks. ...

Sleeping aid in Kerry Kennedy's blood after crash: report

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 03:34 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Kerry Kennedy, the ex-wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, had a common sleeping pill in her system when she collided with a tractor-trailer, according to a toxicology report filed on Wednesday. Kennedy, 52, was found slumped in her white Lexus on the morning of July 13 in North Castle, north of New York City. Witnesses said she had been driving erratically, swerved into the tractor trailer on Interstate 84 and left the scene. ...

Drought lights fire under food prices, USDA says

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 02:42 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Food prices will race ahead faster than prices of other goods in the United States this year and next, due to the worst drought in more than a half a century, the government forecast on Wednesday. Food prices rose 3.7 percent in 2011, and American consumers may pay 3.5 percent more at the grocery store this year, with higher prices for meat, poultry and fruit, as the drought gripping the U.S. farm belt drives up crop prices. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast that food prices would jump between 2.5 percent and 3. ...

New York police violated rights of Occupy protesters: report

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 02:09 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York police officers employed excessive force, unjustified arrests and pervasive surveillance in violation of the rights of Occupy Wall Street protesters, a report from a group of human rights lawyers said on Wednesday. The report documents 130 incidents of alleged abuse by law enforcement authorities and calls for the creation of an independent inspector general to monitor the New York Police Department. ...

US House passes Fed audit bill; measure seen dying in Senate

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 03:00 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to subject the Federal Reserve's monetary policy to audits sailed through the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday although the measure is expected to die in the Democrat-controlled Senate. The legislation, written by Republican representative Ron Paul, whose anti-Fed crusade prompted a presidential bid and his grass-roots folk-hero status, passed the House by a 327-98 vote on Wednesday, exceeding the two-thirds majority needed. Eighty-nine Democrats joined 238 Republicans to approve it. ...

Asian-American soldier who shot himself said to endure racial taunts

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 11:42 AM PDT

Fort Bragg, N.C. - (Reuters) - Some U.S. Army soldiers testified on Wednesday that they heard a Chinese-American soldier called racially derogatory names by a superior, but said they never saw signs Private Danny Chen was suicidal. Chen, born to immigrant parents in New York City, killed himself by gun shot in a guard tower in southern Afghanistan last October. One of his superiors, Sergeant Adam Holcomb, is standing trial this week in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on allegations that his hazing of Chen led the 19-year-old to commit suicide. Holcomb, 30, has pleaded not guilty. ...

Nebraska wildfires rage; blaze forces Arkansas town evacuation

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 03:22 PM PDT

Locked-out NY power workers charge utility with safety risks

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 12:56 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Locked-out New York power workers charged on Wednesday that the safety of the electricity system in America's largest city was being compromised by managers and substitute crews brought in to do emergency maintenance work. Consolidated Edison denied the accusation, saying the city had survived heat of over 100 degrees F (38 degrees Celsius) this month without major loss of electricity. "We are responding to emergencies, the lights are on," John Miksad, ConEd's Senior Vice President of Electric Operations told a joint committee of the New York State Assembly. ...

Freeh report on Penn State amended with minor corrections

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 02:29 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former FBI chief Louis Freeh's report on Penn State University officials' handling of the child sex abuse scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky has been updated with minor corrections since its release on July 12. The most important changes clarify two descriptions of an email between former university vice president Gary C. Schultz and former Penn State outside legal counsel Wendell Courtney concerning Sandusky, according to updates released on the report's website. ...

About 50 political groups win tax-exempt status: IRS

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 02:56 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior Internal Revenue Service official on Wednesday put a number for the first time on how many political groups, including some "Tea Party" organizations, have gained IRS tax-exempt status In recent years. About 50 groups received the designation in 2010 and 2011, out of about 200 that applied, said Steven Miller, deputy IRS commissioner for enforcement, at a congressional hearing. ...

NY's transportation agency projects deficits from 2012

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 01:58 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority expects to end 2012 with a $46 million cash surplus, officials said on Wednesday, as they unveiled a "risk-laden" financial plan that projects deficits for 2014 through 2016. Balancing the MTA's budget depends on negotiating a three-year contract with unionized transit workers that has no wage hikes unless current restrictive work rules are amended or workers would pay more for healthcare, officials said. "Our budget is fragile; I prioritize it probably as our No. ...

Michigan Supreme Court hears emergency manager law appeal

Posted: 25 Jul 2012 01:31 PM PDT

(Reuters) - The campaign to repeal a Michigan law that allows the state to overrule local elected officials and union contracts moved to the Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday, with arguments centered on a technicality - font size. The key question weighed by justices, who gave no indication when they will rule, was if the type size used on petitions seeking to overturn the year-old emergency manager law complied with state requirements. Opponents of the law want a referendum on it to be placed on the November 2012 ballot. ...