Colorado shooting suspect charged with first-degree murder

Colorado shooting suspect charged with first-degree murder
Mailers fret over post's looming payment default
Layoff notices unneeded before end-of-year budget cuts: Labor Department
Judge clears Arizona late-term abortion ban to take effect
Drought spurs ethanol push-back; World Bank watchful
Twitter suspends reporter's account for NBC tweet
Woman gets 12 years in prison for 1987 N.Y. baby kidnapping
Giant panda delivers sixth cub at San Diego Zoo, breaks record
South Carolina's first gent deploying to Afghanistan
Army sergeant acquitted of negligent homicide in soldier's death
Gun control views unchanged after Colorado massacre: poll
Creditors, bankrupt Alabama county in talks
Scranton, Pennsylvania, to pay back workers' wages, plus interest
NYC extends deadline for first step in parking meter contract
Mississippi church's refusal to host black wedding sparks anger
Labor Department clarifies fee disclosure rules on 401(k) retirement plans
Judge clears Arizona's late-term abortion ban to take effect
Ex-Citigroup banker's fraud case goes to the jury
Kent State student charged with threatening school on Twitter
Supreme Court may review case over DNA samples
Democrats look to back gay marriage at convention
New Jersey lawmakers approve judicial pension measure
Administration says states will join Medicaid expansion
NY comptroller says MTA sided with Apple for Grand Central Store
Livestock groups seek drought relief with ethanol waiver
Ex-Citigroup banker's fraud case goes to the jury
U.S. loves cops and firefighters - but not their pensions
U.S. should revamp its wildfire air fleet: study
Senate report calls for congressional action on for-profit colleges
Army sergeant acquitted of negligent homicide in soldier's suicide
Judge clears Arizona late-term abortion ban to take effect
Colorado shooting suspect charged with first-degree murder
Giant panda delivers sixth cub at San Diego Zoo, breaks record
Twitter suspends reporter's account for NBC tweet
Layoff notices unneeded before end-of-year budget cuts: Labor Department
Mailers fret over post's looming payment default
NYC extends deadline for first step in parking meter contract
Mississippi church's refusal to host black wedding sparks anger
South Carolina's first gent deploying to Afghanistan

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 06:52 PM PDT

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - The former graduate student accused of opening fire at a midnight screening of the new "Batman" film in Colorado, killing 12 people, was charged on Monday with 24 counts of first-degree murder, making him eligible for the death penalty if convicted. James Holmes, who was arrested behind a suburban Denver multiplex minutes after the July 20 shooting at a packed showing of "The Dark Knight Rises," also faces 116 counts of attempted murder in one of the worst outbursts of U.S. gun violence in recent years. ...

Mailers fret over post's looming payment default

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 04:40 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mail industry companies are concerned about a looming default by the Postal Service on a $5.5 billion payment for future retiree health benefits, saying it adds to uncertainty about agency and helps speed the movement away from traditional mail. The Postal Service has said for months that it could not afford to make the massive payment, which was originally due in 2011 but was delayed by Congress until August 1. Congress has so far made no significant push to delay the health pre-payment again. ...

Layoff notices unneeded before end-of-year budget cuts: Labor Department

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 05:31 PM PDT

Washington (Reuters) - The Obama administration told defense contractors on Monday they would not have to issue notices just before the November presidential election warning workers of potential layoffs due to looming budget cuts. The Labor Department advisory said the circumstances surrounding the planned cuts were too uncertain to require defense and other federal contractors to comply with provisions of a law requiring employees to be notified 60 days before major layoffs or plant closures. Under current law, the U.S. ...

Judge clears Arizona late-term abortion ban to take effect

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 06:53 PM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A federal judge refused on Monday to block an Arizona law banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, saying it does not impose a "substantial obstacle" to the procedure, and cleared the way for the statute to take effect on Thursday. The ruling marked a stinging legal defeat for abortion-rights advocates who cited the Arizona law as the most extreme example of late-term abortion prohibitions enacted in more than half a dozen states, and they vowed to immediately appeal the decision. U.S. ...

Drought spurs ethanol push-back; World Bank watchful

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 02:44 PM PDT

(Reuters) - The debate over using crops for fuel burst back onto the political stage on Monday as U.S. ranchers and poultry producers sought "a little help" from the government by waiving its ethanol mandate in the face of a dire drought. As Chicago corn and soybean prices rallied back toward last week's record highs, the withering dry spell that has revived fears of a 2008-like spike in food prices showed no sign of relenting. According to midday weather forecasts, conditions will be even drier than expected, threatening to stunt soy plants as they enter their most crucial phase of growth. ...

Twitter suspends reporter's account for NBC tweet

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 05:42 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc and NBC Universal's move to suppress a British reporter's tweets related to the network's Olympics coverage may have backfired after the incident became fodder for Twitter chatter around the world on Monday. The microblogging service suspended Guy Adams, the Los Angeles correspondent for London-based daily The Independent, after he sent a tweet on Friday revealing NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel's email address. ...

Woman gets 12 years in prison for 1987 N.Y. baby kidnapping

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 03:35 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A woman who abducted a newborn baby from a New York City hospital more than 20 years ago and raised the child as her own was sentenced on Monday to 12 years in prison. Ann Pettway, 50, pleaded guilty in February to the 1987 kidnapping of Carlina White, then 19 days old, from Harlem Hospital, where her parents brought her to be treated for a fever. White, now 25, was reunited with her family in 2011. At Pettway's sentencing in U.S. ...

Giant panda delivers sixth cub at San Diego Zoo, breaks record

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 06:12 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The most prolific giant panda in captivity outside of China, Bai Yun, has proved her mettle yet again with the delivery of her sixth live cub at the San Diego Zoo - an unnamed baby panda that weighed about 4 ounces (113 grams) at birth. Bai Yun, who gave birth on Sunday, was the first giant panda born in captivity in China, where giant pandas are an endangered species. The 20-year-old panda's pregnancy was considered high risk because of her age, according to zoo spokeswoman Christina Simmons. ...

South Carolina's first gent deploying to Afghanistan

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 03:49 PM PDT

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - The soldier husband of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is deploying to Afghanistan for a year-long stint that begins in January, the governor's office said on Monday. It will be the first overseas deployment for First Lieutenant Michael Haley, 42, who joined the Army National Guard in 2006. "This deployment is the reason I joined the National Guard," he said in a statement. "It is important to me to be able to give back." Nikki Haley, a Republican, was elected governor in 2010. ...

Army sergeant acquitted of negligent homicide in soldier's death

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 02:36 PM PDT

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - A military jury found a U.S. Army sergeant not guilty on Monday of negligent homicide in the death of a Chinese-American soldier who officials say killed himself in Afghanistan after enduring hazing and racial slurs. Sergeant Adam Holcomb, 30, was the first of eight soldiers to face a court-martial in connection with Private Danny Chen's death in October 2011. ...

Gun control views unchanged after Colorado massacre: poll

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 12:42 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans' views on gun control remain largely unchanged despite the killing of a dozen moviegoers in a Colorado theater this month, a Pew poll showed on Monday. Forty-seven percent of Americans say it is more important to control gun ownership, while 46 percent say it is more important to protect the rights of Americans to own guns, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press said in a statement. The numbers are virtually unchanged from April, when 45 percent prioritized gun control and 49 percent gun rights. ...

Creditors, bankrupt Alabama county in talks

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 03:11 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Alabama's Jefferson County and Wall Street creditors are finally in talks on possible workout terms eight months after the biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy was filed for $4.23 billion, lawyers said on Monday. In Chapter 9 bankruptcy since November 9, Jefferson County has the sole right to develop an adjustment plan that could include reductions of bonds and other debt. But U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Bennett must sign off on a plan. ...

Scranton, Pennsylvania, to pay back workers' wages, plus interest

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 02:12 PM PDT

(Reuters) - After slashing public employees' pay to minimum wage on July 6, the mayor of cash-poor Scranton, Pennsylvania, has struck a deal to pay them back what they are owed with interest. Mayor Christopher Doherty agreed that the city would pay approximately $750,000 in compensation owed to firefighters, police officers and public works employees, plus at least $5,100 in interest, said Tom Jennings, a lawyer for the employees' unions. ...

NYC extends deadline for first step in parking meter contract

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 04:34 PM PDT

(Reuters) - New York City is extending by three weeks its deadline to request qualifications from bidders interested in leasing the country's largest parking system - with 80,800 parking spaces - after the companies requested additional information, a spokeswoman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday. Since last year, the city has been studying hiring a private manager to run the system more efficiently and install smart parking meters. Other U.S. cities are already exploring more modern parking meters. ...

Mississippi church's refusal to host black wedding sparks anger

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 03:51 PM PDT

TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - A predominantly white church in Mississippi, a state with a long history of racial divisions, has stirred racial tensions after refusing to host the wedding of a black couple who had regularly attended its services. The Reverend Stan Weatherford of First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, a small community in southern Mississippi, told the couple their wedding plans made some congregants uncomfortable, according to Barbara Mack, a longtime church member. ...

Labor Department clarifies fee disclosure rules on 401(k) retirement plans

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 12:41 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Labor Department on Monday issued guidance on rules requiring companies to disclose 401(k) fees to employees that will be welcome news to most employers. But for some small companies with 401(k) plans, the guidance may raise more questions, experts said. Under Labor Department regulations, employers have to provide fee information by August 30 to employees on every "designated investment alternative," or investment choice they offer in their 401(k) plans. ...

Judge clears Arizona's late-term abortion ban to take effect

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 02:06 PM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A federal judge refused on Monday to block an Arizona law banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, clearing the way for the statute to take effect this week. District Judge James Teilborg ruled that the measure, passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature and signed into law in April by Republican Governor Jan Brewer, is in keeping with standards that federal courts have set on limits to late-term abortions. ...

Ex-Citigroup banker's fraud case goes to the jury

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 02:16 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A jury was asked on Monday to decide whether one of the few individuals charged over the collapse of subprime mortgage investments intentionally misled investors in a $1 billion Citigroup Inc deal or had been singled out to take the blame for losses. Brian Stoker, a former manager on Citigroup's mortgage investments desk, could be barred from the financial industry and ordered to pay fines if convicted on two civil counts of securities fraud. His trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan began two weeks ago. The U.S. ...

Kent State student charged with threatening school on Twitter

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 02:04 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A Kent State University sophomore accused of Tweeting a profanity-laced threat against the Ohio university and its president last week has been charged with inducing a panic and aggravated menacing, officials said on Monday. William Koberna, 19, pleaded not guilty on Monday to aggravated menacing, a misdemeanor, in a brief hearing by video conference from the Portage County Jail, and a preliminary hearing was set for Friday on the felony charge of inducing panic, according to court records. ...

Supreme Court may review case over DNA samples

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 01:42 PM PDT

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court signaled on Monday that it may review whether law enforcement officials may collect DNA samples from people who have been accused, but not convicted, of serious crimes. Chief Justice John Roberts put on hold an April 24 decision by a divided Maryland Court of Appeals overturning the 2010 rape conviction of Alonzo Jay King. A lower court had sentenced King to life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was arrested for assault in 2009 and police used his DNA to link him to an unsolved 2003 rape. ...

Democrats look to back gay marriage at convention

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 01:37 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic Party is aiming to include support for gay marriage in its party platform this year for the first time in its history, a Democratic source said on Monday. The platform drafting committee unanimously approved language on Sunday endorsing same-sex marriage among the policy positions that will be presented to the convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, where President Barack Obama will formally accept the party's nomination in early September to run for re-election. ...

New Jersey lawmakers approve judicial pension measure

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 12:18 PM PDT

(Reuters) - New Jersey lawmakers voted on Monday to change the state constitution, in a swift retort to a decision by the state's Supreme Court that judges were exempt from last year's pension reform. The resounding bi-partisan approval by both houses of the legislature allows the measure to be put before voters in November. If approved by voters, the change would clarify that the legislature has the authority to pass laws that take amounts from judges' salaries to put toward their benefits. "This is not about penalizing judges," New Jersey Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said in a statement. ...

Administration says states will join Medicaid expansion

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 11:32 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Monday said it expects that U.S. states will eventually join its planned expansion of the Medicaid healthcare program as they evaluate the benefits of providing health coverage to more low-income people. U.S. ...

NY comptroller says MTA sided with Apple for Grand Central Store

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 12:11 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority gave Apple Inc an inside advantage landing a lease for the technology company's store in Grand Central Terminal, according to an audit New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released Monday. The MTA for more than a year worked behind the scenes exclusively with Apple on the lease before issuing a request for proposals, the state comptroller's office said, citing its auditor's' report. That resulted in only one response, and that was from Apple, the state comptroller's office said. ...

Livestock groups seek drought relief with ethanol waiver

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 11:45 AM PDT

(Reuters) - Hard-hit livestock and poultry producers petitioned the government on Monday to reduce or cancel the required use of ethanol in gasoline for a year, asking for "a little help" to ride out the worst drought in 56 years. The request for a first-ever waiver from the federal Environmental Protection Agency's mandate, which in essence requires that more than a third of the U.S. corn harvest be converted into ethanol, comes as grain prices surge to record highs, driving up feed costs and squeezing profits for producers. "We are having trouble buying corn... ...

Ex-Citigroup banker's fraud case goes to the jury

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 11:54 AM PDT

U.S. loves cops and firefighters - but not their pensions

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 04:03 AM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pharmacist Michael Nastro is full of admiration for how police responded to a deadly robbery in his suburban New York neighborhood in 2011. A gunman walked into a pharmacy near his own on Long Island, killed four people and fled with a stash of painkillers. Police in the area, which is part of wealthy Suffolk County, best known for the exclusive Hamptons beach towns, boosted patrols and gave advice on what to do if the robber hit again. They caught him three days after the shooting. But Nastro, 50, admits he's torn about police officers' pay and retirement benefits. ...

U.S. should revamp its wildfire air fleet: study

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 08:16 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Forest service should revamp its airborne firefighting fleet to include more amphibious water-scooping aircraft, the Rand Corp think tank said in a study released on Monday. Air tankers that carry fire retardant and helicopters should be used in supporting roles during the initial attack on fires before they get big, according to the study done for the Forest Service. Scoopers cost less and can make more trips when water sources are nearby, while air tankers are better for fighting fires far from water, it said. ...

Senate report calls for congressional action on for-profit colleges

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 07:01 AM PDT

(Reuters) - U.S. for-profit colleges care more about how much they earn than about their students and need more rules to govern them, according to a U.S. Senate report published on Sunday. The report blamed colleges, such as Apollo Group's University of Phoenix and Washington Post's Kaplan, for their poor quality of education and wasting billions of dollars of taxpayers' money. ...

Army sergeant acquitted of negligent homicide in soldier's suicide

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 06:54 PM PDT

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - A military jury found a U.S. Army sergeant not guilty on Monday of negligent homicide in the death of a Chinese-American soldier who officials say killed himself in Afghanistan after enduring hazing and racial slurs. Sergeant Adam Holcomb, 30, was the first of eight soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division based in Alaska to face a court-martial in connection with Private Danny Chen's death in October 2011. ...

Judge clears Arizona late-term abortion ban to take effect

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 06:53 PM PDT

Colorado shooting suspect charged with first-degree murder

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 06:52 PM PDT

Giant panda delivers sixth cub at San Diego Zoo, breaks record

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 06:12 PM PDT

Twitter suspends reporter's account for NBC tweet

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 05:42 PM PDT

Layoff notices unneeded before end-of-year budget cuts: Labor Department

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 05:31 PM PDT

Mailers fret over post's looming payment default

Posted: 30 Jul 2012 04:40 PM PDT