Anti-Islam filmmaker held at Los Angeles federal jail

Anti-Islam filmmaker held at Los Angeles federal jail
Obama blocks Chinese wind farms in Oregon over security
Arizona man kills himself on live television after pursuit
Republicans dump voter registration firm after fraud reports
Fed's Fisher says U.S. "drowning in unemployment"
Conflicting reports fuel fracking debate tied to Wyoming town
Postal Service regulator questions cost-saving plan
Pentagon seeks competition for sustainment of Lockheed F-35
Death penalty recommended for California man who set deadly wildfire
Mother of missing Missouri baby has not given needed answers: police
Pentagon seeks competition for sustainment of Lockheed F-35
Los Angeles greenlights $1.2 billion football stadium
Schumer calls on NY developer to plan now for Amtrak tunnels
Farm law to expire but many programs funded through March
Union ratifies U.S. Steel's 4.5 percent wage rise over 3 years
Los Angeles revives traffic jam warnings for "Carmageddon 2"
Hikers warned about murder suspect on loose in NY state park
Rhode Island nightclub fire site donated for memorial to victims
Massachusetts chemist charged in crime lab scandal
Kentucky school bus crash injures 51
Judge throws out CFTC's position limits rule
Los Angeles County jails still use excessive force: report
Connecticut man shoots burglar dead, turns out to be own son
Unexploded bombs lurk in U.S. offshore oil patch: experts
U.S. nuclear outages higher than last year, for now
Affirmative action, rights cases await U.S. Supreme Court
Anti-Islam filmmaker held at Los Angeles federal jail
Arizona man kills himself on live television after pursuit
Pentagon seeks competition for sustainment of Lockheed F-35
Postal Service regulator questions cost-saving plan
Conflicting reports fuel fracking debate tied to Wyoming town
Death penalty recommended for California man who set deadly wildfire
Obama blocks Chinese wind farms in Oregon over security
Los Angeles greenlights $1.2 billion football stadium
Mother of missing Missouri baby has not given needed answers: police

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 06:35 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The California man behind an anti-Islam film that stoked violent protests across the Muslim world was being held at a federal high-rise jail in downtown Los Angeles on Friday over possible probation violations, a prison official said. Federal officials, citing safety concerns, were tight-lipped about the conditions of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula's confinement, including whether he was being held with the general population or was isolated from other inmates. ...

Obama blocks Chinese wind farms in Oregon over security

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 04:15 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama blocked on Friday a privately owned Chinese company from building wind turbines close to a Navy military site in Oregon due to national security concerns, and the company said it would challenge the action in court. The rare presidential order to divest interests in the wind farms comes as Obama campaigns for a second term against Republican Mitt Romney, who has accused him of being soft on China. ...

Arizona man kills himself on live television after pursuit

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 06:21 PM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A suspected carjacker shot himself to death after a police chase in Arizona on Friday in a grim spectacle aired on live television - sparking a quick on-air apology and waves of outrage across social media. The man was seen on the Fox News Channel stumbling from a dark red vehicle into the desert near Phoenix, stopping a short distance away and then apparently pulling the trigger of a gun pointed to the right side of his head. He then crumpled face-forward into the ground. ...

Republicans dump voter registration firm after fraud reports

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 02:30 PM PDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - Election officials in Florida were scouring their records for fraudulent voter registration forms on Friday after the Republican party said it had fired a company hired to gather new voters because of reports its employees may have submitted bogus forms. The Palm Beach County elections office first reported finding 106 potentially fraudulent registration forms earlier this week that had been submitted by Strategic Allied Consulting (SAC), a Virginia firm hired by Florida's Republican party. ...

Fed's Fisher says U.S. "drowning in unemployment"

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT

RICHARDSON, Texas (Reuters) - The United States is "drowning in unemployment," its economy is running at stall speed and inflation is "not a problem," but easier monetary policy is not the answer, one of the Federal Reserve's most hawkish policymakers said on Friday. "We've had a recovery that is quite disappointing," Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher told a group at the University of Texas at Dallas. But without more certainty on tax policy and regulation, he said, "all the monetary accommodation in the world" will not get businesses hiring again. ...

Conflicting reports fuel fracking debate tied to Wyoming town

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 05:01 PM PDT

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Government testing of a drinking water aquifer near a tiny Wyoming town has shown concentrations of gases like ethane and propane and diesel compounds, but a natural gas company said it did not cause the contamination. A report by the U.S. Geological Survey showed petroleum-based pollutants in samples from a monitoring well in the aquifer adjacent to Pavillion, Wyoming, which is at the center of a national debate over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. ...

Postal Service regulator questions cost-saving plan

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 05:12 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Postal Service's regulator on Friday questioned the potential savings from a plan to shut mail processing sites and slow mail delivery, saying the mail agency could save about the same amount without making major changes to delivery times. The Postal Service plans to close nearly half its mail processing sites over the next few years, part of its response to tumbling mail volumes as Americans use email more. ...

Pentagon seeks competition for sustainment of Lockheed F-35

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 05:55 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Friday moved toward bringing in other companies to operate and maintain its most expensive weapons program, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a step that could reduce revenues for the current prime contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp. The move is the latest action by the Pentagon to drive down the cost of the new single-engine, single-seat warplane, whose operations and maintenance costs are currently projected to reach a staggering $1.11 trillion over the coming decades. ...

Death penalty recommended for California man who set deadly wildfire

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 04:38 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A California jury on Friday recommended a death sentence for a man found guilty of starting a 2003 wildfire that burned nearly 100,000 acres, damaged more than 1,000 homes and led to the deaths of five people, prosecutors said. Rickie Lee Fowler, 31, had already been convicted of arson and five counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of people prosecutors said lived in the fire's path and died from heart attacks caused by the stress of evacuation and threats to their homes. "We take capital punishment seriously. ...

Mother of missing Missouri baby has not given needed answers: police

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 03:20 PM PDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - The mother of missing Missouri baby Lisa Irwin has still not provided answers needed in the investigation into her daughter's disappearance from her home nearly a year ago in a high-profile case that drew national attention, police said on Friday. Baby Lisa was last seen the night of October 3, 2011, when her mother, Deborah Bradley, says she put the then 10-month-old in her crib. The baby's father, Jeremy Irwin, discovered she was missing when he got home from work before dawn the next day, he has said. ...

Pentagon seeks competition for sustainment of Lockheed F-35

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 04:47 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Friday moved toward opening the long-term operations and maintenance of its most expensive weapons program, the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, to competition from other companies. The move is the latest action by the Pentagon to drive down the cost of the new single-engine, single-seat warplane, whose operations and maintenance costs are currently projected to reach a staggering $1.11 trillion over the coming decades. ...

Los Angeles greenlights $1.2 billion football stadium

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 03:34 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved a $1.2 billion plan to build a downtown football stadium, moving America's second most populous city closer than it's been in nearly two decades to having a professional football team. Council members voted unanimously in favor of the Anschutz Entertainment Group's proposal to erect the 72,000-seat stadium in the city's downtown core. It will be named "Farmer's Field." AEG, controlled by billionaire Phil Anschutz, is up for sale but an agreement with the city will require its new owners to take up the stadium project. ...

Schumer calls on NY developer to plan now for Amtrak tunnels

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 02:03 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A long-stalled plan to unblock a major transport bottleneck into New York City "may end up in the grave yard" unless space is reserved now for new train tunnels under the Hudson River, Senator Charles Schumer said Friday. The so-called Gateway project, which would cost as much as $13.5 billion, would increase rail capacity between Newark, New Jersey's Pennsylvania Station and Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station. Federally run Amtrak and New Jersey Transit share two 100-year-old tunnels under the Hudson River. Delays are common because of high over-use. ...

Farm law to expire but many programs funded through March

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 01:06 PM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Expiration of U.S. farm law on October 1, shutting off dairy supports and putting 2013 crop subsidies in limbo, will cause pain for some farmers and frustration for many but programs like food stamps and crop insurance will roll on, analysts said. Government funding is assured through March 2013 for many programs based on a July deal to extend budget authority reached by feuding Republicans and Democrats ahead of the November elections. ...

Union ratifies U.S. Steel's 4.5 percent wage rise over 3 years

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 03:02 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Members of United Steelworkers (USW) on Friday ratified a contract with U.S. Steel that gives 16,000 workers at the company's U.S. facilities a 4.5 percent increase in wages over the next three years. U.S. Steel said the financial impact of the new contracts, including a separate agreement with 1,000 employees at U.S. Steel Tubular Products Inc's Texas facility, would be felt in the third quarter, with a $35 million pre-tax charge for lump sum payments. ...

Los Angeles revives traffic jam warnings for "Carmageddon 2"

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:49 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Car-crazed Los Angeles is preparing for a weekend of potential traffic gridlock that has earned the nickname "Carmageddon 2" amid fears drivers might not heed warnings to stay off the roads during a massive 53-hour freeway closure. Warnings of nightmare jams last year in a phase of the same road-closing construction project kept so many people home that apocalyptic predictions of "Carmageddon" failed to materialize. "Carmageddon, Schmarmageddon," Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said last year, after the 42-hour 405 Freeway shutdown was over. ...

Hikers warned about murder suspect on loose in NY state park

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:43 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hikers were being urged to steer clear of a popular New York state park for the weekend while police search for a man suspected of shooting his daughter-in-law and believed to be armed and hiding in the thickly wooded area. Police have been searching for Eugene Palmer, 73, since Monday in connection with the killing of Tammy Palmer, his son's 39-year-old wife. They believe he is probably roaming the woods of Harriman State Park, some 30 miles north of Manhattan, after finding his deserted pickup truck near a park entrance. ...

Rhode Island nightclub fire site donated for memorial to victims

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 11:59 AM PDT

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - A Rhode Island land owner on Friday donated the site of a nightclub where 100 people died in a 2003 fire for a long-planned permanent memorial to victims of the nightmarish blaze. Ray Villanova transferred the site in West Warwick, Rhode Island, to The Station Fire Memorial Foundation, an organization of victims' friends and relatives, said Victoria Eagan, the group's vice president and a survivor of the fire. The property had been tied up in litigation for years, she said. ...

Massachusetts chemist charged in crime lab scandal

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:47 PM PDT

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - A former chemist accused of falsifying evidence at a Massachusetts state crime lab where she handled more than 60,000 drug samples was arrested on Friday and charged with obstructing justice and lying about her training. Annie Dookhan, 34, was arrested by state police at her family's home in Franklin, Attorney General Martha Coakley's office said in a statement. ...

Kentucky school bus crash injures 51

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:30 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A Kentucky school bus crash sent 51 people to hospitals on Friday but none of the injuries was life-threatening, authorities said. The Jefferson County Public School bus was carrying students to Louisville's Frost Middle School when it was hit by a Ford Mustang and tipped over, police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said. Kristen Miller, chief of staff for Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Services, said 48 students aboard the bus were taken to hospitals, as were the car's driver and two passengers. Mitchell said the car may have run a stop sign. ...

Judge throws out CFTC's position limits rule

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:42 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge handed an 11th-hour victory to Wall Street's biggest commodity traders on Friday, knocking back tough new regulations that would have cracked down on speculation in energy, grain and metal markets. Judge Robert Wilkins of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia threw out the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's new position limits rule, and sent the regulation back to the agency for further consideration. ...

Los Angeles County jails still use excessive force: report

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:28 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles County jails have not done enough to reduce unwarranted use of force, such as deputies grabbing an inmate by the throat for smirking or beating a handcuffed man, a report on the country's largest county jail system said on Friday. The findings of the Citizens' Commission on Jail Violence, created by county officials in October 2011, are the latest in a string of critical reports on the jail system, including one last year from the American Civil Liberties Union that said some deputies had formed gangs that encouraged assaults. ...

Connecticut man shoots burglar dead, turns out to be own son

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 11:11 AM PDT

(Reuters) - A Connecticut man responding to his sister's call for help during an apparent burglary at her home next door, shot and killed a masked intruder who turned out to be his own teenage son, state police said on Friday. Tyler Giuliano, 15, was wearing a ski mask and appeared to be armed when he was shot on Thursday by his father, who authorities declined to identify, said Lieutenant J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police. The father's sister, who lives next door, was home alone before 1 a.m. when she called him to report someone trying to break into her home. ...

Unexploded bombs lurk in U.S. offshore oil patch: experts

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 10:55 AM PDT

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Millions of pounds of unexploded bombs dumped in the Gulf of Mexico by the U.S. government after World War Two pose a significant risk to offshore drilling, according to Texas oceanographers. It is no secret that the United States, along with other governments, dumped munitions and chemical weapons in oceans from 1946 until the practice was banned in the 1970s by U.S. law and international treaty, said William Bryant, a Texas A&M University professor of oceanography. ...

U.S. nuclear outages higher than last year, for now

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 09:11 AM PDT

(Reuters) - U.S. nuclear power outages over the last few months have been averaging well above last year and the five-year average primarily due to the continued shutdown of four reactors for major, long-term maintenance, according to Reuters data. Natural gas traders follow the nuclear outages closely because plants burning gas usually make up much of the missing nuclear generation, especially during periods of high demand. It takes about 200 million cubic feet (mcf) of natural gas per day to generate about 1,000 MW of electricity. ...

Affirmative action, rights cases await U.S. Supreme Court

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:12 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Affirmative action for minorities, human rights abuses and the constitutional authority for dogs to sniff out crime will top the U.S. Supreme Court's agenda when it returns to the bench on Monday. An even bigger issue, same-sex marriage, lurks on the horizon. The new term marks the full court's first return to the public eye since June when Chief Justice John Roberts surprised many by joining four more liberal justices in a 5-4 decision that upheld nearly all of President Barack Obama's healthcare law. The court will start with one of its most anticipated cases, Kiobel v. ...