California man linked to anti-Islam film ordered held without bond

California man linked to anti-Islam film ordered held without bond
Theater seeks dismissal of lawsuits in Colorado mass shooting
Witnesses recall hurdles to get Pennsylvania voter ID
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi tells Harvard students: I'm no icon
Two dead, at least four wounded in Minneapolis company shooting
Florida officials face new legal challenge over voter purge
Referees return to relief of fans, players and owners
Ex-IRS examiner charged with naming whistleblower: prosecutor
Fred Alger fails to end whistleblower case over firing
Judge dismisses charges against 92 Occupy Chicago demonstrators
World's tallest Ferris wheel to turn above New York City
California man linked to anti-Islam film in custody for hearing
Occupy Wall Street protester can't keep tweets from prosecutors
California schools, employers banned from social media snooping
U.S. answers Florida cry to end tomato pact with Mexico
Arkansas court upholds medical marijuana ballot initiative
Massachusetts governor expects to see charges in crime lab scandal
A year later, Missouri mother convinced missing baby alive
Tennessee judge tosses challenge to state voter ID law
Ex-Goldman programmer rejects plea deal with NY: lawyer
Rights group files complaint over entry test for elite NY high schools
Mice, roaches in prison cells may be unconstitutional: court
Prosecutors say fatigued driver caused deadly bus crash
Judge dismisses charges against 92 Occupy Chicago demonstrators
Actor Johnny Lewis found dead in LA, linked to killing
Drought-hit hog producers face tough choice: struggle or fold
California chef who boiled wife's remains is convicted of murder
Rental firms agree not to rent recalled cars
U.S. answers Florida cry to end tomato pact with Mexico
U.S. poor HIV patients live longer with care extending past drugs
Michigan police skeptical they will find Hoffa's body under driveway
Two dead, at least four wounded in Minneapolis company shooting
California man linked to anti-Islam film ordered held without bond
Theater seeks dismissal of lawsuits in Colorado mass shooting
Fred Alger fails to end whistleblower case over firing
Ex-IRS examiner charged with naming whistleblower: prosecutor
Witnesses recall hurdles to get Pennsylvania voter ID
California man linked to anti-Islam film in custody for hearing
U.S. answers Florida cry to end tomato pact with Mexico
World's tallest Ferris wheel to turn above New York City

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 07:02 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California man linked to an anti-Islam film that has stoked violent protests across the Muslim world was ordered jailed without bond on Thursday by a federal judge over accusations that he violated terms of his probation on a bank fraud conviction. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, has been under investigation by probation officials looking into whether he violated the terms of his 2011 release from prison on a bank fraud conviction while making the film. ...

Theater seeks dismissal of lawsuits in Colorado mass shooting

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 05:45 PM PDT

DENVER (Reuters) - A theater chain being sued by three Colorado moviegoers who were hurt when a gunman opened fire during a July screening of the "Dark Knight Rises" said on Thursday the lawsuits should be dismissed, court papers show. James Holmes, a 24-year-old former neuroscience graduate student at the University of Colorado, has been charged with murder and attempted murder for the rampage that killed 12 people and wounded 58 others. Lawyers for Cinemark USA are seeking dismissal of the lawsuits filed last week in Denver federal court by the victims, who said the theater had lax security. ...

Witnesses recall hurdles to get Pennsylvania voter ID

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 04:17 PM PDT

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - A dozen witnesses testified on Thursday about the hours-long waits, multiple trips and misinformation they experienced in getting the voter ID cards required under a Pennsylvania law that a judge will soon decide whether to block. On the second day of hearings called by Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson, a parade of witnesses, including one in a wheelchair and another who walks with a cane, spoke about the hurdles they faced to get the cards before the November 6 presidential election. ...

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi tells Harvard students: I'm no icon

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 06:03 PM PDT

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Myanmar pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi got celebrity treatment from students at Harvard University on Thursday, but insisted she was not an "icon." "I don't like to be referred to as an icon, because from my point of view, icons just sit there," Suu Kyi said during a lecture before an enthusiastic, overflow crowd at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "I would like you to think of me as a worker. I put a lot of faith in hard work. ...

Two dead, at least four wounded in Minneapolis company shooting

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 07:03 PM PDT

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire at a Minneapolis sign company in violence that left at least two people dead and four wounded, police and hospital officials said. Minneapolis police, Hennepin County sheriff's deputies and police from nearby communities converged on Accent Signage Systems after the shooting. No further details were immediately available. Police dispatchers confirmed that two people were dead. Local media quoted police as saying that "several" people had been killed, including the gunman. ...

Florida officials face new legal challenge over voter purge

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:06 PM PDT

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Voter protection groups said on Thursday Florida election officials had reneged on an agreement to ease up on efforts to purge non-U.S. citizens from voter rolls and accused the Republican-led administration of trying to intimidate voters. Earlier this month, voting groups had dropped a legal challenge to a state purge of voter lists after Florida election officials said they had greatly reduced the number of potentially ineligible voters due to errors on an original list. ...

Referees return to relief of fans, players and owners

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 12:02 PM PDT

(Reuters) - To the relief of fans, players and owners, the National Football League's (NFL) regular referees will return to work on Thursday after a deal was struck to end a damaging months-long lockout of unionized game officials. The storm of criticism following a botched call that handed the Seattle Seahawks a victory at the expense of the Green Bay Packers on Monday added urgency to talks between the league and NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) and a new eight-year deal was reached just before midnight on Wednesday. ...

Ex-IRS examiner charged with naming whistleblower: prosecutor

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 05:04 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former Internal Revenue Service examiner was arrested on Thursday and charged with exposing an IRS whistleblower and interfering with the audit of an international bank, said the Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Dennis Lerner, 59, was arrested at his home in Edgewater, New Jersey and appeared before a judge in Manhattan, according to a statement from Attorney Preet Bharara. Lerner was charged with violating federal conflict of interest laws and improperly disclosing confidential IRS information. He could face up to 20 years in prison. ...

Fred Alger fails to end whistleblower case over firing

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 05:41 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Fred Alger Management Inc failed on Thursday to win dismissal of a whistleblower lawsuit by a former portfolio manager who said she was fired in retaliation for protesting that the money manager's trading policy benefited colleagues at her expense. District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan said that Rosanne Ott, who ran the New York-based firm's Alger Health Sciences fund from 2005 until her January 2011 firing, could pursue her wrongful termination claim. Several other claims were dismissed. ...

Judge dismisses charges against 92 Occupy Chicago demonstrators

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 03:25 PM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Cook County judge on Thursday dismissed charges against 92 people arrested last October during two anti-Wall Street Occupy demonstrations in Chicago and said a rarely applied city curfew law violated their constitutional right to free assembly. Police arrested more than 300 people during the protests for violating a city ordinance when they did not leave a park near Lake Michigan when it closed at 11 p.m. Violation of a city ordinance was the lowest possible misdemeanor charge. ...

World's tallest Ferris wheel to turn above New York City

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 04:11 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A plan to build the world's tallest Ferris wheel on New York's Staten Island, offering sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline, could hold the answer to a long-elusive goal: putting the most-overlooked of the city's five boroughs on the tourist map. The giant Ferris wheel, at 625 feet, will be about half the height of the Empire State Building and taller than Singapore's 541-foot (165-metre) Flyer and the planned "High Roller" wheel in Las Vegas, the city said. ...

California man linked to anti-Islam film in custody for hearing

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 04:13 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California man linked to an anti-Islam film that has stoked violent protests across the Muslim world was in custody and appeared at a preliminary bail hearing in Los Angeles on Thursday linked to a bank fraud conviction, court officials said. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, has been under investigation by probation officials looking into whether he violated the terms of his 2011 release from prison on a bank fraud conviction while making the film. ...

Occupy Wall Street protester can't keep tweets from prosecutors

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:46 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Occupy Wall Street protester has lost his latest bid to prevent the Manhattan district attorney's office from using his tweets against him, clearing the way for the judge overseeing the case to unseal the tweets and give them to prosecutors. In a case that has drawn the attention of electronic privacy advocates, a New York judge denied a request from the protester, Malcolm Harris, to put the tweets on ice while his appeal is pending. ...

California schools, employers banned from social media snooping

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 03:04 PM PDT

SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - Californians who use social media like Twitter and Facebook have a little more privacy protection from employers or universities who may want access to usernames or passwords after the governor signed two bills into law on Thursday. Job applicants and employees will have protection from employers who demand their login credentials to social media platforms or personal e-mail accounts, according to one of the bills, authored by Assembly member Nora Campos, a Democrat from San Jose. ...

U.S. answers Florida cry to end tomato pact with Mexico

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 04:13 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's administration took a big step on Thursday toward terminating a 16-year-old tomato trade agreement with Mexico following a request from growers in Florida, an important swing state in the presidential election. Florida growers compete with Mexico for the U.S. winter and early spring tomato market. They have pressed the Obama administration since June to terminate the Mexico pact on grounds it fails to protect them against Mexican tomatoes sold in the United States below the cost of production. The U.S. ...

Arkansas court upholds medical marijuana ballot initiative

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:47 PM PDT

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - A proposal to legalize medical marijuana can appear on the November ballot, the Arkansas Supreme Court said on Thursday, in a ruling that could make Arkansas the first southern state to allow certain patients to use the drug. The Coalition to Preserve Arkansas Values filed suit in August to keep the measure off the ballot. The group argued that its title - the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act - was misleading and the proposal was hard to understand. In a unanimous ruling, the court rejected the coalition's argument. Associate Justice Karen R. ...

Massachusetts governor expects to see charges in crime lab scandal

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:49 PM PDT

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said on Thursday he expects criminal charges to be filed in the case of a chemist accused of mishandling drug evidence at a state crime lab, potentially affecting thousands of cases. The chemist, Annie Dookhan, told investigators she "screwed up big time" by intentionally contaminating samples, forging approvals and failing to follow procedures, according to a police report. Dookhan allegedly tampered with drug samples during her nine-year tenure at the state forensics lab in Jamaica Plain. ...

A year later, Missouri mother convinced missing baby alive

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:37 PM PDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Nearly a year after infant Lisa Irwin vanished from her Kansas City home, her mother remains convinced the girl will be found alive. "Absolutely," Deborah Bradley said Thursday outside her single-story house, in response to a reporter's question on the matter. The home has a large sign in the picture window with the words "kidnapped" above Lisa Irwin's image. The girl's disappearance drew national media coverage for weeks. Lisa, then 10 months old, was not in her crib when her father Jeremy Irwin, returned from work at 4 a.m. on October 3, 2011. ...

Tennessee judge tosses challenge to state voter ID law

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:57 PM PDT

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - A civil rights lawyer said on Thursday he may appeal a Tennessee judge's ruling that rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the state's voter identification law. Two Memphis women who had sought to use library cards that include photographs during early voting for an August election, were not harmed and do not have the standing to challenge the law, Davidson County Judge Carol McCoy ruled on Wednesday. ...

Ex-Goldman programmer rejects plea deal with NY: lawyer

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 12:44 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc computer programmer indicted on charges of stealing trade secrets has rebuffed a plea offer that would keep him out of prison, his lawyer said on Thursday. Sergey Aleynikov, 42, was formally indicted Thursday on New York state criminal charges of stealing proprietary trading code from the bank. The indictment is the latest development in a years-long legal battle between Aleynikov and federal and state prosecutors. ...

Rights group files complaint over entry test for elite NY high schools

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:18 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A civil rights group filed a complaint on Thursday over the admissions test at New York City's specialized high schools, among the nation's most elite public schools, citing effective discrimination against black and Latino students, it said. The complaint with the U.S. Department of Education focuses on eight schools, particularly Stuyvesant High and Bronx Science which boast stellar alumni including Nobel laureates, famed actors and musicians and Attorney General Eric Holder. While more than half the city's population is black or Latino, black students made up only 1. ...

Mice, roaches in prison cells may be unconstitutional: court

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:39 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A prominent federal judge said on Thursday that the infestation of a prison cell with mice and cockroaches may violate the U.S. constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment, even if the inmate is not physically harmed. Writing for a panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, Circuit Judge Richard Posner nonetheless said an inmate who objected to such conditions in his Illinois state prison cell could not recover damages because the state did not waive its immunity from suit. ...

Prosecutors say fatigued driver caused deadly bus crash

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:12 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A bus driver behind the wheel during an accident that killed 15 people in New York was overly tired and caused a crash that "did not have to happen," prosecutors said at his criminal trial on Thursday. Ophadell Williams, charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, was driving a bus to New York City's Chinatown from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut when it slid hundreds of feet, slammed into a guard rail and flipped over. Its roof was sliced off. ...

Judge dismisses charges against 92 Occupy Chicago demonstrators

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:01 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A Cook County judge on Thursday dismissed charges against 92 people arrested last October during two anti-Wall Street Occupy demonstrations in Chicago and said a rarely applied city curfew law violated their constitutional right to free assembly. Police arrested more than 300 people during the protests for violating a city ordinance when they did not leave a park near Lake Michigan when it closed at 11 p.m. Violation of a city ordinance was the lowest possible misdemeanor charge. ...

Actor Johnny Lewis found dead in LA, linked to killing

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 03:03 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Johnny Lewis, who had a supporting role in the TV show "Sons of Anarchy," was found dead on Wednesday in a Los Angeles neighborhood where he was suspected of killing an 81-year-old woman from whom he may have been renting a room, police said on Thursday. Police responded to a call on Wednesday morning about a screaming woman in the affluent Los Feliz section and found Catherine Davis dead in her home, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Officer Cleon Joseph said. ...

Drought-hit hog producers face tough choice: struggle or fold

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:14 AM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - With the worst drought in half a century driving feed prices sky high, pork producers are facing an untenable choice: drain their savings and gamble on a better future, or sell off their herd and get out of the business altogether. A disappointing corn harvest has forced the slaughter of sows - adult female hogs that are the building blocks of a herd - at record rates, swelling pork supplies and sending prices plunging. ...

California chef who boiled wife's remains is convicted of murder

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:41 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles-area chef who told police he bound and gagged his wife, then panicked when she died and cooked her corpse for four days in a vat of boiling water, was found guilty on Thursday of second-degree murder. David Viens, 49, was convicted in the death of his wife by a jury of six men and six women in Los Angeles Superior Court after about five hours of deliberations. He faces 15 years to life in state prison when he is sentenced in November. Dawn Marie Viens, 39, vanished in October 2009. Her remains have never been found. ...

Rental firms agree not to rent recalled cars

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:20 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading U.S. car rental companies have agreed to back Senate legislation to pull vehicles from the road when recalled for safety defects, lawmakers and the firms said on Thursday. The legislation brings car rental companies in line with auto dealers, who are barred from selling a car being recalled for a defect until the fault is repaired. "Today we are closing this loophole in the law once and for all," Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and one of the measure's sponsors, said in a conference call. ...

U.S. answers Florida cry to end tomato pact with Mexico

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:01 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's administration took a big step on Thursday toward terminating a 16-year-old tomato trade agreement with Mexico following a request from growers in Florida, an important swing state in the presidential election. "Today's preliminary decision is welcome news to domestic growers and the workers who have suffered under an outdated and failed agreement governing trade in fresh tomatoes with Mexico," Reggie Brown, executive director of the Florida Tomato Exchange, said in a statement. ...

U.S. poor HIV patients live longer with care extending past drugs

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:56 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Patients stepping into Johns Hopkins University's HIV clinic in east Baltimore don't just see a doctor or get prescriptions for their antiretroviral drugs; many also get help finding a place to live or bus fare to make it to their next appointment. Such care that goes beyond the examination table and into patients' often challenging lives has been key to helping poorer HIV patients - particularly blacks and women - live longer, healthier lives, according to a 15-year study published on Thursday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. ...

Michigan police skeptical they will find Hoffa's body under driveway

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 07:07 PM PDT

ROSEVILLE, Michigan (Reuters) - Police doubt former Teamsters union boss Jimmy Hoffa is buried under a suburban Detroit driveway, but someone else may be, Roseville Police Chief James Berlin said Thursday. The search for Hoffa, who disappeared in July 1975 in what authorities believe may have been an organized crime hit, has generated thousands of leads, but no remains. "We are treating this as a John Doe," Berlin said. "We are not making any claims whatsoever that this is Jimmy Hoffa. We do not believe that it is Jimmy Hoffa. ...