Two children stabbed to death in New York City apartment, nanny arrested

Two children stabbed to death in New York City apartment, nanny arrested
Hurricane Sandy menaces U.S. after slamming Cuba
Court refuses Planned Parenthood appeal of Texas funding cut
In Ohio, teenager's Craigslist murder case goes to jury
California's GMO labeling proposal in tight race
Preliminary hearing in Colorado movie rampage case set for January
Suspected Atlanta gunman was accused of prior shooting: police
New York to bar murderous spouses from making funeral arrangements
Forecasts have New England fearing repeat of Halloween storm
Court upholds ban on handgun sales to people under 21
U.S. zaps four out of five targets in missile defense test
Two children stabbed to death in New York apartment, nanny arrested
Suit filed to block deer shoot in Washington park
Experts fear Hurricane Sandy could do more damage than Irene
Mourners to attend final farewell to former Senator McGovern
Colorado teen confesses to schoolgirl killing, prosecutors say
Rains help shrink drought but High Plains still parched
DC sniper says he was sexually abused by accomplice
BMW to recall older 7 Series sedans for faulty door latches
Colin Powell endorses Obama for second term
Meningitis outbreak spreads to 18 states with South Carolina case
Leak will send ex-CIA officer to prison
Obama tackles rape comments, "fiscal cliff" on TV talk show
Judge to decide fate of West Penn investor talks
Sandoval hits three homers to power Giants win
Utah Republican activist facing rape charges found dead after jail release
California sues over $11 million campaign donation from Arizona group
Two children stabbed to death in New York City apartment, nanny arrested
California's GMO labeling proposal in tight race
New York to bar murderous spouses from making funeral arrangements
In Ohio, teenager's Craigslist murder case goes to jury
Court refuses Planned Parenthood appeal of Texas funding cut
Suspected Atlanta gunman was accused of prior shooting: police
Hurricane Sandy menaces U.S. after slamming Cuba
Two children stabbed to death in New York apartment, nanny arrested
Preliminary hearing in Colorado movie rampage case set for January

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:24 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A mother returned home to her New York City apartment on Thursday to find two of her young children stabbed to death in the bathtub, and the family's nanny was arrested as the suspect in the killings, police said. The mother discovered the bodies of the little boy and girl at about 5:30 p.m., according to New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne. The boy was believed to be 1 or 2 years old and the girl about 6 years old, he said. They had suffered "multiple stab wounds," he said. ...

Hurricane Sandy menaces U.S. after slamming Cuba

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 04:34 PM PDT

HAVANA (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy swelled into a major threat to much of the U.S. East Coast on Thursday after lashing Cuba with heavy rains and tree-toppling winds and swirling through the Bahamas, U.S. forecasters said. Strengthening rapidly after tearing into Jamaica and crossing the warm Caribbean Sea, Sandy hit southeastern Cuba early on Thursday with top sustained winds up to 110 miles per hour that left a trail of destruction, especially in the historic city of Santiago de Cuba. ...

Court refuses Planned Parenthood appeal of Texas funding cut

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 05:18 PM PDT

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A federal appeals court declined on Thursday to reconsider a ruling that would allow Texas to withhold funding for women's healthcare from Planned Parenthood's clinics because the organization also performs abortions. Texas Governor Rick Perry said after the order by the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans that the state would immediately stop paying program participants that are affiliates of abortion providers. ...

In Ohio, teenager's Craigslist murder case goes to jury

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 05:19 PM PDT

AKRON (Reuters) - Jurors in the trial of an Ohio teenager accused in a murder plot that used a Craigslist ad to lure some victims began deliberations on Thursday after closing arguments depicted the defendant alternately as either a willing accomplice or a youthful pawn. Prosecutors painted Brogan Rafferty, 17, as a knowing partner to Richard Beasley, the 53-year-old accused triggerman in the case. Both suspects are charged with the murders of three men found buried in shallow graves around Ohio last year. ...

California's GMO labeling proposal in tight race

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:03 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES/KANSAS CITY (Reuters) - Heavy advertising spending by Monsanto Co and others opposed to a California ballot proposal to require labels on grocery products containing genetically modified organisms is paying off, according to a new poll that shows the measure has slipped into a virtual tie. Forty-four percent of California voters now support the measure, while 42 percent oppose it and 13 percent are undecided, according to the latest USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll released on Thursday. ...

Preliminary hearing in Colorado movie rampage case set for January

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 02:20 PM PDT

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - A preliminary hearing on the merits of the criminal case against James Holmes, accused of indiscriminately firing upon patrons of a Colorado theater, was set for the second week of January by a judge during a brief court proceeding on Thursday. The preliminary hearing, scheduled for the week of January 7 by Arapahoe County District Court Judge William Sylvester, will likely last several days. It will mark the first time prosecutors will be able to lay out evidence they have amassed against Holmes and present their arguments for the case to proceed to a jury trial. ...

Suspected Atlanta gunman was accused of prior shooting: police

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 05:03 PM PDT

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The man accused of gunning down the leader of a prayer service at an Atlanta megachurch on Wednesday was charged 11 years ago with shooting a man outside a mosque in Baltimore, police said on Thursday. Details of 52-year-old Floyd Palmer's past emerged as police in Georgia searched for a motive and the weapon used in the shooting on Wednesday at World Changers Church International in suburban College Park, Georgia. ...

New York to bar murderous spouses from making funeral arrangements

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 03:51 PM PDT

BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) - New York state closed a legal loophole on Thursday that had allowed people accused of murdering their spouses the sole rights to their victims' remains. In a domestic violence bill signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo, a spouse charged with murder or one who was under a restraining order may no longer claim authority over what happens to the victim's body. The law, which takes effect on November 24, addresses situations such as that of Constance Shepherd, who was murdered in 2009. ...

Forecasts have New England fearing repeat of Halloween storm

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:31 PM PDT

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - New Englanders expressed disbelief on Thursday that Hurricane Sandy might produce a freak storm like last year's "Snowtober," which ruined Halloween, knocked out power and paralyzed the region for weeks. As Hurricane Sandy raced northward off Florida's Atlantic coast, meteorologists pointed to computer models that showed one possible path for the storm would have it hitting New England early next week, bringing wind, rain and possibly snow. ...

Court upholds ban on handgun sales to people under 21

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 11:06 AM PDT

(Reuters) - The United States may ban federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to people under age 21, an appeals court ruled on Thursday, in a defeat for the National Rifle Association. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Houston rejected the NRA's argument that 18- to 20-year-olds had a right to buy the guns under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment. A unanimous three-judge panel said Congress, in a law dating from 1968, adopted the sales ban to help curb violent crime. ...

U.S. zaps four out of five targets in missile defense test

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 11:22 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Thursday said it hit four out of five targets in its biggest, most complicated missile defense flight test to date. The Missile Defense Agency said in a statement a fifth target -- a short-range ballistic missile -- did not appear to have been shot down successfully. The live-fire demonstration was conducted at the U.S. Army's Kwajalein Atoll/Reagan Test Site in Hawaii and surrounding areas in the western Pacific and tested the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD), Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), and PATRIOT weapon systems. ...

Two children stabbed to death in New York apartment, nanny arrested

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 04:39 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A mother returned home to her New York City apartment on Thursday to find two of her young children stabbed to death in the bathtub, and their nanny was arrested as the suspect in the case, police said. The mother discovered the bodies of a 1-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl at about 5:30 p.m., according to a New York Police Department official. The nanny was lying on the bathroom floor with self-inflicted wounds to her neck, and a bloody kitchen knife was on the floor nearby, police said. The mother, 38, had returned home with a third child, age 3. ...

Suit filed to block deer shoot in Washington park

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 11:35 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Animal rights activists filed a lawsuit on Thursday to try to stop a plan to cull deer in a Washington park, saying it would create a "killing field" in the heart of the U.S. capital. The deer population in Rock Creek Park has soared in recent years, creating a threat to plant life, and the National Park Service said in May that it would launch a program to trim numbers to 15 to 20 per square mile (six to eight per square km), from 67 (26) recorded in a 2009 census. Residents and activists filed suit in a U.S. ...

Experts fear Hurricane Sandy could do more damage than Irene

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 10:18 AM PDT

(Reuters) - As Hurricane Sandy makes its way toward the eastern seaboard of the United States, disaster experts and meteorologists warn that the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states face dangerous winds and heavy rains that could trigger flooding in the coming days. Some forecasters even say that Sandy has the potential to be a multibillion dollar disaster greater than last year's Hurricane Irene, though it may be too soon to tell if it has the power and trajectory to fulfill that worst-case scenario. ...

Mourners to attend final farewell to former Senator McGovern

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 10:36 AM PDT

(Reuters) - Family, friends and fellow politicians on Thursday prepared for a prayer service to mourn former U.S. Democratic Senator George McGovern, a passionate opponent of the Vietnam war who was defeated by Richard Nixon in the 1972 U.S. presidential race. Vice President Joe Biden was among those scheduled to attend a prayer service at 6:30 p.m. Central Time in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. McGovern, a liberal icon, died in the city on Sunday. McGovern, who was 90 when he died, was a mentor to many Democrats. ...

Colorado teen confesses to schoolgirl killing, prosecutors say

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 09:32 AM PDT

GOLDEN, Colo. (Reuters) - A teen arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and killing a Colorado girl has confessed to the crime to investigators and will likely be charged as an adult, prosecutors said Thursday. A judge ordered Austin Sigg, 17, held without bond during a brief hearing in a Golden, Colorado, courtroom. Sigg, appearing calm, was shackled at the legs and handcuffed. The teenager is accused of slaying 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway. ...

Rains help shrink drought but High Plains still parched

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 09:25 AM PDT

(Reuters) - Many areas of the drought-stricken United States continued to see improvement over the last week as steady rains started recharging parched soils, but for key agricultural areas of the U.S. Heartland, there was little relief, according to a climatology report issued Thursday. "We've seen some improvement ... but the impact of the drought and the dryness is far from over," said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Roughly 61. ...

DC sniper says he was sexually abused by accomplice

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 09:17 AM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo claims he was sexually abused by John Allen Muhammad, his older accomplice in a 2002 killing spree that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area, according to NBC News. "For the entire period when I was almost 15 until I got arrested, I was sexually abused by John Muhammad," Malvo said in a prison interview broadcast on NBC's "Today" show on Thursday. "I felt a sense of shame, and I just said, 'That's just something I'd never tell anyone,'" Malvo said. "And to a certain extent, up to that point, I really couldn't handle it. ...

BMW to recall older 7 Series sedans for faulty door latches

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:59 AM PDT

(Reuters) - Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's BMW of North America affiliate said it will recall 7,485 of its 7 Series luxury sedans from model years 2005-2007 that may have faulty door latches. BMW said the doors may not latch due to a software problem on cars equipped with both Comfort Access and Soft Close Automatic options. "An irregular road surface or inadvertent interior contact with the door could lead to an unexpected opening of the door," the automaker said in its official notification to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. ...

Colin Powell endorses Obama for second term

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 11:47 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday endorsed Barack Obama's bid for re-election, citing the Democratic president's efforts to wind down the war in Afghanistan and tackle terrorism as well as an improving U.S. economy. "I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on," the Republican, who also backed Obama in 2008, told "CBS This Morning." He added, "I voted for him in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012. ...

Meningitis outbreak spreads to 18 states with South Carolina case

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 11:34 AM PDT

(Reuters) - The deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis tied to tainted steroid medications from a Massachusetts company expanded to 18 states on Thursday with South Carolina reporting its first probable case of the disease. The South Carolina patient was one of 11 new cases of meningitis reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the national total to 323, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death toll from the outbreak was unchanged at 24, according to CDC figures. Most received steroid injections for back pain. ...

Leak will send ex-CIA officer to prison

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 04:21 AM PDT

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) - A former Central Intelligence Agency officer is expected to spend 2 1/2 years in prison for telling a journalist the name of a covert agent, marking the first time in 27 years that someone will go to prison for blowing the cover of a CIA agent. John Kiriakou, 48, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of disclosing the identity of a covert agent. ...

Obama tackles rape comments, "fiscal cliff" on TV talk show

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 08:44 PM PDT

BURBANK, California (Reuters) - President Barack Obama suspended the levity during an interview with late-night TV talk show host Jay Leno on Wednesday to address a Republican Senate candidate's assertion that pregnancies resulting from rape are intended by God and to express confidence that Washington could soon address the looming "fiscal cliff." "I don't know how these guys come up with these ideas. Let me make a very simple proposition: rape is rape. It is a crime," Obama said on NBC's "The Tonight Show. ...

Judge to decide fate of West Penn investor talks

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 04:07 AM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The outcome of a court hearing set to begin on Thursday will determine whether a major regional healthcare system in Pennsylvania is driven into bankruptcy or will be allowed to seek other suitors after a $475 million merger deal with insurer Highmark Inc crumbled. At stake is the fate of the nonprofit West Penn Allegheny Health System and nearly $740 million of municipal debt it issued in 2007. In an era of growing hospital consolidation across the country, West Penn's case is also an unusual one - a merger suddenly gone wrong. ...

Sandoval hits three homers to power Giants win

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 10:11 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Pablo Sandoval blasted a record-tying three home runs to power the San Francisco Giants to a surprising 8-3 win over the Detroit Tigers and ace Justin Verlander in the opening game of the World Series on Wednesday. Sandoval became just the fourth player to hit three homers in a World Series game with his solo shot in the first inning and a two-run blast in the third off Verlander, and a roundtripper in the fifth off reliever Al Alburquerque. The Venezuelan joined Babe Ruth (1926, 1928), Reggie Jackson (1977) and Albert Pujols (2011) in accomplishing the feat. ...

Utah Republican activist facing rape charges found dead after jail release

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 07:27 PM PDT

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A Utah Tea Party activist and Republican fundraiser charged with more than two dozen felony counts of rape and sexual assault has died from an apparent suicide just four days after he was freed from jail on bail, his attorney said on Wednesday. Greg N. Peterson, 37, was found dead in his remote Heber City-area cabin, in the mountains about 50 miles east of Salt Lake City, by two bail bondsmen late on Tuesday, defense lawyer Cara Tangaro said. ...

California sues over $11 million campaign donation from Arizona group

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:24 PM PDT

SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - A California campaign finance regulatory agency sued an Arizona group on Thursday over an eleventh hour $11 million donation to a political action committee, which the agency's head said was the largest such donation in state history. The California Fair Political Practices Commission is suing the Phoenix-based Americans for Responsible Leadership for access to information about donors to the Arizona non-profit to evaluate if those donations comply with California campaign finance laws. ...

Two children stabbed to death in New York City apartment, nanny arrested

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:24 PM PDT

California's GMO labeling proposal in tight race

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:03 PM PDT

New York to bar murderous spouses from making funeral arrangements

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 06:37 PM PDT

In Ohio, teenager's Craigslist murder case goes to jury

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 05:19 PM PDT

Court refuses Planned Parenthood appeal of Texas funding cut

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 05:18 PM PDT

Suspected Atlanta gunman was accused of prior shooting: police

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 05:03 PM PDT