Wednesday, November 28, 2012

In U.S. fight over gay marriage, both sides gearing up for more battles

In U.S. fight over gay marriage, both sides gearing up for more battles

In U.S. fight over gay marriage, both sides gearing up for more battles

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 04:04 AM PST

Everhart and Welker hold each other before exchanging wedding vows at a comic book retail shop in Manhattan, New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - After a watershed year for gay marriage in the United States that included ballot victories and a presidential endorsement, advocates have staked out a handful of states where they believe the next round of fights over same-sex unions can be won. But any victories will not come easily. Those who defend marriage as a union of one man and one woman plan to use the November 6 defeats as a rallying cry and fundraising tool. ...

New York lobbies for $42 billion in Sandy disaster aid

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:42 PM PST

Red Cross volunteers walk past the remaining foundations of homes destroyed by the storm surge of superstorm Sandy in the Staten Island borough neighborhood of Oakwood in New YorkWASHINGTON (Reuters) - New York state is seeking $42 billion in aid to deal with damage from superstorm Sandy, but there is no assurance Congress will move quickly as it grapples with a budget crisis, officials from the state said on Wednesday. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg lobbied Congress on Wednesday, saying he was confident that lawmakers would agree to help pay for damage from Sandy, the second-costliest disaster in U.S. history, even as they deal with the looming "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and automatic spending cuts. ...

Robert Kennedy's son is sued for assault

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:02 PM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A son of slain U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was sued for assault on Tuesday by two nurses at a New York hospital who say they sustained injuries while trying to stop him from leaving the maternity ward with his newborn son. The $200,000 civil suit also accuses Douglas Kennedy, 45, of negligence, battery and emotional distress and comes a week after a criminal court judge acquitted him of child endangerment and harassment charges related to the incident. ...

Chicago artist gets a national stage: the holiday White House

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:08 PM PST

Holiday decorations at the White House in WashingtonCHICAGO (Reuters) - To help decorate the White House for the Christmas season this year, President Barack Obama turned to an artist from his hometown. David Lee Csicsko, a Chicago mosaic artist who specializes in public installations, designed the annual display in the corridor leading to the East Room and the State Dining Room, both areas that are elaborately decorated at the beginning of each holiday season. ...

U.S. scales back planned habitat protection for rare reindeer

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:40 PM PST

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - In a far corner of the northern Rockies dwells a dwindling band of reindeer so few in number they could hardly pull a sleigh, and environmentalists say a government plan to safeguard the elusive creatures' habitat offers them little hope. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday unveiled a final version of its habitat-protection rules for the last U.S. woodland caribou, popularly known as wild reindeer, that reduces the amount of land the government plans to set aside for the endangered animal by more than 90 percent. ...

Former baseball star Doug DeCinces indicted for insider trading

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:04 PM PST

(Reuters) - Former Baltimore Orioles third baseman Doug DeCinces has been indicted by a federal grand jury for insider trading, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. DeCinces was charged with 42 counts of criminal securities fraud and one count of money laundering over the 2008 purchase of stock in a medical device company based on insider information, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court. DeCinces, 60, bought $160,000 worth of stock in Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. ...

Three accused of plotting to join al Qaeda indicted in California

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:13 PM PST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Three men accused of plotting to join up with al Qaeda and Taliban militants for training in Afghanistan were indicted on Wednesday in California in a move that could allow prosecutors to move to trial more quickly. But the four-page indictment, returned by a grand jury in Riverside, offered few details beyond those contained in a criminal complaint filed earlier this month against the men, all U.S. citizens or permanent residents. ...

Illinois delays vote on legalizing medical marijuana

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:48 PM PST

Cannabis plants that will soon be harvested grow at Northwest Patient Resource Center in SeattleSPRINGFIELD, Illinois (Reuters) - The Illinois General Assembly on Wednesday put off a vote to legalize marijuana use for medical purposes because the measure lacked the support for approval, its chief sponsor said. Democratic Representative Lou Lang did not request a vote on his proposal because he did not want it to fail. "He didn't call it because he was short of the votes," said Lang's spokeswoman, Beth Hamilton. Lang had earlier predicted the measure would pass if a few undecided members shifted to support. ...

Animal rights group sues California restaurant over foie gras ban

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 05:59 PM PST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The animal rights group PETA sued a California restaurant on Wednesday that it says serves outlawed foie gras to patrons, in what appears to be the first lawsuit to enforce a state ban on the delicacy, PETA officials said. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said that Hot's Kitchen claimed to have stopped selling foie gras when a ban on producing or selling it took effect in July, but was offering it as a complimentary side dish to customers who order "THE Burger. ...

New York trial of model who killed, castrated Portuguese reporter nears end

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 05:22 PM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A young model was either insane, or a calculating, quick-thinking murderer who feigned mental illness when he killed and castrated his lover, a prominent Portuguese journalist, in their New York hotel room last year, a jury heard on Wednesday. No one disputes that Renato Seabra, 22, killed Carlos Castro, 65, in January 2011. Seabra pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of second degree murder, and his trial reached closing arguments at Manhattan criminal court. ...

Shooting death of black teen puts Florida law back under spotlight

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 04:47 PM PST

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida man appeared in court on Wednesday to face charges in the shooting death of an apparently unarmed black teenager in a case putting Florida's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law back under the U.S. media spotlight less than a year after the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Michael Dunn, 45, is being held without bail on charges of second-degree murder for the Friday night shooting of Jordan Davis, who was also 17. ...

Four sue over deadly Texas train collision with veterans parade

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 04:31 PM PST

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Reuters) - Two military veterans and their wives who were riding on a parade float struck by a freight train this month in West Texas filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Union Pacific railroad and the company that provided the flatbed trailer used as a float. The suit, which appears to be the first since the November 15 crash that killed four veterans, was filed in Midland County District Court by Richard Sanchez, Heather Sanchez, Todd King and Laci King. The parade in Midland, Texas, was part of planned events saluting U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. ...

Florida judge asked to dismiss wrongful death hazing lawsuit

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:16 PM PST

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Florida A & M University asked a judge on Wednesday to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit against it in the 2011 hazing death of marching band drum major Robert Champion. Richard Mitchell, a lawyer for the college known as FAMU, asked Judge Walter Komanski to toss out the civil lawsuit filed by Champion's family on grounds that Champion willingly submitted to a hazing ritual to gain the respect of certain band members. Komanski will rule on the request next week. "The overarching dispositive question is, did Mr. ...

$550 million Powerball jackpot drives ticket frenzy

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 10:46 AM PST

Customers buy tickets for the Powerball lottery in New York(Reuters) - Want to quit that depressing job? Buy a bigger house? Or how about a whole tropical island of your own? Maybe start a foundation? Dreams of vast riches from a record Powerball lottery jackpot of more than half-a-billion dollars prompted a frenzy of ticket-buying across the United States ahead of Wednesday's draw, and continued heavy sales were nudging the payout even higher. Powerball has not had a winner for two months, and the pot has already grown by about $225 million following brisk ticket sales after no one won the top prize in Saturday's drawing. ...

California Democratic campaign treasurer gets eight years for fraud

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:10 PM PST

SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - A Democratic campaign treasurer accused of defrauding the campaign war chests of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and other California politicians was sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay $10.5 million in restitution on Wednesday. Kinde Durkee, who controlled the funds of some 400 political candidates and groups, was arrested in September 2011 and charged with criminal mail fraud. She pleaded guilty in March as part of a deal with federal prosecutors. Durkee, 59, appeared in the U.S. ...

Pentagon eyes project to preserve helicopter design capabilities

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:45 PM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department may fund initial work on a new military helicopter in a year or two to preserve the industry's critical design capabilities for that sector, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer said on Wednesday. Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall told an investor conference he was concerned that the U.S. defense industry could lose the capacity to generate new designs for military helicopters because the Pentagon had not funded development of a new attack helicopter for many years. ...

Illinois House votes to give Chicago more time on school closings

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:38 PM PST

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (Reuters) - The Illinois House voted by a wide margin on Wednesday to give the Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest district, four more months to announce what could be dozens of school closings. The state Senate, which also needs to approve the measure, will vote Thursday, an aide to Senate President John Cullerton said. The district, which was hit with a strike by public school teachers in September, forecasts a $1 billion deficit next year and is widely expected to try to balance its budget in part by closing public schools. ...

Judge allows civil suits in meningitis outbreak to proceed

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 10:52 AM PST

BOSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday allowed civil suits against the pharmacy at the heart of the deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak to proceed and noted that any criminal case would have priority in gathering evidence. U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor rejected arguments by attorneys for the pharmacy, its owners and an affiliate company to delay the start of civil proceedings until a panel of judges in Washington meets early next year to determine how to handle the roughly 70 suits filed in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Tennessee and Michigan. ...

Brother, spare a room? Americans fight poverty sharing homes

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 12:26 PM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many Americans are building bulwarks against poverty out of roommates, group houses and their parents' spare rooms, with a Census report released on Wednesday finding the number of people considered "additional adults" in U.S. households grew between 2007 and 2011. In 2011, 17.9 percent of those 18 or older were considered "additional adults," compared to 2007, when 16 percent of legal adults fell within the definition. An additional adult is someone who is not the head of a household, and is living with someone other than a spouse or domestic partner. ...

Pentagon, Lockheed "getting close" on next F-35 contract: Kendall

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 01:48 PM PST

A F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is seen at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent RiverNEW YORK (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp and the Defense Department are nearing agreement on a long-delayed contract for a fifth batch of F-35 fighter jets, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer told Reuters on Wednesday. "I think we're getting close," Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall told Reuters after a speech to an investor conference hosted by Credit Suisse. Kendall said he had "a very positive meeting" on Tuesday with Lockheed President Marillyn Hewson about a range of issues, including the $396 billion F-35 program, the Pentagon's largest weapons program. ...

Arizona declines to set up state-based health insurance exchange

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 02:05 PM PST

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, an ardent critic of President Barack Obama's push to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, said on Wednesday she was rejecting a new federal mandate to establish a state-based health insurance exchange under the U.S. Affordable Care Act. Citing lingering unanswered questions about the exchanges and concerns about high costs she said would be passed on to Arizona families and small businesses, Brewer, a Republican, said her state would opt instead for a federally run exchange. ...

Violent crime takes a holiday in New York City

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 12:02 PM PST

Pedestrians walk along Lexington Avenue past a steam vent in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City passed a day without a single report of a person being shot, stabbed or subject to other sorts of violent crime for the first time in recent memory, police said on Wednesday. The rare day occurred on Monday, near the end of a year when the city's murder rate is on target to hit its lowest point since 1960, according to New York Police Department chief spokesman Paul Browne. Browne said it was "first time in memory" the city's police force had experienced such a peaceful day. ...

Texas officials take steps to seize polygamist sect's ranch

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 09:38 AM PST

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas officials on Wednesday filed legal documents to seize a 1,600-acre West Texas ranch where officials say jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs sexually assaulted children. The state attorney general's office filed a search and seizure warrant and an affidavit in state District Court in Schleicher County over the YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch in Eldorado, Texas. ...

New York nanny pleads not guilty in deaths of two kids

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 09:03 AM PST

Memorial Held In Manhattan Beach For Children Allegedly Killed By New York NannyNEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York nanny accused of the stabbing deaths of two young children pleaded not guilty to murder charges Wednesday in a judicial proceeding conducted in the hospital where the 50-year-old woman is handcuffed to her bed as she recovers from self-inflicted wounds. Yoselyn Ortega was indicted two weeks ago on two counts each of first- and second-degree murder in the killings of Lucia Krim, 6, and her brother, Leo, who was days shy of his second birthday, in their parents' luxury apartment. ...

New York tells Con Ed to prepare in case Indian Point shuts

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 12:04 PM PST

(Reuters) - New York energy regulators told power companies in New York City to develop plans to keep the lights on in the Big Apple in case the giant Indian Point nuclear power plant, which supplies about a quarter of the city's electricity, is forced to shut down. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants the two reactors at Indian Point shut when their operating licenses expire in 2013 and 2015 in part because the nuclear plant is located in the New York metropolitan area, home to some 19 million people. ...

Storm's wrath offers New Jersey's Christie political windfall

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:09 AM PST

Handout photo of Governor Chris Christie holds a press conference at a Relief Center at the Joseph R. Bolger Middle School in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in KeansburgNEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, once a darling in the Republican Party, is now everybody's darling in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. With his highly visible visits to storm-damaged coastal towns with President Barack Obama, not to mention a surprise appearance on "Saturday Night Live," the blunt, brash governor has been winning over independents, Democrats and others who like the bipartisan image. ...

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania may soon renew bankruptcy threat as ban ends

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:15 AM PST

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Pennsylvania's capital city Harrisburg, neck-deep in more than $340 million debt, is on the verge of getting a powerful negotiating tool with creditors: the threat of bankruptcy. A state ban that prevented Harrisburg from filing for municipal bankruptcy protection is set to expire after November 30. A year has passed since Harrisburg first tried filing for bankruptcy in October 2011. The city is now deeper in debt and there is no guarantee that it will not seek court protection once again. ...

Mother avoids charges after dogs kill son at Pittsburgh Zoo

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:55 PM PST

(Reuters) - A prosecutor declined to bring criminal charges against the mother of a 2-year-old boy who was killed after falling into a pit of wild dogs and mauled at the Pittsburgh Zoo, but he said on Wednesday he was still determining whether the zoo was at fault. "I haven't found anything to indicate any crime was committed by the mother," Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala told a news conference. He called the death a "tragic accident. ...

Texas takes steps to seize polygamist sect's ranch

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:47 PM PST

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas officials on Wednesday moved in court to seize a 1,600-acre West Texas ranch where officials say jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs sexually assaulted children. Sect members used proceeds from money laundering to buy the ranch in Eldorado, Texas, and illegally harbored Jeffs there while he was a federal fugitive, authorities said in court papers supporting seizure of the YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch. ...
Posted by Harshad at 7:29 PM

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