After Newtown, Americans want their guns, with some restrictions

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• After Newtown, Americans want their guns, with some restrictions
• Utah teachers get free gun training in response to Newtown shooting
• Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. commander in Gulf War, dies at 78
• Chicago sued for alleged discrimination against black teachers
• NY's top court to hear challenge to Bloomberg taxi plan
• Michigan governor signs bill giving local governments fiscal options
• Former President George H.W. Bush remains in intensive care
• Florida man pleads guilty to smuggling dinosaur bones
• New York City faces $811 million budget gap in FY 2014: report
• Americans blame Republicans more than Democrats for "fiscal cliff": Reuters/Ipsos poll
• Petition urges White House to classify Westboro church as hate group
• Whale stranded on New York City beach dies: official
• Iraq war veteran charged with killing his Wisconsin cop wife
• Free condoms to be dispensed by Philadelphia high schools
• New York Harbor oil terminals expected to operate through strike
• U.S. population projected at 315.1 million on New Year's Day: census
• Woman sleeping on Los Angeles bus bench set on fire
• Storm-damaged New York hospital partially reopens its doors
• Record number of claims against NYC police in FY 2011: report

After Newtown, Americans want their guns, with some restrictions Posted: 27 Dec 2012 03:29 PM PST (Reuters) - Nearly seven in 10 Americans support the idea of placing strong or moderate limits gun ownership following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Thursday. But laws that permit citizens to carry concealed weapons or use lethal force for protection while in public were just as popular, the poll said. The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which surveyed 1,477 Americans online between December 23 and 27, highlighted the difficulty U.S. ...

Utah teachers get free gun training in response to Newtown shooting Posted: 27 Dec 2012 06:52 PM PST (Reuters) - Kasey Hansen, a special education teacher from Salt Lake City, Utah, says she would take a bullet for any of her students, but if faced with a gunman threatening her class, she would rather be able to shoot back. On Thursday, she was one of 200 Utah teachers who flocked to an indoor sports arena for free instruction in the handling of firearms by gun activists who say armed educators might have a chance at thwarting deadly shooting rampages in their schools. ...

Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. commander in Gulf War, dies at 78 Posted: 27 Dec 2012 06:58 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., the hard-charging U.S. Army general whose forces smashed the Iraqi army in the 1991 Gulf War, has died at the age of 78, a U.S. official said on Thursday. The highly decorated four-star general died at 2:22 p.m. EST (1922 GMT) at his home in Tampa, Florida, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The cause of death was not immediately known. Schwarzkopf, a burly Vietnam War veteran known as Stormin' Norman, commanded more than 540,000 U.S. ...

Chicago sued for alleged discrimination against black teachers Posted: 27 Dec 2012 03:56 PM PST CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago Teachers Union has sued the nation's third largest school district, saying Mayor Rahm Emanuel's campaign to reform or close underperforming public schools discriminates against African-American teachers and staff. The federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday and announced on Thursday is the latest battle with the city since teachers staged a week-long strike in September. It alleges that more than half of the tenured teachers fired in the most recent round of school closings and turnarounds were African American. ...

NY's top court to hear challenge to Bloomberg taxi plan Posted: 27 Dec 2012 03:42 PM PST ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - The New York Court of Appeals has agreed to review a decision that blocked New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to raise over $1.4 billion by selling 2,000 new taxi medallions. Three taxi groups in May sued to overturn the plan, saying it would destroy the livelihoods of thousands of drivers. In August, the State Supreme Court's Acting Justice Arthur Engoron found that the Bloomberg administration violated the state constitution's "home rule" provisions by asking state lawmakers, instead of the City Council, to pass the taxi plan. ...

Michigan governor signs bill giving local governments fiscal options Posted: 27 Dec 2012 02:01 PM PST (Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed into law on Thursday a bill that gives options to cities and school districts for dealing with severe financial problems, including bankruptcy. The law, passed by the Republican-controlled legislature earlier this month, allows local elected officials to choose between Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy, if the move is approved by the governor; an emergency manager; arbitration with a neutral party; or a consent agreement laying out terms for fixing the government's finances. ...

Former President George H.W. Bush remains in intensive care Posted: 27 Dec 2012 05:12 PM PST AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush remained in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital on Thursday, but his longtime chief of staff issued a reassuring message, urging the media and the public to "put the harps back in the closet." Bush, 88, a Republican who during his one term in office led a coalition of nations that ejected Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991, was admitted to Methodist Hospital November 23 for bronchitis. He was transferred to intensive care on Sunday after setbacks including a persistent fever, family spokesman Jim McGrath has said. ...

Florida man pleads guilty to smuggling dinosaur bones Posted: 27 Dec 2012 03:43 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Florida man described by federal prosecutors as a "one-man black market in prehistoric fossils" pleaded guilty on Thursday to smuggling dinosaur skeletons into the United States. Eric Prokopi was accused of importing and selling stolen artifacts including a nearly complete Tyrannosaurus Bataar skeleton and skeletons of a duckbilled Saurolophus Angustirostris from Mongolia and a flying Oviraptor from China, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan. ...

New York City faces $811 million budget gap in FY 2014: report Posted: 27 Dec 2012 01:57 PM PST (Reuters) - New York City faces an $811 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2014 and lowered revenue projections in part because of Superstorm Sandy, the city's Independent Budget Office said on Thursday. The city's tax revenue collections are likely to grow by just 3.4 percent in fiscal 2014 to $44.8 billion. That figure is $347 million lower than the IBO projected in May, it said. The dimmer outlook is due to slower expected economic growth, particularly in the banking and securities industries, the IBO said. ...

Americans blame Republicans more than Democrats for "fiscal cliff": Reuters/Ipsos poll Posted: 27 Dec 2012 12:17 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans blame Republicans in Congress more than congressional Democrats or President Barack Obama for the current "fiscal cliff" crisis, as the deadline approaches for action to avert big tax increases and spending cuts, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Thursday. When asked who they believed to be more responsible for the "fiscal cliff" situation, 27 percent blamed Republicans in Congress, 16 percent blamed Obama and 6 percent pointed to Democrats in Congress. The largest percentage - 31 percent - blamed "all of the above. ...

Petition urges White House to classify Westboro church as hate group Posted: 27 Dec 2012 11:29 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 475,000 people have signed petitions asking the White House to crack down on Westboro Baptist Church after the group, known for holding anti-gay demonstrations at funerals, threatened to picket in Newtown, Connecticut. Newtown was the site of a school massacre on December 14 in which 20 young children and six adults were killed. Five petitions posted on the White House website since the shootings have asked the government to name the church, based in Topeka, Kansas, as a hate group or end its tax-exempt status. ...

Whale stranded on New York City beach dies: official Posted: 27 Dec 2012 10:42 AM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A 60-foot whale that washed up on a beach in New York City on Wednesday has died, a marine rescue official said on Thursday. The finback whale had appeared on the beach in New York's Breezy Point neighborhood and marine conservationists had been fearful for its survival. Breezy Point, in the borough of Queens, faces the Atlantic Ocean and was devastated by flooding and fire in superstorm Sandy in October. "Biologists have confirmed that the whale has died," said Mendy Garron, a marine mammal rescue specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ...

Iraq war veteran charged with killing his Wisconsin cop wife Posted: 27 Dec 2012 02:37 PM PST MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - A decorated U.S. Iraq War veteran was charged on Thursday with gunning down his wife, a Wisconsin police officer, in a parking lot as she was on patrol duty the day before Christmas. Benjamin Sebena, 30, who faces one count of first-degree intentional homicide, is accused of shooting his wife, Jennifer, 30, five times outside a fire station in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa early Monday. Benjamin Sebena "laid in wait" for his wife for several hours and when she left the building, he shot her, according to the criminal complaint. ...

Free condoms to be dispensed by Philadelphia high schools Posted: 27 Dec 2012 02:35 PM PST PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - There will be something new in many Philadelphia high schools when students return to class next week - free condoms. Under a city plan, free condom dispensers will be placed in 22 of Philadelphia's 51 high schools after winter break, part of an initiative aimed at battling the spread of sexually transmitted diseases between students. Parents who do not want their children involved in the program can opt out, school district spokesman Fernando Gallard said on Thursday. ...

New York Harbor oil terminals expected to operate through strike Posted: 27 Dec 2012 01:23 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil terminals in the New York Harbor are expected to operate through a dock workers strike scheduled for later this week, traders and sources close to port operations said on Thursday. Normal operations are likely at the terminals since their workers are not organized by the union calling for the walkout, the sources said. The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) called the strike last week after its contract negotiations broke down with the United States Maritime Alliance Ltd (USMX), which represents the employing shippers and port operators. ...

U.S. population projected at 315.1 million on New Year's Day: census Posted: 27 Dec 2012 11:51 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An estimated 315.1 million people will be living in the United States on New Year's Day, the Census Bureau said on Thursday. That is an increase of 2.3 million people or 0.73 percent from January 1 this year. It is also a gain of 6.3 million people or 2.05 percent since the last census in April 2010. "In January 2013, one birth is expected to occur every eight seconds in the United States and one death every 12 seconds," the Census Bureau said in a statement. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Woman sleeping on Los Angeles bus bench set on fire Posted: 27 Dec 2012 11:32 AM PST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A homeless woman was in critical condition in a Los Angeles hospital after a man doused her with liquid accelerant and set her on fire as she slept on a bus bench, police said on Thursday. Officers arrested Dennis Petillo, 24, in connection with the early morning attack, and he has been booked in jail on suspicion of attempted murder, police said. The woman, whose name has not been released, was being treated at a local hospital with burns all over her body, said Los Angeles police Lieutenant Damian Gutierrez. ...

Storm-damaged New York hospital partially reopens its doors Posted: 27 Dec 2012 12:14 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City partially reopened its inpatient facilities on Thursday, nearly two months after it was flooded by Superstorm Sandy and sustained damages that could exceed $1 billion. Storm damage in New Jersey, New York City's outer boroughs and New York state's Long Island captured most of the world's attention after the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history made landfall on October 29, obscuring much of the damage sustained in Manhattan. The emergency department at the Manhattan hospital could remain closed until the end of 2013. ...

Record number of claims against NYC police in FY 2011: report Posted: 26 Dec 2012 07:38 PM PST (Reuters) - A record number of legal claims were filed against the New York City Police Department in fiscal year 2011, according to a report scheduled for release on Thursday. In fiscal 2011, which ended June 30, 2011, a total of 8,882 claims were filed against the NYPD, up from the previous high of 8,110 filed in fiscal year 2010, New York City Comptroller John Liu said in the report. The city also settled $185.6 million of personal injury and other tort claims that involved the NYPD, a 35 percent increase from fiscal 2010, the report said. ...

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