Jury selected in Sandusky sex abuse trial

Jury selected in Sandusky sex abuse trial
Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional: judge
Florida challenges Washington over voter purge effort
U.S. soldier charged with lying about combat, Purple Hearts
Dock from Japanese tsunami washes up on Oregon beach
U.S. urges 230 years prison for Allen Stanford
California governor shrugs off tobacco tax defeat
Gay marriage in Washington state blocked by proposed referendum
Girlfriend felt 'safe' with Miami face-eating attacker
No verdict yet in Philadelphia church sex abuse trial
Five Wives Vodka distiller may sue Idaho over ban
Doctors arrested in New York prescription drug crackdown
Wildfire risk shifts from Texas to Mountain West: experts
U.S. nuclear submarine fire linked to vacuum cleaner
U.S. Army major gets prison time for kickbacks from Iraq
Feds attack California's medical marijuana trade-again
Amanda Bynes pleads not guilty to DUI, tweets Obama
New Jersey sued for pulling out of climate initiative
Vaccines for U.S. children may not be properly stored: study
Space shuttle Enterprise docks at New York museum home
California cities look set to pass pension reform
Muslims sue New York police over New Jersey mosque spying
South Carolina prison guard rescued after being held hostage
A123 Systems to hire up to 400 workers in Michigan
Vehicle found with 5 bodies belongs to missing Arizona family
Accused Tucson shooter loses latest bid to halt forced medication
Dock from Japanese tsunami washes up on Oregon beach
Florida challenges Washington over voter purge effort
California governor shrugs off tobacco tax defeat
U.S. soldier charged with lying about combat, Purple Hearts
Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional: judge
Gay marriage in Washington state blocked by proposed referendum
Doctors arrested in New York prescription drug crackdown
Jury selected in Sandusky sex abuse trial
U.S. urges 230 years prison for Allen Stanford
Five Wives Vodka distiller may sue Idaho over ban

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:12 PM PDT

BELLEFONTE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Jury selection ended on Wednesday in the child sex abuse trial of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, setting the stage for arguments to begin next week in a case that rocked college athletics. The seven women and five men on the jury will consider the charges against Sandusky - 52 counts of molesting 10 boys over a 15-year period. He has pleaded not guilty and faces more than 500 years in prison if convicted on all counts. ...

Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional: judge

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:50 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman was found unconstitutional by a federal judge in New York on Wednesday because it improperly interferes with states' rights to regulate marriage. The ruling by Manhattan federal court judge Barbara Jones followed a decision last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Boston that concluded the Defense of Marriage Act discriminates against gay couples. ...

Florida challenges Washington over voter purge effort

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 05:41 PM PDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida on Wednesday disputed a Justice Department claim that its controversial voter purge efforts may be illegal and said it was the federal government that appeared to have run afoul of the law. "The Florida Department of State has a solemn obligation to ensure the integrity of elections in this state," said Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner in a letter to the Justice Department. ...

U.S. soldier charged with lying about combat, Purple Hearts

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:51 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. Army soldier who prosecutors say falsely claimed to have fought in Vietnam and Afghanistan - and to have earned two Purple Heart medals and a Bronze Star for heroism - was indicted on federal charges on Wednesday. Command Sergeant Major William John Roy is accused of lying about his service as he sought disability, medical and educational benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said. ...

Dock from Japanese tsunami washes up on Oregon beach

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 06:01 PM PDT

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - A huge dock unmoored during last year's Japanese tsunami washed up on an Oregon beach this week and authorities are debating how to remove it. "This is the first object that has washed up that was unique enough to confirm that it was, indeed, from the tsunami," Chris Havel, spokesman for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, said on Wednesday. The Japanese consulate confirmed Wednesday that the dock is from the tsunami. "It is from some area on the Northeast coast of Japan," Havel said. ...

U.S. urges 230 years prison for Allen Stanford

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:05 PM PDT

(Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors urged a judge on Wednesday to send convicted financier Allen Stanford to prison for 230 years, calling him a "ruthless predator" whose $7 billion Ponzi scheme was among the most egregious frauds ever undertaken. Such a sentence, the maximum recommended under federal sentencing guidelines, would be 80 years longer than Bernard Madoff got in 2009 for his Ponzi scheme, and according to prosecutors reflects Stanford's place as "among the greediest, most selfish, and utterly remorseless criminals. ...

California governor shrugs off tobacco tax defeat

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 05:30 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown said on Wednesday the defeat of a measure proposing a tobacco tax increase in the state's primary election is not a bad sign for the tax measure he aims to put on the November ballot. The Democratic governor told the San Francisco Chronicle the narrow defeat of the measure on Tuesday reflects how its campaign was simply outspent on advertising by its opponents. Proposition 29 would have added a $1 tax to a pack of cigarettes to raise revenue for medical research into tobacco-related diseases and programs to prevent tobacco use. ...

Gay marriage in Washington state blocked by proposed referendum

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:33 PM PDT

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Gay marriage opponents in Washington state blocked a law legalizing same-sex matrimony from taking effect as scheduled Thursday by submitting a petition for a ballot measure to repeal the statute. The group behind the repeal initiative, Referendum 74, said on Wednesday they had collected more than 241,000 signatures, about twice as many as needed, to qualify the measure for the ballot in November. Across the state, county officials who had been preparing to issue batches of new licenses to same-sex couples starting on Thursday put their plans on hold. ...

Girlfriend felt 'safe' with Miami face-eating attacker

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 01:37 PM PDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - The girlfriend of Rudy Eugene, the Miami man killed by police after he chewed off a big chunk of another man's face, said on Wednesday she always felt safe with him and that he must have been drugged without his knowledge before the ghoulish attack. "I felt safe with Rudy," said Yovonka Bryant, 27, who spoke at a news conference alongside Gloria Allred, the celebrity lawyer who said she had been hired by Bryant to represent her. "Rudy never drank alcohol or used drugs around me. ...

No verdict yet in Philadelphia church sex abuse trial

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 02:48 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Philadelphia jury ended its fourth day of deliberations on Wednesday without reaching a verdict in the child sex abuse trial of a Roman Catholic monsignor, the highest-ranking U.S. clergyman to stand trial in the church's wide-ranging pedophilia scandal. Monsignor William Lynn, who for 12 years as secretary of the clergy supervised hundreds of priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, is accused of conspiracy and child endangerment. If convicted on all charges, he faces the possibility of 21 years in prison. The jury in Common Pleas Court before Judge M. ...

Five Wives Vodka distiller may sue Idaho over ban

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:06 PM PDT

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A Utah-based distillery on Wednesday threatened to sue Idaho for banning the sale of its Five Wives Vodka, which the state deemed an affront to Mormon residents because of its allusion to polygamy. Ogden's Own Distillery earlier this year unsuccessfully sought permission from Idaho to stock Five Wives Vodka at state-operated stores. The vodka's bottles are emblazoned with the image of five women from the late 19th century exposing their petticoats. ...

Doctors arrested in New York prescription drug crackdown

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:19 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal and state authorities have charged 98 people in New York City and Long Island, including two doctors and a nurse, with trafficking and abuse of painkillers and other prescription drugs, they said on Wednesday. The charges follow a crackdown on traffickers who stole or forged prescriptions to obtain large quantities of painkillers that could be illegally resold to users, and on doctors and nurses who knowingly helped traffic the drugs, according to Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. ...

Wildfire risk shifts from Texas to Mountain West: experts

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 02:49 PM PDT

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Eastern Arizona, western New Mexico, western Colorado and eastern Utah have above-normal risks of significant wildfire this summer, while no part of Texas is listed in that category, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. That is a big change from last year, when more than 30,000 separate fires across Texas destroyed 3,000 homes, forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate and caused more than $6 billion in damage to the state's farming and ranching economy. About 500 million trees were destroyed in the blazes, according to a Texas Forest Service ...

U.S. nuclear submarine fire linked to vacuum cleaner

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 02:30 PM PDT

BOSTON (Reuters) - A fire that caused an estimated $400 million in damage to a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine docked in Maine may have been caused by a vacuum cleaner, authorities said on Wednesday. The fire in the forward compartment - which includes crew living, command and control spaces and the torpedo room - of the USS Miami on May 23 took about 12 hours to extinguish and injured seven firefighters. ...

U.S. Army major gets prison time for kickbacks from Iraq

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 03:55 PM PDT

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A U.S. Army major who pleaded guilty to accepting $20,000 in bribes from an Iraqi contractor at a military base in Iraq was sentenced on Wednesday to six months in federal prison, according to federal prosecutors. Christopher Bradley, 42, of El Paso, Texas, who pleaded guilty to two counts of illegally accepting gratuities, was also ordered to pay restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas. Federal prosecutors said Bradley was in charge of helping an Iraqi Army unit set up base at the U.S. military post in Mosul, Iraq, in ...

Feds attack California's medical marijuana trade-again

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 02:38 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Federal authorities opened the latest front in their war on California's massive medical marijuana industry this week, filing property forfeiture lawsuits in a bid to shut down three dispensaries and sending warning letters to 34 people. The moves by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles are the latest in an ongoing crackdown on what federal prosecutors say is a flourishing network of illegal cannabis suppliers operating across California under the cover of the state's medical marijuana law. ...

Amanda Bynes pleads not guilty to DUI, tweets Obama

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 12:39 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former child star Amanda Bynes pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to drunk driving, after sending a Twitter message to U.S. President Barack Obama asking him to fire the police officer who arrested her. Bynes, 26, who starred in her own comedy sketch TV series "The Amanda Show" at age 13, was charged with driving under the influence in West Hollywood in the early hours of April 6. Police said the actress struck a sheriff's patrol car, refused to take a sobriety test, and was arrested on suspicion of driving while drunk. ...

New Jersey sued for pulling out of climate initiative

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 11:49 AM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Environmental groups sued New Jersey on Wednesday for Governor Chris Christie's decision to pull the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state compact that aims to cut air pollution from power plants. Last May, Christie declared the compact, known as RGGI and pronounced "Reggie," was an ineffective way of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and announced the state would withdraw. ...

Vaccines for U.S. children may not be properly stored: study

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 09:18 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Free vaccines meant for children as part of a U.S. government program may have been stored at the wrong temperature, which could make them less effective, according to a report released on Wednesday. The report also found that both expired and unexpired vaccines had been stored together in some doctors' offices and clinics, which could potentially lead to mistakes in giving the wrong version, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in the Department of Health and Human Services said. ...

Space shuttle Enterprise docks at New York museum home

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 02:59 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The space shuttle Enterprise - named after the spaceship in Star Trek - achieved lift-off on Wednesday when it was hoisted by a crane onto a floating museum in New York's Hudson River. Cheers and thunderous applause erupted from the crowd of New Yorkers and tourists who turned out to see the retired spacecraft moved to its new home atop the flight deck of repurposed World War Two aircraft carrier now named the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. ...

California cities look set to pass pension reform

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 11:17 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two of California's biggest cities were on the verge of adopting sweeping pension reform plans on Tuesday, with early election results showing measures in both cities passing by 2-1 margins. Voters in San Diego, second in population to Los Angeles, favored moving new employees to plans similar to private-sector 401(k)s, instead of pensions with guaranteed benefits. ...

Muslims sue New York police over New Jersey mosque spying

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 01:34 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Muslim-Americans in New Jersey said they filed a lawsuit on Wednesday demanding the New York Police Department stop its surveillance of mosques, businesses, college campuses and other gathering spots as part of its anti-terrorism campaign. The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, on behalf of several Muslim organizations, private businesses and individuals, said Muslim Advocates, a national civil rights group. ...

South Carolina prison guard rescued after being held hostage

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 10:59 AM PDT

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - A corrections officer taken hostage at a maximum security prison in South Carolina by inmates who dressed him in an inmate's uniform was rescued early on Wednesday morning. The rescue occurred about 4:30 a.m. local time and involved about 100 officers. It followed hours of negotiations with inmates, who had demanded such things as pizza and magazines, according to Clark Newsom, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections. "He was bloody on the head, but he walked out," Newsom said. ...

A123 Systems to hire up to 400 workers in Michigan

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 08:19 AM PDT

DETROIT (Reuters) - Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems Inc plans to hire up to 400 people over the next several months in response to increased business in its commercial transportation and grid operations. The new jobs will be at A123's two Michigan factories in Livonia and Romulus. The company plans to hire about 100 workers a month, spokesman Dan Borgasano said. In Livonia, A123 makes prismatic cells used in its lithium-ion batteries, typically for vehicles. ...

Vehicle found with 5 bodies belongs to missing Arizona family

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 08:39 PM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A burned-out automobile found abandoned in the Arizona desert over the weekend with five corpses charred beyond recognition belonged to a family who was reported missing in a suspected murder-suicide, authorities said on Tuesday. The bodies discovered inside the vehicle, which turned up in a remote area between Phoenix and the U.S.-Mexico border known as a frequent corridor for smugglers of illegal drugs and immigrants, have yet to be positively identified. ...

Accused Tucson shooter loses latest bid to halt forced medication

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 10:22 PM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Lawyers for the man accused of a deadly shooting spree last year that gravely wounded then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords lost their latest bid to halt forcible medication of their client by prison doctors seeking to restore his fitness for trial. By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a petition on Tuesday asking the court to reconsider its March 5 decision permitting staff at a federal prison hospital in Missouri to continue administering anti-psychotic drugs to Jared Loughner against his will. ...