Firefighters gain upper hand on Colorado wildfires, gird for long season

Firefighters gain upper hand on Colorado wildfires, gird for long season
California ski resort town to file for bankruptcy
Power, telecoms outages leave Americans vulnerable
California lawmakers approve foreclosure-protection law
Paterno family says Penn State email release smears coach
U.S. police behind most requests for Twitter information
Ex-CFO of Philadelphia Archdiocese admits stealing $900,000
Full Tilt Poker CEO surrenders to U.S. on gambling fraud
Air Force C-130 crashes fighting South Dakota wildfire
Stockton, Calif. set for first bankruptcy hearing on Friday
Afghanistan massacre defendant's wife says he didn't do it
Mississippi abortion law could face long legal fight
Mammoth Lakes, California, approves bankruptcy filing
Eastern U.S. swelters with heat wave, power outages
Feds to join labor talks amid New York blackout worries
New Jersey legislators stonewall Christie tax cut
Occupy protester's tweets must be handed over: judge
Three plead not guilty to NATO Summit terrorism charges
New NASA spaceship arrives in Florida for test flight
Americans to spend less, travel more over July 4th
States, localities face $2 trillion unfunded pension costs
US Bancorp settles overdraft fee case for $55 million
Over 2.1 million still without power from Illinois to Virginia
Airbus to open factory on rival Boeing's U.S. turf
Northeast Corn Belt to get a bit wetter
Former U.S. astronaut Poindexter dies in watercraft accident
People return to charred cities after Colorado wildfires
Locked-out Con Ed union workers ask Feds to step in
Marcus Jordan, son of NBA legend, arrested in Omaha
PA lawmakers again deny bankruptcy option for state's capital
California lawmakers approve foreclosure-protection law
Firefighters gain upper hand on Colorado wildfires, gird for long season
Full Tilt Poker CEO surrenders to U.S. on gambling fraud
California ski resort town to file for bankruptcy
Power, telecoms outages leave Americans vulnerable
Natural gas wells shut in Colorado due to wildfires
Encana restarts most Colorado natural gas wells after wildfire
Mississippi abortion law could face long legal fight
Mammoth Lakes, California, approves bankruptcy filing
Ex-CFO of Philadelphia Archdiocese admits stealing $900,000

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:32 PM PDT

DENVER (Reuters) - Firefighters grappling with the two most destructive wildfires on record in Colorado reported progress on Monday, but were steeling themselves for a long season in what has already been a dangerously active fire year in the western United States. The fires, which left a haze of smoke over the state's urban corridors, have displaced tens of thousands of people and left vast swathes of forest a blackened wasteland in addition to charring more than 600 homes. ...

California ski resort town to file for bankruptcy

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:57 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The leaders of Mammoth Lakes, California, voted on Monday to approve a bankruptcy filing for the ski resort town, just days after Stockton, California, became the most populous U.S. city to turn to bankruptcy court for protection from its creditors. The vote by the Mammoth Lakes town council to seek Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection was unanimous, according to a statement on the town's website. (Statement: http://www.ci.mammoth-lakes.ca. ...

Power, telecoms outages leave Americans vulnerable

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:41 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A brief, violent storm that brought the U.S. capital to its knees in the midst of a heat wave dramatically highlighted that millions of Americans remain vulnerable to extended power blackouts because of a reluctance to invest in infrastructure and patchy, ineffective regulations. Electrical utilities are advising customers in and around Washington that it may well be a whole week before all power is restored after the unusually potent storm that ravaged the mid-Atlantic region on Friday. Many customers are outraged as to why it would take so long. ...

California lawmakers approve foreclosure-protection law

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 06:09 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California legislators on Monday approved a sweeping bill aimed at stopping abusive practices by mortgage lenders and helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. The legislation, among the most ambitious of its type in the nation, would bar banks from moving ahead with foreclosures while still negotiating with homeowners over loan modifications, a practice known as "dual-tracking." It would also allow lawsuits against banks for so-called "robo-signing," in which foreclosure documents are signed en masse without review. ...

Paterno family says Penn State email release smears coach

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 04:14 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The family of Joe Paterno on Monday said the name of legendary Penn State football coach is being smeared by the selective release of emails relating to a sex abuse investigation, and called on investigators to release all emails in the matter. "The public should not have to try and piece together a story from a few records that have been selected in a calculated way to manipulate public opinion," the family said in a statement. ...

U.S. police behind most requests for Twitter information

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 04:12 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Law enforcement agencies in the United States are behind the overwhelming majority of requests for Twitter users' private information, the social media company revealed Monday in its first ever public report on the subject. Of the 849 total government requests for user information during the period spanning January 1 to June 30 this year, 679 -- or 80 percent -- took place in the United States, typically for use in criminal investigations, Twitter said. ...

Ex-CFO of Philadelphia Archdiocese admits stealing $900,000

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 04:21 PM PDT

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The former chief financial officer of the embattled Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has pleaded guilty to stealing $906,000 from the church, the district attorney's office said on Monday. The archdiocese, facing a $17 million budget hole and still reeling from last month's conviction of a monsignor in a child sex abuse scandal, was the target of a forgery and theft scheme run by former financial officer Anita Guzzardi. The former CFO admitted on Friday that she stole the money from 2004 to 2011. Guzzardi, 43, was fired in July 2011. ...

Full Tilt Poker CEO surrenders to U.S. on gambling fraud

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:58 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The chief of Full Tilt Poker surrendered to authorities on Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal gambling and that the online poker operator defrauded its players. Raymond Bitar,40, had been working at Full Tilt's Dublin, Ireland, headquarters, and until Monday had not returned to the United States since charges against him were first announced in April 2011. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged 11 people at the three biggest online poker companies: Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. The U.S. ...

Air Force C-130 crashes fighting South Dakota wildfire

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 02:09 PM PDT

(Reuters) - An Air Force C-130 tanker has crashed while battling a South Dakota wildfire, killing and injuring crew members and forcing the grounding of a fleet of eight such firefighting planes, the U.S. military said on Monday. The cause of the Sunday evening crash of the tanker from the North Carolina Air National Guard's 145th Airlift Wing has not been determined, and the U.S. Northern Command released few details about the crash. ...

Stockton, Calif. set for first bankruptcy hearing on Friday

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 01:53 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Lawyers for Stockton, California will appear for the first time in a Sacramento court this week to make their case for protecting the city from its creditors in bankruptcy. Stockton, a city of nearly 300,000 in California's Central Valley, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy last week. Its legal team has been scheduled to appear in U.S. bankruptcy court on Friday, July 6, in the first hearing of the city's case (Case No. 2012-32118), one of their lawyers said on Monday. ...

Afghanistan massacre defendant's wife says he didn't do it

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 09:16 AM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Kari Bales, the wife of a U.S. Army staff sergeant charged with killing 16 villagers in Afghanistan in March, said on Monday she continues to believe her husband is innocent and that "I don't think that anyone really knows what happened." But she also said she has not asked Robert Bales, her husband of seven years who is charged by the U.S. military with 16 counts of murder in the March 11 mass shooting, what happened on that day. "I just don't need to ask him. I know my husband and it's not a question I really need to ask. ...

Mississippi abortion law could face long legal fight

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 04:36 PM PDT

TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - Mississippi's lone abortion clinic opened without incident on Monday after a last-minute court ruling prevented the state from enforcing a new law that could have forced it to close. The Jackson Women's Health Organization had struggled to meet the demands of the controversial law that took effect on Sunday ahead of a state inspection scheduled for Monday. But the inspection was scuttled when a federal judge on Sunday temporarily barred the state from requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. ...

Mammoth Lakes, California, approves bankruptcy filing

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 04:27 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The leaders of Mammoth Lakes, California, voted on Monday to approve a bankruptcy filing for the resort town, just days after Stockton, California, became the most populous U.S. city to turn to bankruptcy court for protection from its creditors. The vote by the Mammoth Lakes town council to seek Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection was unanimous, according to a statement on the town's website. http://www.ci.mammoth-lakes.ca. ...

Eastern U.S. swelters with heat wave, power outages

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 03:03 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Relentless heat gripped much of the eastern United States for a fourth straight day on Monday, with about 2.1 million homes and businesses without power after violent storms and soaring temperatures killed at least 18 people. Power companies warned it could take several days to restore electricity completely in some areas as much of the United States sweltered in a heat wave. Two hundred and eighty-eight temperature records were set nationwide on Sunday. ...

Feds to join labor talks amid New York blackout worries

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 02:21 PM PDT

(Reuters) - New York City utility Consolidated Edison said on Monday it will meet with locked-out union workers and federal mediators to try to settle a contract stalemate that has raised the specter of major power cuts in America's biggest city during a heat wave. A ConEd spokesman said the meeting with the Utilities Workers Union of America (UWUA), was set for Thursday. The meeting would also include federal negotiators, spokesman Mike Clendenon said. ...

New Jersey legislators stonewall Christie tax cut

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 03:14 PM PDT

TRENTON, New Jersey (Reuters) - New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie called lawmakers back for a special session on Monday to pass a tax cut plan, but the Democrat-led legislature refused to act. After the special session, lawmakers left the statehouse without voting on Christie's proposal. Christie signed a $31.7 billion budget on Friday and then called lawmakers back on what was to be the first day of their summer vacation after they ended last week's session without enacting any tax cut plan. ...

Occupy protester's tweets must be handed over: judge

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 01:51 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York judge has ordered Twitter to hand over tweets and account information connected with an Occupy Wall Street protester arrested last fall during a march on the Brooklyn Bridge. Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino, who is overseeing the hundreds of criminal cases stemming from Occupy-related arrests, rejected the idea that Twitter would violate protester Malcolm Harris' privacy by turning over the information. "If you post a tweet, just like if you scream it out the window, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy," the judge wrote in his decision. ...

Three plead not guilty to NATO Summit terrorism charges

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 12:11 PM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Three men accused of plotting to fire-bomb high-profile targets during the NATO summit in Chicago this spring pleaded not guilty on Monday to terrorism charges. Brent Betterly, 24, Jared Chase, 27, and Brian Church, 20, are accused in an 11-count indictment of a variety of terrorism-related offenses, including conspiracy to commit terrorism, conspiracy to commit arson and possession of explosives. ...

New NASA spaceship arrives in Florida for test flight

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 12:29 PM PDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An Orion space capsule being developed to fly astronauts to asteroids, the moon and eventually to Mars arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a 2014 test flight, NASA said on Monday. The spacecraft, built by Lockheed-Martin is targeted for launch aboard an unmanned Delta 4 Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, adjacent to the NASA spaceport. Though designed to carry a crew of four, Orion will make its first two flights unmanned. "It's not a PowerPoint chart. ...

Americans to spend less, travel more over July 4th

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 02:17 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans plan to spend less, travel more and have plenty of cookouts over the Independence Day holiday this week, according to surveys. Spending for the July 4 holiday is expected to be down 12 percent, according to a Visa poll released on Sunday, dropping to an average of $191 per person. Two-thirds of all Americans plan on a simple cookout, according to a National Retail Federation survey released in June. But both surveys showed a significant minority of people will not celebrate at all -- Visa survey said 21 percent and the retail group said 10.6 percent. ...

States, localities face $2 trillion unfunded pension costs

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 12:50 PM PDT

(Reuters) - States and localities have run up more than $2 trillion of unfunded pension liabilities, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday, after collecting the data on plans offered by 8,500 local governments and over 14,000 individual entities. The Wall Street credit agency said according to its estimate, the total liabilities for fiscal 2010 were more than three times the amount reported by governments. (Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by James Dalgleish)

US Bancorp settles overdraft fee case for $55 million

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 10:33 AM PDT

(Reuters) - US Bancorp, one of the 10 largest U.S. banks, has agreed to pay $55 million to settle lawsuits accusing it of imposing excessive overdraft fees on customers. The settlement by the Minneapolis-based lender was revealed on Monday, six days after a $90 million accord with similarly-sized PNC Financial Services Group Inc was announced. It is part of nationwide customer litigation against 35 lenders over the fees, which are typically assessed when customers overdraw their checking accounts by using debit cards. ...

Over 2.1 million still without power from Illinois to Virginia

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 11:40 AM PDT

(Reuters) - More than 2.1 million people from Illinois to Virginia remained without power Monday morning after violent storms struck over the weekend, and a heat wave continued to blanket much of the region. The storms left more than three million homes and businesses without the power needed to run air conditioners during the heat wave, and claimed at least 15 lives, mostly from falling trees and branches across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. ...

Airbus to open factory on rival Boeing's U.S. turf

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 03:03 PM PDT

MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) - Flanked by U.S. Gulf Coast politicians, top executives from Airbus unveiled plans to build their first U.S. factory and said it will help the European planemaker win market share from Boeing Co in the world's busiest aviation market. The plant in Mobile, Alabama, is due to open in 2016 and will assemble narrow-body A320 aircraft, said Airbus, a unit of EADS. The facility is expected to create some 1,000 jobs and help the company take "more than a few percentage points" of market share from its prime rival, Airbus sales chief John Leahy said. ...

Northeast Corn Belt to get a bit wetter

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 11:39 AM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Midday forecasts called for slightly wetter weather in parts of the Midwest, but much of the region will still face relentless heat and dryness, trimming corn and soybean crop prospects, meteorologists said. "The 1- to 5-day (forecast) is slightly wetter in Michigan, northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio," said Paul Markert, meteorologist for Cropcast. The 6- to 10-day projection was drier for the southwestern Corn Belt and the northern Delta, with no changes to earlier scorching temperature forecasts. ...

Former U.S. astronaut Poindexter dies in watercraft accident

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 01:28 PM PDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Alan Poindexter, a two-time space shuttle astronaut, has died after a personal watercraft accident in Pensacola, Florida, NASA said on Monday. Poindexter, 50, was riding WaveRunners with his two sons in Little Sabine Bay at Pensacola Beach on Sunday when the accident occurred, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said. Poindexter and his 22-year-old son Samuel were riding on one WaveRunner and his older son, 26-year-old Zachary, was on another, spokesman Stan Kirkland said. ...

People return to charred cities after Colorado wildfires

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 09:09 AM PDT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - Residents began returning to charred areas of Colorado Springs on Sunday after the most destructive wildfire in Colorado's history forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and left the landscape a blackened wasteland. Bears and burglars posed further danger to home owners who headed back to towns and cities after the fire, which killed two people. The so-called Waldo Canyon Fire has scorched 17,659 acres, burned 346 homes and devastated communities around Colorado Springs, the state's second-largest city, since it began eight days ago. ...

Locked-out Con Ed union workers ask Feds to step in

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 09:02 AM PDT

(Reuters) - New York City utility workers locked out by Consolidated Edison asked on Monday for federal mediators to step into labor talks, as a series of small power outages raised the specter of major blackouts in America's biggest city during a heat wave. "We've had a few scattered outages, but that is normal even when it is not hot," said Con Ed spokesman Mike Clendenon. He said there were some small power disruptions in the Bronx and Queens boroughs as well as a manhole fire in Brooklyn. ...

Marcus Jordan, son of NBA legend, arrested in Omaha

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 08:27 AM PDT

(Reuters) - Marcus Jordan, a college basketball player and son of retired NBA legend Michael Jordan, was arrested early Sunday after what police described as a drunken altercation outside a hotel in Omaha, Nebraska. Jordan, 21, was "very animated, intoxicated and uncooperative" with police outside the Embassy Suites, Omaha police said in a statement. Officers were called to the scene at 2:11 a.m. after an off-duty officer asked for help subduing Jordan during an argument with two women in the hotel driveway, police said. ...

PA lawmakers again deny bankruptcy option for state's capital

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 07:42 AM PDT

HARRISBURG (Reuters) - City leaders in Pennsylvania's cash-strapped capital Harrisburg who wanted to keep open the option to seek bankruptcy protection for the city of 50,000, were thwarted by state legislators over the weekend who extended the bankruptcy filing ban until November 30. "The legislature made a decision," Governor Tom Corbett told reporters late on Saturday after signing the bill and Pennsylvania's new $27.7 billion budget into law. "Harrisburg's problems need to be addressed and we will provide whatever help we can to the receiver in an appropriate form under the law. ...

California lawmakers approve foreclosure-protection law

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 06:09 PM PDT

Firefighters gain upper hand on Colorado wildfires, gird for long season

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:32 PM PDT

Full Tilt Poker CEO surrenders to U.S. on gambling fraud

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:58 PM PDT

California ski resort town to file for bankruptcy

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:57 PM PDT

Power, telecoms outages leave Americans vulnerable

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:41 PM PDT

Natural gas wells shut in Colorado due to wildfires

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:25 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Over one hundred natural gas wells have been shut in Colorado in a precautionary move as wildfires continue to spread across the state, two companies said on Monday. Black Hills Exploration and Production said that 98 gas wells were shut in the Piceance Basin in the northwest of the state. Encana Corp said that it has shut 35 wells in the same basin. Neither company could immediately say how much production had been shut in, though Encana said that it expects to be able to restart the wells on Monday. (Reporting By Edward McAllister; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Encana restarts most Colorado natural gas wells after wildfire

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 05:25 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Encana Corp has restarted production at 31 of 35 natural gas wells in Colorado that were shut on Friday due to a wildfire threat, a company spokesman said on Monday. About 99 million cubic feet of gas was halted since Friday, he said, representing a tiny fraction of the state's output. Four low-producing wells remain shut, the spokesman said. (Reporting By Edward McAllister; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Mississippi abortion law could face long legal fight

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 04:36 PM PDT

Mammoth Lakes, California, approves bankruptcy filing

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 04:27 PM PDT

Ex-CFO of Philadelphia Archdiocese admits stealing $900,000

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 04:21 PM PDT