Mammoth Lakes, California files for bankruptcy

Mammoth Lakes, California files for bankruptcy
Researchers sail off on quest for Amelia Earhart's fate
NY Post editor must answer Murdoch, chimp queries
U.S. border residents mixed over Mexico Pena Nieto's win
U.S. says Texas police department discriminated against women
Washington state anti-gay marriage initiative fails
JetBlue pilot who disrupted flight declared insane, not guilty
California councilman charged with sexual offenses
Judge allows two counties to defend Illinois anti-gay marriage law
How Stockton went broke: A 15-year spending binge
Actor Andy Griffith dies in North Carolina at 86
Clemens denied request for mistrial legal fees
Doctors remove 51-pound tumor from New Jersey woman
Famed NYC building's board faces bias claims
NY appeals court vacates another stop-and-frisk conviction
Over 1.4 million still without power from Illinois to Virginia
Ex-Commerce chief Bryson won't face charges over car crashes
Michigan Republican governor vetoes broader voter ID law
On a New York island, firefighters set homes ablaze
Florida man pleads not guilty in Venezuela military parts case
Four dead, two hurt in tanker crash while fighting wildfire
Cancer group asks U.S. to study sugary drinks, obesity
North Carolina lawmakers reject sea level rise predictions
Mammoth Lakes, California to file for bankruptcy
Fireworks eye injuries caused by shrapnel, not blasts
Methadone cited in 30 percent of painkiller deaths: CDC
North Carolina lawmakers set record overriding government on budget, fracking
California doctors sue Aetna for coverage denials
U.S. immigration agent injured in Mexico border shooting
U.S. border residents mixed over Mexico Pena Nieto's win
Researchers sail off on quest for Amelia Earhart's fate
U.S. says Texas police department discriminated against women
Washington state anti-gay marriage initiative fails
Judge allows two counties to defend Illinois anti-gay marriage law
NY Post editor must answer Murdoch, chimp queries
Doctors remove 51-pound tumor from New Jersey woman
How Stockton went broke: A 15-year spending binge
Famed NYC building's board faces bias claims
Ex-Commerce chief Bryson won't face charges over car crashes

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 04:04 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Mammoth Lakes, California filed on Tuesday for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection from its creditors due to a nearly $43 million legal judgment against it. The filing follows a vote Monday by Mammoth Lake's town council in favor of a bankruptcy filing, specifically to seek protection from the property developer awarded the judgment against the resort town of about 8,000 residents in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The developer, Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition, is the town's largest creditor, according to documents filed in U.S. ...

Researchers sail off on quest for Amelia Earhart's fate

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 07:28 PM PDT

HONOLULU (Reuters) - Researchers seeking to chronicle Amelia Earhart's fate 75 years after she vanished over the Pacific set off from Hawaii on a $2 million expedition on Tuesday to look for wreckage of her plane near a remote island where they believe the U.S. aviator died a castaway. Researchers will travel 1,800 miles by ship from Honolulu to Nikumaroro in the Republic of Kiribati, where they believe Earhart's Lockheed Electra may rest in waters offshore from where they suspect she survived for weeks or months in 1937. ...

NY Post editor must answer Murdoch, chimp queries

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 04:21 PM PDT

(Reuters) - The editor of the New York Post may be forced to answer questions about his discussions with media mogul Rupert Murdoch over fallout from the newspaper's publication of a cartoon that appeared to liken President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee. A federal judge in Manhattan said editor Col Allan could not invoke "editorial privilege" and avoid answering questions posed by Sandra Guzman, a former associate editor suing the newspaper for alleged employment discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, gender and national origin. ...

U.S. border residents mixed over Mexico Pena Nieto's win

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 05:46 PM PDT

EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) - When Enrique Pena Nieto won the Mexican presidency on Sunday with a campaign pledge to reduce drug-cartel violence, El Paso entrepreneur Ricardo Fernandez reacted with anger. "Sixty thousand people died for what? What's the point?" asked Fernandez, who has watched the bloody war on drugs unfold next door in Mexico, where he was born. "So many people have been murdered and suffered. For what? We're just going back to the way it was," he said, referring to a return to rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which governed Mexico for decades. ...

U.S. says Texas police department discriminated against women

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 05:08 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday accuses Corpus Christi, Texas of discriminating against female applicants to the city's police department by requiring them to pass a physical test that favored men. The Justice Department said the female pass rate for the test, which was used between 2005 and 2011, was 80 percent lower than the male pass rate and that it excluded otherwise qualified applicants from consideration for hire as entry-level police officers based solely on their gender. The test, which included push-ups, sit-ups, and a 300-meter and 1. ...

Washington state anti-gay marriage initiative fails

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 04:53 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A Washington state voter initiative that sought to restrict marriage to a partnership between a man and a woman has failed to gain enough signatures to get on the ballot, eliminating any risk of confusion with another competing measure. Opponents of gay marriage in Washington state had pursued two separate signature-gathering drives after Governor Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, signed into law in February a measure to allow same-sex marriage. A referendum to repeal that law has already qualified for the November election. ...

JetBlue pilot who disrupted flight declared insane, not guilty

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:16 PM PDT

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Tuesday found a JetBlue pilot insane and not guilty of interfering with a flight after his bizarre behavior forced an emergency landing in March. Clayton Osbon, 49, had been charged with interference with a flight crew and could have faced up to 20 years in prison. Court documents show U.S. ...

California councilman charged with sexual offenses

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:18 PM PDT

Judge allows two counties to defend Illinois anti-gay marriage law

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 04:34 PM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A judge ruled on Tuesday that two Illinois counties could defend a state law banning same-sex marriage in a court battle that supporters of gay marriage hope will lead to an Illinois court overturning the law and legalizing gay nuptials. In 1996 Illinois, like many other states, passed a law that said marriage is only between a man and a woman. ...

How Stockton went broke: A 15-year spending binge

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:52 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The man in charge of the biggest U.S. city ever to file for bankruptcy is clear about the root of the crisis. It was a decision that gave firefighters full healthcare in retirement starting on January 1, 1996, said Bob Deis, the city manager of Stockton, California. At the time, the move seemed cheaper than giving pay raises sought by unions, officials involved in the decision said. When other Stockton employees demanded the same healthcare deal in following years, the city agreed. ...

Actor Andy Griffith dies in North Carolina at 86

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:40 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Actor Andy Griffith, whose portrayal of a small-town sheriff made "The Andy Griffith Show" one of television's most enduring programs, died on Tuesday at his North Carolina home at age 86. Griffith died at about 7 a.m. at his home on Roanoke Island, Dare County Sheriff J.D. Doughtie said. His wife of three decades, Cindi Griffith, was at his bedside and issued a statement saying: "I cannot imagine life without Andy, but I take comfort and strength in God's Grace and in the knowledge that Andy is at peace and with God. ...

Clemens denied request for mistrial legal fees

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:16 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Major League Baseball pitching great Roger Clemens, whose first trial for perjury ended in a mistrial a year ago before he was ultimately acquitted last month, was denied a request on Tuesday for legal fees in the mistrial. Clemens' first trial - on federal charges of lying in 2008 when he told a congressional committee investigating drug use in baseball that he did not use performance-enhancing drugs - ended in a mistrial after just two days of arguments. ...

Doctors remove 51-pound tumor from New Jersey woman

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 04:05 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey surgeons removed a rapidly growing, 51-pound (23-kg) cancerous tumor from a woman who had delayed treatment for more than a month until she became eligible for health insurance, her doctor said on Tuesday. "She was a skinny lady with a huge belly. I mean it looked like she was literally pregnant with triplets," said Dr. David Dupree, who led the surgery on the 65-year-old woman, at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, New Jersey. ...

Famed NYC building's board faces bias claims

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:48 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Board members at The Dakota, one of New York City's most exclusive residences, can be personally sued for alleged racial discrimination after they rejected a prominent money manager's attempt to double the size of his apartment, a state appeals court ruled on Tuesday. The Dakota, once home to former Beatle John Lennon and site of his 1980 murder, is known for its celebrity residents and exacting standards, having turned down a number of well-known applicants over the years. ...

NY appeals court vacates another stop-and-frisk conviction

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:50 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For the second time in a week, a New York state appeals court has tossed out a weapons possession conviction of a teenager who was searched during a "stop-and-frisk," the New York Police Department's controversial crime-fighting tactic. In a 3-2 decision released on Tuesday, the court ruled that officers had no justification for searching the 14-year-old boy's backpack where they found a loaded handgun. ...

Over 1.4 million still without power from Illinois to Virginia

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:26 PM PDT

(Reuters) - More than 1.4 million people from Illinois to Virginia remained without power Tuesday morning after the weekend's violent storms, and a heat wave continued to bake much of the region, the regional power companies said. The power companies warned some customers could be without power to run their air conditioners for the rest of the week in the worst hit areas. High temperatures across the region were expected to reach the 90s Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) over the next several days, according to AccuWeather.com. ...

Ex-Commerce chief Bryson won't face charges over car crashes

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:41 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors declined to charge former U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson on Tuesday over his role in two Los Angeles-area car crashes on the same day in June after blood tests showed he had only low levels of a sleep aid in his system at the time. Bryson was found unconscious behind the wheel of his Lexus on June 9 after he twice crashed into the same car in San Gabriel, California, left the scene of that accident and later collided with a Honda Accord in nearby Rosemead. ...

Michigan Republican governor vetoes broader voter ID law

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 03:34 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Tuesday vetoed a measure to broaden Michigan's photo identification law for voting, the first Republican governor to veto such a plan during a national wave of ID laws enacted by states in the last two years. Michigan has an existing voter ID law that is somewhat flexible, permitting a voter to sign an affidavit and vote a regular ballot if they do not have photographic identification with them. Snyder vetoed a proposal from the Republican-led legislature requiring a photo ID for absentee voting. ...

On a New York island, firefighters set homes ablaze

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:51 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Firefighters will spend the next two weeks setting homes ablaze on a small island in New York Harbor for one purpose: Saving lives. Eighteen abandoned townhouses on New York City's Governor's Island, formerly housing for members of the Coast Guard, have been turned into a setting for roaring fires in experiments aimed to develop new strategies firefighters can use to save lives. In one on Tuesday, a match was lit near newspaper in the basement of a fully-furnished home. ...

Florida man pleads not guilty in Venezuela military parts case

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:23 PM PDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - The owner of a Florida company pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges he illegally exported aircraft parts to Venezuela's military in a probe that has also led to charges against a former Venezuelan Air Force officer and two other men. Kirk Drellich, president of SkyHigh Accessories, Inc., based in Davie, Florida, faces up to five years in jail and a fine of $250,000 if found guilty. U.S. prosecutors in Miami charged Drellich and the three others in late June for their alleged involvement in the illegal shipment of military aircraft parts to the Venezuelan Air Force. ...

Four dead, two hurt in tanker crash while fighting wildfire

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 12:59 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Four members of the North Carolina Air National Guard were killed and two critically injured in Sunday's crash of a military aircraft battling a wildfire in South Dakota, a U.S. brigadier general said on Tuesday. The U.S. Air Force grounded for one day its fleet of firefighting tanker aircraft after the crash of the C-130 tanker, but the fleet was returned to service on Tuesday, the military said. The number of dead and injured from the crash had not been confirmed by the military before Tuesday. ...

Cancer group asks U.S. to study sugary drinks, obesity

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 01:55 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading U.S. cancer lobby group is urging the Surgeon General to conduct a sweeping study of the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on consumer health, saying such drinks play major role in the nation's obesity crisis and require a U.S. action plan. In a letter to U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the American Cancer Society's advocacy affiliate on Tuesday called for a comprehensive review along the lines of the U.S. top doctor's landmark report on the dangers of smoking in 1964. ...

North Carolina lawmakers reject sea level rise predictions

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 01:29 PM PDT

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Lawmakers in North Carolina, which has a long Atlantic Ocean coastline and vast areas of low-lying land, voted on Tuesday to ignore studies predicting a rapid rise in sea level due to climate change and postpone planning for the consequences. Opponents of the measure said it was a case of legislators "putting our heads in the sand" to avoid acknowledging the possible effects of global warming. ...

Mammoth Lakes, California to file for bankruptcy

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:34 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Mammoth Lakes, California, will file later on Tuesday for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection from its creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California, according to its assistant town manager. Mammoth Lake's town council voted on July 2 in favor of the bankruptcy, specifically to seek protection from a property developer that has a $43 million legal judgment against the resort town of about 8,000 residents in the Sierra Nevada mountains. ...

Fireworks eye injuries caused by shrapnel, not blasts

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 01:54 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Just in time for July 4th, a U.S. study shows for the first time how fireworks can damage eyeballs. There are more than 2,000 eye injuries from fireworks every year in the United States, most occurring during Independence Day celebrations, but the exact mechanism behind the injuries had escaped researchers until now. Some had argued it takes flying shrapnel to make eyes bleed or rupture, while others thought pressure waves from the explosion itself are enough - in which case safety goggles might not offer adequate protection. ...

Methadone cited in 30 percent of painkiller deaths: CDC

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 12:48 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Methadone use contributed to more than 30 percent of U.S. overdose deaths from prescription painkillers, even though the drug accounted for only 2 percent of the country's pain prescriptions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday. Methadone was developed in Germany in 1937, and has been used by U.S. doctors since the 1960s to treat drug addiction. Its use for chronic pain relief has been on the rise since the mid-1990s, largely due to its relatively low cost. ...

North Carolina lawmakers set record overriding government on budget, fracking

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 11:45 AM PDT

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - The Republican-led North Carolina legislature voted to override Democratic Governor Beverly Perdue on the annual budget late on Monday, a state record 11th time in the last two years they have overturned her veto. It was the third time this week that the legislature has overridden Perdue's veto. Earlier on Monday they differed with the governor and voted to open the door to shale gas exploration in North Carolina using hydrofracturing technology and horizontal drilling, known as fracking. ...

California doctors sue Aetna for coverage denials

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:14 PM PDT

(Reuters) - Thousands of doctors in California are suing the health insurance company Aetna Inc claiming the company routinely denies patients access to out-of-network doctors even when the patient has purchased a policy giving them the right to choose providers. The lawsuit, filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, accuses Aetna of threatening patients with denial of coverage if their members visit doctors outside the Aetna network of providers, and of threatening doctors with having their Aetna contracts terminated if they refer patients outside the network. ...

U.S. immigration agent injured in Mexico border shooting

Posted: 03 Jul 2012 10:03 AM PDT

HARGILL, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. immigration agent was shot and wounded during a surveillance operation on a desolate stretch of highway near the Texas-Mexico border on Tuesday, law enforcement officials said. Authorities have not released many details surrounding the circumstances that led to the shooting of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent about 30 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, near McAllen, Texas. ...