Akin rebuffs Romney, Republican, calls to quit Senate race

Akin rebuffs Romney, Republican, calls to quit Senate race
Arizona, immigration groups spar in court over police stops
Appeals court rules Texas can cut off Planned Parenthood funding
Train derailment kills two women in Maryland, delays 9/11 hearing
USDA closes California slaughterhouse over cow cruelty video
Idaho firefighter died in area deemed too dangerous by earlier crew
Residents surveyed on future of Colorado theater massacre site
Philadelphia Catholic church passes school management to foundation
Casey Anthony nears end of probation in secret location
Strong blast in subway expansion startles Manhattan
U.S. Open tennis referee accused of killing husband with coffee mug
Appeals court rules Texas can cut off Planned Parenthood funding
Nebraska woman who claimed anti-gay hate crime lied-police
U.S. Congress questions $5 million Veterans Affairs conferences
Akin rebuffs Romney, Republican calls to quit Senate race
No drought-busting rains seen for U.S. crop belt
Court strikes down EPA rule on coal pollution
Budget cuts more risky to states than healthcare law
Georgia, New Mexico join call for end to U.S. ethanol rule
CSX Corp train derailment kills two women in Maryland
Occupy Wall Street protester seeks to block tweets subpoena
U.S. Open tennis referee accused of killing husband with coffee mug
U.S. Army fights racists within its own ranks
Tropical storm expected to form near the Lesser Antilles
Illinois' inaction on pensions in rating agency crosshairs
U.S. chief of Czech truckmaker faces bribery charges
American Diana Nyad gives up latest Cuba-U.S. swim attempt
Safety board says Chevron California fire "close call": local media
St. Jude defibrillator leads still problematic: study
Arizona, immigrants' attorneys to spar in court over police stops
Guatemala sentences first police chief for war crimes
American Diana Nyad gives up latest Cuba-U.S. swim attempt
Idaho firefighter died in area deemed too dangerous by earlier crew
USDA closes California slaughterhouse over cow cruelty video
Appeals court rules Texas can cut off Planned Parenthood funding
Akin rebuffs Romney, Republican, calls to quit Senate race
Philadelphia Catholic church passes school management to foundation
Casey Anthony nears end of probation in secret location
Arizona, immigration groups spar in court over police stops
U.S. Open tennis referee accused of killing husband with coffee mug

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 05:50 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressman Todd Akin, under fire for controversial remarks on abortion and rape, insisted on Tuesday he would not leave the Missouri Senate race, despite pressure from fellow Republicans and talk of who might replace him on the November 6 ballot. Akin - a staunch abortion opponent - vowed to stay in the contest against Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, indicating he represents a conservative movement that must be heard. A 5 p.m. local time (6 p.m. EDT) deadline passed with no indication he planned to take his name off the ballot. Akin was defiant. ...

Arizona, immigration groups spar in court over police stops

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 04:03 PM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Foes of Arizona's tough immigration law asked a federal judge in Phoenix on Tuesday to keep the state's controversial "show me your papers" provision on hold because it was discriminatory, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding it. The measure, part of a broader law to combat illegal immigration in the Mexican border state that is home to an estimated 360,000 undocumented immigrants, requires police to check the status of people they stop and suspect are in the country illegally. In an hour-long hearing in U.S. ...

Appeals court rules Texas can cut off Planned Parenthood funding

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:16 PM PDT

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday that Texas can cut off funding to affiliates of Planned Parenthood for a state women's health program because the network of clinics provides abortions. The decision is a blow to Planned Parenthood, which is the nation's largest abortion provider and has been under attack from conservatives across the country. Some conservatives oppose any state government money going to support abortions. ...

Train derailment kills two women in Maryland, delays 9/11 hearing

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 03:51 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A freight train derailed early Tuesday while crossing an overpass west of Baltimore, spilling tons of coal on top of two 19-year-old women who were sitting on the bridge and killing them, police said. The accident also crushed nearby cars and damaged telecommunications lines in the area, affecting data connections as far away as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where a pretrial hearing for five men accused of plotting the September 11 attacks was delayed by a day as a result. ...

USDA closes California slaughterhouse over cow cruelty video

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:24 PM PDT

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture shut down a slaughterhouse in California's central agricultural heartland because of a graphic video showing cows being mistreated during the slaughtering process, officials and activists said on Tuesday. The agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a statement that it was conducting an investigation and that inhumane treatment of animals was unacceptable. ...

Idaho firefighter died in area deemed too dangerous by earlier crew

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:48 PM PDT

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A young U.S. Forest Service firefighter killed this month in Idaho lost her life battling a blaze that an elite "Hotshots" squad had retreated from the day before, warning that conditions were too dangerous, a report from the crew revealed. A falling tree in the so-called Steep Corner Fire of north-central Idaho killed 20-year-old Anne Veseth on August 12 in her second season as a government firefighter. ...

Residents surveyed on future of Colorado theater massacre site

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 02:40 PM PDT

DENVER (Reuters) - Residents in the Denver suburb where 12 moviegoers were shot to death and 58 others wounded during a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" last month are being asked for ideas on what to do with the cinema, a city official said on Tuesday. The City of Aurora posted a survey on its Facebook page, Twitter account and Web site on Monday after Texas-based Cinemark Holdings asked for input on what to do with its Century 16 site in Aurora, city spokeswoman Lori MacKenzie said. ...

Philadelphia Catholic church passes school management to foundation

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 05:39 PM PDT

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Archdiocese of Philadelphia unveiled plans on Tuesday for the nation's first independently managed Catholic school system, aimed at increasing enrollment. The newly created Faith in the Future Foundation will manage 17 high schools and four special education schools, where a total of 16,000 students are currently enrolled, said Archbishop Charles Chaput. Church parishes will continue to operate 123 elementary schools in the Catholic system. Headed by H. ...

Casey Anthony nears end of probation in secret location

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 04:58 PM PDT

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Casey Anthony, the young Florida mother who became a cable news sensation after the 2008 disappearance and death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, finishes her year of probation on check fraud charges on Friday, her lawyer told ABC News. Anthony, 26, began serving the probation on August 24, 2011. Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Ann Howard would not confirm the exact time of Anthony's release from the probation program for security reasons, but said Anthony did not commit any violations that would have prolonged her term. ...

Strong blast in subway expansion startles Manhattan

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 02:20 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A unexpectedly strong blast at an underground construction site for New York's $4.5 billion subway expansion startled people on Manhattan's East Side on Tuesday, shattering windows, damaging a building and forcing a street closure, officials said. "I heard a loud explosion like a big boom and it shook the ground," said Edwin Malabe, 54, a doorman at a building on East 74th street. The blast at East 72nd Street and Second Avenue caused minor damage, transit officials said. It blew out windows and sent people including construction workers scattering onto the streets. ...

U.S. Open tennis referee accused of killing husband with coffee mug

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 03:32 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A prominent professional tennis referee who was preparing to officiate at the U.S. Open in New York was arrested on Tuesday on a felony murder warrant accusing her of bludgeoning her elderly husband to death with a coffee mug. Lois Ann Goodman, 70, was taken into custody on a warrant filed a week ago by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office charging her with the April 17 slaying of her husband, Alan Goodman, who was 80 years old, prosecutors said. ...

Appeals court rules Texas can cut off Planned Parenthood funding

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 04:26 PM PDT

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday that Texas can deny funding to Planned Parenthood under a state women's health program because the network of clinics provides abortions. The ruling reversed a lower court ruling that had temporarily stopped Texas from cutting off funding for the women's health organization. The decision is a blow to Planned Parenthood, which is the nation's largest abortion provider and has been under attack from conservatives across the country who worry government funding is going to support abortions. ...

Nebraska woman who claimed anti-gay hate crime lied-police

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 02:18 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A Nebraska woman who last month gained national attention by saying that she was the target of a brutal anti-gay hate crime was arrested Tuesday for lying to police. The Lincoln Police Department said in a statement that it had arrested Charlie K. Rogers, 33, for making a false report. She is expected to be charged with a misdemeanor, according to the Lancaster County prosecutor's office. Rogers told police that three masked men entered her home in south Lincoln, tied her up, and carved words into her body with a knife, according to police. ...

U.S. Congress questions $5 million Veterans Affairs conferences

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 11:49 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs spent about $5 million for conferences that are drawing scrutiny from Congress and the agency's internal watchdog amid concern about potentially lavish government conferences and improper gifts to planners. Months after a scandal and shake-up at the General Services Administration over a lavish conference there, Congress and the department's inspector general are looking into two 2011 VA training conferences in Orlando, Florida, which included $52,000 for a parody video and $84,000 for promotional items such as pens. ...

Akin rebuffs Romney, Republican calls to quit Senate race

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 04:17 PM PDT

No drought-busting rains seen for U.S. crop belt

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 05:41 AM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Benign weather is expected for the next week or two in the U.S. Midwest crop region, with no serious delays of early harvest but also no significant relief to corn and soybeans from the worst drought in half a century, an agricultural meteorologist said on Tuesday. "The bottom line is there are no earth-shattering weather events in sight, it will be quiet most of the week," said John Dee, meteorologist for Global Weather Monitoring. ...

Court strikes down EPA rule on coal pollution

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 01:54 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday overturned a key Obama administration rule to reduce harmful emissions from coal-burning power plants, sparking a rally in coal company shares and relief among utility firms. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in a 2-1 decision that the Environmental Protection Agency had exceeded its mandate with the rule, which was to limit sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants in 28 mostly Eastern states and Texas. ...

Budget cuts more risky to states than healthcare law

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 11:52 AM PDT

(Reuters) - When it comes to healthcare, Congressional attempts to reduce the federal budget deficit pose a greater risk to U.S. states' finances than an expansion of the insurance program for the poor known as Medicaid, Moody's Investors Service said on Tuesday. In June, the Supreme Court struck down part of the 2009 healthcare reform law compelling states to cover more people with Medicaid, and many conservative governors embraced the decision as a way to opt out of the expansion. ...

Georgia, New Mexico join call for end to U.S. ethanol rule

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 01:28 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. states that depend on the livestock industry are adding their voices to a string of states asking Washington to ease pressure on corn prices by suspending rules that send a large share of the crop to produce ethanol. Georgia, the center of U.S. poultry production, and New Mexico, with its large cattle industry, this week asked federal officials to suspend a program that encourages converting corn into ethanol fuel. ...

CSX Corp train derailment kills two women in Maryland

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:17 AM PDT

(Reuters) - A CSX Corp freight train carrying coal derailed while crossing an overpass west of Baltimore, killing two 19-year-old women and crushing several cars parked near the bridge, officials said on Tuesday. Police received a call around midnight that an eastbound CSX train had come off the tracks in downtown Ellicott City, about 12 miles west of Baltimore, Howard County Police said in a statement. Rescue workers discovered two bodies in the wreckage, police said. The victims were identified as Ellicott City residents Elizabeth Nass and Rose Mayr. ...

Occupy Wall Street protester seeks to block tweets subpoena

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:43 AM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Occupy Wall Street protester who took part in a mass protest in New York last year is accusing a judge of overstepping his authority by ordering Twitter to hand over the demonstrator's tweets and account information to prosecutors. Malcolm Harris, a Brooklyn-based writer, filed a civil proceeding on Monday seeking to block the judge's ruling. Harris was arrested during a protest on the Brooklyn Bridge last October and charged with disorderly conduct in a case that is one of a handful in which authorities have sought to use social media to prosecute defendants. ...

U.S. Open tennis referee accused of killing husband with coffee mug

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 12:37 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A prominent professional tennis referee who was preparing to work at the U.S. Open in New York City was arrested on Tuesday on a felony murder warrant accusing her of bludgeoning her elderly husband to death with a coffee mug. Lois Ann Goodman, 70, was taken into custody on a warrant filed a week ago by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office charging her with the April 17 slaying of her husband, Alan Goodman, who was 80 years old, prosecutors said. ...

U.S. Army fights racists within its own ranks

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:56 AM PDT

FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina (Reuters) - They call it "rahowa" - short for racial holy war - and they are preparing for it by joining the ranks of the world's fiercest fighting machine, the U.S. military. White supremacists, neo-Nazis and skinhead groups encourage followers to enlist in the Army and Marine Corps to acquire the skills to overthrow what some call the ZOG - the Zionist Occupation Government. Get in, get trained and get out to brace for the coming race war. ...

Tropical storm expected to form near the Lesser Antilles

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:14 AM PDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - A tropical depression formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, prompting tropical storm warnings across several Caribbean islands, and forecasters predicted it will strengthen into a hurricane later this week. The swirling mass of thunderstorms was located about 580 miles east of Guadeloupe and moving at 20 miles per hour toward the Lesser Antilles, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The depression had top winds of 35 mph. ...

Illinois' inaction on pensions in rating agency crosshairs

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:35 AM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois lawmakers' inability to reform a woefully underfunded public retirement system at a special session last Friday is likely to weigh on the state's already relatively low credit ratings. "We are in the process of reviewing the total credit picture, including the budget, pensions, etc," Standard & Poor's Ratings Services analyst Robin Prunty said on Tuesday. "But certainly, the lack of action on pensions is not a credit positive." She added that the likelihood for action by the state in the remainder of the year will also be a factor. Many U.S. ...

U.S. chief of Czech truckmaker faces bribery charges

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:08 AM PDT

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech police have arrested the American boss of truckmaker Tatra on charges of bribery, a company spokesman said on Tuesday, the latest step in an anti-corruption drive which has seen several ministers and senior government officials facing charges. However, a court ruled later on Tuesday that Ronald Adams, who has run privately-owned Tatra since 2006 as chairman, would not be taken into custody as requested by the police who have charged him with offering a bribe to win army contracts, Tatra spokesman Vladimir Bystrov said. "The court found there were no reasons why Mr. ...

American Diana Nyad gives up latest Cuba-U.S. swim attempt

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 03:28 PM PDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - Veteran long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad reached dry land on Tuesday, although not the way she had hoped after giving up on her fourth and possibly final attempt to make the 103-mile (166-km) swim from Cuba to the United States. The 62-year-old American, who battled squalls, rough seas and jellyfish, had set out from Cuba on Saturday to cross the Florida Straits. Nyad spent more than 50 hours in the water before she abandoned the swim. ...

Safety board says Chevron California fire "close call": local media

Posted: 20 Aug 2012 10:22 PM PDT

* Board releases photo of vapor cloud prior to Aug 6 blaze * Chevron says cloud may have been from fire fighting HOUSTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board called an August 6 fire at Chevron Corp's San Francisco Bay area refinery in Richmond, California, a "close call" for the surrounding community, according to a local media report on Monday. ...

St. Jude defibrillator leads still problematic: study

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 09:15 AM PDT

(Reuters) - Changes that St. Jude Medical Inc made to its heart defibrillator leads do not protect against insulation defects that could potentially lead to device failure and death, according to a report published online on Tuesday in the medical journal Europace. The report, by prominent cardiologist Robert Hauser of the Minneapolis Heart Institute, found that St. Jude's Riata ST Optim and its newer Durata ICD leads had sometimes failed due to insulation problems. ...

Arizona, immigrants' attorneys to spar in court over police stops

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 04:02 AM PDT

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A federal judge in Phoenix will begin considering on Tuesday whether Arizona's tough "show me your papers" immigration law can go into effect, as the state grapples with hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. At the same time, District Court Judge Susan Bolton's hearing marks a fresh bid by immigration rights advocates to halt provisions of the Arizona law, already partially upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, that requires police to check the immigration status of people they stop and suspect are in the country illegally. ...

Guatemala sentences first police chief for war crimes

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:59 PM PDT

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - A Guatemalan court on Tuesday sentenced for the first time a former police chief to 70 years in jail for ordering the kidnapping of a university student during the country's brutal civil war. The landmark ruling against Pedro Garcia, arrested last year at his home southeast of the capital, is the latest in a string of cases the government has initiated against former officials accused of war crimes. ...

American Diana Nyad gives up latest Cuba-U.S. swim attempt

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 03:28 PM PDT

Idaho firefighter died in area deemed too dangerous by earlier crew

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:48 PM PDT

USDA closes California slaughterhouse over cow cruelty video

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:24 PM PDT

Appeals court rules Texas can cut off Planned Parenthood funding

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 06:16 PM PDT

Akin rebuffs Romney, Republican, calls to quit Senate race

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 05:50 PM PDT

Philadelphia Catholic church passes school management to foundation

Posted: 21 Aug 2012 05:39 PM PDT