Storm Isaac moves near Puerto Rico, with Haiti in its path

Storm Isaac moves near Puerto Rico, with Haiti in its path
FBI, police probe threats to Akin after rape remarks
Accused Colorado gunman made threats before shooting: prosecutor
Marines see autumn start to amphibious vehicle competition
Michelle Obama offers condolences to Sikh temple community
Navy SEAL who wrote book on bin Laden raid could face probe
Rodney King in drug, alcohol delirium when he drowned
Former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker charged with drunken driving
NY commuters face "severe" cuts if court ruling upheld: MTA
Lesbian brides win settlement from Vermont inn
Accused Colorado gunman made threats prior to shooting: prosecutor
Two charged with murder in killings of Louisiana cops
Savannah port deepening approved by Army Corps chief
Former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker charged with drunken driving
Storm Isaac moves near Puerto Rico, seen becoming hurricane
Tennessee Valley Authority liable for 2008 coal ash spill-ruling
Most U.S. kindergartners getting vaccines, risks remain: report
More talks for Stockton, creditors in city's bankruptcy case
Drought eases for some U.S. states, worsens for others
John Lennon's killer denied parole for seventh time
U.S. Open referee charged with killing husband with mug heads back to L.A
Florida convicts leader of Colombian "narco sub" gang
Barge traffic moves after another Mississippi River snarl
New Hampshire candidate backs down on abortion threats
Spaceship builder setting up shop in Florida
Autumn nuclear power refueling seen up 5 percent year per year
Two charged with murder in killings of Louisiana officers
U.S. salmonella outbreak tied to Indiana farm melons
Kansas wheat may get water; all eyes on Tropical Storm Isaac
Marines see autumn start to amphibious vehicle competition
Accused Colorado gunman made threats before shooting: prosecutor
FBI, police probe threats to Akin after rape remarks
Tampa braces as Storm Isaac threatens Republican convention
NY commuters face "severe" cuts if court ruling upheld: MTA
Barge traffic moves after another Mississippi River snarl
Former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker charged with drunken driving
Storm Isaac moves near Puerto Rico, with Haiti in its path
Savannah port deepening approved by Army Corps chief
Tennessee Valley Authority liable for 2008 coal ash spill-ruling

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:29 PM PDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Isaac unleashed heavy rain and winds off Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as it moved across the Caribbean on Thursday and could strengthen into a hurricane before tearing across the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Isaac also posed a threat to Florida, where it is forecast to pass near the state's Gulf Coast on Monday as the Republican National Convention starts in Tampa. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility of postponing or relocating the Republican convention if the storm takes direct aim at Tampa. ...

FBI, police probe threats to Akin after rape remarks

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:04 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Capitol Police and FBI are investigating rape threats against Representative Todd Akin and those close to him, the FBI and a spokesman for the Missouri Republican said on Thursday. Akin, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, sparked a furor this week after he told a television interviewer that relatively few pregnancies resulted from "legitimate" rape because "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. ...

Accused Colorado gunman made threats before shooting: prosecutor

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:11 PM PDT

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - Accused Colorado gunman James Holmes made threats as his academic career deteriorated and he accumulated an arsenal before a shooting rampage that killed 12 people at a suburban Denver movie theater last month, a prosecutor said on Thursday. Holmes was "making threats and those threats were reported to police," prosecutor Karen Pearson said during a hearing on whether prosecutors can have access to his university records. Pearson did not elaborate on the nature of the threats. ...

Marines see autumn start to amphibious vehicle competition

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:25 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps is conducting a final review of its requirements for a new amphibious vehicle that will bring troops from ship to shore, and hopes to kick off a fresh competition in coming months, the top U.S. Marine told reporters on Thursday. "My expectation is that it will happen this fall," Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos told reporters, underscoring his determination to avoid setting unaffordable or unrealistic requirements for the new vehicle and avoid issues that plagued the now-cancel led Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program. ...

Michelle Obama offers condolences to Sikh temple community

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 03:52 PM PDT

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - First lady Michelle Obama on Thursday offered condolences to family members of victims of the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting during a private meeting near the scene where a white supremacist gunman opened fire earlier this month. The meeting was held at the Oak Creek High School, down the street from the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, where six worshippers were killed and four others, including a police officer, were wounded on August 5. ...

Navy SEAL who wrote book on bin Laden raid could face probe

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 04:26 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former U.S. Navy commando who authored a soon-to-be-published book about the raid in which he and fellow SEALs killed Osama bin Laden could face investigation because he failed to clear the book with the Defense Department before publication. Fox News made public on Thursday what it said was the real name of the former SEAL who, with a journalist co-author, wrote "No Easy Day" under the pseudonym Mark Owen. The book is due to be released next month. ...

Rodney King in drug, alcohol delirium when he drowned

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 04:18 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rodney King, whose 1991 videotaped beating made him a symbol of police brutality and racial tension in Los Angeles, was in a drug- and alcohol-induced "delirium" when he accidentally drowned in his swimming pool, coroners ruled on Thursday. The final autopsy report was issued by medical examiners in San Bernardino County two months after King, 47, was found submerged at the deep end of a swimming pool at his home in Rialto, 50 miles east of Los Angeles. ...

Former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker charged with drunken driving

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:54 PM PDT

OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan Ryan Crocker is facing drunken driving and hit-and-run charges in Washington state after his vehicle collided with a truck last week, authorities said on Thursday. Crocker, who stepped down from his job as ambassador to Afghanistan earlier this year because of ill health, recorded twice the legal limit when he took a blood alcohol breath test after the accident, State Trooper Troy Briggs said. ...

NY commuters face "severe" cuts if court ruling upheld: MTA

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:19 PM PDT

(Reuters) - New York City residents and commuters would face devastating service cuts and fare hikes if a court decision overturning the payroll mobility tax - a major revenue source - is upheld, the head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on Thursday. Chairman Joseph Lhota said the MTA, which operates the nation's largest mass transit system, stands to lose $1.8 billion of revenue a year. The authority's budget for 2012 is $13 billion. ...

Lesbian brides win settlement from Vermont inn

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 03:21 PM PDT

BOSTON (Reuters) - A resort in northern Vermont has settled a lawsuit brought after it refused to host a lesbian couple's wedding reception, citing the innkeepers' "personal feelings." The Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville declined to host an event for Kate Linsley (nee Baker) and Ming Linsley, both of New York, saying innkeepers Mary and Jim O'Reilly did not host "gay receptions. ...

Accused Colorado gunman made threats prior to shooting: prosecutor

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 02:51 PM PDT

CENTENNIAL, Colorado (Reuters) - Accused Colorado gunman James Holmes made threats prior to a shooting rampage that left 12 people dead at a suburban Denver movie theater last month, and had been barred from the University of Colorado, a prosecutor said on Thursday. Holmes was "making threats and those threats were reported to police," prosecutor Karen Pearson said during a hearing on whether prosecutors can have access to his university records. Pearson did not elaborate on the nature of the threats. ...

Two charged with murder in killings of Louisiana cops

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 02:30 PM PDT

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Louisiana state police brought first-degree murder charges on Wednesday against two men being held in connection with a pair of shootings near New Orleans in which two police officers were killed, authorities said. The new charges mean 24-year-old Brian Lyn Smith and 28-year-old Kyle David Joekel could face the death penalty if convicted of killing deputies Brandon Nielsen, 34, and Jeremy Triche, 27. The officers were investigating the shooting and wounding of deputy Michael Scott Boyington, 33, at around 5 a.m. ...

Savannah port deepening approved by Army Corps chief

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:20 PM PDT

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - A $652 million deepening of the Savannah River shipping channel has been approved by the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to a report made public on Thursday. Savannah, the fourth largest container port in the nation according to the Department of Transportation, is among several South Atlantic ports that want to deepen their shipping channels for super-sized container ships expected to come through the expanded Panama Canal starting in 2014. ...

Former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker charged with drunken driving

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 04:02 PM PDT

Storm Isaac moves near Puerto Rico, seen becoming hurricane

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 02:51 PM PDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Isaac unleashed heavy rain and winds off Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on Thursday and was expected to strengthen into a hurricane before tearing across the Dominican Republic and Haiti, U.S. forecasters said. Isaac also posed a big threat to Florida, where it could make landfall on Monday as the Republican National Convention is due to start in Tampa. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility of postponing or relocating the Republican convention if the storm takes direct aim at the city on Florida's central Gulf Coast. ...

Tennessee Valley Authority liable for 2008 coal ash spill-ruling

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:01 PM PDT

(Reuters) - The Tennessee Valley Authority is legally responsible for a 2008 accident that sent 5 million cubic yards of toxic coal sludge oozing into a small community in eastern Tennessee, a federal judge ruled on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan said the levee that was supposed to keep the wet coal ash confined failed because of conduct on the part of the authority. As a result, he said, the federally owned utility will have to pay unspecified damages to more than 800 plaintiffs who sued after the spill. ...

Most U.S. kindergartners getting vaccines, risks remain: report

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 03:59 PM PDT

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Most U.S. kindergartners received the recommended vaccines for measles and other preventable diseases during the 2011-12 school year, but local clusters of unvaccinated children still pose a health risk, federal health officials said on Thursday. More than 95 percent of kindergartners were vaccinated for diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, polio and hepatitis B, meeting federal guidelines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new report. The study found 94.8 percent of kindergartners had received the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, and 93. ...

More talks for Stockton, creditors in city's bankruptcy case

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 02:06 PM PDT

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - The city of Stockton, California and its creditors were steered into new talks with a mediator who settled a key dispute in another municipal bankruptcy case as a U.S. judge said on Thursday it may take months to determine if Stockton deserves court protection. Stockton, a city of nearly 300,000 people in the state's Central Valley, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in late June, the most populous U.S. city to seek protection from its creditors. ...

Drought eases for some U.S. states, worsens for others

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 10:58 AM PDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Rainfall and cooler temperatures have combined to ease slightly the grip that the worst U.S. drought in over five decades is holding on some key farming states, but the suffering expanded in many others. "There has been some improvement, at least in the eastern corn belt. And for the region as a whole we've seen a respite from the high temperatures," said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the University of Nebraska's National Drought Mitigation Center. But he said the forecast for the next few weeks showed a return to harsh conditions. ...

John Lennon's killer denied parole for seventh time

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 02:22 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The man who shot and killed former Beatle John Lennon 32 years ago, Mark David Chapman, was denied parole for a seventh time, New York State's Department of Corrections said on Thursday. Chapman, 57, is serving a prison sentence of 20 years to life for shooting Lennon four times in the back outside the musician's New York City apartment building on December 8, 1980. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Chapman has come up for parole every two years since 2000 and has been turned down each time. ...

U.S. Open referee charged with killing husband with mug heads back to L.A

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 04:31 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A prominent professional tennis referee who was in New York for the U.S. Open was turned over by authorities to Los Angeles police on Thursday to face charges she bludgeoned her elderly husband to death with a coffee mug. At a brief Manhattan court appearance, Lois Ann Goodman, 70, was handed into the custody of Los Angeles police detectives who had traveled to New York to retrieve her. She was expected to appear in court on Monday in Los Angeles, her attorney said. ...

Florida convicts leader of Colombian "narco sub" gang

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 12:36 PM PDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - The No. 2 figure in a Colombian drug gang that specialized in surreptitiously sending cocaine-laden "narco submarines" out of the South American country has been convicted of three drug conspiracy charges in Florida, authorities said on Thursday. Laureano Angulo Riascos, 54, faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment after a federal jury in Tampa found him guilty on Wednesday, according to U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill of the Middle District of Florida. Riascos was second-in-command of the Morfi drug trafficking in Colombia, the world's top cocaine producer. ...

Barge traffic moves after another Mississippi River snarl

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 12:11 PM PDT

TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - Barge traffic resumed along an 11-mile (17.7 kilometer) stretch of the drought-ravaged Mississippi River near Greenville, Mississippi, but dozens of vessels waited their turn on Thursday to pass in the shrunken waterway. The Mississippi River, the country's primary highway for barge traffic, has dropped as much as 14 feet in the drought that has also withered crops in the Midwest and triggered wildfires in the West. The resulting changes in water currents and conditions have made navigation especially tricky and sometimes hazardous. ...

New Hampshire candidate backs down on abortion threats

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:32 AM PDT

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Republican candidate in New Hampshire backed down on Thursday from a suggestion he would use "deadly force" to stop doctors from performing abortions, saying he "let his imagination get out of control." Frank Szabo, who is running for sheriff in Hillsborough County, caused a uproar with his threats to crack down on legal abortion with arrests, prosecution and further actions aimed at doctors. "Deadly force is always a last resort," Szabo said in interview with the television station WMUR on Wednesday. ...

Spaceship builder setting up shop in Florida

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 10:32 AM PDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Aug 23 - XCOR Aerospace, one of a handful of U.S. firms developing suborbital spaceships, plans to build its vehicles and fly tourists, researchers and commercial payloads from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, officials announced on Thursday. The privately owned firm, currently based in Mojave, California, is developing a two-seat suborbital space plane called Lynx that is expected to debut by early 2013. The company expects to fly four times daily, at a cost of $95,000 per person. ...

Autumn nuclear power refueling seen up 5 percent year per year

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 10:39 AM PDT

(Reuters) - About 20,874 megawatts of nuclear power capacity is expected to be out of service in the United States in the upcoming autumn refueling season, according to Reuters data On Thursday. That is roughly 4.9 percent, or 974 MW, above the 19,900 MW of nuclear capacity that was shut last year during mid-October, the height of the autumn refueling season, the data showed. The data assumes units currently on extended outages -- like the San Onofre reactors in California and the Crystal River reactor in Florida -- will still be shut in mid-October. ...

Two charged with murder in killings of Louisiana officers

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 12:05 AM PDT

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Louisiana State Police brought first-degree murder charges on Wednesday against two men held in connection with a pair of shootings including an ambush near New Orleans that killed two police officers, police said. The men, 24-year-old Brian Lyn Smith and 28-year-old Kyle David Joekel, were among seven people charged last Friday with lesser charges over the shootings of sheriff's deputies in LaPlace, Louisiana, earlier this month. The incident began around 5 a.m. ...

U.S. salmonella outbreak tied to Indiana farm melons

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:12 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators said cantaloupe from Chamberlain Farms in Indiana may be one source of a multi-state outbreak of salmonella that has killed two people and sickened some 178 in the past month. The farm in Owensville in southwest Indiana decided to recall all its melons, which were first shipped within the state and to Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin. The melons may have later been shipped to other states, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said late on Wednesday. ...

Kansas wheat may get water; all eyes on Tropical Storm Isaac

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:46 AM PDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Portions of the wheat-growing areas in the Plains and the southwestern Midwest region are expected to receive crop-friendly rainfall soon, but it will come too late to help drought-stricken corn or soybeans. The moisture will, however, benefit fall seedings of hard red winter wheat, an agricultural meteorologist said on Thursday. "Kansas, northern Oklahoma and western Missouri could receive one to two inches or more Friday and Saturday," said Don Keeney, meteorologist for MDA EarthSat Weather. ...

Marines see autumn start to amphibious vehicle competition

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:25 PM PDT

Accused Colorado gunman made threats before shooting: prosecutor

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:11 PM PDT

FBI, police probe threats to Akin after rape remarks

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:04 PM PDT

Tampa braces as Storm Isaac threatens Republican convention

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:55 PM PDT

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Emergency workers are bracing for the possibility that Tropical Storm Isaac may bring wind and rain to Tampa at the same time the Republican National Convention is set to start, but officials do not believe organizers will need to cancel the event. "Our No. 1 priority is the safety and security of all the people who will be in the impacted community and that could include the delegates and media that are here for the convention," said Bryan Koon, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. ...

NY commuters face "severe" cuts if court ruling upheld: MTA

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:19 PM PDT

Barge traffic moves after another Mississippi River snarl

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:05 PM PDT

TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - Barge traffic resumed along an 11-mile stretch of the drought-ravaged Mississippi River near Greenville, Mississippi, but dozens of vessels waited their turn on Thursday to pass in the shrunken waterway. The Mississippi River, the country's primary highway for barge traffic, has dropped as much as 14 feet in the drought that has also withered crops in the Midwest and triggered wildfires in the West. The resulting changes in water currents and conditions have made navigation especially tricky and sometimes hazardous. ...

Former U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker charged with drunken driving

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:54 PM PDT

Storm Isaac moves near Puerto Rico, with Haiti in its path

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:29 PM PDT

Savannah port deepening approved by Army Corps chief

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:20 PM PDT

Tennessee Valley Authority liable for 2008 coal ash spill-ruling

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 05:01 PM PDT