Storm clouds threaten Obama's convention speech

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• Storm clouds threaten Obama's convention speech
• Defense industry bracing for further budget cuts
• Sandusky case has cost Penn State nearly $17 million so far
• Pentagon: Navy SEAL book contains classified information
• Hurricane Isaac sweeps tons of dead rats onto Mississippi beaches
• New York City taxi fares rise 17 percent, few complain
• U.S. officials sound worldwide alert for Yosemite hantavirus risk
• Planned Parenthood asks court to reconsider Texas health ruling
• Xerox investigated by Texas on Medicaid work: WSJ
• Coast Guard eases barge draft restrictions on lower Mississippi River
• Florida university suspends dance group over hazing allegations
• Peterson murder trial verdict hinges on circumstantial evidence
• Arms makers to meet Pentagon on looming budget cuts
• Pentagon: Navy SEAL book contains classified information
• BNSF expands Bakken rail capacity from North Dakota, Montana
• Kansas State Fair may limit showing of animal rights video - judge
• Federal judge orders Massachusetts to pay for killer's sex change
• Millions of Americans have uncontrolled blood pressure: report
• Hog slaughter surges to record as feed costs bite
• Phillips66 Alliance refinery reports leakage at oil storage facility
• Defense industry bracing for further budget cuts
• Hurricane Isaac sweeps tons of dead rats onto Mississippi beaches
• U.S. officials sound worldwide alert for Yosemite hantavirus risk
• Sandusky case has cost Penn State nearly $17 million so far
• Florida university suspends dance group over hazing allegations
• Planned Parenthood asks court to reconsider Texas health ruling
• Peterson murder trial verdict hinges on circumstantial evidence
• Pentagon: Navy SEAL book contains classified information
• BNSF expands Bakken rail capacity from North Dakota, Montana
• New York City taxi fares rise 17 percent, few complain

Storm clouds threaten Obama's convention speech Posted: 04 Sep 2012 01:38 PM PDT CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Democrats in Charlotte, North Carolina, have one eye on the sky as bad weather threatens to spoil the biggest speech of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign. Meteorologists are forecasting possible thunderstorms over Charlotte for Thursday, when Obama is due to address a crowd of up to 74,000 in a football stadium at the end of the Democratic National Convention. ...

Defense industry bracing for further budget cuts Posted: 04 Sep 2012 07:08 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. defense companies are bracing for additional cuts in Pentagon spending, even if Congress reaches a deal to avert a controversial $500 billion across-the-board budget cut due to go into effect in January, industry officials said on Tuesday. Dennis Muilenburg, head of Boeing Co's defense and security unit, said in an interview with Reuters reporters and editors that his firm anticipated the Pentagon would face more spending reductions even if Congress acts to avert the cuts looming in January under the process known as sequestration. ...

Sandusky case has cost Penn State nearly $17 million so far Posted: 04 Sep 2012 06:02 PM PDT (Reuters) - Penn State University has paid out almost $17 million to cover legal bills, public relations fees and other costs related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, the university said on its website on Tuesday. Nearly $16.8 million in costs through June 30 were broken down as almost $10 million for internal investigations and crisis communications, close to $4 million for university legal services and defense, and nearly $1.2 million in other expenses. The total also included about $1. ...

Pentagon: Navy SEAL book contains classified information Posted: 04 Sep 2012 06:58 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A book about the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden by a former Navy SEAL who participated in the mission contains classified information and the Pentagon is reviewing legal options, a Defense Department spokesman said on Tuesday. But the book's co-author denied the book contained any information that would jeopardize the safety or future missions of Navy special forces personnel. The book, "No Easy Day," chronicles last year's stealth operation in which members of U.S. ...

Hurricane Isaac sweeps tons of dead rats onto Mississippi beaches Posted: 04 Sep 2012 07:00 PM PDT TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of rats killed by Hurricane Isaac have washed up onto the beaches of Mississippi and created a foul-smelling mess that officials say will take days to clean up. When the hurricane lifted the tides, the water washed across the marshy areas in Louisiana where the semi-aquatic rats live and forced them to ride the waves into Mississippi until they succumbed to exhaustion and drowned, said David Yarborough, a supervisor for Hancock County on the Gulf Coast. The tides then deposited their bodies on the Mississippi shoreline, he said. ...

New York City taxi fares rise 17 percent, few complain Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:05 PM PDT (Reuters) - The cost of a New York cab ride rose by 17 percent on Tuesday, which several residents and visitors seemed to take in stride. The fare hike -- the first since 2006 -- follows an increase in U.S. gas prices, which averaged $3.77 a gallon last week, up from about $2 in 2000, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Some city cab drivers say they shell out as much as $4.50 a gallon at Manhattan gas stations. Tourists seemed untroubled by an increase that raised the average price of an evening rush hour cab ride to $12.21 for a 2. ...

U.S. officials sound worldwide alert for Yosemite hantavirus risk Posted: 04 Sep 2012 06:37 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. health officials have sent warnings to 39 other countries that their citizens who stayed in Yosemite National Park tent cabins this summer may have been exposed to a deadly mouse-borne hantavirus, a park service epidemiologist said on Tuesday. Of the 10,000 people thought to be at risk of contracting hantavirus pulmonary syndrome from their stays in Yosemite between June and August, some 2,500 live outside the United States, Dr. David Wong told Reuters in an interview. Wong said U.S. ...

Planned Parenthood asks court to reconsider Texas health ruling Posted: 04 Sep 2012 05:13 PM PDT AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to reconsider a ruling that would allow Texas to exclude it from a health program for low-income women, as opponents of the rule packed a public hearing to express their outrage. A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court ruled last month that Texas may exclude groups affiliated with abortion providers from the Medicaid Women's Health Program, which provides cancer screenings, birth control and other health services to more than 100,000 Texas women. ...

Xerox investigated by Texas on Medicaid work: WSJ Posted: 03 Sep 2012 09:51 PM PDT (Reuters) - Xerox Corp and a wholly owned unit that contracted with the U.S. state of Texas to process dental claim forms are being investigated to see if they helped allow dentists to submit higher-than-required bills under the state's Medicaid system, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is concerned that the unit, Affiliated Computer Services Inc, did not dedicate sufficient trained staff to audit the Medicaid requests, letting dentists get paid for procedures not covered by the program, the WSJ said. ...

Coast Guard eases barge draft restrictions on lower Mississippi River Posted: 04 Sep 2012 10:40 AM PDT (Reuters) - Barge draft restrictions on the lower Mississippi River were eased slightly this week as heavy rain from Hurricane Isaac replenished the drought-depleted waterway and allowed shippers to transport heavier-loaded barges. But the storm's benefits may be short-lived as water levels on much of the river remained near historic lows and more rain was needed to maintain the river's depth following the worst U.S. drought in more than a half century. The U.S. ...

Florida university suspends dance group over hazing allegations Posted: 04 Sep 2012 04:46 PM PDT TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Florida A&M University, shaken by the hazing death of a marching band drum major last year, suspended a student dance group on Tuesday after receiving a tip that members were involved in an off-campus hazing incident over the weekend. Interim President Larry Robinson ordered the suspension of the Torque Dance Team until an investigation could be completed. The move follows tightened scrutiny of alleged hazing activities following the November death of Robert Champion. ...

Peterson murder trial verdict hinges on circumstantial evidence Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:56 PM PDT JOLIET, Illinois (Reuters) - Prosecutors on Tuesday asked the jury in the Drew Peterson trial to give weight to witnesses who said the former suburban Chicago police officer threatened his third wife and was capable of murder, while defense lawyers stressed the lack of physical evidence that he killed her. During closing arguments in the trial of Peterson, accused of killing his third wife Kathleen Savio, Assistant State's Attorney Chris Koch conceded that the evidence against Peterson was largely circumstantial. ...

Arms makers to meet Pentagon on looming budget cuts Posted: 04 Sep 2012 12:13 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. aerospace and defense contractors are set to meet the Defense Department this month to discuss concerns about the impact of automatic budget cuts due to take effect in January unless Congress acts to repeal or delay them, the top executive of the industry's main trade group said on Tuesday. The meeting, set from September 18, will bring together Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and the 18-member executive committee of the Aerospace Industries Association, said Marion Blakey, president of the Aerospace Industries Association. ...

Pentagon: Navy SEAL book contains classified information Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:55 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A book about the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden by a former Navy SEAL who participated in the mission contains classified information and the Pentagon is reviewing legal options, a Defense Department spokesman said on Tuesday. But the book's co-author denied the book contained any information which would jeopardize the safety or future missions of Navy special forces personnel. The book, "No Easy Day," chronicles last year's stealth operation in which members of U.S. ...

BNSF expands Bakken rail capacity from North Dakota, Montana Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:55 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - BNSF Railway on Tuesday said it has expanded its capacity to transport 1 million barrels-per-day of shale oil from the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana in 2012. The Forth Worth, Texas-based company transported 88.9 million barrels of Bakken crude so far in 2012, nearly 7,000 percent higher than when it started shipping the crude by rail five years ago. "We see this trend continuing," Dave Garin, BNSF group president for industrial product, said in a statement. The company had previously said it would spend $1. ...

Kansas State Fair may limit showing of animal rights video - judge Posted: 04 Sep 2012 01:49 PM PDT KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) - Organizers of the Kansas State Fair can restrict the display of an animal rights group's video that shows animal slaughter at its annual agricultural event, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked the court to prohibit the fair from putting limits on the video. U.S. District Court Judge J. Thomas Marten denied their request. The ACLU, which represented PETA, argued the fair was violating federal free speech protections. The Kansas state government sided with the fair in the dispute. ...

Federal judge orders Massachusetts to pay for killer's sex change Posted: 04 Sep 2012 12:05 PM PDT BOSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Massachusetts officials to pay for a convicted murderer's sex change operation, ruling that the state had violated the inmate's constitutional rights in denying the procedure. In a 126-page order issued in Boston, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf found in favor of Michelle Kosilek, who sued the Massachusetts Department of Correction 12 years ago to force it to provide him the surgery while imprisoned. ...

Millions of Americans have uncontrolled blood pressure: report Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:33 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly half of about 67 million Americans with high blood pressure are not effectively treating their condition and face a high risk of a heart attack or stroke, a U.S. health official said on Tuesday. About 36 million people have uncontrolled high blood pressure, a condition caused when too much force is exerted by blood as it is pumped through the body and moves against vessel walls, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday. "The bottom line is ... ...

Hog slaughter surges to record as feed costs bite Posted: 04 Sep 2012 01:43 PM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - Record-high feed costs caused by the worst drought in half a century are forcing farmers to slaughter more of their hogs, with the number reaching 9.9 million head in August, the highest-ever for that month, data analyzed by Reuters showed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will not issue its August monthly tally until next month, but its daily slaughter data after revisions shows that 9.857 million head were killed in August, the most since 9.868 million in December 2011. ...

Phillips66 Alliance refinery reports leakage at oil storage facility Posted: 03 Sep 2012 09:25 PM PDT (Reuters) - Phillips 66 reported that a leaking oil storage facility released an unknown amount of oil into the facility and surrounding area at its 247,000 barrel-per-day Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, according to a filing with national pollution regulators. The incident was discovered at 1308 (local time) on Sunday, the filing said. The refinery, which was shut and without power as of August 30, had also seen flooding after storm Isaac. (Reporting By Shruti Chaturvedi in Bangalore)

Defense industry bracing for further budget cuts Posted: 04 Sep 2012 07:08 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. defense companies are bracing for additional cuts in Pentagon spending, even if Congress reaches a deal to avert a controversial $500 billion across-the-board budget cut due to go into effect in January, industry officials said on Tuesday. Dennis Muilenburg, head of Boeing Co's defense and security unit, said in an interview with Reuters reporters and editors that his firm anticipated the Pentagon would face more spending reductions even if Congress acts to avert the cuts looming in January under the process known as sequestration. ...

Hurricane Isaac sweeps tons of dead rats onto Mississippi beaches Posted: 04 Sep 2012 07:00 PM PDT TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of rats killed by Hurricane Isaac have washed up onto the beaches of Mississippi and created a foul-smelling mess that officials say will take days to clean up. When the hurricane lifted the tides, the water washed across the marshy areas in Louisiana where the semi-aquatic rats live and forced them to ride the waves into Mississippi until they succumbed to exhaustion and drowned, said David Yarborough, a supervisor for Hancock County on the Gulf Coast. The tides then deposited their bodies on the Mississippi shoreline, he said. ...

U.S. officials sound worldwide alert for Yosemite hantavirus risk Posted: 04 Sep 2012 06:37 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. health officials have sent warnings to 39 other countries that their citizens who stayed in Yosemite National Park tent cabins this summer may have been exposed to a deadly mouse-borne hantavirus, a park service epidemiologist said on Tuesday. Of the 10,000 people thought to be at risk of contracting hantavirus pulmonary syndrome from their stays in Yosemite between June and August, some 2,500 live outside the United States, Dr. David Wong told Reuters in an interview. Wong said U.S. ...

Sandusky case has cost Penn State nearly $17 million so far Posted: 04 Sep 2012 06:02 PM PDT (Reuters) - Penn State University has paid out almost $17 million to cover legal bills, public relations fees and other costs related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, the university said on its website on Tuesday. Nearly $16.8 million in costs through June 30 were broken down as almost $10 million for internal investigations and crisis communications, close to $4 million for university legal services and defense, and nearly $1.2 million in other expenses. The total also included about $1. ...

Florida university suspends dance group over hazing allegations Posted: 04 Sep 2012 04:46 PM PDT TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Florida A&M University, shaken by the hazing death of a marching band drum major last year, suspended a student dance group on Tuesday after receiving a tip that members were involved in an off-campus hazing incident over the weekend. Interim President Larry Robinson ordered the suspension of the Torque Dance Team until an investigation could be completed. The move follows tightened scrutiny of alleged hazing activities following the November death of Robert Champion. ...

Planned Parenthood asks court to reconsider Texas health ruling Posted: 04 Sep 2012 05:13 PM PDT AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to reconsider a ruling that would allow Texas to exclude it from a health program for low-income women, as opponents of the rule packed a public hearing to express their outrage. A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court ruled last month that Texas may exclude groups affiliated with abortion providers from the Medicaid Women's Health Program, which provides cancer screenings, birth control and other health services to more than 100,000 Texas women. ...

Peterson murder trial verdict hinges on circumstantial evidence Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:56 PM PDT JOLIET, Illinois (Reuters) - Prosecutors on Tuesday asked the jury in the Drew Peterson trial to give weight to witnesses who said the former suburban Chicago police officer threatened his third wife and was capable of murder, while defense lawyers stressed the lack of physical evidence that he killed her. During closing arguments in the trial of Peterson, accused of killing his third wife Kathleen Savio, Assistant State's Attorney Chris Koch conceded that the evidence against Peterson was largely circumstantial. ...

Pentagon: Navy SEAL book contains classified information Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:55 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A book about the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden by a former Navy SEAL who participated in the mission contains classified information and the Pentagon is reviewing legal options, a Defense Department spokesman said on Tuesday. But the book's co-author denied the book contained any information which would jeopardize the safety or future missions of Navy special forces personnel. The book, "No Easy Day," chronicles last year's stealth operation in which members of U.S. ...

BNSF expands Bakken rail capacity from North Dakota, Montana Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:55 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - BNSF Railway on Tuesday said it has expanded its capacity to transport 1 million barrels-per-day of shale oil from the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana in 2012. The Forth Worth, Texas-based company transported 88.9 million barrels of Bakken crude so far in 2012, nearly 7,000 percent higher than when it started shipping the crude by rail five years ago. "We see this trend continuing," Dave Garin, BNSF group president for industrial product, said in a statement. The company had previously said it would spend $1. ...

New York City taxi fares rise 17 percent, few complain Posted: 04 Sep 2012 02:05 PM PDT (Reuters) - The cost of a New York cab ride rose by 17 percent on Tuesday, which several residents and visitors seemed to take in stride. The fare hike -- the first since 2006 -- follows an increase in U.S. gas prices, which averaged $3.77 a gallon last week, up from about $2 in 2000, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Some city cab drivers say they shell out as much as $4.50 a gallon at Manhattan gas stations. Tourists seemed untroubled by an increase that raised the average price of an evening rush hour cab ride to $12.21 for a 2. ...

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