Friday, January 4, 2013

Congress approves some Sandy storm relief amid anger over delay

Congress approves some Sandy storm relief amid anger over delay

Congress approves some Sandy storm relief amid anger over delay

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 01:14 PM PST

A couple walks their dog on a beach framed by a home damaged by superstorm Sandy in the Queens borough region of Belle HarborWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Congress on Friday approved $9.7 billion in initial relief for victims of Superstorm Sandy, but New York and New Jersey lawmakers seethed over delays in passing the rest of a $60.4 billion federal aid package. The House of Representatives voted 354-67 to keep the National Flood Insurance Program solvent and able to pay claims of thousands of homeowners who suffered flood damage in coastal New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from the October storm. ...

Former Representative Giffords visits town of school shooting

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 03:01 PM PST

Former U.S. Representative Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Kelly, leave the Newtown Municipal Building in NewtownNEWTOWN, Connecticut (Reuters) - Former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a mass shooting in her Arizona district two years ago, visited Newtown, Connecticut, on Friday to meet with families of the victims of last month's Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Giffords arrived at Newtown's town hall and met with First Selectman Pat Llodra, the town's top elected official, and School Superintendent Janet Robinson, who hugged her. "How horrible," Giffords said as she embraced the superintendent, according to the Danbury News-Times. Then Giffords and a small entourage, including ...

Alleged Ohio rapists may not get fair trial: defendant's lawyer

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 09:27 AM PST

(Reuters) - Two Ohio high-school football players accused of raping a teenage girl may not get a fair trial after a photo and video allegedly associated with the case were posted on the Internet by the computer hacking group Anonymous, a lawyer for one of the accused said on Friday. Ma'lik Richmond and Trenton Mays, both 16 and members of the Steubenville High School football team, are charged with raping a 16-year-old fellow student last August, according to statements from their attorneys to local and national media. ...

Air Force recruiter charged with rape as sex scandal expands

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 05:12 PM PST

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A male Air Force recruiting sergeant in the Houston area was charged on Friday with rape and other sexual misconduct with female applicants and a female recruiter, said officials with the Air Force, which is already dealing with a widespread sex-with-recruits scandal. ...

Three killed as small plane crashes into Florida home

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 03:13 PM PST

Flagler County sheriff's office investigators and firefighters work on the scene of a plane crash in Palm CoastMIAMI (Reuters) - A small plane burst into flames when it crashed into a home in eastern Florida on Friday killing all three people on board, authorities said. A preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot of the Beechcraft BE35 had reported a mechanical problem and was preparing for an emergency landing at Flagler County Airport when the plane went down in the seaside town of Palm Coast, about a mile east of the airport. The single-engine plane was en route to Knoxville Downtown Island Airport in Tennessee, the FAA said. ...

Law firm recruits federal judge who presided over Ebbers case

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 05:52 PM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barbara Jones, the federal judge who presided over the criminal trial of former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers, will join the law firm of Zuckerman Spaeder later this month, according to a partner at the firm. Jones, 65, will begin work on January 15 at the New York office of the Washington-based firm, where she will focus on advising clients on internal investigations, corporate compliance and monitorships, said Zuckerman partner Paul Shechtman, who helped recruit her. She will join the firm as a partner, he said. ...

Weeks after Newtown massacre, nearby Stamford hosts gun show

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:08 PM PST

STAMFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - A gun show is being held this weekend in Stamford, Connecticut, despite the mayor's plea that the event not be held so soon after last month's massacre at an elementary school in nearby Newtown. The gun show is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at the city's Crowne Plaza Hotel, less than 50 miles from the shooting that brought renewed calls for gun control from across the country. The show's promoter is Westchester Collectors Inc., of Mahopac Falls, New York. ...

Two New Jersey school districts install armed police guards

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:00 PM PST

(Reuters) - At least two New Jersey school districts this week put armed police guards at the entrance to public schools in the wake of the Connecticut elementary school massacre. In Marlboro Township in central New Jersey's Monmouth County armed guards were on duty on Wednesday to check every child, teacher and visitor as they arrived and left any of the district's eight schools, which serve children in pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade. ...

New Jersey man accused of trying to hire "cannibal cop" to kidnap woman

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 05:18 PM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New Jersey man was arrested on Friday for offering to pay $5,000 to the so-called "cannibal cop" to kidnap a woman and deliver her to be raped, according to the FBI. Federal authorities charged Michael Vanhise, 22, with conspiracy to commit kidnapping with Gilberto Valle III, a New York police officer who was arrested in October and charged with conspiring to kidnap, torture, cook and eat women. ...

Grand jury indicts New York couple as bomb suspects

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:51 PM PST

Greene appears in Manhattan Criminal Court with his lawyer Lisa Pelosi in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - A grand jury indicted a New York man and his girlfriend following their arrest on Saturday after police found an explosive compound, bomb-making manuals and weapons in their Greenwich Village apartment. Aaron Greene, 31, appeared briefly in a New York courtroom on Friday, and was informed of the indictment by a judge. He was returned to jail without bail. Formal charges against Greene were set to be announced at a January 29 court appearance, when he is expected to enter a plea, prosecutors said. ...

Pilot fails alcohol breath test at Minneapolis airport, arrested

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 10:55 AM PST

Kolbjorn Jarle Kristiansen, a pilot for American Eagle, is seen in this police booking photo in Minneapolis-St PaulMINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - An American Eagle pilot preparing for a flight to New York on Friday morning was arrested on board an aircraft at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol, an airport spokesman said. "The pilot was in the process of doing the pre-flight check and a witness had smelled alcohol on the pilot's breath," airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said. Hogan said airport police arrested the pilot at 6:19 a.m.. ...

California official urges new law to stop rape by impersonators

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:52 PM PST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's attorney general on Friday called on lawmakers to update the state's definition of sexual assault after appellate judges overturned a rape conviction on grounds that an obscure, 19th-century law fails to protect unmarried women when a rapist impersonates a lover. The 1872 statute makes it a crime for a man to have sex with a woman while posing as her husband. But it does not address the case of an impostor who poses as a woman's boyfriend, which was key to the overturned conviction because the woman in that case was unmarried. ...

Politicians condemn New York newspaper that published gun owner map

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 03:49 PM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York-area politicians denounced on Friday a local newspaper that has revealed the names and addresses of thousands of holders of gun permits, and they asked state legislators to make such information confidential. The decision by the Journal News, which serves the suburbs just north of New York City in Westchester and Rockland counties, to publish the identities was "deplorable" and "reckless," Rockland County legislator Frank Sparaco told a news conference, adding that it "has posed a serious threat to the residents of Rockland. ...

Two face charges of smuggling narwhal tusks into U.S. from Canada

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 04:47 PM PST

File photo of a sealer with a narwhal carcass(Reuters) - Two Americans face federal arraignment next week in Maine on charges that they were part of a smuggling ring that brought narwhal tusks into the United States from Canada for illegal sale. Selling narwhal tusks is legal in Canada, where the Inuits hunt them for subsistence, but it is not allowed in the United States. Known as "unicorns of the sea," narwhals are medium-sized whales that can grow up to 16 feet long and weigh as much as 3,500 pounds (1,600 kilograms). They are native to the Arctic Ocean, and the males have a single, spiral tusk that can grow up to 9 feet. ...

Former Louisiana governor and convict Edwin Edwards gets reality show

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 02:47 PM PST

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Edwin Edwards, the Democratic four-term governor of Louisiana imprisoned for racketeering and fraud will appear in an A&E reality show featuring the spouse 50 years his junior he married in 2011, the network said on Friday. The show "The Governor's Wife" will debut on A&E on February 27, said the network, which described the couple as redefining "a 'new normal' in the new South." Edwards said in previous media reports that he was going to star in his own reality show, but the announcement on Friday made it official. ...

Grand jury indicts New York "Terrorist Encyclopedia" bomb suspect

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 10:41 AM PST

Greene appears in Manhattan Criminal Court with his lawyer Lisa Pelosi in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - A grand jury indicted a New York man arrested on Saturday after police found an explosive compound, bomb-making manuals and weapons in a Greenwich Village apartment he shares with his girlfriend. Aaron Greene, 31, appeared briefly in a New York courtroom on Friday, and was informed of the indictment by a judge. He was returned to jail without bail. Formal charges against Greene were set to be announced at a January 29 court appearance, when he is expected to enter a plea, prosecutors said. ...

New Jersey man accused of trying to hire "cannibal cop" to kidnap woman

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 01:39 PM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New Jersey man offered to pay $5,000 to the so-called "cannibal cop" to kidnap a woman and deliver her to be raped, U.S. officials alleged on Friday. Federal authorities arrested Michael Vanhise, 23, and charged him with conspiracy to commit kidnapping with Gilberto Valle III, a New York police officer who was arrested in October and charged with conspiring to kidnap, torture, cook and eat women. ...

At least two New Jersey school districts hire armed guards

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 01:01 PM PST

(Reuters) - At least two New Jersey school districts this week put armed police guards at the entrance to public schools in the wake of the Connecticut elementary school massacre. In Marlboro Township in central New Jersey's Monmouth County armed guards were on duty on Wednesday to check every child, teacher and visitor as they arrive and leave any of the district's eight schools, which serve children in pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade. ...

Supreme Court to hear American Indian adoption case

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 01:26 PM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Taking up a case described as a "human tragedy," the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal by a couple who were ordered to turn over a 27-month-old girl they had raised since birth to her biological father simply because he was an American Indian. In a brief order, the court accepted the appeal of Matt and Melanie Capobianco, who had been caring for the girl until a family court ordered them to turn her over to her biological father, Dusten Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation. ...

Supreme Court to review judge's role in plea talks

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 12:53 PM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider whether a defendant's guilty plea must automatically be thrown out if the presiding federal judge plays a role in plea negotiations. The case involved the interpretation of federal criminal procedure rules that instruct courts not to participate in such talks, but which say an error can be excused if a defendant's "substantial rights" are not affected. ...

GM recalls more than 69,000 vehicles that could roll away

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 06:19 AM PST

File photo of General Motors logo outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit(Reuters) - General Motors Co is recalling more than 69,000 full-size trucks and vans globally that could roll away after being parked due to a potential steering column defect, the automaker said on Friday. The vehicles may have been built with a fractured park lock cable or a malformed steering column lock actuator gear, and could roll away after the driver has exited the vehicle, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. GM said most of the affected vehicles are believed to be still on dealer lots or in transit to dealers. ...

Nebraska environment report favors revised Keystone XL pipe plan

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:23 AM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline received a boost on Friday when Nebraska regulators said its proposed new route would avoid many of the ecologically-sensitive areas that led the U.S. government to block it last year. The new route for the $5.3 billion Alberta-to-Nebraska pipeline, backed by TransCanada Corp, would avoid the ecologically sensitive Sand Hills region but would still cross part of the massive Ogallala aquifer, the Nebraska environment regulator said. ...

Idaho Senator Mike Crapo admits to drunken driving

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 01:26 PM PST

Handout booking photo of Republican U.S. Senator Mike Crapo(Reuters) - Republican Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho pleaded guilty on Friday to a charge of drunken driving, apologized for breaking his Mormon faith's prohibition against alcohol and asked for public forgiveness. Crapo, who previously had said he doesn't drink, was pulled over on December 23 for running a red traffic signal in Alexandria, Virginia, a Washington suburb. Police arrested the three-term senator after he failed field sobriety tests. ...

Massachusetts governor seeks tighter rules on compounding pharmacies

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 12:07 PM PST

Massachusetts Governor Patrick addresses first session of the Democratic National Convention in CharlotteBOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on Friday proposed new state rules to more closely regulate the type of pharmacy at the heart of a U.S. meningitis outbreak that has killed 39 people. The proposed legislation would require special licenses for compounding pharmacies, allow the state Board of Pharmacy to fine companies that violate its rules and require out-of-state pharmacies that ship drugs to Massachusetts to be licensed by the state. ...

Insight: "Fiscal cliff" fracas: From smiles to distrust to rancor

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 02:30 AM PST

Speaker of the House John Boehner speaks to the press after a bipartisan meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss the economy in the Roosevelt Room of the White House(Note: includes graphic language) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It began so optimistically. On November 16, after their first "fiscal cliff" session with President Barack Obama, the four leaders of Congress had stood in the driveway of the White House shoulder-to-shoulder for what is a rare photo these days, Republicans and Democrats together, smiling. There they were at the microphone, talking about a "framework" for tax reform and deficit reduction. ...

Postal Service looks to new Congress for rescue

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 12:25 PM PST

United States Postal Service clerks sort mail at the USPS Lincoln Park carriers annex in ChicagoWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Congress that expired this week might have steered the nation away from the "fiscal cliff" of potentially devastating tax hikes and spending cuts, but it did not do much to save the U.S. Postal Service from its own fast-approaching cliff. The cash-strapped mail carrier that lost almost $16 billion in the past year, ran into its legal borrowing limit and defaulted twice on required payments to the federal government, now turns to the newly sworn-in Congress for help. ...

Two New York police officers shot in leg in separate encounters

Posted: 03 Jan 2013 09:35 PM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two New York City police officers were shot in the leg late Thursday in separate incidents, including a shooting aboard a subway train, police said. Two plainclothes officers aboard a subway train headed toward Manhattan from Brooklyn at about 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 GMT) asked a man walking between train cars for identification, said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly in a statement. The man appeared to be reaching for his wallet but instead pulled out a 9-mm Taurus handgun and opened fire. ...

Same-sex marriage bill heads to Illinois state Senate floor

Posted: 03 Jan 2013 08:48 PM PST

Governor of Illinois Quinn addresses first session of Democratic National Convention in CharlotteSPRINGFIELD, Illinois (Reuters) - A panel of Illinois lawmakers voted on Thursday to send legislation legalizing gay marriage in President Barack Obama's home state to the floor of the state Senate, setting up a possible vote on the issue next week. The 8-5 vote by the Senate Executive Committee fell along party lines, with the panel's Democratic majority supporting the measure and its Republican minority opposing it. Although the Democratic-controlled Senate adjourned late on Thursday, lawmakers said the bill likely would be called on Tuesday when the Senate returns for a special session. ...
Posted by Harshad at 7:19 PM

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