Friday, January 11, 2013

Court says Kansas must increase school funding, slams tax cuts

Court says Kansas must increase school funding, slams tax cuts

Court says Kansas must increase school funding, slams tax cuts

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 06:17 PM PST

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (Reuters) - Kansas is unconstitutionally short-changing its students by underfunding education needs and must increase spending by about $400 million, a three-judge panel ruled unanimously on Friday. The court said it was "illogical" for the state to argue that it could not adequately fund schools at the same time it slashed income taxes. The ruling is the latest in a series of court victories for a group of public school districts, parents and students in Kansas who have demanded for years that the state provide more money for education. ...

Six-year-old boy caused Georgia fire that killed four siblings

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 07:01 PM PST

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A suburban Atlanta fire that killed four young siblings late Tuesday was caused by their 6-year-old brother playing with a lighter, authorities said Friday. The 6-year-old boy, who survived, would not be prosecuted, Rockdale County Fire and Rescue Chief Daniel Morgan told a news conference, declining to name the boy. "This was a tragic event, so we want to make sure that this 6-year-old gets the help he needs," Morgan said. There were no smoke detectors upstairs and the one detector downstairs was inoperable, Morgan told reporters. ...

Teachers at Seattle school boycott standardized test

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 07:32 PM PST

OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Teachers at a Seattle high school, in a rare boycott by educators against a standardized test, are refusing to give students a decades-old reading and math test after the city's school district decided to factor the exam into the instructors' evaluations. The 19 teachers at Garfield High School have complained they are unable to adequately prepare students for the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test, which was created over 25 years ago but was introduced to Seattle Public Schools in 2009. ...

Victim's dad tells accused Colorado gunman to "Rot in hell"

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 04:20 PM PST

Police handout photo of James HolmesCENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - Emotions boiled over on Friday at a court hearing for James Holmes, the man charged with shooting 12 people to death and wounding dozens more at a Batman movie, when the father of one victim shouted, "Rot in hell, Holmes!" The eruption came as the 25-year-old former graduate student was being ushered out of a suburban Denver courtroom in shackles at the conclusion of the brief proceedings. Holmes' back was turned to the packed courtroom audience at the time, and there was no visible reaction from him. ...

More U.S. soldiers docked pay over Colombia prostitution scandal

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 04:27 PM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Another three U.S. soldiers were docked pay and reprimanded over their roles in the Secret Service prostitution scandal in Colombia last year, the U.S. military disclosed on Friday. U.S. military troops and Secret Service agents were helping provide security arrangements for President Barack Obama before his April visit to a summit in the seaside city of Cartagena. ...

California cold snap threatens $2 billion citrus harvest

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 05:37 PM PST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An Arctic air mass has sent temperatures plunging across California, threatening the state's lucrative citrus harvest, its winter vegetables and its more cold-sensitive strawberry crop, weather and agricultural experts said on Friday. Temperatures throughout the state fell by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) below normal on Thursday and Friday as snowfall and sub-freezing conditions forced a 17-hour closure of a key highway, Interstate 5, through the mountains north of Los Angeles. ...

Top porn producer sues to overturn Los Angeles condom law

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 06:10 PM PST

The logo of pornographic film production company Vivid Entertainment Group is seen in Los AngelesLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A top adult film producer sued Los Angeles County on Friday over a voter-approved measure requiring porn actors to wear condoms, saying the law infringes on their First Amendment rights and was driving the industry out of southern California. Vivid Entertainment, which was joined in the lawsuit by porn stars Kayden Kross and Logan Pierce, claims the mandate is both an unconstitutional prior restraint on freedom of expression and a financial burden that studios could not bear. ...

Exclusive: Readying for Sandy, NJ Transit erred in modeling storm

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 07:11 PM PST

General view of the train rail at the entrance of New Jersey Transit's Meadows Maintenance Complex in Harrison New JerseyNEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Transit incorrectly used federal government software that otherwise could have warned officials against a disastrous decision to leave hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment in a low-lying rail yard before Superstorm Sandy struck, a Reuters examination has found. ...

Gunmen at Los Angeles Nordstrom Rack hold employees for hours

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:28 PM PST

A Los Angeles Police Department officer stands near his vehicle outside the Nordstrom Rack store in the Westchester area of Los AngelesLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two gunmen invaded a Nordstrom Rack clothing store in California on Thursday night and took 14 employees captive, sexually assaulting one, stabbing another and locking the detainees in a storage room for hours, police said. The gunmen were nowhere to be found by the time police entered the Los Angeles store shortly after 2 a.m. on Friday and rescued the employees. ...

Wife of former Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. quits Chicago council

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 03:19 PM PST

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Sandi Jackson, the wife of former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., resigned her seat on the Chicago city council on Friday, citing "very painful family health issues," after criticism over her frequent absences from council meetings. Jesse Jackson Jr., who has been treated for bipolar disorder and according to media reports is under investigation for possible misuse of campaign funds, resigned his seat last November for what he described as health reasons. ...

Trial ramps up in Oregon Christmas tree-lighting bomb plot

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 01:52 PM PST

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - A jury was empanelled on Friday to hear the trial of a Somali-born man charged with trying to blow up a crowd of people at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Oregon two years ago with a fake bomb supplied by undercover agents posing as militant Islamists. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was 19 when he was arrested, faces life in prison on a single charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a plot to blow up the 2010 festivities at a public plaza in downtown Portland. ...

Man pardoned by former Mississippi governor involved in shooting

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 04:24 PM PST

JACKSON, Mississippi (Reuters) - A man who was among roughly 200 felons pardoned a year ago by then-Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour as the Republican left office was involved in a gunfight on Thursday that left another man dead, authorities said. The pardoned man, Wayne Harris, 56, of Slate Spring, Mississippi, was recovering at a medical center on Friday after receiving two gunshot wounds in his legs during an altercation that resulted in 51-year-old Chris McGonagill's death. ...

California cold snap threatens citrus crop, strands motorists

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:33 PM PST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An Arctic air mass sent temperatures plunging across California, forcing the 17-hour closure of a key interstate highway through the mountains north of Los Angeles and threatening citrus crops in the state's vast central valleys, authorities said on Friday. Temperatures throughout the state fell by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) below normal, allowing snow to accumulate at elevations as low as 1,500 feet, the National Weather Service reported. ...

Judge keeps Planned Parenthood out of Texas program

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 04:50 PM PST

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Friday denied a Planned Parenthood request to be allowed to offer health services to low-income women through a state program. Texas now excludes abortion providers and affiliates from the program and Planned Parenthood has been fighting to become a provider again. State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky, who issued a temporary ruling in favor of Planned Parenthood in November, said on Friday it was unlikely Planned Parenthood would succeed at trial. ...

Judge keeps Planned Parenthood out of Texas health program

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 03:12 PM PST

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Friday denied a Planned Parenthood request to be allowed to offer health services to low income women under a state program. Texas decided to enforce a law already on the books that bars funding for abortion providers and affiliates, and Planned Parenthood has been fighting its exclusion. State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky said it was unlikely that Planned Parenthood would succeed at trial, though a trial may still occur. The Women's Health Program provides family planning services and preventive health care. ...

Supreme Court to review free speech of HIV/AIDS groups

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 02:20 PM PST

File of demonstrators marching at a rally during the United Nations' High Level Meeting on HIV & AIDS at the UN headquarters in New York(Reuters) - The Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the government can require groups that receive federal funding for overseas HIV/AIDS programs to have explicit policies that oppose prostitution and sex trafficking. The case is one of six that the court on Friday agreed to hear in its current term, with oral arguments most likely in April. Among the other cases is one examining the reach of the court's landmark 1966 Miranda v. Arizona decision on the right to remain silent when questioned by the police. ...

Massachusetts governor seeks to revamp retiree health care

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 01:30 PM PST

Massachusetts Governor Patrick addresses first session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte(Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said on Friday that he will file legislation to overhaul benefits for public retirees, including a proposal to double the number of years an employee would have to serve to be eligible. The bill would require most current employees of the state and its cities, towns and school districts to work for 20 years instead of 10 years to become eligible for health benefits when they retire. Retirees would also have to pay a higher percentage of their health insurance premiums, leaving the employer responsible for a smaller share. ...

Hundreds of New York rape cases under review, evidence errors feared

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:22 PM PST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than 800 New York City rape cases that occurred between 2001 and 2011 are under special review after the city's office of medical examiner discovered that a technician made repeated errors while handling DNA evidence, a spokeswoman said on Friday. The re-examination has found 26 sexual assault cases where the technician, who has not been identified publicly, incorrectly determined there were no traces of biological material on evidence, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the chief medical examiner's office. ...

Supreme Court to review sex offender registration law

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 01:11 PM PST

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether the government can require a former federal sex offender to register a change of address even after he had served his sentence and been unconditionally freed from custody. In a brief order, the court agreed to hear the government's appeal of a July 2012 decision overturning the conviction of Air Force veteran Anthony Kebodeaux for violating the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 2006. SORNA provides what the U.S. ...

U.S. launches safety review of 787 after recent issues

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 03:15 PM PST

Airport staff send off All Nippon Airways' Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner plane before it's take off for Tokyo-San Jose flight service at New Tokyo international airport in Narita, JapanWASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government ordered a wide-ranging review of Boeing's latest passenger jet, the 787 Dreamliner, citing concern over a fire and other recent problems but insisting the plane was still safe to fly. It was unclear how long the review will take or how much it will ultimately cost Boeing, but the company was concerned enough that it sent a top executive to a Washington press conference on the problem. Boeing shares fell 3 percent. ...

Supreme Court to consider if silence can be evidence of guilt

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 12:48 PM PST

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider whether a suspect's refusal to answer police questions prior to being arrested and read his rights can be introduced as evidence of guilt at his subsequent murder trial. Without comment, the court agreed to hear the appeal of Genovevo Salinas, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the December 1992 deaths of two brothers in Houston. ...

After Newtown, Massachusetts pulls violent games from rest stops

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 09:41 AM PST

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Massachusetts has pulled violent arcade games from its highway service plazas after a family raised concerns they might offend residents of neighboring Connecticut, which last month witnessed the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Tracey and Andrew Hyams called for the games' removal because they thought residents of Newtown, Connecticut, might stumble across them, Massachusetts transportation department spokeswoman Sara Lavoie said on Friday. ...

East Carolina University sues Cisco over slogan

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 11:43 AM PST

A Cisco office is pictured in San Diego, California(Reuters) - East Carolina University (ECU) has filed a lawsuit against Cisco Systems Inc over the use of its registered trademark "Tomorrow Starts Here", which is central to the network equipment company's new marketing campaign. The U.S. university said on Friday that it is seeking damages for unauthorized use of the trademark, which it said is "a university-wide brand that represents an overlapping field of goods and services when compared with that of Cisco". ...

Evan Connell, U.S. author of Custer history, dead at 88: publisher

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 07:48 AM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. writer Evan S. Connell, a versatile author whose widely acclaimed non-fiction account of Custer's Last Stand, "Son of the Morning Star," became a best seller, has died at 88, his publisher said. Connell, who lived and worked in Santa Fe, New Mexico, died late on Wednesday after several years of declining health, Counterpoint Press of Berkeley, California, said on its website. A novelist, short-story writer and poet, Connell was the author of 17 books. His best-known novels were "Mrs. Bridge" (1959) and "Mr. ...

U.S. warns on Java software as security concerns escalate

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 01:53 PM PST

Attendees walk down branded steps at the 29th Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged computer users to disable Oracle Corp's Java software, amplifying security experts' prior warnings to hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses that use it to surf the Web. Hackers have figured out how to exploit Java to install malicious software enabling them to commit crimes ranging from identity theft to making an infected computer part of an ad-hoc network of computers that can be used to attack websites. ...

Fed official warns about slipping into currency wars

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 09:36 AM PST

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President and CEO Plosser arrives at the opening reception and dinner for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson HoleSOMERSET, New Jersey (Reuters) - A top U.S. Federal Reserve official waded into the sticky debate over global currency wars on Friday, warning that such beggar-thy-neighbor monetary policies would only hurt world trade and the economies that were involved. Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser said central banks in many countries are adopting policies, often under pressure from governments, to control their currencies, calling it an unhealthy phenomenon. "We do not want to get ourselves in a world where you have currency wars. Beggar-thy-neighbor policies ... ...

Hundreds of Texas, Ohio teachers flock to gun training

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:16 PM PST

CLEVELAND/SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - School teachers in Texas are flocking to free firearms classes and hundreds more in Ohio have signed up for training in the wake of the Connecticut elementary school massacre, some vowing to protect their students with guns even at the risk of losing their jobs. In Ohio, more than 900 teachers, administrators and school employees signed up for the Buckeye Firearms Association's newly created, three-day gun training program, the association said. ...

Ohio town to allow some employees to bring guns to school

Posted: 11 Jan 2013 07:34 PM PST

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A small town Ohio school board voted unanimously to allow four employees who have permits to carry concealed weapons to bring their guns to school once they have some tactical training, the school superintendent said on Friday. Jamie Grime, superintendent of the Montpelier Village schools in western Ohio, would not identify the four employees but said they are not teachers. ...
Posted by Harshad at 7:54 PM

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