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Wildfires hit six U.S. states, small towns evacuated

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:06:06 -0400

Santa Fe, New Mexico (Reuters) - A wildfire burned out of control for a fourth day in the steep mountains of southwestern New Mexico on Saturday, one of several blazes that have consumed more than 200 square miles (520 square km) of rugged land in six U.S. states. Efforts to contain the blazes spreading in sparsely populated areas of Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah have been hurt by gusting winds and tinder-dry late-spring conditions. ...

Subtropical Storm Beryl swirls toward southeast coast

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:29:58 -0400

MIAMI (Reuters) - Subtropical Storm Beryl moved slowly toward the U.S. southeastern coast on Saturday, threatening heavy rains and dangerous surf for Memorial Day weekend beachgoers in northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Beryl was centered about 220 miles east-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, carrying maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. It was moving southwest, with tropical storm-force winds extending about 115 miles from the storm's center. The storm was not expected to develop into a hurricane, said Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the U.S. ...

Woman shot by Colorado homeowner to face trespass charges

Sat, 26 May 2012 17:16:25 -0400

(Reuters) - A 21-year-old woman who was shot after she wandered drunk into a Colorado couple's home in the middle of the night will face charges of felony trespassing, her lawyer said on Saturday. Zoey Ripple walked through an unlocked screen door leading into the bedroom of the couple, who said they shouted for her to leave before the husband fired a single gunshot in the dark when she kept coming into the room. Ripple, who was unarmed, was shot in the hip during the incident on Wednesday in Boulder, Colorado. In a 911 call, the couple said she appeared to be "kind of stoned or something. ...

Biden tells West Point cadets: prepare for new threats

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:12:21 -0400

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most of the cadets who graduated on Saturday from West Point were in elementary school when hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and enrolled in the U.S. military academy with wars raging in Iraq and Afghanistan. Vice President Joe Biden lauded the brave choices of the Class of 2012 - and their so-called "9/11 generation" - with a commencement address focused on the United States' new foreign policy challenges including cyber threats and a rising China. ...

No need to wait for November to know election outcome

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:33:31 -0400

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Many folks may fret themselves into a frenzy over the November U.S. elections and whether the world will come to an end on December 21, but for about 1,500 people gathered in New Orleans for the United Astrologers Conference, all will be revealed this week. "Some of the world's top astrologers are here to answer questions about the election, the global economy and perhaps even the Super Bowl," said Madalyn Hillis-Dineen, a 30-year practitioner of astrology and a coordinator of the conference that occurs every four years. ...

Astronauts float inside SpaceX Dragon capsule

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:25:29 -0400

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station opened the hatch and floated inside a Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon capsule on Saturday, the first privately owned spaceship to reach the orbital outpost, NASA said. Running ahead of schedule, station commander Oleg Kononenko and flight engineer Don Pettit opened the hatch to Dragon just before 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), NASA mission commentator Josh Byerly reported from Mission Control in Houston. The bell-shaped capsule, which was making its second test flight, arrived at the space station on Friday. ...

Bud dumps heavy rain on Mexico's Pacific coast

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:28:13 -0400

MANZANILLO, Mexico (Reuters) - The remnants of the first hurricane of the 2012 season, Bud, dumped heavy rain along Mexico's coast early on Saturday but caused little damage before it turned back into the Pacific. The storm, which on Friday had threatened to hit land with hurricane-force winds, lost strength as it neared the coast and it was downgraded to a tropical depression early on Saturday. Strong winds whipped the area's beaches and rain drenched coastal roads but there were no reports of injuries. ...

Gunman in Indiana standoff dies after shooting himself

Sat, 26 May 2012 10:04:22 -0400

VALPARAISO, Indiana (Reuters) - A gunman took hostages in an Indiana real estate office on Friday, then released them after an eight-hour standoff and fatally shot himself in the head, authorities said. The gunman died at a hospital in Valparaiso, Indiana, about 40 miles southeast of Chicago, police said. "We believe there was some issue over some money," said Valparaiso Police Chief Michael Brickner. He added the man had been to the office previously to complain and had a confrontation with employees. ...

Mississippi school district agrees to not handcuff students to objects

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:07:55 -0400

(Reuters) - The Jackson, Mississippi, school district has agreed to stop shackling students to fixed objects, after it was sued for handcuffing pupils to railings and poles at a school for troubled children, officials said on Friday. The Southern Poverty Law Center sued Jackson Public Schools in 2011 over its treatment of students at the district's Capital City Alternative School. Students at that campus have been suspended or expelled from other schools. ...

Penn State ex-president sues over Sandusky emails: report

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:36:56 -0400

(Reuters) - Pennsylvania State University's former president filed suit on Friday to force the school to turn over emails that are relevant to its probe of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, the Centre Daily Times newspaper reported. Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, goes on trial next month on charges he molested 10 boys over a period of 15 years. Trustees fired President Graham Spanier and head football coach Joe Paterno in November 2011 over the scandal. ...

New Jersey man charged in Etan Patz death after 33 years

Fri, 25 May 2012 19:34:39 -0400

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man who police say confessed to strangling Etan Patz was charged with second-degree murder on Friday, 33 years after the 6-year-old boy vanished from his New York neighborhood and soon changed the way the nation responds to missing children. Pedro Hernandez, 51, who worked as a stock boy in a small food store on the Manhattan SoHo street where Patz was last seen on May 25, 1979, was charged with a single count of second-degree murder, according to court records. ...

John Edwards' trial jury ends week with no verdict

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:41:48 -0400

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - The sixth day of jury deliberations in former U.S. Senator John Edwards' federal campaign finance trial ended without a verdict on Friday after the judge held a closed-court session about an undisclosed juror matter. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles recessed jurors until Tuesday, giving them a long Memorial Day weekend break from their discussions about whether Edwards broke the law while trying to hide his affair with Rielle Hunter as he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. ...

U.S. asks judge to undo ruling against military detention law

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:54:05 -0400

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors on Friday urged a judge to lift her order barring enforcement of part of a new law that permits indefinite military detention, a measure critics including a prize-winning journalist say is too vague and threatens free speech. Manhattan federal court Judge Katherine Forrest this month ruled in favor of activists and reporters who said they feared being detained under a section of the law, signed by President Barack Obama in December. ...

Florida toughest state on jobless benefits: nonprofit groups

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:24:59 -0400

MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida is the stingiest state in the country when it comes to providing jobless benefits for the unemployed, two workers' rights groups argued in a complaint lodged with the U.S. Labor Department. In a letter sent to U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis this month, the National Employment Law Project and Florida Legal Services asked for an investigation into changes to the unemployment compensation system made by Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott's administration. ...

Kansas governor signs bill banning Islamic law

Fri, 25 May 2012 19:48:40 -0400

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) - Republican Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill aimed at keeping state courts and agencies from using Islamic or other non-U.S. laws when making decisions, his office said on Friday, drawing criticism from a national Muslim group. The law has been dubbed the "sharia bill" because critics say it targets the Islamic legal code. Sharia, or Islamic law, covers all aspects of Muslim life, including religious obligations and financial dealings. Opponents of state bans say they could nullify wills or legal contracts between Muslims. ...

California's Coronado named No. 1 U.S. beach

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:20:58 -0400

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - With Americans packing up for travel over the Memorial Day weekend, one coastal hot spot in Southern California is winning praise as the best U.S. beach in an annual ranking from a Florida professor. San Diego's Coronado tops the list from "Dr. Beach," otherwise known as Stephen Leatherman, director of the laboratory for coastal research at Florida International University. The 1.5-mile stretch of Coronado Beach is set against the historic Hotel del Coronado, on an island just across San Diego Bay from the city's downtown. It is reachable by ferry or water taxi. ...

Police: Tapes could hold clues to more Manson Family murders

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:03:59 -0400

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles police detectives are seeking to review old audio tapes of conversations between Manson Family member Charles "Tex" Watson and his former lawyer, hoping they will shed light on any additional murders the cult may have committed. The eight hours of recorded discussions between Watson and attorney Bill Boyd were made more than 40 years ago and have surfaced as a part of a bankruptcy case involving Boyd's now-defunct Texas law firm. "We are trying to get our hands on a copy of those recordings," Los Angeles police commander Andrew Smith told Reuters on Friday. ...

Second Mile charity to close in wake of Penn State scandal

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:57:12 -0400

(Reuters) - The Second Mile charity founded by Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant football coach at the center of the Penn State University child sex abuse scandal, said on Friday it wants shut down because donations have dried up. The non-profit group for underprivileged children, which Sandusky is accused of using to find victims he molested, filed court papers in Pennsylvania announcing its plan to go out of business and turn over programs to another charity. ...

U.S. Postal Service offers buyouts to 45,000 workers

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:33:41 -0400

(Reuters) - The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service will offer buyouts this summer to nearly all of its 45,000 mail handlers, part of a plan to consolidate operations at 140 mail-processing facilities in the next year. The mail agency, which lost $3.2 billion in the first three months of 2012, plans to begin this summer moving mail-processing activities away from smaller sites to reduce annual costs. As part of that plan, the Postal Service will offer $15,000 in two installments to full-time mail handlers who take early retirement or leave the agency, USPS spokesman Mark Saunders said on Friday. ...

Gunman in Indiana standoff shoots himself

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:57:09 -0400

VALPARAISO, Indiana (Reuters) - An armed man took several hostages in an Indiana real estate office on Friday, then released them after an eight-hour standoff and shot himself in the head, authorities said. The gunman, who had complained he was owed money, was in critical condition, Valparaiso Police Chief Michael Brickner said. "We believe there was some issue over some money," Brickner said, adding the man had been to the office previously to complain and had a confrontation with employees. "We were hoping he would surrender unharmed. ...

Hurricane Bud weakens off Mexico's Pacific coast

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:48:34 -0400

MANZANILLO, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Bud weakened as it churned closer to Mexico's coast on Friday, but brought heavy rains and strong winds that downed trees and closed schools and a major Pacific shipping port. The first hurricane of the 2012 season, Bud will hit the coast between the port city of Manzanillo and the tourist town of Puerto Vallarta later on Friday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It weakened to a Category 1 storm during the day, packing winds of 75 mph. ...

Ohio legislature OKs bill on energy fracking rules

Fri, 25 May 2012 19:09:09 -0400

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - The Republican-led Ohio legislature approved a bill setting rules for drilling and related activities in the state's shale gas industry, in a vote late on Thursday, responding to a series of small earthquakes in Ohio last year that experts linked to a practice called fracking. Republican State Representative Peter Stautberg said the new measure will ensure safe development of Ohio's shale gas reserves while allowing the energy industry to prosper. "There is a balance that is to be struck between the industry and the administration ... ...

California tobacco tax measure risks going up in smoke

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:45:59 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Health-conscious Californians may mostly oppose smoking for its costs to public health and the economy but an aggressive tobacco industry campaign and general anti-tax sentiment may block a measure to raise taxes on smokers. Airwaves in the most populous U.S. state are filling up with advertising for and against Proposition 29, a June 5 ballot measure that would add a $1 tax to a pack of cigarettes, taking the tax to $1.87, mainly to fund medical research on tobacco usage and programs to prevent and control it. ...

Police find mother of abandoned Oregon children

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:42:13 -0400

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - Authorities in Oregon said on Friday they had located the mother of three small children found abandoned in a shed in Portland. The youngsters, two girls and a boy aged between a few months and about three years old, were found on Thursday, police said. The youngest child, a girl, is estimated to be between eight and 15-months-old. Another girl is estimated to be about two-years-old and a boy about three-years-old. "The mother of the missing children has been located and we thank everyone who helped with information," Portland police said in a news release. ...

Canadian arrested for incident at Miami airport

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:34:30 -0400

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Canadian man was arrested at Miami International Airport on Friday for rushing to the front of an American Airlines flight from Jamaica after it had landed, authorities said. The FBI said 24-year-old Ryan Snider caused no injuries or damage to the plane and his behavior did not appear to be terrorism related. But a statement from the agency said he was taken into federal custody and "expected to face federal charges which may include interference with a flight crew." An initial court appearance for Snider was expected to be scheduled for Tuesday, the statement said. ...

Crews battle wildfires raging in six US states

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:45:36 -0400

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Crews battled to contain a massive New Mexico wildfire on Friday that torched a dozen homes, the largest of several blazes that have consumed more than 200 square miles (520 square km) of rugged land in half-a-dozen U.S. states in recent days. Wildfires in sparsely-populated stretches of Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah have forced the evacuation of several small towns and torched miles of forest, brush and grass since mid-month. ...

U.S. Airways Express attendants in tentative pact

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:32:53 -0400

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Flight attendants for Air Wisconsin, a U.S. Airways Express carrier that is the largest privately held U.S. regional airline, announced a tentative pact with the company Friday, three days after authorizing a strike. Details were not immediately disclosed. The Association of Flight Attendants union, which represents the carrier's more than 300 flight attendants, said the tentative deal had been reached with the help of the National Mediation Board. The flight attendants on Tuesday had authorized a strike if talks failed. ...

Analysis: Property taxes give NY Westchester edge over peers

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:36:35 -0400

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Westchester County has the lowest median household income of the four wealthy New York counties near New York City, but it alone has bragging rights to something that would be the envy of any municipality in these times of fiscal trouble: a top AAA credit rating. One secret lies in Westchester's higher and steadier stream of property taxes, analysts say. Rockland County, which lies north of New York City and has a population just one third that of Westchester, and larger Nassau and Suffolk, which lie east of Manhattan on Long Island, depend more on sales taxes. ...

FBI probes fires at women's clinics in Georgia

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:51:30 -0400

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The FBI says it is investigating "intentional" fires that erupted this week at two Atlanta-area women's clinics, one of which performs abortions. "FBI-Atlanta is seeking information regarding intentional fires," the agency said in a statement. It said the first of the blazes occurred on Sunday morning after someone broke out the front window of a gynecological office and set a fire inside the building. "An incendiary substance was present," the FBI said in its statement. "Laboratory results are pending. ...

SEC shuts down $11-million Ponzi scheme

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:18:42 -0400

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Regulators have charged a New York fund manager who was running an $11-million Ponzi scheme, federal court filings showed. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Jason Konior with defrauding investors by promising to match their investments in his fund many times over. In reality, he used $2 million of the money he collected to pay his own expenses and to cover redemption requests from previous investors, according to the SEC's complaint, dated Thursday. Konior's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ...

Colorado farm linked to listeria outbreak files for bankruptcy

Sat, 26 May 2012 20:03:26 -0400

DENVER (Reuters) - The Colorado farm that grew cantaloupes linked to a listeria outbreak that killed more than 30 people last year has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, court documents showed. Jensen Farms of Holly, Colorado, listed $2.1 million in assets and more than $2.5 million in liabilities in documents filed on Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver. In its bankruptcy papers, the farm listed numerous wrongful death lawsuits it faces in the wake of the outbreak. ...