SEATTLE (Reuters) – The 20-year-old serial thief nicknamed the “Barefoot Bandit” faces final sentencing in Seattle’s U.S. District Court on Friday for his sensational, two-year crime spree as a sometimes-shoeless teenage runway. Colton Harris-Moore could receive up to 6 1/2 years in prison for the seven federal charges he pleaded guilty to in June,...
ANN ARBOR, Michigan (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, appearing before thousands of cheering students at the University of Michigan, touted his plan on Friday to reward colleges that keep their tuition under control with more federal aid as he makes school affordability a top election-year priority. Obama, seeking to reform federal aid for students...
NEW HAVEN, Conn (Reuters) – A judge formally sentenced Joshua Komisarjevsky to death for the murders of a mother and her two daughters during a brutal home invasion in Connecticut, saying he committed a crime of “unimaginable horror.” Judge Jon Blue on Friday told Komisarjevsky, 31, that he alone was to blame for his...
(Reuters) – A partial collapse at a Horseshoe casino construction site in Cincinnati injured at least 13 people on Friday, none of them critically, and all were accounted for, officials said. The cause of the collapse was undetermined, said Jennifer Spieser, a spokeswoman for the Cincinnati Fire Department. Most of the … ... read more...
NEW HAVEN, Conn (Reuters) – Dr. William Petit, speaking on Friday at the formal sentencing of the man convicted of killing his wife and daughters during a brutal home invasion, said their murders were his “own personal holocaust.” Petit gave his victim’s impact statement in New Haven Superior Court for the formal sentencing of...
JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) – Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney took the fight to chief rival Newt Gingrich on Thursday in his most aggressive debate performance yet, five days ahead of Florida‘s primary vote. A neck-and-neck race for Florida and its importance for the Republican presidential nomination made for a combustible atmosphere at the University...
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas executed a convicted murderer by lethal injection on Thursday, administering the ultimate punishment to a man who had been paroled for an assault in Michigan when his DNA linked him to a years-old murder in San Antonio. Rodrigo Hernandez, 38, was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling … ... read...
(Reuters) – Bucking criticism about their financial performance, state retirement systems’ assets grew in 2010, with investment earnings rising for the first time since 2007, the U.S. Census reported on Thursday. The pension funds‘ cash and investments totaled $2.2 trillion in 2010, up 10.7 percent, or $213.9 billion, from 2009, when their cash and...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States must urgently work to find a new central site to house its spent nuclear fuel and probe whether Japan’s nuclear disaster has any safety implications for storage at the country’s plants, a federal panel said on Thursday. The U.S. government has struggled with how to manage the 65,000...
In 2012, Yahoo! News will tell the nation’s story through the experiences and views of real Americans like you. Watch the first Remake America video » ... read more at source
In 2012, Yahoo! News will tell the nation’s story through the experiences and views of real Americans like you. Watch the first Remake America video » ... read more at source
RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – North Carolina‘s Democratic Governor Bev Perdue announced she would not seek a second term on Thursday, giving in to falling poll numbers and a political image weakened by ethics questions and a revitalized Republican opposition. Perdue, 65, a former school teacher with a doctorate in education administration, became the...
EAST HAVEN, Connecticut (Reuters) – Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. got what he asked for. Two days after Maturo sparked a national firestorm for his “I might have tacos” quip when several of his town’s police officers were charged by federal authorities with harassing Latinos, immigration advocates sent 500 tacos to his office for lunch...
ATLANTA (Reuters) – Gang-related deaths typically aren’t the product of fights over drugs — as many assume — but rather result from grudges between rival gangs that erupt into violence, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gang homicides nearly always involve guns, usually occur in public places...
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas executed a convicted murderer by lethal injection on Thursday, administering the ultimate punishment to a man who had been paroled for an assault in Michigan when his DNA linked him to a years-old murder in San Antonio. Rodrigo Hernandez, 38, was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling … ... read...
SACRAMENTO, Calif (Reuters) – California‘s state Senate approved a bill on Thursday to restrict protests at funerals in a move aimed at limiting the impact of controversial demonstrations like those led by a fringe Kansas-based church against homosexuality. The measure, unanimously approved by the Democrat-led Senate despite criticism from civil liberties advocates, would require...
MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – Minnesota officials on Thursday outlined plans to permit a hunting season for the gray wolf this year following its removal from federal endangered species protections, prompting opponents of the plan to consider a court challenge. Minnesota is home to the largest population of gray wolves in the lower 48 states, about...
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Facebook and the state of Washington sued a company on Thursday they accused of a practice called “clickjacking” that fools users of the world’s top social network into visiting advertising sites, divulging personal information and spreading the scam to friends. The scheme, also known as “likejacking” because victims are tricked into...
LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Reuters) – The mother of one of the three Cub Scouts killed in Arkansas in 1993 – a case that is the subject of a documentary nominated for an Academy Award – wants the case reopened because of what she called crucial new evidence. “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” which was nominated...
In 2012, Yahoo! News will tell the nation’s story through the experiences and views of real Americans like you. Watch the first Remake America video » ... read more at source
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas executed a convicted murderer by lethal injection on Thursday, administering the ultimate punishment to a man who had been paroled for an assault in Michigan when his DNA linked him to a years-old murder in San Antonio. Rodrigo Hernandez, 38, was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling … ... read...
SAN ANGELO, Texas (Reuters) – A breakaway Mormon sect loyal to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs has placed a series of ads urging repentance in major U.S. and Canadian newspapers that display purported revelations from God via their faith’s self-proclaimed prophet. Jeffs, the 56-year-old leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter...
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas executed a convicted murderer by lethal injection on Thursday, administering the ultimate punishment to a man who had been paroled for an assault in Michigan when his DNA linked him to a years-old murder in San Antonio. Rodrigo Hernandez, 38, was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling … ... read...
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas executed a convicted murderer by lethal injection on Thursday, administering the ultimate punishment to a man who had been paroled for an assault in Michigan when his DNA linked him to a years-old murder in San Antonio. Rodrigo Hernandez, 38, was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling Susan Verstegen...
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Greg Kelly, son of New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, is under investigation, his lawyer said on Thursday following media reports that a Manhattan woman accused him of rape. A woman around the age of 30 made the complaint against Kelly, a local television news host, on Tuesday night...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A veterans‘ advocacy group urged the U.S. Military Academy on Thursday to withdraw a speech invitation to a retired general who portrayed the U.S. fight against Muslims radicals as a battle with Satan. VoteVets, which describes itself as the biggest U.S. progressive veterans’ organization, said West Point‘s invitation to retired three-star...
MADISON, Wis (Reuters) – Two former aides to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker were charged on Thursday with political fundraising on public time in a development that could give fresh ammunition to critics seeking to toss the Republican out of office over a law he championed last year curbing the rights of public sector unions....
(Reuters) – A Pennsylvania woman who faked her own kidnapping while actually at Disney World was sentenced on Thursday to 100 months in prison for swindling her employer and family members out of more than $600,000. At the sentencing in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, Bonnie Sweeten, 40, was ordered to prison for just...
In 2012, Yahoo! News will tell the nation’s story through the experiences and views of real Americans like you. Watch the first Remake America video » ... read more at source
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States must urgently work to find a new central site to house its spent nuclear fuel and probe whether Japan’s nuclear disaster has any safety implications for storage at the country’s plants, a federal panel said on Thursday. The U.S. government has struggled with how to manage the 65,000...
In 2012, Yahoo! News will tell the nation’s story through the experiences and views of real Americans like you. Watch the first Remake America video » ... read more at source
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) – A former Marine Corps reservist pleaded guilty to reduced charges of shooting at the Pentagon and attempting to desecrate graves at Arlington National Cemetery in a plea deal on Thursday and agreed to a 25-year prison sentence. Yonathan Melaku, 23, had been charged in connection with a total of five...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New orders for U.S. manufactured goods rose in December and a gauge of future business investment rebounded, showing the economy ended the year with more momentum than previously thought. Other reports on Thursday showed new claims for jobless benefits rose moderately last week, suggesting the labor … ... read more at source
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Baltimore man angry about American policy toward Muslims pleaded guilty on Thursday as part of a plot to bomb a U.S. military recruitment center in Maryland and faces a 25-year prison sentence, the Justice Department said. It said Antonio Martinez, also known as Muhammad Hussain, pleaded guilty as part of...
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A man who had been paroled for an assault in Michigan when his DNA linked him to a years-old murder in San Antonio is scheduled to be executed in Texas on Thursday. Rodrigo Hernandez faces lethal injection for sexually assaulting and strangling Susan Verstegen, 38, before leaving her body in...
STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) – Some 10,000 ticket holders headed to a campus memorial service on Thursday for one final goodbye to late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, concluding five days of public mourning for college football‘s legendary “JoePa.” Massive crowds have been turning out since Paterno died on Sunday of lung cancer...
(Reuters) – A four-year-old U.S. boy who announced to his teacher at school snack time that he wanted to share pulled nine bags of marijuana out of his jacket pocket, police said on Wednesday. Police in Meriden, Connecticut were called to Hanover Elementary School Tuesday afternoon after the young special needs student displayed the...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Studying the potential health hazards of nanotechnology will require an additional $24 million a year to close the knowledge gap about the tiny particles used in a fast-growing array of consumer products, the National Research Council (NRC) said on Wednesday. A new federal oversight agency is also required to integrate research...
PORTLAND, Ore (Reuters) – Thousands of disabled Oregonians are stuck segregated in dead-end jobs at “sheltered workshops,” in violation of federal law, because of failed state programs that should help them find mainstream employment, according to a landmark lawsuit filed on Wednesday. Sheltered workshops, sometimes called “work-activity programs,” are facilities funded by state and...
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street is set for a slightly lower open on Thursday, giving back some of the gains from the previous session, when the Federal Reserve boosted equities by saying it was likely to keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014. At 4:21 a.m. ET, futures for the...
(Reuters) – While Americans might get a little break in their payroll taxes through the end of this year, greater financial relief for workers will be elusive. After the State of the Union speech by President Obama on Tuesday night, it’s clear that the wizard will still be hiding behind the curtain. The best...
Dick Tufeld, a radio and TV announcer best known as the voice of the robot in the 1960s television show “Lost in Space,” has died. He was 85. ... read more at source
WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. schoolchildren, accustomed to a steady diet of pizza and french fries, will find more fruits, vegetables and whole grains on their cafeteria trays under new government school lunch rules announced on Wednesday. The new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules aim to boost the nutritional quality of the federally...
(Reuters) – Standard Poor’s has been sued by Illinois‘ attorney general, who accused it of fueling the nation’s housing and financial crises by assigning inflated credit ratings to risky mortgage-backed securities. Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the McGraw-Hill Cos Inc unit, in a drive to boost market share, committed fraud and compromised its independence...
STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) – Thousands kept vigil in frigid weather outside a funeral home on Wednesday where family and friends of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno gathered to mourn a man whose towering image was shaken by a child sex abuse scandal at the school. Paterno, 85, who died of lung...
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Elite U.S. Navy SEALs swooped into Somalia on Wednesday and rescued two hostage aid workers after killing their nine kidnappers, a rare and daring raid in the Horn of Africa nation to free foreign captives. American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, of Denmark, humanitarian aid workers … ... read...
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nancy Shevell, the American heiress married to former Beatle Paul McCartney, on Wednesday resigned from the board of New York‘s Metropolitan Transportation Authority where she served since 2001. “In my 30-year professional career, this has been a highlight for me,” Shevell told the board which oversees the New York area’s...
MADISON (Reuters) – Wisconsin’s Republican Governor Scott Walker, whose tumultuous first year in office saw partisan budget battles, massive street protests and a statewide recall effort against him, focused on job creation and ridding government of wasteful spending in a ‘state of the state’ speech on Wednesday disrupted by heckling. During a 45-minute address...
HOUSTON (Reuters) – A financial adviser who worked for former financier Allen Stanford testified at his trial on Wednesday that Stanford personally pressured her to bring in new clients for his bank. Stanford, 61, is accused of selling fraudulent certificates of deposit from Stanford International Bank Ltd, which was based on the Caribbean island...
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Alaska Airlines, America’s seventh-largest carrier in terms of passenger traffic, said on Wednesday that it would end a decades-old tradition of handing out prayer cards with its in-flight meals. The prayer cards, which the Seattle-based airline began offering in the 1970s after an executive spotted them on another airline, were intended...