(Reuters) – U.S. power grid operator PJM said Friday its capacity auction secured a record amount of new generation, demand response and energy efficiency resources for the 2015/2016 delivery year to keep the grid reliable as dozens of coal plants retire. PJM said the auction, known as the Reliability Pricing Model (RPM) auction, procured...
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles police said Friday they have arrested two suspects in the killings of two Chinese graduate students slain near the University of Southern California last month. Ming Qu and Ying Wu, both 23, were fatally shot early on April 11 as they were sitting in a parked car outside...
Sunrises and sunsets often dazzle, but they’ll have a special ring to them in a few days for people in the western United States and eastern Asia: The moon will slide across the sun, blocking everything but a blazing halo of light. ... read more at source
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – A California mother suffered severe burns from a handful of beach rocks that burst into flames in her pocket, and authorities on Friday said they are trying to determine why the stones appear to have been coated with flammable phosphorus. The woman was identified on Friday as Lyn Hiner, 43,...
BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) – An airline pilot was arrested Friday morning at Buffalo Niagara International Airport after security screeners discovered a loaded revolver in his baggage. Brett Dieter, 52, of Barbersville, Virginia, arrived at the upstate New York airport Friday to pilot a flight to New York City’s LaGuardia … ... read more at...
(Reuters) – Arizona’s secretary of state said Friday he had asked officials in Hawaii to verify that Barack Obama was born in their state in order for the president’s name to appear on the November ballot in Arizona. Ken Bennett, who is Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign co-chairman in Arizona, said he made...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Large stretches of salmon-spawning streams and thousands of acres of wetlands would be wiped out if a large-scale mining project were to be built in southwestern Alaska‘s copper-rich Bristol Bay region, according to a report issued Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The report, while not directly addressing it, is...
PHOENIX (Reuters) – An Arizona wildfire threatened two more towns on Friday, with high winds on the way, even as firefighters made progress against the largest of a string of blazes spreading across the U.S. Southwest. More than 1,000 firefighters in Arizona and Colorado were battling five major blazes that have consumed more than...
MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) – Alabama‘s governor signed into law revisions to the state’s controversial immigration statute on Friday, despite his earlier suggestions he might veto the measure because it did not make enough changes to the toughest state crackdown against illegal immigrants. Republican Governor Robert Bentley had publicly urged lawmakers to modify sections of...
PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) – The Oregon state board of education has banned public schools from using American Indian names and mascots for their athletic teams, out of a concern they disparage native American people. The move is believed to be one of the nation’s most sweeping prohibitions of its kind in favor of native...
FAIRFAX, California (Reuters) – Relatives of a pioneer buried in a paupers’ cemetery unearthed by construction crews beneath the parking lot of a California hospital implored a judge on Friday to spare Anna Cardenas from cremation and allow them to give her a Catholic burial. Following a hearing in San Jose on the fate...
BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) – An airline pilot was arrested Friday morning at Buffalo Niagara International Airport after security screeners discovered a loaded revolver in his baggage. Brett Dieter, 52, of Barbersville, Virginia, arrived at the upstate New York airport Friday to pilot a flight to New York City‘s LaGuardia International Airport for Piedmont...
MCALLEN, Texas (Reuters) – A man suspected of killing his newlywed bride near Chicago and leaving her in a bathtub in the same silver sequin cocktail dress she wore to her wedding reception may have fled to the U.S.-Mexican border in Texas, an FBI affidavit showed. Arnoldo Jimenez, 30, has been on the run...
(Reuters) – In the small Texas town of Wolfforth, it’s “Heads I win.” A city council election there came down to a coin toss on Friday. After church administrator Bruce MacNair and banker Bryan Studer wrapped up last Saturday’s election with 118 votes each, the men agreed to settle the town’s first electoral tie...
SEATTLE (Reuters) – A U.S. soldier accused of killing five fellow servicemen at a military combat stress center in Baghdad in 2009 has been ordered to stand trial in a U.S. military court, officials said on Friday. Sergeant John Russell, who could face the death penalty if convicted, is accused of going on a...
BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) – European officials are working on contingency plans in case Greece bombs out of the euro zone, the EU’s trade commissioner said on Friday, as European share prices tumbled and Germany warned of continuing financial turmoil. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, one of Greece’s harsher critics, … ... read more at source
PHOENIX (Reuters) – An Arizona wildfire threatened two more towns on Friday, with high winds on the way, as firefighters made progress against the largest of several fires spreading across the U.S. Southwest. More than 1,000 firefighters in Arizona and Colorado were battling five major blazes that have consumed more than 55 square miles...
SEATTLE (Reuters) – A U.S. soldier accused of killing five fellow servicemen at a military combat stress center in Baghdad in 2009 has been ordered to stand trial in a U.S. military court, officials said on Friday. Sergeant John Russell, who could face the death penalty if convicted, is accused of going on a...
(Reuters) – Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin was charged on Friday with illegally using her taxpayer-funded staff to campaign for her seat on the state’s highest court. Orie Melvin was suspended from the bench on Friday, a day after nine criminal counts against her were recommended by a grand jury in Common...
GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) – Jurors weighing whether former U.S. Senator John Edwards illegally used campaign funds to conceal an extramarital affair when he ran for president headed home on Friday and will resume deliberations next week. A judge let the jury go for the weekend after 5-1/2 hours of discussions. Earlier Friday, jurors...
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The price for staking ground on Manhattan‘s Fifth Avenue jumped 22 percent in the past year, spurred by a record number of tourists spending their dollars at top U.S. and international retailers on America’s most coveted shopping ground. The asking rent for street-level stores on Fifth Avenue between 50th and...
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former MF Global Holdings Ltd customer was rebuked on Friday by a judge for filing “frivolous” court papers attacking the mounting fees of Louis Freeh, the trustee unwinding the company’s bankrupt estate. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn rejected arguments from customer leader James Koutoulas that Freeh should not...
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – An Obama administration plan to cut the cost of spaceflight services faces a key test on Saturday when a privately owned rocket lifts off for a practice run to the International Space Station. If successful, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, would become the first private company to reach the...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration‘s top health official on Friday took the debate over whether healthcare coverage should include contraceptives to the campus of a Catholic university that has been deeply divided over the administration‘s policy. U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a speech at Georgetown University a few miles from the White...
(Reuters) – A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a key provision of the landmark U.S. voting rights law aimed at protecting minorities in states and local areas with a history of racial discrimination. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2-1 decision said Congress did not exceed...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration’s top health official on Friday took the debate over whether healthcare coverage should include contraceptives to the campus of a Catholic university that has been deeply divided over the administration‘s policy. U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a speech at Georgetown University a few miles from the White...
GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) – Jurors in the trial of former U.S. Senator John Edwards asked on Friday to review more than a dozen prosecution exhibits as they deliberated whether he illegally used campaign funds to conceal his extramarital affair while he ran for president. The North Carolina federal court jurors began deliberating on...
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Railroad operating company Kansas City Southern said on Friday shipments of coal, farm products and chemicals were weaker than expected a month ago, but kept its full-year profit forecast unchanged, saying shipments should pick up once the railroad moves past temporary factors. “We had a much more positive outlook 30...
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – An Obama administration plan to cut the cost of spaceflight services faces a key test on Saturday when a privately owned rocket lifts off for a practice run to the International Space Station. If successful, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, would become the first private company to reach the...
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict on Friday held out an olive branch to American Roman Catholic nuns, who are reeling from a stinging Vatican report that criticized them as being feminist and politicized. “I wish to reaffirm my deep gratitude for the example of fidelity and self-sacrifice given by many consecrated women (nuns)...
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The FBI said on Thursday there was “absolutely no indication” of a terror attack threat in Chicago, although the city was considered a potential target even before President Barack Obama and other leaders meet for this weekend’s NATO summit. FBI agent Ross Rice said the agency will be on heightened alert...
NEW YORK (Reuters) – In 1978, after New York City had barely escaped bankruptcy, Mayor Ed Koch went looking for cash from an unlikely source: the city’s colleges and other nonprofits, which do not pay taxes on their valuable land. Koch was trying to do then what cash-starved cities are now pulling off: extracting...
TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) – Mississippi police have arrested a man they believe is responsible for two highway killings this month, the Department of Public Safety said on Friday. The suspect, James Willie, 28, of Sardis, Mississippi, was arrested Tuesday morning in Tunica, the department said in a statement. Police … ... read more at source
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A cancer-stricken judge in New York has become an unlikely voice in support of legalizing the use of medical marijuana with the admission that he smokes pot to ease the side-effects of his treatments. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach, who is being treated for pancreatic cancer, wrote in a...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A House of Representatives committee voted on Thursday to cut off economic aid to any country that hosts Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and other crimes. The provision is not yet law, and could change as foreign aid legislation moves...
GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) – A jury in North Carolina is set to begin deliberations on Friday morning in the federal political corruption trial of former U.S. Senator John Edwards, who is charged with accepting excessive campaign funds to conceal his extramarital affair while he ran for president. “Even with all John has done...
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – A new mother of twins in Greenville, South Carolina, is the latest victim of a rare and potentially fatal flesh-eating bacterial infection, health officials said on Thursday. Lana Kuykendall, 36, was in critical but stable condition at Greenville Memorial Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Sandy Dees said. Kuykendall, who gave birth...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A former program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and his son pleaded guilty on Thursday to participating in a plot involving possibly more than $30 million in bribes and kickbacks to steer a government contract to a favored bidder. Kerry Khan, 54, whom U.S. prosecutors call the ringleader...
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – The prosecution rested its case on Thursday against Philadelphia Archdiocese Monsignor William Lynn, the most senior U.S. clergyman to go to trial in the Roman Catholic Church’s pedophilia scandal. During nearly eight weeks of startling testimony about the lurid lives of predatory priests, Lynn, a former secretary of the clergy, has...
TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) – Authorities in Mississippi are checking an April incident they say may be related to two highway murders this month that have raised alarms about a killer possibly posing as a police officer. The April 2 incident – which involved a woman being pulled over by an unmarked car and did...
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – A former Nevada state Senator who ran on a Christian family values platform has posed in a bikini as a write-in candidate for the men’s magazine Maxim‘s “Hot 100″ contest. The magazine will announce results of the annual contest next week, but a photo of Elizabeth Halseth posed in a...
TUPELO, Miss (Reuters) – Mississippi‘s high court on Thursday rejected a motion by its state attorney general to reconsider its approval of 10 pardons issued in January by then Governor Haley Barbour. The decision not to rehear the case was handed down by the state Supreme Court without comment. Attorney General Jim Hood had...
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – The Humane Society of the United States is accusing an Oklahoma exotic animal park of allowing children to handle and pose for photographs with juvenile tigers in what they called “a petting zoo for carnivores.” Joe Schreibvogel, owner of the G.W. Exotic Animal Park, 65 miles south of Oklahoma City,...
KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) – Kansas Governor Sam Brownback apologized on Thursday to blacks for segregation in his state in the last century as he marked the anniversary of a ruling that struck down segregation in schools. The Republican governor said Kansas had never really apologized for the “hateful practice” of segregating black people...
HOUSTON (Reuters) – The day after an all-white jury acquitted a former Houston police officer for his role in the beating of a 15-year-old African American burglary suspect, community activists rallied a crowd of at least 200 people on the courthouse steps to protest. Andrew Blomberg was acquitted by a jury in Houston on...
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – An FBI expert found crucial evidence in the Trayvon Martin case was inconclusive, saying it was impossible to tell if the voice screaming for help belonged to the black Florida teenager or his shooter George Zimmerman just before the neighborhood watch captain pulled the trigger. That detail came from a...
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A small group of anti-war demonstrators staged a peaceful “die in” on Thursday at President Barack Obama‘s election campaign headquarters in Chicago to demand an end to the war in Afghanistan and unmanned drone aircraft attacks overseas. Despite calling ahead, some of the roughly 50 protesters said they were unable to...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For the first time, there are more black, Hispanic and other minority babies being born in the United States than white babies, according to government data released on Thursday that confirm a long-growing trend. U.S. Census Bureau data show the United States is on its way to becoming “majority minority,” with...
(Reuters) – New York state’s unemployment rate was unchanged in April from March at 8.5 percent but the state has won back all the private sector jobs lost during the recession, the state’s Department of Labor said on Thursday. New York‘s jobless rate is up from 8 percent in April 2011 and is above...
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The parents of two Chinese graduate students slain near the University of Southern California last month have filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing the school of misrepresenting the area as safe and failing to provide security patrols. The 15-page lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court comes just...