2012-05-18T10:36:29Z

Former U.S. Senator John Edwards walks to the federal courthouse in GreensboroGREENSBORO, 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 — his family, legal career, running for president, this is, of course, the most important day of his life," Edwards' defense attorney Abbe Lowell said on Thursday as both prosecutors and defense lawyers delivered closing arguments. ...


2012-05-18T12:21:20Z

Police handout photo of James WillieTUPELO, 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 had responded to a reported rape. Willie is charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and rape. He will be charged with two counts of capital murder on Friday, the statement said. ...


2012-05-18T04:13:40Z

Handout photo of George Zimmerman's headORLANDO, 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 mass of evidence made public on Thursday in the case that sparked civil rights protests across the United States and debates over guns, self-defense laws and race relations in America. ...


2012-05-18T12:01:49Z

To match Reuters Life! TRAVEL-PRINCETON/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 more money from colleges, universities and private hospitals to help restore bare-boned budgets. Two weeks ago, Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Angel Taveras struck a deal with Brown University, which doubled its annual voluntary contribution to nearly $8 million for five years. ...


2012-05-18T11:52:25Z

An activist takes part in an anti-NATO demonstration outside of U.S. President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters in ChicagoCHICAGO (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 deliver a letter to the Obama campaign calling for the United States to leave NATO and its "violent mission of protecting the 1 percent in the global economy who represent 99 percent of corporate wealth in the world. ...


2012-05-18T02:39:03Z
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 Wednesday in the alleged beating and stomping of Chad Holley two years ago. Protesters carrying signs with slogans like, "No justice, no peace. ...
2012-05-17T23:46:12Z

Newborn baby Makenzie is wheeled to a nursery after she was born at 10:25am at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in the Brooklyn borough of New YorkWASHINGTON (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 almost half of all young children currently from minority groups, including Hispanic, black and Asian. As of July 1, 2011, 50.4 percent of babies younger than age 1 were minorities or of more than one race, up from 49.5 percent in 2010, the data showed. ...


2012-05-18T00:25:31Z

Government officials examine package of meat product known as pink slime during a tour of Beef Product Inc's plant in South Sioux City, NebraskaKANSAS 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 from white in public places after the abolition of slavery. Brownback signed the proclamation on the 58th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1954 ruling in Brown vs. ...


2012-05-18T01:21:52Z

USC president C. L. Max Nikias bows before images of Chinese murder victims Ying Wu and Ming Qu before eulogizing the slain engineering students during a memorial service in the Shrine Auditorium in Los AngelesLOS 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 over a month after Ming Qu and Ying Wu, both 23, were fatally shot as they were sitting in a 2003 BMW car that had been double-parked. ...


2012-05-18T02:37:39Z
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, denies the allegations, and he said on Thursday that the humane society simply wants to bankrupt him. Wayne Pacelle, head of the animal rights organization, contends that allowing visitors to handle the unpredictable felines placed the visitors at risk. ...
2012-05-18T01:30:54Z

A man works around the rail near the stern of the U.S. battleship LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The USS Iowa, which ferried the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the perilous Atlantic waters to a historic meeting with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin in the dark days of World War Two, will have to be towed to its final port call. The battleship saw combat in the Pacific, survived a devastating explosion in a gun turret, and even a snub from the city of San Francisco. At the end of its final voyage, the storied warship will have a permanent mooring in Los Angeles. ...


2012-05-18T00:25:58Z
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 asked the court to void those pardons, among some 200 issued by the former Republican governor, on the grounds that technical procedures set out in the state constitution had not been met. ...
2012-05-18T00:45:07Z
(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 the national rate for April of 8.1 percent. Only four other states have regained all the jobs lost during the Great Recession: Alaska, Louisiana, North Dakota and Texas, said Kevin Jack, a state labor market analyst. ...
2012-05-18T00:35:02Z
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 black bikini against a desert mountain backdrop has featured on the magazine's website as one of the most popular 'Hot 100' write-ins of the year. ...
2012-05-18T01:33:11Z
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Firefighters struggled against strong winds on Thursday to halt the advance of Arizona wildfires that have charred more than 30 square miles (78 square km) of dry ponderosa forest, brush and grass, and a blaze in nearby Colorado swelled overnight. More than 1,000 firefighters in the two states battled at least five major blazes from the ground while air tankers and helicopters dropped water and fire retardant. Another fire erupted in Minnesota, encroaching on the northern town of Ely. ...
2012-05-17T23:48:53Z
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 not end violently - is one of hundreds of leads that officials are following in rural northern Mississippi as they investigate the killings. ...
2012-05-17T23:22:35Z
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Firefighters struggled against strong winds on Thursday to halt the advance of Arizona wildfires that have charred over 30 square miles of dry ponderosa forest, brush and grass, and a blaze in nearby Colorado swelled overnight. Over 1,000 firefighters in the two states battled at least five major blazes from the ground while air tankers and helicopters made water and fire retardant drops. ...
2012-05-17T23:21:42Z
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - War-weary lawmakers nudged President Barack Obama to speed the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan on Thursday but Republicans blocked a big debate on the issue ahead of a NATO summit to chart the way forward in the decade-long conflict. The clash over Afghanistan came as lawmakers in the House of Representatives debated an annual policy bill that would authorize $642.5 billion in defense spending for the 2013 fiscal year beginning in October, including $88.5 billion for the Afghan war and other overseas operations. ...
2012-05-17T22:16:56Z

Monsignor Lynn returns to the courthouse after lunch recess on the opening day of his child sex abuse trial in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPHILADELPHIA (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 sat stoically in his clerical garb as the case unfolded in an often-packed courtroom. ...


2012-05-17T23:27:27Z
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 of the scheme, said he was guilty of federal charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering. ...
2012-05-17T20:52:25Z

To match Special Report USA/USPSWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Postal Service will proceed with a plan this summer to shut mail-processing facilities as part of its cost-cutting effort but will spread out the closings to maintain overnight delivery of local mail. The agency said on Thursday it would consolidate processing at 140 of its 461 sites by February 2013, moving processing from small facilities to larger ones, and shrink the area where customers can expect mail to be delivered the next day. ...


2012-05-17T22:53:04Z
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 to twins this month at a Georgia hospital, came home to South Carolina and had severe pain in her leg, her husband, Darren Kuykendall, told a local television station. ...
2012-05-17T21:53:00Z
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 through Congress this year. It was approved by the House Appropriations Committee as part of that legislation, which would slash spending on the U.S. State Department and foreign assistance by some 9 percent. ...
2012-05-17T23:47:26Z

Parents of slain teenager Martin speak at a rally in support of their son in Los Angeles(Reuters) - Florida teenage shooting victim Trayvon Martin had traces of marijuana in his system when he was killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, according to case documents released on Thursday. The medical examiner's report was among hundreds of pages released in connection with the February 26 shooting that triggered civil rights protests as well as a debate over guns, self-defense laws and race relations in America. The report showed traces of THC - an ingredient found in marijuana - in Martin's blood plus a positive test for cannabinoids in his urine. ...


2012-05-17T22:08:24Z
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 New York Times article on Thursday that he had been using marijuana provided by friends at "great personal risk" to help him cope with the nausea, sleeplessness and loss of appetite from chemotherapy treatments. ...
2012-05-17T23:21:02Z

Peace activists take part in an anti-NATO demonstration in ChicagoCHICAGO (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 deliver a letter to the Obama campaign calling for the United States to leave NATO and its "violent mission of protecting the 1 percent in the global economy who represent 99 percent of corporate wealth in the world. ...


2012-05-17T22:48:36Z
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 in Chicago, with extra agents brought in to react if its intelligence network sniffs out a plot. The FBI has agents in 70 countries, gathering intelligence. "Several international terrorist groups have elevated Chicago in their mind to their No. ...
2012-05-17T21:17:46Z
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 not end violently - is one of hundreds of leads that officials are following in rural northern Mississippi as they investigate the killings. ...
2012-05-17T20:32:47Z

A protester takes part in one of the demonstrations during the week ahead of the NATO meeting in ChicagoCHICAGO (Reuters) - Debbie and George Sevilis were supposed to get married on Saturday, May 19. Everything was booked. They had saved the date. Then last August they heard that the NATO summit was coming to Chicago, bringing in dozens of political leaders and their entourages including U.S. President Barack Obama. There would be added security, street closures and protests. It was not what the couple had in mind for their big day. Many of their 100 or so guests would be traveling from out of town, and they wanted them to be able to enjoy the city. ...


2012-05-17T21:17:15Z
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co's program to develop a new refueling tanker is proceeding well, but an aggressive test schedule and Boeing's plan to close the Wichita, Kansas, plant still pose some risks, said the Air Force general in charge of the program. Major General Christopher Bogdan, who runs the $51.7 billion program for the Air Force, said on Thursday he was cautiously optimistic after the program passed a first critical milestone earlier this month, but that there is more hard work ahead. ...
2012-05-18T13:58:33Z
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 days ago," Chief Financial Officer Michael Upchurch told the Bank of America Merrill Lynch global transportation conference in Boston. ...
2012-05-18T04:13:40Z

Handout photo of George Zimmerman's headORLANDO, 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 mass of evidence made public on Thursday in the case that sparked civil rights protests across the United States and debates over guns, self-defense laws and race relations in America. ...


2012-05-18T12:21:20Z

Police handout photo of James WillieTUPELO, 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 had responded to a reported rape. Willie is charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and rape. He will be charged with two counts of capital murder on Friday, the statement said. ...


2012-05-18T12:01:49Z

To match Reuters Life! TRAVEL-PRINCETON/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 more money from colleges, universities and private hospitals to help restore bare-boned budgets. Two weeks ago, Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Angel Taveras struck a deal with Brown University, which doubled its annual voluntary contribution to nearly $8 million for five years. ...


2012-05-18T10:36:29Z

Former U.S. Senator John Edwards walks to the federal courthouse in GreensboroGREENSBORO, 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 — his family, legal career, running for president, this is, of course, the most important day of his life," Edwards' defense attorney Abbe Lowell said on Thursday as both prosecutors and defense lawyers delivered closing arguments. ...


2012-05-18T11:52:25Z

An activist takes part in an anti-NATO demonstration outside of U.S. President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters in ChicagoCHICAGO (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 deliver a letter to the Obama campaign calling for the United States to leave NATO and its "violent mission of protecting the 1 percent in the global economy who represent 99 percent of corporate wealth in the world. ...


2012-05-18T02:37:39Z
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, denies the allegations, and he said on Thursday that the humane society simply wants to bankrupt him. Wayne Pacelle, head of the animal rights organization, contends that allowing visitors to handle the unpredictable felines placed the visitors at risk. ...
2012-05-18T02:39:03Z
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 Wednesday in the alleged beating and stomping of Chad Holley two years ago. Protesters carrying signs with slogans like, "No justice, no peace. ...
2012-05-16T14:53:40Z

Michelle Rhee, founder and CEO of StudentsFirst, poses in her office in Sacramento(Reuters) - During her tumultuous three years at the head of the Washington D.C. public schools, Michelle Rhee set off a lot of fireworks. She's still doing it - on a national stage. Rhee has emerged as the leader of an unlikely coalition of politicians, philanthropists, financiers and entrepreneurs who believe the nation's $500 billion-a-year public education system needs a massive overhaul. She has vowed to raise $1 billion for her national advocacy group, StudentsFirst, and forever break the hold of teachers unions on education policy. ...


2012-05-18T01:33:11Z
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Firefighters struggled against strong winds on Thursday to halt the advance of Arizona wildfires that have charred more than 30 square miles (78 square km) of dry ponderosa forest, brush and grass, and a blaze in nearby Colorado swelled overnight. More than 1,000 firefighters in the two states battled at least five major blazes from the ground while air tankers and helicopters dropped water and fire retardant. Another fire erupted in Minnesota, encroaching on the northern town of Ely. ...