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| Case of N.C. cop who killed an unarmed man headed to grand jury Monday, Jan 13, 2014 07:56 PM PST WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - Prosecutors will seek an indictment against a North Carolina police officer accused of fatally shooting an unarmed man 10 times after he survived a car accident and banged on the door of a nearby house in the middle of the night looking for help. The officer, Randall Kerrick, 27, is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the September 14 shooting of Jonathan Ferrell, a 24-year-old former Florida A&M University football player. The North Carolina Attorney General's office said in a statement the case against Kerrick, who was suspended after the shooting, will go before a grand jury on January 21. Prosecutors reached their decision after investigations by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigation, the statement said. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. lawmakers unveil $1.1 trillion spending bill, no Obamacare increase Monday, Jan 13, 2014 07:54 PM PST  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiators in the U.S. Congress on Monday unveiled a $1.1 trillion spending bill that aims to prevent another government shutdown while boosting funding levels slightly for military and domestic programs - but not for "Obamacare" health reforms. With a deadline looming at midnight Wednesday for new spending authority, lawmakers will still need a three-day stop-gap funding extension to ensure enough time for passage of the spending bill this week. The measure eases across-the-board spending cuts by providing an extra $45 billion for military and domestic discretionary programs for fiscal 2014, to a total of $1.012 trillion. The shutdown was prompted largely by disputes over funding for "Obamacare" health insurance reforms. Full Story | Top |
| Court set to rule on forcing California to ease prison crowding Monday, Jan 13, 2014 07:45 PM PST By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - The ongoing battle over how to reduce crowding in California's massive, troubled prison system heated up again on Monday, after a panel of federal judges said that court-ordered talks between state officials and lawyers for inmates had produced no results. He said through a spokeswoman Monday that he remained hopeful that the judges would give the state more time. Full Story | Top |
| Chinese military ordered to buy locally-made vehicles Monday, Jan 13, 2014 07:18 PM PST  Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered the military to choose domestic brands when procuring vehicles, part of a broad effort to reduce costs and buy locally-produced goods, state media reported. The decision, contained in a circular issued late on Monday, follows a ban in April on the use of military license plates on luxury cars, most of which were foreign brands. Xi, who became Communist Party chief in November 2012 and also serves as president and top military leader as head of the Central Military Commission, has launched a government-wide drive to encourage frugality and fight corruption. The purchase of new military cars should be arranged through a centralized system, it said. Full Story | Top |
| House Democrats request probe into Target card breach Monday, Jan 13, 2014 07:07 PM PST  By Mark Hosenball and Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers called on Monday for a congressional inquiry into the hacking of credit and debit card data of tens of millions of customers of No. 3 U.S. retailer Target Corp during the holiday shopping season. Target has said a breach of its networks resulted in the theft of about 40 million credit and debit card records and 70 million other records with customer information. In a letter to Jeb Hensarling, the committee's Republican chairman, 17 committee Democrats, led by ranking member Maxine Waters, asked for a "full Financial Services Committee hearing." The letter said a hearing should review current consumer protection laws and determine what could be done to ensure the future security of consumers' card information. Hensarling said in a statement on Monday night that "Americans have a right to expect that the personal information they turn over to private companies and government agencies will be protected and kept secure from loss, unauthorized access or misuse." "The House Financial Services Committee has held, and will continue to hold, hearings on the security of information collected by these agencies and financial institutions and will continue to press for accountability of all those who collect personal consumer data," Hensarling added. Full Story | Top |
| New York bears down on patent trolls, settles with Delaware firm Monday, Jan 13, 2014 06:57 PM PST  By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's attorney general has reached a civil settlement that bars a Delaware firm from using what he called "deceptive" means to get businesses to pay money for patent licenses. The settlement with MPHJ Technology Investments LLC heralds what the attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, called new guidelines to assure that so-called "patent trolls" do not use improper tactics. Also known as "patent assertion entities," patent trolls try to extract licensing fees or file infringement lawsuits that some critics view as frivolous. Full Story | Top |
| Thai protesters target ministries, threaten bourse Monday, Jan 13, 2014 06:39 PM PST  By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Protesters trying to topple Thailand's government said they would tighten the blockade around ministries on Tuesday and a hardline faction threatened to storm the stock exchange, while many major intersections in the capital Bangkok remained blocked. The turmoil is the latest chapter in an eight-year conflict pitting the Bangkok-based middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poorer, rural supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier who was ousted by the military in 2006. Many ministries and the central bank were forced to work from back-up offices on Monday after protesters led by Suthep Thaugsuban stopped civil servants getting to work. "We must surround government buildings, closing them in the morning and leaving in the afternoon," Suthep told supporters late on Monday, urging them to do that every day until Yingluck steps down. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Congress again rebuffs IMF funding request Monday, Jan 13, 2014 06:29 PM PST  U.S. lawmakers late on Monday failed to agree on key funding measures for the International Monetary Fund, in another setback for historic reforms at the global financial institution to give more power to emerging markets. For nearly a year, the Obama administration has been pushing Congress to approve a shift of some $63 billion from an IMF crisis fund to its general accounts in order to maintain Washington's power at the global lender, and to make good on an international commitment made in 2010. Congress must sign off on the IMF funding to complete 2010 reforms that would make China the IMF's third-largest member and revamp the Fund's board to reduce the dominance of Western Europe. After putting off the request in 2012 because of the U.S. presidential election, the U.S. Treasury has sought to tuck the provision into several bills since March. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-California policemen acquitted in beating death of mentally ill transient Monday, Jan 13, 2014 06:03 PM PST  By Dana Feldman SANTA ANA, California (Reuters) - Two former policemen were acquitted on Monday in the 2011 beating and stun-gun death of a mentally ill California homeless man that touched off street protests and political upheaval in the Los Angeles suburb of Fullerton. Ex-Fullerton police officers Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli were found not guilty of all charges linked to the death of 37-year-old Kelly Thomas following a month-long trial, according to a spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney. The eight-woman, four-man jury deliberated for less than two days before returning the verdicts in a packed Santa Ana, California courtroom. Ramos, 39, was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the case. Full Story | Top |
| Iran deal progress dampens push for new U.S. sanctions bill Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:59 PM PST  By Patricia Zengerle and Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is more likely to win his battle with the U.S. Congress to keep new sanctions on Iran at bay now that world powers and Tehran have made a new advance in talks to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Despite strong support for a bill in the Senate to slap new sanctions on the Islamic Republic, analysts, lawmakers and congressional aides said on Monday that the agreement to begin implementing a nuclear deal on January 20 makes it harder for sanctions supporters to attract more backers. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, was one of several of the 59 co-sponsors who said there is no clamor for a vote any time soon. Sixteen of Obama's fellow Democrats are among the co-sponsors of the measure requiring further cuts in Iran's oil exports if Tehran backs away from the interim agreement, despite Iran warning that it would back away from the negotiating table if any new sanctions measure passed. Full Story | Top |
| NY Yankee Rodriguez asks judge to throw out MLB suspension Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:57 PM PST  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Embattled New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez asked a federal judge on Monday to throw out an arbitrator's decision suspending him for the 2014 baseball season for doping, escalating a battle with Major League Baseball that shows no signs of abating. The lawsuit, filed by Rodriguez's attorneys at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, said arbitrator Fredric Horowitz exhibited "blatant partiality" toward MLB. MLB was named as a defendant along with Commissioner Bud Selig's office and the players' union. Rodriguez, baseball's highest-paid player, asserted that the union failed in its duty to provide him adequate representation during the investigation. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. judge tosses bankers' suit over rules to fight tax-dodging Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:55 PM PST By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a win for the Obama administration's fight against offshore tax evasion, a U.S. federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit challenging new rules forcing U.S. banks to tell the Internal Revenue Service about certain accounts held by foreigners. Bank industry lobbying groups in Texas and Florida in April challenged the U.S. rules in a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and the IRS, saying the rules were burdensome and would discourage U.S. foreign investment. Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in a 23-page opinion, dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the new rules "would cause minimal burden to banks and their customers." Written in 2012, the rule would require disclosure by U.S. banks of information about accounts held by non-resident aliens that earn at least $10 of interest per year. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: FBI suspects front running of Fannie, Freddie in swaps market Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:51 PM PST  Wall Street traders may be manipulating a key derivatives market and front running Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, hurting the US-owned mortgage giants in the process, according to an FBI intelligence bulletin reviewed by Reuters. Using what Federal Bureau of Investigation agents described as "unsophisticated tradecraft," such as hand signals and special telephone ring tones, some traders are conspiring to rig rates on large orders submitted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , or front running them in the interest rate swaps market, the document says. The FBI said in the bulletin that the information came from a former high-level employee at a U.S. bank and an employee at a Canadian Bank, plus interviews with other bank workers conducted in 2012 and 2013. The former high-level employee at the U.S. bank estimated the front running had resulted in profits of $50 million to $100 million for the bank, the FBI said. Full Story | Top |
| Senate Republicans make new offer on jobless benefits Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:36 PM PST  Prospects of 1.4 million unemployed Americans getting their federal jobless benefits back soon brightened on Monday when U.S. Senate Republican negotiators offered a new plan to extend the emergency relief for three months. Senate Democrats and Republicans planned to meet privately on Tuesday to evaluate the proposal. Long-term unemployment benefits expired on December 28, and President Barack Obama and his Democrats in Congress have since pressed for an unpaid extension of up to one year. Republicans have insisted on a shorter extension while also demanding that the $6.5 billion cost of extending benefits for three months be covered by government savings elsewhere. Full Story | Top |
| Baseball-Arbitrator decision says A-Rod doped for three seasons Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:32 PM PST By Larry Fine NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The arbitrator ruling on Major League Baseball's suspension of Alex Rodriguez painted a picture of secret meetings, coded message exchanges and years of doping that led him to ban baseball's highest paid player for the entire 2014 season. The 34-page decision written by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz became a matter of public record after lawyers for Rodriguez asked a federal judge on Monday to throw out his ruling, charging he had exhibited "blatant partiality" toward MLB. The decision revealed the first glimpse of a proceeding that took place behind closed doors, and resulted in Horowitz lowering MLB's initial 211-game suspension announced last August to 162 games covering the 2014 season and any postseason games. "While this length of suspension may be unprecedented for a MLB player, so is the misconduct he committed," Horowitz wrote in his conclusion. Full Story | Top |
| El Salvador opposition party leads tight election race: poll Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:31 PM PST  By Nelson Renteria SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The presidential candidate from El Salvador's right-wing opposition Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party is extending his narrow lead in the race to win February's election, according to a poll released on Monday. ARENA candidate Norman Quijano has 35.5 percent of voters' support, while former guerilla commander Salvador Sanchez, candidate for the ruling Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation, is close behind with 31.8 percent, according to the survey by polling firm Mitofsky. "I wouldn't call it a technical tie, but it's a close race," Roy Campos, president of Mitofsky Consulting, said in a television interview. Mitofsky in July had Quijano with 33 percent of voters' support and Sanchez with 32 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Penis pumps cost U.S. government millions, watchdog cries waste Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:26 PM PST Penis pumps cost the U.S. government's Medicare program $172 million between 2006 and 2011, about twice as much as the consumer would have paid at the retail level, according to a government watchdog's report released on Monday. The report by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services said Medicare, the government health insurance system for seniors, paid nearly 474,000 claims for vacuum erection systems, or VES, totaling about $172.4 million from 2006 to 2011. According to the Mayo Clinic, penis pumps are one of a few treatment options for erectile dysfunction. "Medicare payment amounts for VES remain grossly excessive compared with the amounts that non-Medicare payers pay," said the report, dated December 2013. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. and Russia say Syria aid access and local ceasefire possible Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:04 PM PST  By Warren Strobel PARIS (Reuters) - Syria's government and some rebels may be willing to permit humanitarian aid to flow, enforce local ceasefires and take other confidence-building measures in the nearly three-year-old civil war, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday. Kerry said that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "talked today about the possibility of trying to encourage a ceasefire. Maybe a localized ceasefire, beginning with Aleppo," Syria's largest city. "And both of us have agreed to try to work to see if that could be achieved." Syrian rebels backed by Washington have agreed that, if the government commits to such a partial ceasefire, "they would live up to it", Kerry said. Full Story | Top |
| Student in custody after bomb scare at Houston-area school Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:03 PM PST There were no injuries at Seven Lakes High School in Katy, a western suburb of Houston. Officials found what they described as a "zip gun" during a search of the building by school police with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Harris County Sheriff's Office bomb squad. Full Story | Top |
| Man shot dead over texting dispute in Florida theater Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:02 PM PST  By Barbara Liston TAMPA (Reuters) - A retired police captain shot and killed one moviegoer who was texting and wounded his wife on Monday in a Florida theater showing the hit new war film "Lone Survivor," authorities said. Doug Tobin, a spokesman for the Pasco Sheriff's Office, said the shooter, identified by local media as 71-year-old Curtis Reeves, was waiting for the film to begin with his wife when they got into an argument with another couple in the row of seats directly in front during the previews. At some point, Reeves brandished a gun and shot both Chad Oulson, who was texting, and his wife Nichole Oulson, the Sheriff's department told CNN. Reeves retired from the Tampa police 20 years ago, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Full Story | Top |
| FBI doesn't plan charges over IRS scrutiny of Tea Party: WSJ Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:00 PM PST  The FBI is not planning to file criminal charges involving the Internal Revenue Service's extra scrutiny of the Tea Party and other conservative groups, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing law enforcement officials. The newspaper quoted officials as saying that investigators probing the IRS actions, which unleashed a political furor in Washington, did not uncover the type of political bias or "enemy hunting" that would constitute a criminal violation. The case is still under investigation, but criminal charges were unlikely unless unexpected evidence emerged, officials familiar with the probe told the paper. Full Story | Top |
| Gun rights group sues University of Florida over gun ban Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:56 PM PST By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida gun rights group is suing the University of Florida claiming that a school-wide firearms ban barring students from keeping weapons in dormitories breaks both state and federal laws. The lawsuit is the second time in recent months Florida Carry Inc has taken one of the state's 12 public universities to court over gun control policies. On December 10 a state appeals court ruled 12-3 that the University of North Florida violated state law when it prohibited a woman from storing a loaded gun in her car. For decades, the legislature has spurned tighter gun control. Full Story | Top |
| Judge denies Michael Jackson's family bid for new wrongful death trial Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:27 PM PST  The family of late pop star Michael Jackson on Monday lost its bid for a new trial against concert promoter AEG Live, which had been cleared of liability in the singer's death. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos ruled that Jackson's mother and children did not have standing for a re-trial after their attorneys argued last month that jury instructions were confusing and not wide enough in scope. A jury in October cleared privately held AEG Live, the organizer of Jackson's ill-fated 50 "This Is It" comeback shows in London, of negligently hiring cardiologist Conrad Murray as Jackson's personal physician. The verdict came after a sensational five-month trial that offered a glimpse into the private life and final days of the "King of Pop." Jackson family attorneys could send their appeal to a higher state court. Full Story | Top |
| Senate confirms previously blocked Obama judicial nominee Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:25 PM PST  By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. District Judge Robert Wilkins won Senate confirmation to a key federal appeals court on Monday, two months after Republicans initially blocked President Barack Obama's nomination of the Harvard-educated jurist. Wilkins prevailed on this second try after Obama's Democrats changed the Senate rules last month to strip Republicans of their power to stop most of his picks with procedural roadblocks known as filibusters. On a party-line vote of 55-43, the Senate confirmed Wilkins to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said, "As we begin 2014, I hope we can set aside our differences and do what is best for this country by confirming qualified nominees to fill critical vacancies facing our federal judiciary." Democrats, who hold the Senate, 55-45, changed the rules in December to reduce from 60 to a simple majority the number of votes needed to end filibusters against most of Obama's nominees. Full Story | Top |
| Judge rejects inmate's challenge of Ohio's new execution method Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:24 PM PST By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A challenge to Ohio's new two-drug execution protocol was rejected by a federal judge on Monday, clearing the way for the state to put to death this week a man convicted of a 1989 rape and murder. Dennis McGuire, 53, is due to die on Thursday by a lethal combination of a sedative, midazolam, and a pain killer, hydromorphone. Ohio, like many other states, was forced to change its protocols for lethal injections because the manufacturer of pentobarbital has banned its sale for executions. The execution is to be carried out at an Ohio state prison. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico urges vigilantes to stand down in drug gang conflict Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:22 PM PST  Mexico's government on Monday pledged to take control of a violent western state after days of fighting between masked vigilantes and members of one of the country's most powerful drug cartels. Since late last year, vigilante groups in the state of Michoacan have moved deeper into territory controlled by the Knights Templar cartel and they now are converging on Apatzingan, considered one of gang's main strongholds. The vigilantes' advance has raised the risk of a bloody urban battle in Apatzingan. Full Story | Top |
| Suntory Beverage rises; parent to buy U.S. spirits group Beam Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:20 PM PST TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd climbed 2.3 percent to 3,355 yen on Tuesday morning, outperforming the broader market, after parent Suntory Holdings said it would buy U.S. spirits company Beam Inc for $13.6 billion. The Nikkei benchmark lost 2.5 percent in early trade after a surprisingly weak U.S. jobs report on Friday. Monday was a public holiday in Japan. (Reporting by Dominic Lau; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim) Full Story | Top |
| Embattled N.J. Governor Christie faces probe over Sandy funds Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:18 PM PST  By Barbara Goldberg and Margaret Chadbourn NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. investigators are looking into whether embattled New Jersey Governor Chris Christie misused about $2 million in Superstorm Sandy relief funds for an ad campaign that put him in the spotlight in an election year, officials said on Monday. Already enmeshed in a scandal over snarled traffic at the George Washington Bridge, Christie, a likely 2016 Republican presidential contender, is now being audited by the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, an agency spokesman said. The probe began after HUD received a request from Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, the spokesman said. The inspector is focusing on a federally financed $25 million marketing campaign intended to draw visitors back to the Jersey Shore as the area struggled to rebuild from the damage unleashed by Sandy in late 2012. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Senate panel approves McSweeny for FTC commissioner Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:16 PM PST A Senate panel on Monday approved the nomination of Justice Department official Terrell McSweeny to be the third Democratic commissioner on the five-member Federal Trade Commission. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation had also voted in November to approve McSweeny, but her nomination expired with the close of the legislative session. McSweeny, who was originally nominated in June, is a former domestic policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden and is now chief counsel for competition policy at the Justice Department's antitrust division. If confirmed by the full Senate, as expected, McSweeny would give Democrats a majority on the FTC, which works with the Justice Department to enforce antitrust law and investigates allegations of deceptive advertising, among other things. Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta sees opportunities in Mexico's energy reform Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:15 PM PST  By Gabriel Stargardter MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said on Monday he sees opportunities for Italian firms to invest in Mexico's energy sector thanks to a government opening of the ailing, long-shuttered industry. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto last month signed a bill into law that ended the country's 75-year-old oil and gas monopoly. Speaking on a state visit alongside Pena Nieto, who has pushed overhauls to the country's telecoms, banking and tax laws since taking office in 2012, Letta said the opening up of Mexico's energy sector was a big opportunity for Italian firms. "The reforms that President Pena Nieto began to enact last year, and continues to enact this year, open very interesting opportunities for Italian businessmen and for our country," Letta said. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Dallas Cowboys player Brent on trial for crash that killed teammate Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:13 PM PST By Lisa Maria Garza DALLAS (Reuters) - The intoxication manslaughter trial of former Dallas Cowboys player Josh Brent started on Monday with lawyers arguing over whether the defensive tackle was drunk when he crashed his car in 2012, killing his teammate, Jerry Brown Jr. Prosecutors told the Dallas County court that Brent was operating with reckless abandon and two police officers testified that they had "no doubt" Brent was drunk at the time of the accident. The trial is expected to take as long as two weeks. Full Story | Top |
| Apple loses court bid to block e-book antitrust monitor Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:11 PM PST  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc lost a bid on Monday to block an antitrust monitor appointed after a judge found that the company had conspired to fix e-book prices. At a hearing, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan denied Apple's request to stay an order requiring an external compliance monitor pending the company's appeal. "I want the monitorship to succeed for Apple," she said. The judge also said there was "nothing improper" about a declaration filed by a lawyer chosen to serve as monitor, Michael Bromwich, that became the basis of Apple seeking his disqualification. Full Story | Top |
| Agreement reached on details of $1 trillion spending bill: Mikulski Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:59 PM PST By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiators in the U.S. Congress have reached agreement on a $1 trillion spending bill aimed at keeping the federal government open through September 30, Senate Appropriations Committee chairwoman Barbara Mikulski said on Monday. Mikulski told reporters that the measure will reverse planned military pension cuts for disabled veterans and does not contain any provision that blocks the implementation of "Obamacare" health insurance reforms. But asked whether President Barack Obama's signature health care reform law will get an increase in funding, she declined to answer, saying only, "Obamacare lives another day." The spending measure fills in the details of a budget agreement passed in December, following a 16-day shutdown of many government agencies in October that was prompted largely by disputes over Obamacare funding. Another shutdown was scheduled to occur at midnight Wednesday if Congress failed to approve new spending authority, and a three-day temporary extension will be needed to get the full spending bill passed this week. Full Story | Top |
| California official at center of pay scandal pleads guilty to tax charges Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:58 PM PST  A former city manager already facing up to 12 years in state prison for his role in a scandal in Bell, California, that made him a symbol of local government corruption pleaded guilty on Monday to federal tax charges. Robert Rizzo, 60, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to one count each of conspiracy and filing a false federal income tax return as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. Rizzo became the face of local government corruption in 2010 when it was revealed that he was earning a salary of nearly $800,000 per year as city manager of Bell, a small, mostly blue-collar municipality near Los Angeles. Law enforcement officials, who portrayed Rizzo as the "unofficial czar" of a city government gone bad, said he had arranged for nearly $1.9 million in unauthorized loans to himself and others. Full Story | Top |
| Wave of lawsuits follows West Virginia chemical spill Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:50 PM PST  By Mica Rosenberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - People whose drinking water was contaminated in West Virginia have filed at least 18 lawsuits in state court against two companies after a chemical spill affected 300,000 residents and shut down businesses and schools. Lawyers started filing suits last Friday in West Virginia's Kanawha County court, less than 24 hours after the first alarms were sounded about the release of an industrial chemical into the Elk River. None of the 18 cases filed against Freedom Industries, which owned the leaky chemical storage tanks, and a water processing plant upstream, have been certified yet as class actions, according to a court clerk. "We're receiving calls by the minute regarding the situation that's occurred following the spill," said Bernard Layne, a personal injury attorney in the state capital Charleston who filed the first claim when the court opened on Friday morning. Full Story | Top |
| New York Yankee Rodriguez asks judge to throw out MLB suspension Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:42 PM PST  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Embattled New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez asked a federal judge on Monday to throw out an arbitrator's decision suspending him for the 2014 baseball season for doping, escalating a battle with Major League Baseball that shows no signs of abating. The lawsuit, filed by Rodriguez's attorneys at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, said arbitrator Fredric Horowitz exhibited "blatant partiality" toward MLB. MLB was named as a defendant along with Commissioner Bud Selig's office and the players' union. Rodriguez, baseball's highest-paid player, asserted that the union failed in its duty to provide him adequate representation during the investigation. Full Story | Top |
| Agreement reached on $1 trillion U.S. spending bill: Mikulski Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:26 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiators in the U.S. Congress have reached agreement on a $1 trillion spending bill for consideration this week in an effort to stave off another government shutdown until at least September 30, Senate Appropriations Committee chairwoman Barbara Mikulski said on Monday. The bill, which is expected to be filed at 8 p.m. EST (0100 GMT), eases some of the across-the-board "sequester" spending cuts by boosting spending on domestic and military programs during the 2014 fiscal year by $45 billion. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York State assemblyman found guilty in bribery case Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:21 PM PST  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York state assemblyman was found guilty on Monday on charges he accepted $22,000 in bribes in exchange for official acts, including securing legislation favoring a network of adult day-care centers operated by four businessmen. A federal jury in Manhattan found New York State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson guilty of all four counts including conspiracy to engage in honest services fraud and bribery. The case was the latest to involve allegations of wrongdoing by members of New York's legislature in Albany, where at least 30 politicians have faced legal or ethics problems since 2000. "Graft and greed are intolerable in Albany, and we will go to trial as often as we have to until government in New York is cleaned up," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Family of murdered executive withdraws lawsuit against Puerto Rico bank Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:15 PM PST The family of a slain banker voluntarily withdrew a lawsuit on Monday that had accused executives of Puerto Rico's Doral Bank of conspiring to have him killed after he uncovered fraud at the financial institution. The suit stemmed from the June 2011 killing of Maurice Spagnoletti, 56, who was shot multiple times in a gangland-style hit in San Juan while driving home from work to the fashionable Condado beach-front district in rush-hour traffic. The withdrawal of the lawsuit came three days after a court-ordered deposition of the plaintiffs, including the banker's widow, Marisa Spagnoletti, the bank said. "Plaintiffs' sudden voluntary dismissal of their own complaint -- three days after the court-ordered deposition of Marisa Spagnoletti -- effectively shows that Mrs. Spagnoletti's complaint is without merit and lacks any credibility," the bank said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Obama to visit Mexico in February for leaders summit Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:07 PM PST  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will visit Mexico in February to attend a North American leaders' summit, the White House said on Monday. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama would travel to Toluca, Mexico, on February 19. Obama will attend the annual North American leaders summit along with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Full Story | Top |
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