Calls to veto Tennessee bill making the Bible ‘official state book’
NASHVILLE (Reuters) – Tennessee lawmakers have voted to make the Bible the state’s official book and Governor Bill Haslam is under pressure from civil libertarian and nontheistic groups to stop the measure from becoming law.
NFL receiver Marshall accused at civil trial of punching woman
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall went on trial on Tuesday in a federal lawsuit brought by a California woman who alleged he punched her in the face outside a Manhattan nightclub in 2012.
South Carolina church massacre trial delayed as death penalty mulled
CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – A judge on Tuesday granted U.S. prosecutors’ request for trial delay as it considers whether to seek the death penalty for a white man accused of killing nine parishioners last summer at a historic black church in Charlesto…
U.S. officials accuse 1,000 people in phony student visa scheme
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. authorities set up a phony university with a website and an office to nab more than 1,000 people they accused of conspiring to fraudulently obtain student and work visas, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said on Tuesday.
Illinois lawmaker seeks revamp of school funding formula
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Illinois would rip up its nearly 20-year-old school funding formula and replace it with one that would send more money to districts with high levels of poor students, including the cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools (CPS), under a…
Bill to toughen sentences for fentanyl dealers advances in California
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – A bill increasing penalties for possessing large amounts of the potent narcotic fentanyl in California cleared its first legislative hurdle on Tuesday, after 10 people died from overdoses in the Sacramento area alone in t…
Four men charged in gang rape of nine-year-old Utah girl
(Reuters) – Four men have been charged with raping a 9-year-old girl in a Utah home on Easter Sunday as her mother smoked methamphetamine in the garage, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Fired Ohio State band director hired by Heidelberg University
CLEVELAND (Reuters) – A former Ohio State University band director, fired for what school administrators called his failure to address a sexualized culture in the marching band, has been hired to lead the bands at nearby Heidelberg University, his new …
U.S. women’s soccer star Wambach pleads innocent to drunk driving charge
(Reuters) – Former U.S. women’s soccer star Abby Wambach pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to driving under the influence of alcohol and was given permission by an Oregon judge to travel out of the state for work reasons, prosecutors said.
District of Columbia lawmakers ban public pot smoking
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Smoking marijuana in public or in clubs was banned permanently on Tuesday by the District of Columbia’s city council, reversing course for a second time.
