Pentagon chief announces measures to improve quality of life for military
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday announced a series of measures aimed at improving the quality of life for those serving in the U.S. military, including a doubling of maternity leave for most personnel to 12 weeks.
Obama’s pick to lead U.S. forces in Afghanistan to review drawdown
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s pick to lead U.S. forces in Afghanistan said on Thursday he aimed to review a campaign plan that would cut American troop levels by nearly half by the start of next year, as he acknowledged deteriorating …
Mississippi’s top lawyer seeks firing squad as execution option
(Reuters) – Lawmakers in Mississippi should allow state executions by firing squad, electrocution, hanging and nitrogen gas when drugs for lethal injections are not available, the state’s attorney general said.
California narrowly upholds critical solar policy
(Reuters) – California, which boasts more than half of the households with solar panels in the United States, on Thursday extended a policy that has underpinned the rooftop solar industry’s dramatic growth over the last decade.
U.S. on high alert for bird flu after Indiana poultry outbreak
CHICAGO (Reuters) – In the two weeks since bird flu reappeared in Indiana, U.S. veterinarians have swabbed the mouths of chickens and turkeys across the country, racing to uncover any more infections and contain the virus before it causes mass death an…
California upholds critical solar policy
(Reuters) – California regulators on Thursday upheld a key policy that makes rooftop solar systems affordable by allowing homeowners to sell the electricity they don’t use back to their local utility.
Six dead in Virginia murder-suicide after police standoff
(Reuters) – A Virginia family of six is dead in an apparent murder-suicide after an hours-long standoff with police ended early on Thursday, officials said.
Sentencing of ex-House speaker Hastert delayed until April
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A federal judge on Thursday postponed until April the sentencing date for Dennis Hastert, convicted last year of a financial crime, because the former U.S. House speaker was still recovering from a stroke and life-threatening infect…
Pennsylvania officer cleared in girl’s fatal shooting, father charged
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania constable who prosecutors say accidentally killed a 12-year-old girl during an eviction while firing in self-defense has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing, but the girl’s father has been charged with murder….
Former Providence, Rhode Island mayor Vincent ‘Buddy’ Cianci dies
(Reuters) – Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, whose two stints as mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, each ended abruptly due to felony convictions, died on Thursday at age 74 after a brief hospitalization.
