Chicago approves Emanuel’s city budget, property tax increase
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $7.8 billion fiscal 2016 budget and a historic property tax increase to pay for public safety worker pensions easily cleared the city council on Wednesday.
Texas man carving pumpkins with daughter stabs would-be intruder
DALLAS (Reuters) – A Dallas-area father carving jack-o-lanterns with his 7-year-old daughter for Halloween stabbed a suspected car thief with a knife after the alleged criminal broke into their home, police said on Wednesday.
U.S. student math test scores slip for first time since 1990
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Math test scores for fourth and eighth grade students across the United States dipped in 2015, marking the first such decline in 25 years, according to a U.S. Department of Education report released on Wednesday.
U.S. judge bars Alabama from defunding Planned Parenthood clinics
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Wednesday blocked Alabama from defunding Planned Parenthood clinics amid controversy over the release of covertly recorded videos about the reproductive health organization’s handling of aborted fetal tissue.
Massachusetts report faults agency’s handling of ‘Baby Doe’ case
BOSTON (Reuters) – A Massachusetts agency charged with guarding children’s well-being fell short in its handling of a toddler whose body was found washed up on a Boston Harbor beach earlier this year, a state review of the case found on Wednesday.
Ex-House Speaker Hastert pleads guilty in hush-money case
(Reuters) – Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a federal financial crime in a hush-money case stemming from allegations of sexual misconduct, marking the dramatic downfall of a once powerful politician.
Pennsylvania ruling may allow new Sandusky case to proceed
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania judge ruled on Wednesday that a man who says Jerry Sandusky molested him in 1988 is not barred by the statute of limitations from pursuing a private criminal complaint against the jailed former Penn State assi…
SAC’s Martoma seeks reversal of U.S. insider trading conviction
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court wrestled on Wednesday with whether a recent appellate ruling that limited the scope of insider trading laws meant that the 2014 conviction of former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager Mathew Martoma should …
‘Warlock’ slapped with restraining order in new Salem witch trial
SALEM, Mass. (Reuters) – A judge in Salem, Massachusetts, on Wednesday granted a self-proclaimed witch’s request for a restraining order to keep a self-proclaimed warlock and business rival from harassing her.
Oklahoma judge rules man competent to stand trial for beheading
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – A man charged with first-degree murder in the beheading of a woman at an Oklahoma City-area food-processing plant is competent to stand trial, an Oklahoma judge ruled on Wednesday.
