Two Michigan state lawmakers lose seats over affair cover-up
DETROIT (Reuters) – One Michigan lawmaker resigned on Friday and another was removed from office by a vote in the state House of Representatives as police launched a criminal probe into their admitted use of tax funds to cover up their extramarital aff…
Coast Guard closes part of Mississippi River after barge incident
(Reuters) – The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday said it had closed a section of the Mississippi River in response to barges breaking away from their tow near Vicksburg in Mississippi late Thursday.
Ex-NYU prof avoids prison after U.S. bribery case pared down
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge on Friday sentenced a former medical researcher to no prison time, after he pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor and not the bribery charges leveled by officials who said a Chinese company paid him for U.S.-funded…
Mistrial for Alabama police officer charged after throwing Indian man
(Reuters) – A U.S. judge declared a mistrial on Friday in the case of an Alabama policeman on trial for violating an Indian man’s rights by throwing him to the ground and injuring him badly during an encounter captured on video, local media reported.
Former Missouri police officer pleads guilty in brutality case
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) – A former Missouri police officer pleaded guilty on Friday to violating the constitutional rights of a 17-year-old motorist by deliberately dropping the restrained youth face-first on the ground after a traffic stop last yea…
Kentucky town’s brush with gay marriage spotlight stirs tensions
MOREHEAD, Ky. (Reuters) – The calm that returned to Morehead, Kentucky – home to the county clerk who had refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples – could be short-lived when Kim Davis returns to work on Monday, along with crowds of demonstrat…
Candidate Carson tours Ferguson, says lack of ‘respect,’ not race is issue
FERGUSON, Mo. (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson toured Ferguson, Missouri on Friday, looking into efforts to rebuild the riot-weary St. Louis suburb and offering advice on how to mend racial divisions in the United States.
Man gets 12-1/2 years in Chicago-area air control center fire
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A Chicago-area man was sentenced on Friday to 12-1/2 years in federal prison and was ordered to pay $4.5 million in damages, for cutting cables and setting fire to a major air traffic control center in September last year, the U.S. …
Judge gives Oklahoma a month to remove Ten Commandments from Capitol
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – An Oklahoma County judge on Friday gave the state a month to remove a 6-foot-tall (1.80-meter) granite monument containing the Ten Commandments from Capitol grounds after the state’s top court said it had been erected illegall…
Arizona police detain ‘person of interest’ in highway shootings
PHOENIX (Reuters) – Police in Arizona detained and were questioning a “person of interest” on Friday in connection with a spate of recent shootings along a major highway that runs through Phoenix, a spokesman for the state’s department of public safety…
