California girl, eight, died of asphyxiation, stab wounds: officials
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – An 8-year-old girl whose body was discovered last month in a recycling bin at a residential complex in the seaside California city of Santa Cruz died of asphyxiation and stab wounds to the neck, officials said on Thursday.
Kentucky county clerk defies judge over gay marriage
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Reuters) – A Kentucky county clerk’s office on Thursday defied a federal judge’s order by continuing to block marriage licenses for same-sex couples, saying the legal case was still pending.
Coach convicted under Pennsylvania law against sex with students of any age
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Reuters) – A high school rowing coach was found guilty on Thursday of sexual assault for her consensual relationship with an 18-year-old pupil under a Pennsylvania law prohibiting sex between teachers and students of any age.
$10,000 in rewards offered as California police hunt fugitive murder suspect
(Reuters) – Reward money totaling $10,000 has been offered in the search for a man wanted in a crime spree that included a killing and kidnapping as police in California on Thursday scoured mountain ranges and high desert for the suspect.
Fifteen U.S. states seek to block EPA carbon rule
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fifteen state attorneys general petitioned a federal court in Washington on Thursday to block new U.S. rules to curb carbon emissions from power plants, in the first of several expected legal challenges to the Obama administratio…
Judge OKs settlement with families of Newtown massacre victims
BETHEL, Conn. (Reuters) – A Connecticut judge on Thursday approved the largest portion yet of a settlement in which the estate of the mother of the gunman who carried out a 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school will pay out $1.5 million to fami…
Mentally ill killer of five gets life without parole in Georgia
ATLANTA (Reuters) – A Georgia man who killed five people earlier this year, including members of his family, will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill, authorities said Thursday.
California bans secret hearings on most police shooting deaths
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – California will no longer assign grand juries to investigate most deaths of people killed by police under a law signed this week by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown.
Connecticut’s top court bans death penalty in state
(Reuters) – Connecticut’s top court on Thursday ruled that the state could no longer impose the death penalty, calling it unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.
State of emergency in Ferguson, Missouri, extended at least 24 hours
(Reuters) – The government of St. Louis County extended for at least 24 hours a state of emergency in Ferguson, Missouri, which has been the scene of protests a year after an unarmed black teenager was killed by a white police officer.
