California gas pipeline explosion, fire injure up to 15 people
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A construction crew accidentally ruptured a natural gas transmission line on Friday in Fresno, California, igniting an explosion and fire that injured up to 15 people, at least one of them critically, a fire department spokesman…
Former U.S. Marine charged in 2011 murder of companion in Panama
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – A former U.S. Marine was charged on Friday with murdering a woman who went missing in 2011 after traveling with him to Panama and whose dismembered remains were found in the remote jungle two years later.
Denver teacher’s third grade assignment goes viral online
DENVER (Reuters) – A Colorado teacher who posted notes from her third grade class online and started a social media whirlwind under the hashtag #IWishMyTeacherKnew said on Friday the assignment had been a revelation for her.
Oklahoma adopts nitrogen as possible execution method
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – Oklahoma may use nitrogen gas as an alternative execution method if the U.S. Supreme Court finds the state’s lethal injection process unconstitutional or drugs are unavailable, under a bill Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed…
U.S. jury hears Bryant Gumbel testimony in HBO libel trial
(Reuters) – A federal jury heard testimony from Bryant Gumbel on Friday at a trial in which HBO faces libel claims over a report aired on the TV journalist’s popular sports news program that focused on child labor in India.
Chicago schools chief takes leave amid federal probe
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd-Bennett is taking a leave of absence pending the outcome of a federal probe into a contract the district awarded to a company that had previously employed her, officials sa…
Texas House approves bill that limits city bans on fracking
DALLAS (Reuters) – A bill that would stop Texas cities from enacting their own bans on hydraulic fracturing in the nation’s top crude oil and natural gas producing state was approved on Friday in the state House of Representatives.
No verdict yet in case of missing New York boy
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Jurors in the murder trial of a man who confessed to strangling 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979 ended deliberations on Friday without reaching a verdict in the case, one of the first to highlight the plight of missing and abducted chi…
Police say Phoenix gunman ‘snapped,’ killed four, then himself
PHOENIX (Reuters) – A man apparently upset over a family business dispute “snapped” before fatally shooting his two brothers, his mother and his sister-in-law and then killing himself at a home in Phoenix, police said on Friday.
Arrest of Connecticut man, 78, tied to Boston art heist: lawyer
MILFORD, Conn. (Reuters) – Police in Connecticut on Friday arrested a 78-year-old man with a long criminal history on a gun charge, but the man’s lawyer claimed the arrest was a ruse intended to pressure him to talk about the biggest art heist in U.S. …
