Surge in voter turnout gives blacks new voice in Ferguson, Missouri
(Reuters) – A surge in voter turnout helped elect two new black city council members in Ferguson, a Missouri city found by the U.S. Justice Department to be rife with racial abuses in its police and court systems.
Most younger Americans support laws to protect LGBT people: poll
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Most younger Americans are in favour of federal laws to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people from discrimination, paving the way for social change, according to a poll by a thinktank.
Houston-area teacher faces punishment over anti-Islam handout
HOUSTON (Reuters) – A Houston-area high school teacher is facing punishment from his school district for allegedly handing out material in a class that called Islam an ideology of war and said it is responsible for beheadings and kidnappings.
New York woman gets 20 years to life for killing son with salt
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Reuters) – A suburban New York mother who blogged about motherhood was sentenced by a judge to 20 years to life in prison on Wednesday for murdering her young son with a salt overdose so she could bask in social media attention abou…
Real estate scion Robert Durst indicted on weapons charges in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Robert Durst, the real estate scion awaiting extradition to California to face a murder charge, was indicted on weapons charges in New Orleans on Wednesday, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office said.
Alaska Airlines refunds fares for California cancer patient removed from flight
(Reuters) – A Northern California cancer patient whose removal from an Alaska Airlines flight caused outrage online said on Wednesday that the carrier refunded her family’s airfare, which will be donated to research.
Florida grand jury to mull charges against Canadian diplomat’s son
MIAMI (Reuters) – A Florida grand jury will decide whether to bring criminal charges against a Canadian diplomat’s 15-year-old son who was arrested after a drug-related shooting that killed the teenager’s brother and a suspected drug dealer, prosecutor…
U.S. immigration agents arrest 976 gang members in sweep
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly 1,000 gang members and associates from 239 different gangs were arrested across the United States in an operation headed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the agency said on Wednesday.
Jury deliberating in Aaron Hernandez’s murder trial
FALL RIVER, Mass. (Reuters) – Jurors in ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez’s murder trial resumed deliberations at a Massachusetts court on Wednesday, a day after the defense argued he was only a witness to the killing that prosecutors say he orchestrated.
Rights group sues U.S. DEA over bulk collection of phone records
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The group Human Rights Watch has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, accusing it of illegally collecting Americans’ telephone records to some foreign countries in a bulk surveillance program.
