As rape trial starts, ex-Goldman banker says sex was consensual
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (Reuters) – Lawyers for a former Goldman Sachs managing director whose trial began on Wednesday on charges of raping an Irish student in the bathroom of a home he rented on New York’s Long Island said the sex was consensual.
L.A. County to pay $5.3 million over police shooting of unarmed man
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles County officials have agreed to pay $5.3 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of an unarmed man who was shot to death by sheriff’s deputies more than two years ago following a car chase through th…
Drought-hit California tightens low-flow toilet, faucet rules
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – California on Wednesday moved to tighten already stringent regulations on how much water can flow through toilets and faucets, part of the state’s effort to respond to prolonged drought.
Break for California traffic scofflaws under proposed new bill
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – Californians overdue in paying parking and traffic fines would get a break on escalating fees tacked on by the courts under a proposal introduced this week in the state legislature.
Family of Mississippi man found hanging to open independent probe
PORT GIBSON, Miss. (Reuters) – The family of a black man found hanging from a tree in Mississippi is starting an independent investigation into his death, their attorneys told reporters on Wednesday, after the FBI said it had shared the initial autopsy…
Ex-Guantanamo detainee arrested in Uganda: U.S. State Department
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department on Wednesday said a former Guantanamo Bay detainee was among several people arrested in Uganda under suspicion of having links to the killing of a prominent prosecutor there.
Uzbekistan citizen in N.Y. pleads not guilty to plot to aid Islamic State
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A citizen of Uzbekistan living in New York City pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to taking part in a plot to support Islamic State militants.
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.
