U.S. Senate panel backs Carter for Secretary for Defense
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee voted 25-0 on Tuesday to back Ashton Carter as President Barack Obama’s next Secretary of Defense, paving the way for what is expected to be an easy confirmation in the full Senate as soon…
U.S. to establish new cybersecurity agency
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government is creating a new agency to monitor cybersecurity threats, pooling and analyzing information on a spectrum of risks, a senior Obama administration official said on Tuesday.
S.C. woman charged with daughter’s 1994 kidnapping to plead guilty
CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – A woman arrested in Australia in 2013 and accused of kidnapping her infant daughter from South Carolina two decades ago is expected to change her plea to guilty on Tuesday and face sentencing in a U.S. district court, court…
Illinois governor makes union dues voluntary for some state workers
CHICAGO (Reuters) – In a strike against public employee unions, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner on Monday signed an order eliminating union dues for some state employees who do not want to pay to support union activities.
California warns against intentional measles exposures
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California health officials on Monday warned parents against intentionally exposing their children to measles, which could worsen an outbreak in the state.
Utah Mormon activist to learn fate in coming days: Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) – A prominent Mormon activist who faces possible excommunication after going against the church by supporting same-sex marriage and questioning doctrine is set to learn his fate “in the coming” days, the Salt Lake Tribune repor…
California educator gets 10 years for sex abuse
(Reuters) – A California educator who resigned after a woman accused her in a YouTube video of abusing her when she was a 12-year-old student was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday, prosecutors said.
Last officer from Pearl Harbor battleship USS Arizona dies at 100
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – The last surviving officer of the USS Arizona, the ship that was bombed in the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, has died at 100 at a nursing facility in Northern California, his son said on Facebook.
U.S. government, conservationists launch drive to save monarch butterfly
SEATTLE (Reuters) – The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and conservation groups launched a $3.2 million campaign on Monday to save the habitat of the embattled orange-and-black spotted monarch butterfly, whose numbers have plummeted in recent years.
Same-sex marriage begins in parts of Alabama, thwarted in others
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) – Same-sex couples began marrying in parts of Alabama on Monday, acting on the strongest signal yet from the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of gay marriage ahead of an expected ruling, but numerous state judges avoided granting …
