U.S. judge slows abortion restrictions tide by striking down Alabama law
BIRMINGHAM Ala. (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Monday ruled unconstitutional an Alabama law that threatened to close three of the state’s five abortion clinics, while a trial opened in Texas with an abortion rights group trying to overturn restrictions im…
Man charged in Mich. death of black girl weeps on stand
DETROIT (Reuters) – A white suburban Detroit man wept as he told a jury that he regretted shooting to death an unarmed black teenage girl on his porch, but he thought someone was trying to break into his house.
L.A.’s Sunset Boulevard reopens week after huge water main break
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Sunset Boulevard reopened in Los Angeles on Monday, a week after part of the famed thoroughfare across America’s second-largest city was shut down when a water main ruptured underneath it, spouting a 40-foot geyser and flooding …
Rabbis urge U.S. action to free American jailed in Cuba
HAVANA (Reuters) – Three hundred U.S. rabbis urged President Barack Obama to “take action” to secure the release of Alan Gross, a U.S. government subcontractor jailed in Cuba who has grown increasingly suicidal and has said goodbye to his family, his l…
U.S. labor board backs personnel actions from time without quorum
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. National Labor Relations Board said on Monday it had unanimously ratified numerous administrative and personnel actions it took when it lacked a constitutionally valid quorum.
Pro-marijuana advocates raise $1 million in Oregon
PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) – Supporters of a recreational marijuana ballot initiative in Oregon have raised $1 million in their effort to legalize, regulate and tax use of the drug by adults, campaign finance documents showed on Monday.
NYC hospital tests man after travel to Ebola zone in Africa: local media
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York City hospital is testing a patient who traveled to a West African nation where Ebola has been reported, local media reported on Monday.
NYC jail routinely violates rights of teen inmates: DOJ
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York City Department of Correction has routinely violated the constitutional rights of male teenagers at the Rikers Island jail complex through a “culture of violence” that relies on beatings, the federal government said in…
Man killed, homes damaged in Southern California mudslides
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Mudslides and flash floods that raged through Southern California mountains following heavy rains killed one man, damaged homes and cut off a foothill community, leaving rescuers clearing blocked roads and residents cleaning up …
Illinois lawmaker pleads guilty to tax charge; faces up to a year in prison
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Illinois state Representative La Shawn K. Ford, who was charged two years ago with bank fraud, pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to a substantially less serious misdemeanor charge of filing a false 2007 tax return.