Texas actress sentenced to 18 years for ricin-laced letter to Obama
TEXARKANA Texas (Reuters) – A Texas actress was sentenced to 18 years in a federal prison on Wednesday on a biological weapons charge for mailing letters containing the toxic agent ricin to President Barack Obama, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomber…
U.S. judge sentences Tunisian accused of link to Canada train plot to time served
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Tunisian man who prosecutors said had ties to a man accused of unsuccessfully plotting to derail a Canada-U.S. passenger train was sentenced by a U.S. judge to time served on Wednesday after pleading guilty last month to immigrat…
U.S. Senate Democrats’ Hobby Lobby bill fails to move forward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An attempt by U.S. Senate Democrats to override the Supreme Court’s controversial birth control ruling failed to muster enough votes to move forward on Wednesday, but lawmakers vowed to keep pressing the issue heading into the mi…
Legal disputes over debt plan aired in Detroit bankruptcy case
DETROIT (Reuters) – Detroit’s historic bankruptcy case on Wednesday moved on to legal issues underpinning the city’s debt adjustment plan, including locking in pension changes for 10 years.
Pennsylvania jury: Brothers must split $1 million lottery loot
CARLISLE Pa. (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania jury decided on Wednesday that two estranged half brothers must equally divide the winnings from a $1 million lottery ticket after one of them claimed he deserved all the money and the other insisted he was due h…
U.S. Treasury urges Congress to act on corporate tax dodge deals
(Reuters) – Calling for a new sense of “economic patriotism,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew urged Congress on Wednesday to take steps quickly to discourage U.S. companies from moving their tax domiciles abroad to avoid federal taxes.
Federal judge rules California’s death penalty system unconstitutional
SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) – California’s system for imposing and carrying out the death penalty is so long and drawn-out that it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.
Jury to settle Pennsylvania brothers’ fight over lottery loot
CARLISLE Pa. (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania jury on Wednesday began deliberating whether two estranged brothers must split the winnings from a $1 million lottery ticket, or whether one gets to keep it all.
South Carolina man kidnapped by suspected drug traffickers found: FBI
CHARLESTON S.C. (Reuters) – A South Carolina man taken hostage last week in an elaborate kidnapping plot has been rescued, and three people suspected of having ties to a Mexican drug trafficking ring were arrested in the abduction, U.S. authorities sai…
Massachusetts lawmakers take up bill on abortion clinic buffer zones
BOSTON (Reuters) – Massachusetts lawmakers took up consideration on Wednesday of a bill to limit protests around abortion clinics after the U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down an earlier law that kept demonstrators at least 35 feet (9 meters) fro…
