Texas governor says he ‘stepped right in it’ on gay comments
(Reuters) – Texas Governor Rick Perry has said he “stepped right in it” when he compared homosexuality to alcoholism as something that can be fought against despite genetic disposition.
New York poised to become 23rd U.S. state to allow medical marijuana
ALBANY N.Y. (Reuters) – Governor Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers announced a deal on Thursday that would allow limited access to medical marijuana in New York, making it the 23rd U.S. state to legalize some kind of availability of cannabis for therape…
Obama extends family leave rights of gay couples
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday will announce a rule that makes legally married same-sex couples eligible for benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act in all 50 states, a White House official said.
N.Y. City to pay $40 million to end ‘Central Park Jogger’ lawsuit: source
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City has agreed to pay $40 million to five men who were convicted, and later exonerated, of brutally raping a female jogger in Central Park in 1989, settling a long-fought civil rights lawsuit, according to a person famili…
Weaker winds aid firefighters battling Navajo reservation blaze
ALBUQUERQUE N.M. (Reuters) – Weaker winds on Thursday allowed firefighters to gain ground on a wildfire that has raged for seven days through parched pine woodlands and brush on a Navajo reservation in northwestern New Mexico, a state fire official sai…
U.S. Presbyterian Church OKs clergy performing gay weddings
(Reuters) – A gathering of U.S. Presbyterian Church elders and ministers voted on Thursday to allow their clergy to perform same-sex weddings, in a major reversal for one of the largest mainline Protestant denominations, a church official said.
California officials seek to ensure safety of trains hauling crude oil
SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) – State and local officials in California, worried that trains carrying crude oil from Canada and North Dakota could cause explosions or environmental damage in their state, asked lawmakers on Thursday to regulate the shipme…
Lance Armstrong must face U.S. doping lawsuit, judge rules
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Thursday rejected Lance Armstrong’s bid to dismiss a whistleblower lawsuit claiming that he and his former cycling team, which the U.S. Postal Service had sponsored, defrauded the government in a scheme to use banned, per…
Colorado judge rules ski resort not immune from lawsuit in avalanche death
DENVER (Reuters) – A Colorado judge has ruled that a ski resort operator is not immune from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a 13-year-old boy who was killed in an avalanche on Vail Mountain in 2012.
Los Angeles serial killer found guilty of four more strangling murders
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A serial killer facing the death penalty for murdering 10 women in Los Angeles was found guilty by a jury on Thursday of four more counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of women he strangled between 1987 and 1997, prosecut…
