Court upholds University of Texas affirmative action plan
(Reuters) – A federal appeals court upheld the use of race by University of Texas at Austin in undergraduate admissions, a victory for affirmative action proponents, one year after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered closer scrutiny of the school’s practice…
Immigration activist Vargas detained and released in Texas
AUSTIN Texas (Reuters) – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, an undocumented immigrant and prominent activist, was detained for several hours on Tuesday after being stopped at a security checkpoint at an airport in the border city of…
U.S. judge stays Missouri execution of convicted killer
(Reuters) – A federal judge in Missouri on Tuesday stayed the impending execution of a 54-year-old man convicted of three drug-related murders after the inmate’s lawyers lodged a series of appeals, including arguments he is mentally incompetent and inn…
Maryland insurance executive plotted to kill judge: court documents
ANNAPOLIS Md. (Reuters) – A Maryland executive charged with lying to insurance regulators was allegedly plotting to kill a judge handling his case, according to federal court documents.
Arizona town protests arrival of undocumented migrant kids
ORACLE Ariz. (Reuters) – Waving U.S. flags and playing patriotic music, dozens of people protested in southern Arizona on Tuesday against the arrival of undocumented immigrant children for processing at a center near the border before being sent home.
U.S. House passes $10.9 billion transportation funding extension
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a $10.9 billion extension of U.S. transportation funding through May 2015, a measure aimed at averting cutbacks in August in federal money for road, bridge and tr…
Pennsylvania boys choir head pleads guilty to child sex assault
(Reuters) – A Pennsylvania boys choir director has pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child and possessing child pornography and faces more than a decade in prison, authorities said on Tuesday.
U.S. woman rescued at sea with family sues satellite phone company
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – A U.S. woman rescued with her family from a Pacific Ocean sailboat after her infant daughter became ill has filed suit against her satellite phone company for cutting off service, a move she said led the family to seek an emergenc…
U.S. urges stiff sentences for Britons who recruited for al Qaeda
NEW HAVEN Conn. (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors urged a judge on Tuesday to impose the maximum sentences for two British men who pleaded guilty in December to running a website and distributing publications that promoted violence and raised money for al Q…
U.S. officials purge biosafety board in midst of anthrax crisis
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal officials, amid the worst U.S. biosafety crisis in years, have dismissed 11 eminent scientists from a 23-member panel that advises the government on how and whether research on dangerous pathogens should be condu…
