Firefighters make progress controlling California blaze
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Firefighters battling a blaze sweeping across acres of dry brush for a second day in the foothills near Los Angeles kept advancing flames largely in check on Friday, helped by diminishing winds that allowed most evacuees to retu…
Judge refuses to halt wolf trapping in Idaho wilderness
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – A district judge on Friday denied a request from conservationists to block Idaho’s efforts to trap and kill two wolf packs targeted for eradication in a federally protected wilderness area for preying on elk prized by hunters….
North Carolina ultrasound abortion law ruled illegal by judge
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Friday struck down a 2011 North Carolina law requiring abortion providers to perform an ultrasound and explain it to a woman before having an abortion, arguing it violated the constitutional right to free speech of doctor…
Southwest pilots confused by lights of wrong U.S. airport
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The pilots of a Southwest Airlines plane that landed at the wrong airport in Missouri this week told investigators they mistook the bright runway lights of a smaller airport for their intended destination at Branson Airport, the …
Michelle Obama turns 50, joins retiree advocacy group
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Michelle Obama on Friday celebrated a rite of passage for Americans turning 50: getting a membership card to AARP, a national organization that promotes the interests of older people.
U.S. man pleads guilty to sending ricin to Obama, two others
JACKSON, Mississippi (Reuters) – A Mississippi man accused of sending poisoned letters to President Barack Obama and two other public officials, and then pinning them on an Elvis impersonator, pleaded guilty in U.S. court and agreed to a 25-year jail s…
California governor declares drought emergency
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency on Friday, a move that will allow the parched state to seek federal aid as it grapples with what could turn out to be the driest year in recorded state history for m…
Obama bans spying on leaders of U.S. allies, scales back NSA program
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama banned U.S. eavesdropping on the leaders of close friends and allies on Friday and began reining in the vast collection of Americans’ phone data in a series of limited reforms triggered by Edward Snowden’s …
Two Georgia men convicted in ricin plot against U.S. government
ATLANTA (Reuters) – A federal jury on Friday convicted two alleged members of a Georgia militia group with conspiring to produce a toxic agent to poison government officials.
U.S. states could turn to firing squads if execution drugs scarce
(Reuters) – Lawmakers for at least two U.S. states say they should conduct executions by firing squad if opposition to capital punishment by pharmaceutical companies makes it hard to obtain drugs for lethal injections.
