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.
Ex-Wisconsin medical examiner pleads guilty; took body parts to train dog
(Reuters) – A former Wisconsin medical examiner who took a piece of spinal column that had been removed from a corpse to train her cadaver dog, pleaded guilty to felony charges on Friday, according to court documents.
Company in West Virginia chemical spill files for bankruptcy
(Reuters) – Specialty chemicals maker Freedom Industries Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, eight days after a leak from one of its storage tanks contaminated drinking water for hundreds of thousands of West Virginia residents.
California ‘Octomom’ pleads not guilty to welfare fraud
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Octomom” Nadya Suleman, the California single mother of 14 children including octuplets, pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles on Friday to charges that she lied about her income when filing for public assistance.
U.S. seeks UNESCO World Heritage site status for Alamo, missions
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) – The U.S. government will nominate the Alamo, the famed location of a battle for Texas independence, and other colonial missions nearby as U.N. World Heritage sites, the Interior Department said on Friday.
