U.S. high court to examine IQ threshold for death penalty
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it would hear a death row appeal from a Florida man ruled mentally disabled in 1992 but later found competent to be executed after he scored 71 on an IQ test, the minimum under state law.
USDA trying to make up for harvest samples missed during shutdown
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working to find the best way to compensate for samples of corn and soybean crops it was unable to collect during the partial U.S. government shutdown, a top official said on Monday.
New prosecutor to investigate Missouri rape case championed by hacking group
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – A new prosecutor in Missouri will take over the investigation of an alleged sexual assault in the town of Maryville, a case that attracted national attention after it was publicized by the computer hacking group Anonym…
Alabama zoo to probe death of artificially conceived rhino calf
BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) – A necropsy will be performed on a four-month old rhinoceros believed to have been the first of its species to be born through artificial insemination in the United States, officials from the Montgomery Zoo in Alabama said on…
NJ Gov. Christie drops gay marriage case, risking some Republican ire
(Reuters) – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie dropped his legal opposition to same-sex marriage on Monday, making his state the 14th to legalize gay marriage but angering social conservatives who might be crucial to his presidential ambitions in 2016….
Caesars exits Boston casino project, says unit under federal probe
(Reuters) – Caesars Entertainment Inc, the latest U.S. casino operator to fall under federal scrutiny, is pulling out of a $1 billion joint venture in Boston after background checks by a local gaming regulator.
VW, UAW look to avoid Pennsylvania missteps in Tennessee plant
DETROIT (Reuters) – Both Volkswagen AG management and the United Auto Workers union want to see history play out differently in Tennessee from the last time the German automaker had a U.S. assembly plant.
Arizona Air National Guard members indicted on fraud charges
PHOENIX (Reuters) – Members of an Arizona Air National Guard unit in Tucson have been indicted on charges they falsified military records to defraud the U.S. government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars of extra pay meant for troops on deployment…
Casey Anthony reaches settlement with searchers for her 2-year-old
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – Casey Anthony, the Florida mother acquitted in the 2008 killing of her 2-year-old daughter, has reached a settlement with a search and rescue organization that spent $100,000 looking for her missing daughter, the group’s la…
Xcel’s Minnesota Sherco 3 coal unit returns to service
(Reuters) – Xcel Energy Inc’s 860-megawatt Unit 3 at the Sherburne County coal-fired power plant in Minnesota has returned to service after a nearly two-year outage, the company said on Monday.
