US F-35 fighter drops first guided bomb against ground target
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet dropped a 500-pound bomb this week, hitting a tank at Edwards Air Force Base in California and marking the first time the new warplane has fired a weapon, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Florida city bans guns for neighborhood watch volunteers
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – The Florida city where neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin is changing the rules on how civilian patrols can operate to help prevent a recurrence and revive the p…
Social Security recipients to get 1.5 percent raise next year
(Reuters) – Benefits paid to nearly 63 million U.S. Social Security recipients will rise by 1.5 percent in 2014, the Social Security Administration said on Wednesday.
Cut in food stamps to hit low-income Americans this week
WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – One of every seven Americans will take a hit on Friday when a $5 billion cut in food stamps, the first across-the-board reduction in the history of the decades-old federal program, takes effect.
New York’s Tammany Hall, byword for corruption, gets landmark status
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The former home of Tammany Hall, which became a byword for patronage and corruption as the headquarters of New York City’s powerful Democratic political machine, has been declared a historic landmark.
Senate panel to hold Obamacare hearing on November 5
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee plans to hold a hearing on November 5 with Marilyn Tavenner, a top U.S. health official, about the rocky rollout of Obamacare.
Six people killed in apparent murder-suicide in South Carolina
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – Six people, including two children, were shot to death in a South Carolina home on Tuesday in what police believe is a murder-suicide involving members of a family, authorities said.
A year after Sandy, many still rebuilding damaged homes
NEW YORK/SEASIDE PARK, New Jersey (Reuters) – Victims of Superstorm Sandy returned the waterfront where their neighbors and loved ones were killed a year ago Tuesday, honoring the dead while many are still struggling to rebuild their damaged homes.
American support for death penalty falls to 60 percent: Gallup
(Reuters) – Sixty percent of Americans favor capital punishment for convicted murderers, the lowest percentage since 1972, according to a Gallup poll released on Tuesday.
NSA chief defends agency amid U.S. spy rift with Europe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the National Security Agency defended his beleaguered organization on Tuesday, saying it acts within the law to stop militant attacks and calling reports that the NSA collected data on millions of phone calls in Europ…




