Jury set to deliberate in case of ex-Senator Edwards »

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - A jury in North Carolina is set to begin deliberations on Friday morning in the federal political corruption trial of former U.S. Senator John Edwards, who is charged with accepting excessive campaign funds to conceal his extramarital affair while he ran for president. "Even with all John has done — his family, legal career, running for president, this is, of course, the most important day of his life," Edwards' defense attorney Abbe Lowell said on Thursday as both prosecutors and defense lawyers delivered closing arguments. ...

Police arrest suspect in Mississippi highway shootings »

TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - Mississippi police have arrested a man they believe is responsible for two highway killings this month, the Department of Public Safety said on Friday. The suspect, James Willie, 28, of Sardis, Mississippi, was arrested Tuesday morning in Tunica, the department said in a statement. Police had responded to a reported rape. Willie is charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and rape. He will be charged with two counts of capital murder on Friday, the statement said. ...

Trayvon evidence fails to answer who screamed for help »

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - An FBI expert found crucial evidence in the Trayvon Martin case was inconclusive, saying it was impossible to tell if the voice screaming for help belonged to the black Florida teenager or his shooter George Zimmerman just before the neighborhood watch captain pulled the trigger. That detail came from a mass of evidence made public on Thursday in the case that sparked civil rights protests across the United States and debates over guns, self-defense laws and race relations in America. ...

Analysis: U.S. cities wrestle with universities for cash »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In 1978, after New York City had barely escaped bankruptcy, Mayor Ed Koch went looking for cash from an unlikely source: the city's colleges and other nonprofits, which do not pay taxes on their valuable land. Koch was trying to do then what cash-starved cities are now pulling off: extracting more money from colleges, universities and private hospitals to help restore bare-boned budgets. Two weeks ago, Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Angel Taveras struck a deal with Brown University, which doubled its annual voluntary contribution to nearly $8 million for five years. ...

Parents of slain Chinese students sue California university »

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The parents of two Chinese graduate students slain near the University of Southern California last month have filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing the school of misrepresenting the area as safe and failing to provide security patrols. The 15-page lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court comes just over a month after Ming Qu and Ying Wu, both 23, were fatally shot as they were sitting in a 2003 BMW car that had been double-parked. ...

Anti-war protesters march at Obama campaign headquarters »

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A small group of anti-war demonstrators staged a peaceful "die in" on Thursday at President Barack Obama's election campaign headquarters in Chicago to demand an end to the war in Afghanistan and unmanned drone aircraft attacks overseas. Despite calling ahead, some of the roughly 50 protesters said they were unable to deliver a letter to the Obama campaign calling for the United States to leave NATO and its "violent mission of protecting the 1 percent in the global economy who represent 99 percent of corporate wealth in the world. ...

Protests after Houston cop cleared of beating black teen »

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The day after an all-white jury acquitted a former Houston police officer for his role in the beating of a 15-year-old African American burglary suspect, community activists rallied a crowd of at least 200 people on the courthouse steps to protest. Andrew Blomberg was acquitted by a jury in Houston on Wednesday in the alleged beating and stomping of Chad Holley two years ago. Protesters carrying signs with slogans like, "No justice, no peace. ...

More minority babies than whites in U.S.: Census Bureau »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the first time, there are more black, Hispanic and other minority babies being born in the United States than white babies, according to government data released on Thursday that confirm a long-growing trend. U.S. Census Bureau data show the United States is on its way to becoming "majority minority," with almost half of all young children currently from minority groups, including Hispanic, black and Asian. As of July 1, 2011, 50.4 percent of babies younger than age 1 were minorities or of more than one race, up from 49.5 percent in 2010, the data showed. ...

Kansas governor apologizes for century of segregation »

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) - Kansas Governor Sam Brownback apologized on Thursday to blacks for segregation in his state in the last century as he marked the anniversary of a ruling that struck down segregation in schools. The Republican governor said Kansas had never really apologized for the "hateful practice" of segregating black people from white in public places after the abolition of slavery. Brownback signed the proclamation on the 58th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1954 ruling in Brown vs. ...

Oklahoma park accused of letting kids play with tigers »

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - The Humane Society of the United States is accusing an Oklahoma exotic animal park of allowing children to handle and pose for photographs with juvenile tigers in what they called "a petting zoo for carnivores." Joe Schreibvogel, owner of the G.W. Exotic Animal Park, 65 miles south of Oklahoma City, denies the allegations, and he said on Thursday that the humane society simply wants to bankrupt him. Wayne Pacelle, head of the animal rights organization, contends that allowing visitors to handle the unpredictable felines placed the visitors at risk. ...

Storied battleship making final port call in Los Angeles »

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The USS Iowa, which ferried the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the perilous Atlantic waters to a historic meeting with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin in the dark days of World War Two, will have to be towed to its final port call. The battleship saw combat in the Pacific, survived a devastating explosion in a gun turret, and even a snub from the city of San Francisco. At the end of its final voyage, the storied warship will have a permanent mooring in Los Angeles. ...

Mississippi high court declines to rehear pardon case »

TUPELO, Miss (Reuters) - Mississippi's high court on Thursday rejected a motion by its state attorney general to reconsider its approval of 10 pardons issued in January by then Governor Haley Barbour. The decision not to rehear the case was handed down by the state Supreme Court without comment. Attorney General Jim Hood had asked the court to void those pardons, among some 200 issued by the former Republican governor, on the grounds that technical procedures set out in the state constitution had not been met. ...

New York state says jobless rate steady at 8.5 pct »

(Reuters) - New York state's unemployment rate was unchanged in April from March at 8.5 percent but the state has won back all the private sector jobs lost during the recession, the state's Department of Labor said on Thursday. New York's jobless rate is up from 8 percent in April 2011 and is above the national rate for April of 8.1 percent. Only four other states have regained all the jobs lost during the Great Recession: Alaska, Louisiana, North Dakota and Texas, said Kevin Jack, a state labor market analyst. ...

Family values ex-Nevada lawmaker appears in bikini for Maxim »

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - A former Nevada state Senator who ran on a Christian family values platform has posed in a bikini as a write-in candidate for the men's magazine Maxim's "Hot 100" contest. The magazine will announce results of the annual contest next week, but a photo of Elizabeth Halseth posed in a black bikini against a desert mountain backdrop has featured on the magazine's website as one of the most popular 'Hot 100' write-ins of the year. ...

Winds, low humidity bedevil Arizona, Colorado firefighters »

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Firefighters struggled against strong winds on Thursday to halt the advance of Arizona wildfires that have charred more than 30 square miles (78 square km) of dry ponderosa forest, brush and grass, and a blaze in nearby Colorado swelled overnight. More than 1,000 firefighters in the two states battled at least five major blazes from the ground while air tankers and helicopters dropped water and fire retardant. Another fire erupted in Minnesota, encroaching on the northern town of Ely. ...

Mississippi officials: April incident may be linked to murders »

TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - Authorities in Mississippi are checking an April incident they say may be related to two highway murders this month that have raised alarms about a killer possibly posing as a police officer. The April 2 incident - which involved a woman being pulled over by an unmarked car and did not end violently - is one of hundreds of leads that officials are following in rural northern Mississippi as they investigate the killings. ...

Winds, low humidity bedevil Arizona, Colorado firefighters »

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Firefighters struggled against strong winds on Thursday to halt the advance of Arizona wildfires that have charred over 30 square miles of dry ponderosa forest, brush and grass, and a blaze in nearby Colorado swelled overnight. Over 1,000 firefighters in the two states battled at least five major blazes from the ground while air tankers and helicopters made water and fire retardant drops. ...

Defense budget debate touches on Afghanistan, NASCAR »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - War-weary lawmakers nudged President Barack Obama to speed the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan on Thursday but Republicans blocked a big debate on the issue ahead of a NATO summit to chart the way forward in the decade-long conflict. The clash over Afghanistan came as lawmakers in the House of Representatives debated an annual policy bill that would authorize $642.5 billion in defense spending for the 2013 fiscal year beginning in October, including $88.5 billion for the Afghan war and other overseas operations. ...

Prosecution rests in Philadelphia Archdiocese child sex abuse trial »

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The prosecution rested its case on Thursday against Philadelphia Archdiocese Monsignor William Lynn, the most senior U.S. clergyman to go to trial in the Roman Catholic Church's pedophilia scandal. During nearly eight weeks of startling testimony about the lurid lives of predatory priests, Lynn, a former secretary of the clergy, has sat stoically in his clerical garb as the case unfolded in an often-packed courtroom. ...

Ex-U.S. Army Corps manager and son plead guilty to bribery scheme »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and his son pleaded guilty on Thursday to participating in a plot involving possibly more than $30 million in bribes and kickbacks to steer a government contract to a favored bidder. Kerry Khan, 54, whom U.S. prosecutors call the ringleader of the scheme, said he was guilty of federal charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering. ...