By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) – Defending Giro d’Italia champion Ryder Hesjedal has withdrawn from this year’s race, the Canadian’s Garmin-Sharp team announced before the start of Friday’s stage 13. Hesjedal had slipped to 38th place after 12 stages, 32 minutes and 55 seconds down on overall leader Vincenzo Nibali of...
Powerball jackpot could go higher than $600 million
By Karen Brooks AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – The Powerball jackpot being drawn on Saturday night could be even higher than the record $600 million being advertised, pushing it near or above the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, a Texas Lottery official said on Saturday. “Oftentimes, the advertised amount is lower than what the...
Investigators seek cause of New York commuter train crash
By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) – Defending Giro d’Italia champion Ryder Hesjedal has withdrawn from this year’s race, the Canadian’s Garmin-Sharp team announced before the start of Friday’s stage 13. Hesjedal had slipped to 38th place after 12 stages, 32 minutes and 55 seconds down on overall leader Vincenzo Nibali of...
Police: Boy, 6, kicked by pony on Pa. farm dies
NEW HOLLAND, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a 6-year-old boy died after he was kicked in the throat by a pony on a south-central Pennsylvania farm. Police in Lancaster County tell the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era (http://bit.ly/19HVGaI ) that the boy was playing with other children in a New Holland pasture on Thursday morning....
Majority of number combos picked for Powerball pot
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Powerball is a game of numbers, and lottery officials say the majority of possible combinations have already been purchased ahead of Saturday night’s near-historic $600 million drawing. The odds of winning the game’s largest jackpot remain astronomically high: 1 in 175.2 million. But since about 80 percent of the...
Parking fees at California state beaches heat up
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sunbathers flocking to Southern California beaches are used to feeding the meter or paying a parking attendant. Not so along the less developed north coast where it’s customary to ditch cars on the shoulder of Highway 1 to surf, swim or picnic. That sandy line that long defined the state’s...
Obama agenda seems to be weathering controversies
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama‘s agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office. “Absolutely not,” Steven Miller, the recently resigned acting...
2 fires north of LA persist after long fire week
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — A pair of tamed but persistent wildfires still burned in the hills and mountains around Interstate 5 after a wild week of burning brush in the area north of Los Angeles. A new fire that broke out Friday, the third major blaze in the area in a week, quickly...
Conn., NTSB officials to tour train crash site
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Officials in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy‘s office say the governor will meet with representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board and Connecticut‘s two U.S. senators at the site of a Metro-North Railroad crash that injured 70 people. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and other Connecticut officials will also participate...
The IRS and its tea party tempest
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service is feeling the sort of heat that targeted taxpayers feel from the tax agency. It’s the sense that a powerful someone is breathing down your neck. Republicans in Congress are livid with the IRS over its systematic scrutiny of conservative groups during the 2010 and 2012 elections....
Landing gear issue leads to plane’s belly landing
NEWARK, N.J (AP) — An airline official says a US Airways flight with 34 people aboard was forced to make a belly landing at Newark International Airport after experiencing landing gear trouble. No injuries were reported. US Airways spokesman Davien Anderson tells The Associated Press that a turboprop plane that left Philadelphia shortly before...
A look at the top 10 world record lottery jackpots
The Powerball jackpot for Saturday night’s drawing has climbed to $600 million, the largest in that game’s history and closing in on the largest lottery jackpot of all time. Here’s a look at the top 10 world record lottery jackpots. 1. $656.0 million, Mega Millions, March 30, 2012 (3 tickets from Kansas, Illinois and...
SPIN METER: GOP raps Dems for IRS union cash
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking maximum political gain from the string of controversies swirling around the White House, Republicans are on the attack against Democratic lawmakers who accepted donations from the union that represents Internal Revenue Service employees. But here’s the rub: About a dozen current and former Republican lawmakers took the same cash. Among...
GOP hopes IRS scandal will snag health care law
WASHINGTON (AP) — Political scandals have strange ways of causing collateral damage, and Republicans are hoping the furor over federal tax enforcers singling out conservative groups will ensnare their biggest target: President Barack Obama‘s health care law. But no one appears to have connected the factual dots yet, and it’s unclear whether they will....
Powerball jackpot closing in on another record
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Less than 10 months after three tickets split a world-record lottery prize, the jackpot for Saturday’s Powerball drawing was nearing historic territory once again. Should nobody pick the correct six numbers, the prize money will roll over to next week’s drawing and almost certainly eclipse the $656 million doled...
Plea offer in Delaware waterboarding case
DOVER, Del. (AP) — A woman who lived with a Delaware pediatrician accused of waterboarding her 11-year-old daughter has agreed to plead guilty to child endangerment charges and testify against him. In accepting a plea offer from prosecutors, Pauline Morse agreed Friday to plead guilty to three misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of...
Probe begins after Conn. commuter trains crash
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Two commuter trains packed with rush-hour commuters collided in an accident that sent more than 60 people to Connecticut hospitals, severely damaged the tracks and threatened to snarl travel in the congested Northeast Corridor. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said five people were critically injured and one was very critically hurt...
Cops investigating after NY college student killed
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Last Sunday Andrea Rebello, a 21-year-old Hofstra University junior studying public relations, posted a recipe for how to prepare July 4-themed strawberries covered in sparkling sugars on her blog. Less than a week later, Nassau County police announced that Rebello, who was with her twin sister Jessica and several other...
Calif. fire crews gain edge on 2 blazes along I-5
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — As firefighters took on a stubborn 3-day-old wildfire Friday in rough terrain north of Los Angeles, a second and more serious blaze broke out 30 miles away near Interstate 5, quickly surging to more than 500 acres, briefly threatening an elementary school and leading to the precautionary evacuation of...
Tech, labor brandish dueling studies in immigration fight
By Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The technology industry and organized labor are locked in a fight that threatens to complicate the U.S. Senate‘s immigration bill. At the heart of the debate is whether there is a shortage of Americans with the math and science skills needed for work at technology firms like Facebook...
Commuter trains collide in Connecticut, injuring up to 60 people
By Michelle McLoughlin FAIRFIELD, Connecticut (Reuters) – A commuter train traveling eastbound from New York City derailed near the Connecticut suburb of Fairfield during the evening rush hour on Friday and collided with a westbound commuter train, injuring up to 60 people, three critically, officials said. The collision of the two Metro North trains...
UN panel: Sanctions delaying NKorea nuke program
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea is still trying to import and export nuclear and ballistic missile-related items but financial and trade sanctions are slowing progress on development of their prohibited weapons, U.N. experts say in a new report. Key parts of the expert panel’s report, obtained Friday by the Associated Press, provide further...
Pa. coffee run leads to hatchet hitchhiker arrest
ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) — Two cups of coffee ended life on the run for an Internet sensation known as Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker. An employee at a Starbucks in Philadelphia is credited with recognizing 24-year-old Caleb “Kai” McGillvary, whose fledgling celebrity took a turn toward notoriety when authorities announced this week that he was...
Conn. commuter trains collide; 60 go to hospitals
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Two commuter trains serving New York City collided in Connecticut during Friday’s evening rush hour, sending 60 people to the hospital, including five with critical injuries, Gov. Dannel Malloy said. About 250 people were on board the Metro-North trains when one heading east from New York City’s Grand Central Station...
Nearly 50 injured as Conn. commuter trains collide
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Two commuter trains serving New York City collided in Connecticut during Friday’s evening rush hour, injuring about 50 people, authorities said. There were no reports of fatalities. The Metro-North Railroad, a commuter line serving the northern suburbs, referred in a news release to a “major derailment” near Fairfield, just outside...
Residents capture amazing videos in the face of tornadoes
(updates with quotes, details, adds byline) * Chest infection worsens, forcing Wiggins to withdraw * Defending champion Hesjedal also out * Italy’s Nibali leads as Uran takes over as Team Sky leader By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) – This year’s Giro d’Italia claimed two major victims when pre-race favourite Bradley Wiggins...
Nearly 50 hurt as two trains collide in Connecticut
(updates with quotes, details, adds byline) * Chest infection worsens, forcing Wiggins to withdraw * Defending champion Hesjedal also out * Italy’s Nibali leads as Uran takes over as Team Sky leader By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) – This year’s Giro d’Italia claimed two major victims when pre-race favourite Bradley Wiggins...
Woman charged with harboring New Orleans Mother’s Day shooter
(updates with quotes, details, adds byline) * Chest infection worsens, forcing Wiggins to withdraw * Defending champion Hesjedal also out * Italy’s Nibali leads as Uran takes over as Team Sky leader By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) – This year’s Giro d’Italia claimed two major victims when pre-race favourite Bradley Wiggins...
OJ’s ex-lawyer contradicts his testimony on guns
LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson’s former lawyer defended himself point-by-point Friday against allegations he botched the former football star’s armed-robbery trial, and he testified Simpson actually knew his buddies had guns when they went to a hotel room to reclaim some sports memorabilia. Miami attorney Yale Galanter took the stand at an often...
Judge: Atlantic Club casino can seek new buyer
MAYS LANDING, N.J. (AP) — After paying an $11 million advance to a struggling Atlantic City casino it intended to buy, the parent company of the world’s largest online poker website was left with nothing for its troubles Friday when a judge ruled the casino had the right to scrap the deal. Superior Court...
Hoarding disorder gets spotlight in DSM-5
By Mike Krumboltz A room filled with items Regular viewers of reality shows about hoarding are used to being stunned by someone’s clutter. But behind the sensationalistic stories of rooms buried in trash, kitchens filled with rotting food, and yards overrun by goats are people suffering from a serious mental illness –hoarding–that for many...
Woman who lost limbs to flesh-eating bacteria gets bionic hands
(updates with quotes, details, adds byline) * Chest infection worsens, forcing Wiggins to withdraw * Defending champion Hesjedal also out * Italy’s Nibali leads as Uran takes over as Team Sky leader By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) – This year’s Giro d’Italia claimed two major victims when pre-race favourite Bradley Wiggins...
Police officer and good Samaritans lift SUV off trapped girl
(updates with quotes, details, adds byline) * Chest infection worsens, forcing Wiggins to withdraw * Defending champion Hesjedal also out * Italy’s Nibali leads as Uran takes over as Team Sky leader By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) – This year’s Giro d’Italia claimed two major victims when pre-race favourite Bradley Wiggins...
Police officer and good Samaritans lift SUV off of trapped girl
(updates with quotes, details, adds byline) * Chest infection worsens, forcing Wiggins to withdraw * Defending champion Hesjedal also out * Italy’s Nibali leads as Uran takes over as Team Sky leader By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) – This year’s Giro d’Italia claimed two major victims when pre-race favourite Bradley Wiggins...
U.S. Navy SEAL dies in Fort Knox training accident
(updates with quotes, details, adds byline) * Chest infection worsens, forcing Wiggins to withdraw * Defending champion Hesjedal also out * Italy’s Nibali leads as Uran takes over as Team Sky leader By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) – This year’s Giro d’Italia claimed two major victims when pre-race favourite Bradley Wiggins...
Illinois Senate approves marijuana for medical uses
(updates with quotes, details, adds byline) * Chest infection worsens, forcing Wiggins to withdraw * Defending champion Hesjedal also out * Italy’s Nibali leads as Uran takes over as Team Sky leader By Alasdair Fotheringham BUSSETO, Italy, May 17 (Reuters) – This year’s Giro d’Italia claimed two major victims when pre-race favourite Bradley Wiggins...
Canada to target U.S. products in meat labels dispute
By Sonia Oxley MANCHESTER, England, May 16 (Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur hope to turn the tables on bitter rivals Arsenal on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday by snatching a top-four finish at their expense. With Manchester United crowned champions, Manchester City guaranteed second spot and all three relegation victims...
One dead in U.S. Navy SEAL training accident at Fort Knox
By Sonia Oxley MANCHESTER, England, May 16 (Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur hope to turn the tables on bitter rivals Arsenal on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday by snatching a top-four finish at their expense. With Manchester United crowned champions, Manchester City guaranteed second spot and all three relegation victims...
IRS chief declines to identify employees involved in scandal
By Kim Dixon and Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The outgoing head of the Internal Revenue Service provided little help on Friday to lawmakers investigating who at the tax-collection agency was responsible for targeting conservative groups for extra scrutiny. As Congress kicked off the first of several investigations into a scandal that has put...
Former OJ lawyer in Vegas to testify new trial bid
LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson’s former lawyer has some explaining to do. Miami attorney Yale Galanter is scheduled to testify Friday in Simpson‘s bid for a new trial. Galanter, according to Simpson, advised the former football star that it was his legal right to retrieve personal items from two memorabilia dealers; told Simpson...
Plans languish for overhaul of NYC’s Penn Station
NEW YORK (AP) — The busiest passenger train station in the United States is a 1960s-era, utilitarian labyrinth in the basement of a basketball arena. Pennsylvania Station, a gateway to the nation’s biggest city, was designed to accommodate about 200,000 riders a day. Now, it is packed with more than 600,000. At rush hours,...
Lawmakers accuse IRS officials of lying in tax scandal
By Andy Sullivan and Kim Dixon WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lawmakers accused leaders of the Internal Revenue Service of lying on Friday as they opened the first in a series of investigative hearings about the tax collection agency’s targeting of conservative groups. Republicans and Democrats said senior IRS officials should have alerted Congress last year...
IRS says head of tax-exempt division to retire
MADRID, May 16 (Reuters) – Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos put in an assured performance in front of the cameras after coach Jose Mourinho failed to appear in Thursday’s news conference ahead of the King’s Cup final. Better known for his tough tackles, powerful heading ability and nerves of steel when taking penalties, the...
What Congress should ask IRS, but probably won’t
By Nanette Byrnes (Reuters) – The House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee on Friday will hold the first of three hearings on the Internal Revenue Service “Tea Party” targeting scandal. Tax experts hope the hearings go beyond finger-pointing and get to the heart of the IRS’s long-standing problems. If they can get past...
Fund for freed woman in Ohio reaches $480,000
CLEVELAND (AP) — An official says a charity set up to help the three women freed from a decade of captivity in a Cleveland house has raised more than $480,000 so far. Lynne Woodman of KeyBank tells The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer (http://bit.ly/10V7Mh8 ) that there have been more than 5,100 donations to what has...
Mom in NM chases down child abductor; man arrested
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A mother whose 4-year-old was being abducted chased the suspect down and crashed her vehicle into his car, triggering a manhunt and the arrest of the suspect, Albuquerque police said Thursday. The young girl was playing in her yard at St. Anthony’s Plaza Apartments in Albuquerque’s North Valley about 6:30...
Idaho man heads to court after terrorism arrest
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Uzbekistan national living in Idaho has been arrested on federal charges that he gave support, cash and other resources to help a recognized terrorist group in his home country plan a terrorist attack. Fazliddin Kurbanov, 30, is expected to make his first appearance in U.S. District Court Friday morning,...
Monster Texas tornado kills six, seven people missing
By Jana J. Pruet GRANBURY, Texas (Reuters) – Six people were dead and seven missing after a powerful tornado ripped through a neighborhood that included housing for the poor in the north Texas town of Granbury, marking the deadliest severe storm outbreak in the United States so far this year. Authorities were assessing damage...
Finding permanent IRS chief now difficult job for Obama
By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Finding a permanent Internal Revenue Service commissioner who is ready to endure a grueling Senate confirmation hearing could be a challenging task for President Barack Obama in the wake of the controversy engulfing the agency over its targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. Under law, Danny Werfel,...
Problems surface over Ariz.’s 2007 immigration law
PHOENIX (AP) — The immigration debate in Arizona reached a boiling point in 2007 when the state passed a groundbreaking law targeting those often blamed with fueling the nation’s border woes: Employers who hire immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The law marked a bold step by a state into an area that had...