BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A dozen years after a customer revolt forced Monsanto to ditch its genetically engineered potato, an Idaho company aims to resurrect high-tech spuds. This month, tuber processing giant J.R. Simplot Co. asked the U.S. government to approve five varieties of biotech potatoes. They’re engineered not to develop ugly black bruises...
Top IRS official didn’t reveal tea party targeting
May 13 (Reuters) – Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $5,849,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,388,064 3. Kevin Streelman $2,572,989 4. Billy Horschel $2,567,891 5. Matt Kuchar $2,493,387 6. Phil Mickelson $2,220,280 7. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,207,683 8. D.A. Points $2,019,702 9. Steve Stricker $1,977,140 10....
Trump to testify at Chicago trial on condo deals
May 13 (Reuters) – Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $5,849,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,388,064 3. Kevin Streelman $2,572,989 4. Billy Horschel $2,567,891 5. Matt Kuchar $2,493,387 6. Phil Mickelson $2,220,280 7. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,207,683 8. D.A. Points $2,019,702 9. Steve Stricker $1,977,140 10....
NYC mayoral candidate reveals bulimia struggles
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Council Speaker and Democratic mayoral candidate Christine Quinn says she struggled in the past with bulimia and alcoholism. In an interview with the New York Times (http://nyti.ms/10UFf5v ), Quinn says her bingeing and purging began when she was 16 while caring for her mother who was dying...
Smithsonian to preserve South Carolina slave cabin
EDISTO ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — A slave cabin on Edisto Island in coastal South Carolina will be preserved by the Smithsonian Institution. The Post and Courier of Charleston (http://bit.ly/10vGSXn ) reports the two-room, wooden building is being dismantled and will be taken to Washington, where it will be placed in the new National Museum...
House panel questions resignation of top FDA official
By Toni Clarke (Reuters) – A House of Representatives panel is investigating the circumstances surrounding the resignation from the Food and Drug Administration of its acting deputy commissioner for medical products and tobacco. In a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg on Monday, Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee demanded more information about...
OJ returns to Las Vegas court in bid for new trial
LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson’s former lawyer’s work is expected to again draw withering criticism Tuesday in a Las Vegas courtroom where the imprisoned former football star and his new attorneys are trying to convince a Nevada judge that Simpson deserves a new trial. The 65-year-old Simpson arrived in court Monday in shackles...
Dad wants evidence in girl’s stabbing
VALLEY SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — The father of a 12-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing his 8-year-old sister had planned on addressing the media, but sheriff’s officials said a news conference set for Tuesday was canceled. Barney Fowler told The Associated Press that he will believe his son is innocent until he sees evidence...
Police: Man, 19, sought in N.O. parade shootings
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans police and federal authorities were searching early Tuesday for a young man who is suspected of opening fire at a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans, wounding 19. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas identified the suspect late Monday as Akein Scott, 19, of New Orleans. Referring to blurry surveillance...
Navy to launch unmanned aircraft from carrier
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The Navy is preparing to launch an unmanned aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier for the first time. The X-47B is about the size of a traditional fighter plane. It can reach an altitude of more than 40,000 feet and has a range of more than 2,100 nautical...
Angelina Jolie says she had double mastectomy
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Angelina Jolie says that she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer. The Oscar-winning actress and partner to Brad Pitt made the announcement in the form of an op-ed she authored for Tuesday’s New York...
AP IMPACT: Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths
CONVERSE COUNTY, Wyo. (AP) — It’s the not-so-green secret of the nation’s wind-energy boom: Spinning turbines are killing thousands of federally protected birds, including eagles, each year. Each death is a federal crime. And the Obama administration has prosecuted oil and power companies for such deaths. But the administration has not prosecuted a single...
Father of NJ boy who shot playmate is charged
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — Authorities say the father of a 4-year-old boy who shot and fatally wounded his 6-year-old playmate has been arrested and charged with having weapons accessible to children. The Asbury Park Press reports (http://on.app.com/168BCSk) that 33-year-old Anthony Senatore was arrested around 6:30 p.m. Monday. Authorities say on April 8 Senatore’s...
Analysis: Controversies give Obama new governing headaches
By Fred Barbash WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama learned on Monday what can happen to presidents caught up in allegations of scandal: they have to address them instead of anything else. It happened when the president had to interrupt his news conference with Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain to answer questions about...
Police identify suspect in New Orleans shooting
By Mark Guarino NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – New Orleans police on Monday identified a suspect in connection with a shooting at a Mother’s Day parade that injured 19 people, including two children, as residents expressed outrage over the violence. Police said the suspect, 19-year-old Akein Scott, remained at large but had been identified by...
Police ID suspect in New Orleans mass shooting
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Police late Monday identified a 19-year-old man as a suspect in the shooting of about 20 people during a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans, saying several people had identified him as the gunman captured by surveillance camera videos. Superintendent Ronal Serpas said officers were looking for Akein Scott of...
Drug manufacturer agrees to $500 million penalty
WASHINGTON (AP) — A subsidiary of India’s largest pharmaceutical company has agreed to pay a record $500 million in fines and penalties for selling adulterated drugs and lying to federal regulators in a case that is part of an ongoing crackdown on the quality of generic drugs flowing into the U.S. Federal prosecutors say...
Police identify suspect in New Orleans Mother’s Day shooting
By Mark Guarino NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – New Orleans police on Monday identified a suspect in connection with a shooting at a Mother’s Day parade that injured 19 people, including two children, as residents expressed outrage over the violence. Police said the suspect, 19-year-old Akein Scott, remained at large but had been identified by...
Doctor found guilty of murder in Philadelphia abortion trial
By Dave Warner PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A Philadelphia doctor was found guilty on Monday of murdering three babies during abortions at a clinic serving low-income women in a case that cast a national spotlight on the controversial practice of late-term abortions. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, who ran the now-shuttered Women’s Medical Society Clinic, faces...
Quotebox
May 13 (Reuters) – Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $5,849,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,388,064 3. Kevin Streelman $2,572,989 4. Billy Horschel $2,567,891 5. Matt Kuchar $2,493,387 6. Phil Mickelson $2,220,280 7. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,207,683 8. D.A. Points $2,019,702 9. Steve Stricker $1,977,140 10....
Vermont House passes aid-in-dying bill
May 13 (Reuters) – Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $5,849,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,388,064 3. Kevin Streelman $2,572,989 4. Billy Horschel $2,567,891 5. Matt Kuchar $2,493,387 6. Phil Mickelson $2,220,280 7. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,207,683 8. D.A. Points $2,019,702 9. Steve Stricker $1,977,140 10....
Gov’t obtains wide AP phone records in probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations gather the news. The records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the work...
Kermit Gosnell guilty of murder in 3 infants’ deaths
May 13 (Reuters) – Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $5,849,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,388,064 3. Kevin Streelman $2,572,989 4. Billy Horschel $2,567,891 5. Matt Kuchar $2,493,387 6. Phil Mickelson $2,220,280 7. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,207,683 8. D.A. Points $2,019,702 9. Steve Stricker $1,977,140 10....
Minnesota Senate approves bill legalizing gay marriage
May 13 (Reuters) – Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $5,849,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,388,064 3. Kevin Streelman $2,572,989 4. Billy Horschel $2,567,891 5. Matt Kuchar $2,493,387 6. Phil Mickelson $2,220,280 7. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,207,683 8. D.A. Points $2,019,702 9. Steve Stricker $1,977,140 10....
Two men arrested in Malcolm Shabazz murder in Mexico, more sought
By Gabriel Stargardter MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Authorities in Mexico City have arrested two men on suspicion of the fatal beating of the grandson of U.S. civil rights activist Malcolm X in a bar last week and are looking for at least two more people, Mexico City Attorney General Rodolfo Rios said on Monday....
Detroit emergency manager says city ‘clearly insolvent’
By Nick Carey and Steve Neavling (Reuters) – Michigan’s biggest city is “clearly insolvent” and needs to restructure its debt and renegotiate its labor contracts to address its problems, Detroit‘s emergency financial manager said on Monday. Emergency Financial Manager Kevyn Orr in a report issued online presented a sweeping review of Detroit’s problems, from...
Judge rules U.S. soldier’s killing of five was premeditated
By Eric M. Johnson TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) – A military judge ruled on Monday that a U.S. soldier who shot and killed five fellow servicemen at a combat stress clinic in Iraq acted with premeditation, a decision that will almost surely get him life in prison. U.S. Army Sergeant John Russell, in a deal...
New Orleans police release photos of Mother’s Day shooting suspect
The Obama administration was tediously, depressingly scandal-free for years. In fact, according to an analysis of press coverage by Dartmouth professor Brendan Nyhan, President Obama went the longest scandal-free of any president since 1977. Finally, the scandal-starved political types have found some relief. With the revelation that the IRS targeted Tea Party non-profit groups, people...
Obama calls IRS actions outrageous, seeks to neutralize crises
By Jeff Mason and Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama sought on Monday to neutralize two crises that threatened his second term agenda, calling the apparent targeting of conservative groups by tax officials “outrageous” and an uproar over his response to American deaths in Libya a “sideshow.” At a news conference with...
U.S. soldier in Iraq acted with premeditation in killing comrades : judge
By Eric M. Johnson TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) – A U.S. soldier who pleaded guilty to shooting dead five fellow servicemen at a combat stress clinic in Iraq killed his comrades with premeditation, a military judge said on Monday in a ruling that will almost surely get him life in prison. U.S. Army Sergeant John...
James Holmes pleads not guilty by reason of insanity
James Holmes sits with defense attorney Tamara Brady during his arraignment. (AP) CENTENNIAL, Colo.—An overwhelming number of victims have objected to James Holmes pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, but the judge in the Aurora shooting case told the courtroom today that Holmes’ attorneys proved that they can pursue that defense. “The court...
Jury hung on two counts in Philadelphia abortion trial
By Dave Warner PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A Philadelphia jury in its 10th day of deliberations told the judge on Monday that it was hung on two counts in the murder trial of a doctor accused of killing babies and a patient during late-term abortions at a clinic that served low-income women. Dr. Kermit Gosnell,...
U.S. soldier in Iraq acted with premeditation in killing comrades: judge
Taylor Swift leads a list of country’s hottest stars set to perform at the CMT Music Awards next month. Swift, Miranda Lambert’s Pistol Annies, Luke Bryan, Hunter Hayes and Little Big Town are the first … ... read more at source
Pa. abortion clinic deaths jury split on 2 counts
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jurors in the murder trial of a longtime Philadelphia abortion provider said Monday that they were divided on two of the more than 200 counts in the case, but the judge asked them to try again to reach a unanimous verdict. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, is accused of killing a patient...
New Orleans Mother’s Day parade shooting: Police seek man seen in surveillance footage
A man appears to open fire on the crowd. (YouTube/NOPD) Police in New Orleans have released surveillance footage of one of at least three suspects wanted in connection with the afternoon shooting that injured 19 people at a Mother’s Day parade. In the footage, posted to YouTube, a man wearing a white T-shirt and...
Police seek gunmen in New Orleans Mother’s Day parade shooting
By Iain Rogers MADRID (Reuters) – When Rafa Nadal returned to action in February after seven months out with a knee injury he never thought that just over three months later he would have another five titles in the bag, including two more Masters triumphs. The Spaniard, a former number one and the French...
OJ bid for new trial starting in Las Vegas court
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The last time O.J. Simpson was in a Las Vegas courtroom, he stood next to defense attorney Yale Galanter before being handcuffed and hauled off to prison for up to 33 years. On Monday, the former football hero returns to Clark County District Court with a different set of lawyers...
Castro brothers break silence on Cleveland case
Onil Castro and Pedro Castro (CNN) Ariel Castro’s brothers say they were as shocked as everyone else to learn of his alleged crimes, and have no sympathy for the man they now call a monster. Pedro Castro and Onil Castro gave CNN an exclusive interview about their 52-year-old brother, who is accused of kidnapping...
Accused Colorado gunman to seek insanity plea in court
By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) – Accused Colorado theater gunman James Holmes, who could face execution if convicted of murdering 12 moviegoers last year, returns to a Colorado courtroom on Monday where his lawyers will seek to change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. Holmes, 25, is charged with multiple counts...
Police vow to solve shootings of 19 in New Orleans
By Iain Rogers MADRID (Reuters) – When Rafa Nadal returned to action in February after seven months out with a knee injury he never thought that just over three months later he would have another five titles in the bag, including two more Masters triumphs. The Spaniard, a former number one and the French...
Top U.S. admiral puts cyber security on the Navy’s radar
By John O’Callaghan SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Cyber security and warfare are on par with a credible nuclear deterrent in the defense priorities of the United States, the U.S. Navy‘s top admiral said on Monday, after the Pentagon accused China of trying to hack into its computer networks. Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval...
Minnesota poised to become 12th state to adopt same-sex marriage
By David Bailey ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Reuters) – The Minnesota Senate is expected to give final approval on Monday to a bill that would make the state the 12th in the United States to allow same-sex couples to marry and only the second in the Midwest. Leaders in the Senate, where Democrats hold a...
Amtrak unveils locomotives to replace aging fleet
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — When Amtrak unveils the first of 70 new locomotives Monday at a plant in California, it will mark what the national passenger railroad service hopes will be a new era of better reliability, streamlined maintenance and better energy efficiency. On a broader scale, the new engines could well be viewed...
5 Things to Know about OJ Simpson’s court date
LAS VEGAS (AP) — WHY IS O.J. SIMPSON IN COURT? The 65-year-old former football star is serving nine to 33 years in a Nevada prison after a jury found him guilty in 2008 of leading the gunpoint robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room. Simpson wants a new trial...
James Holmes’ insanity plea expected today
James Holmes sits with defense attorney Tamara Brady during his arraignment. (AP) CENTENNIAL, Colo.—James Holmes, the man accused of murdering 12 people in last summer’s shooting spree at a suburban Denver movie theater, will formally plead in court today what many expected all along: Not guilty by reason of insanity. On Tuesday, Holmes’ lawyers...
Senator: Obama should ‘condemn’ IRS targeting
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans say the Internal Revenue Service‘s targeting of conservative political groups was “chilling”, and at least one Republican senator called on President Barack Obama to “personally condemn” the actions. The IRS, an independent agency in the Treasury Department, has already apologized for scrutinizing the tax-exempt status of groups with conservative titles...
Marathon bombing survivor wants others remembered
BOSTON (AP) — The image showed James “Bim” Costello staggering away from the Boston Marathon bombing, his jeans shredded and blackened, his body so burned that he was left needing pig skin grafts on most of his right arm and right leg. Costello had plucked two rusty roofing nails from his stomach and was...
Obama to welcome UK PM Cameron to White House
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is welcoming British Prime Minister David Cameron to the White House for talks on subjects ranging from Syria’s civil war to preparations for a coming summit of the world’s leading industrial nations in Northern Ireland. Iran, the Mideast peace process, counterterrorism and trade are other likely topics for...
18 New Orleans shooting victims included 2 kids
By Iain Rogers MADRID (Reuters) – When Rafa Nadal returned to action in February after seven months out with a knee injury he never thought that just over three months later he would have another five titles in the bag, including two more Masters triumphs. The Spaniard, a former number one and the French...
Seth Meyers to replace Jimmy Fallon late at night
NEW YORK (AP) — Seth Meyers is moving from his “Weekend Update” desk to his own late night show on NBC. The network said Sunday that the 12-year “Saturday Night Live” cast member will replace Jimmy Fallon at the 12:35 a.m. “Late Night” show next year. Fallon is moving up an hour as Jay...