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• Gay rights advocates in Alabama sue for right to marriage licenses
• Man charged with murder in death of University of Virginia student
• Obama concealed support for gay marriage
• Newsweek's Twitter feed hacked by supporters of IS
• Moon objects found in astronaut Neil Armstrong's closet
• Missouri execution planned, questions over lethal drugs persist
• Parents of U.S. woman held by Islamic State notified of her death
• Jury set to hear videotaped confession in New York boy's murder
• Schools, trains halted at Massachusetts digs out from record storm
• S.C. woman charged with daughter's 1994 kidnapping to plead guilty
• Jeb Bush seeks money, talks education at home in Florida capitol
• U.S. to establish new cybersecurity agency: official
• Spider-Man to finally join Marvel Cinematic Universe
• Obama to send new war powers request to Congress
• California educator gets 10 years for sex abuse
• California confirms 107 cases of measles, 39 from Disneyland outbreak
• Same-sex marriage begins in parts of Alabama, thwarted in others
• Netanyahu considering changes to Congress speech after criticism
• Pro-gay marriage signals seen in U.S. Supreme Court action
• Heavy rains cause flooding, mudslides across the West Coast

Gay rights advocates in Alabama sue for right to marriage licenses Posted: 10 Feb 2015 11:52 AM PST Gay rights advocates in Alabama have asked a U.S. judge to force a local judge to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Tuesday, a day after officials in most of the state refused to grant the licenses in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court. Lawyers for the couples filed suit against Mobile County Probate Court Judge Don Davis late on Monday and were working to add additional plaintiffs to the suit on Tuesday, said David Kennedy, an attorney for the plaintiffs. Mobile County, home to Mobile, the state's third-largest city, was the most populous of those refusing to provide marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, and Kennedy said Granade could apply her order to other counties. Advocates said they hoped U.S. District Court Judge Callie Granade, a President George W. Bush appointee who struck down the state's ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional in a ruling that took effect on Monday, would make a swift ruling in the latest lawsuit.

Man charged with murder in death of University of Virginia student Posted: 10 Feb 2015 11:03 AM PST A hospital worker has been charged with the murder of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, whose disappearance shocked the campus and drew national headlines, authorities said on Tuesday. Jesse Matthew Jr., 33, of Charlottesville, Virginia, was indicted by an Albemarle County grand jury last week. Matthew has been charged with first-degree murder and abduction with intent to defile, Albemarle County prosecutor Denise Lunsford said. "The prosecutions for the abduction and murder of Hannah will bring Mr. Matthew to justice for these crimes, crimes that were committed against Hannah Graham, against her family and against our community," she told a news conference.

Obama concealed support for gay marriage Posted: 10 Feb 2015 10:15 AM PST During his first run for president, Obama reportedly pretended to oppose same-sex marriage.

Newsweek's Twitter feed hacked by supporters of IS Posted: 10 Feb 2015 09:59 AM PST The magazine's Twitter feed was the victim of a hack by supporters of the Islamic State militant group.

Moon objects found in astronaut Neil Armstrong's closet Posted: 10 Feb 2015 08:16 AM PST A treasure trove of objects that were supposed to have been left behind after the first moon landing have turned up in the closet of Neil Armstrong, the first man to step onto the lunar surface, the Smithsonian Institution has said. Armstrong died in August 2012 and his wife, Carol, found the items from the 1969 lunar landing as she was cleaning out one of his home closets in Cincinnati, Allan Needell, a space history curator at the National Air and Space Museum, wrote in a recent blog.

Missouri execution planned, questions over lethal drugs persist Posted: 10 Feb 2015 07:59 AM PST Missouri prepared for its first execution of the new year on Tuesday amid continued scrutiny of the secrecy surrounding its lethal injection protocols. Walter Storey, 48, is scheduled for execution at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Storey's attorneys have filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after lower courts rejected his bids to halt the execution. Last month, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the execution of three Oklahoma inmates who challenged that state's lethal injection procedure.

Parents of U.S. woman held by Islamic State notified of her death Posted: 10 Feb 2015 07:43 AM PST Kayla Mueller, 26, has died, according to the White House and her family.

Jury set to hear videotaped confession in New York boy's murder Posted: 10 Feb 2015 06:56 AM PST By Natasja Sheriff NEW YORK (Reuters) - The videotaped confession of a man accused of murdering Etan Patz was to be played for a jury on Tuesday during his trial in the disappearance of the 6-year-old boy in 1979 that sparked a national movement to find missing children. Pedro Hernandez, 54, confessed to police he lured the boy to the basement of the Soho deli where he worked, strangled him, placed him in a trash bag and dumped the body in an alley. His own words will be heard by the jury a day after his ex-wife Daisy Rivera testified that years ago she found what she described as a "piece of a poster" in a box belonging to Hernandez. When she confronted Hernandez about the photo, he became nervous and explained that the child had vanished near his workplace in New York City and that he was familiar with the family, she testified.  Hernandez's defense aimed to cast doubt on Rivera's credibility, citing inconsistencies between her testimony about the photograph on Monday and statements she made earlier before a grand jury and to police investigators.  Rivera, who had two children with Hernandez before they separated in 1985, said during their marriage he was controlling and had mood swings.  Another prosecution witness, Hernandez's brother-in-law, testified Monday he had heard about another Hernandez confession long ago and tried to alert the authorities repeatedly since 2000.  Jose Lopez, 61, said he was not present at the religious retreat in New Jersey in 1979 when Hernandez allegedly confessed to killing a boy.

Schools, trains halted at Massachusetts digs out from record storm Posted: 10 Feb 2015 06:40 AM PST Schools and most public transit systems remained closed around Boston on Tuesday as eastern Massachusetts dug out from its third major winter storm in two weeks. Officials warned that buildings with flat roofs were at risk of collapsing after a three-day storm dropped about two feet (60 cm) across the region and a suburban school district north of Boston canceled all classes for the rest of the week out of concern to allow crews to clear roofs. Boston's mayor, Marty Walsh, began talks with the city's teachers union on how to make up some of the eight school days canceled so far this year due to the repeated storms that have hit the region in the past two weeks. "We're now up to basically somewhere between six and seven feet of snow across most of eastern Massachusetts over the past 14 days," said Governor Charlie Baker, who ordered nonessential state personnel to stay home, in part because of the shut down of all rail service by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

S.C. woman charged with daughter's 1994 kidnapping to plead guilty Posted: 10 Feb 2015 05:41 AM PST By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - A woman arrested in Australia in 2013 and accused of kidnapping her infant daughter from South Carolina two decades ago is expected to change her plea to guilty on Tuesday and face sentencing in a U.S. district court, court records show. Dorothy Lee Barnett, 54, was indicted on charges of international parental kidnapping and falsifying passports, and extradited in September to Charleston, South Carolina. Her attorney, Russell Mace, told Reuters that she will be sentenced Tuesday morning but did not elaborate. Prosecutors have said Barnett vanished with her baby girl in 1994 during a court-ordered visit in South Carolina after her ex-husband, Benjamin Harris Todd, was granted legal custody of their child in a contentious divorce.

Jeb Bush seeks money, talks education at home in Florida capitol Posted: 10 Feb 2015 05:23 AM PST By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - Republican Jeb Bush plans a high-profile visit to the Florida capital on Tuesday to raise money and showcase the education reforms that he started as the state's former governor, burnishing key credentials as he eyes a presidential bid. With a $1,000-per-plate luncheon scheduled at a hotel just blocks away from the Governor's Mansion, the trip highlights Bush's enduring strength in the largest U.S. swing state, crucial to GOP hopes of regaining the White House in 2016. Bush also plans to speak about education policy at a school reform conference, hosted by his Foundation for Florida Future. Other keynote speakers at the event, dubbed "Keeping the Promise: A Florida Education Summit," include the state's current Republican governor, Rick Scott, and top legislators, business leaders and schools experts.

U.S. to establish new cybersecurity agency: official Posted: 10 Feb 2015 05:06 AM PST The United States government is creating a new agency to monitor cybersecurity threats, pooling and analyzing information on a spectrum of diffuse risks, a senior Obama administration official said on Tuesday. The Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) will be an "intelligence center that will 'connect the dots' between various cyber threats to the nation so that relevant departments and agencies are aware of these threats in as close to real time as possible," the official said on condition of anonymity. Obama has moved cybersecurity to the top of his 2015 agenda after recent hacking attacks against Sony Pictures , Home Depot Inc and Target Corp and the federal government itself.

Spider-Man to finally join Marvel Cinematic Universe Posted: 10 Feb 2015 04:51 AM PST Spider-Man to finally join Marvel Cinematic Universe

Obama to send new war powers request to Congress Posted: 10 Feb 2015 12:47 AM PST The president is expected — as early as Tuesday — to seek new authority to fight IS militants.

California educator gets 10 years for sex abuse Posted: 09 Feb 2015 09:12 PM PST (Reuters) - A California educator who resigned after a woman accused her in a YouTube video of abusing her when she was a 12-year-old student was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday, prosecutors said. The former teacher, Andrea Michelle Cardosa, pleaded guilty last month to three counts of lewd acts with a child in a deal that spared her from a possible life sentence, said Riverside County District Attorney's Office spokesman John Hall. The case grew out of a video posted on YouTube last February in which a woman confronted Cardosa, accused her of abuse, and said she had ruined her childhood. In the video, Cardosa expresses regret and says the abuse was not anything she had intended.

California confirms 107 cases of measles, 39 from Disneyland outbreak Posted: 09 Feb 2015 06:34 PM PST By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A total of 107 cases of measles have been confirmed in California, more than a third of them linked to an outbreak that began in Disneyland in late December, state health officials said on Monday. More than three dozen additional cases of the highly infectious disease have been reported in 19 other states and in Mexico, including three new cases diagnosed in Cook County, Illinois. Georgia health officials reported that an infant arriving in Atlanta from outside the United States was confirmed to have measles, marking the state's first reported case of the disease since 2012.

Same-sex marriage begins in parts of Alabama, thwarted in others Posted: 09 Feb 2015 05:47 PM PST By Sherrel Wheeler Stewart BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) - Same-sex couples began marrying in parts of Alabama on Monday, acting on the strongest signal yet from the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of gay marriage ahead of an expected ruling, but numerous state judges avoided granting marriage licenses to gay couples in apparent defiance of the high court. The Supreme Court earlier in the day cleared the way for Alabama to become the 37th state where gay marriage is legal by refusing a request by the state's Republican attorney general to keep weddings on hold until it decides later this year whether laws banning gay matrimony violate the U.S. Constitution.

Netanyahu considering changes to Congress speech after criticism Posted: 09 Feb 2015 05:16 PM PST By Luke Baker JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli officials are considering amending the format of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned address to the U.S. Congress next month to try to calm some of the partisan furor the Iran-focused speech has provoked. Netanyahu is due to address a joint session of Congress about Iran's nuclear program on March 3, just two weeks before Israeli elections, following an invitation from John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the house. Boehner's invitation has caused consternation in both Israel and the United States, largely because it is seen as Netanyahu, a hawk on Iran, working with the Republicans to thumb their noses at President Barack Obama's policy on Iran.

Pro-gay marriage signals seen in U.S. Supreme Court action Posted: 09 Feb 2015 04:11 PM PST By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court's move on Monday to allow gay marriage to proceed in Alabama is the strongest signal yet that the justices are likely to rule in June that no state can restrict marriage to only heterosexual couples. Of the nine justices, only two - conservatives Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia - dissented from the court's refusal to block gay weddings from starting in Alabama. Gay marriage is now legal in 37 states. Thomas acknowledged in a dissenting opinion that the court's move to allow gay marriages to go ahead "may well be seen as a signal of the court's intended resolution" as it considers cases from four other states on whether same-sex marriage bans are permitted under the U.S. Constitution.

Heavy rains cause flooding, mudslides across the West Coast Posted: 09 Feb 2015 01:56 PM PST By Victoria Cavaliere SEATTLE (Reuters) - A powerful Pacific storm system that drenched California was moving across the Pacific Northwest on Monday, as crews in Oregon and Washington worked to clear flooded roads and railroad tracks blocked by mudslides. The storm system, called the Pineapple Express because it gathers moisture as it moves across the Pacific Ocean from near Hawaii, had dropped up to 13 inches of rain since Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

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