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• Sandy Hook panel issues final draft report on Newtown massacre
• Los Angeles officer shoots boy, 15, after seeing replica gun
• Senate approves Carter as new defense secretary
• Lawyer for accused 9/11 plotter alleges mistreatment at Guantanamo
• Maryland, sheriff settle deputy's sex harassment suit
• Lawsuits say Harvard, MIT webcasts leave out deaf Americans
• U.S. appeals court to hear arguments on moving Boston bombing trial
• Fewer shark bites in 2014, but Florida still tops for attacks
• Philadelphia chosen for 2016 U.S. Democratic national convention
• Democrats pick city for 2016 convention
• New York City sets record with no murders in 10 days in a row
• Matt Bai: The always amusing Brian Williams
• Defiance over gay marriage ruling in Alabama headed to court
• Putin announces Ukraine cease-fire deal
• Montana homeowner convicted of killing German teen to be sentenced
• Court sentences Korean Air nut rage exec to 1 year in prison
• Police in Washington state fatally shoot man who threw rocks at them
• CBS News correspondent Bob Simon killed in New York City car wreck
• San Francisco commuters possibly exposed to measles on train
• U.S. gunman kills three young Muslims; motive disputed
• Shooting deaths of young Muslims leave North Carolina community reeling
• Congress clears Keystone XL pipeline bill, setting up veto
• Self-proclaimed atheist charged in slayings of Muslim students

Sandy Hook panel issues final draft report on Newtown massacre Posted: 12 Feb 2015 01:33 PM PST By Richard Weizel MILFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - A Connecticut panel charged with finding ways to reduce school violence after the 2012 Sandy Hook School massacre issued a final draft of recommendations on Thursday that includes calls for tougher gun control, improved school design and better mental health care for troubled students. The report will end a more than two-year process that began after former student Adam Lanza, 20, killed 26 children and educators at the elementary school in one of the most horrific school shootings in U.S. history. The 16-member Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, appointed by Governor Dannel Malloy after the Dec 14, 2012, massacre, is expected to approve the draft on Friday and send it to the governor for his signature. The report follows interviews by the commission with dozens of legal, education and mental health experts, Newtown officials and school administrators, as well as families of victims.

Los Angeles officer shoots boy, 15, after seeing replica gun Posted: 12 Feb 2015 12:25 PM PST By Michael Fleeman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles police were investigating on Thursday the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who was shot and wounded by a police officer who saw a person next to the teenager pointing what turned out to be a replica gun, police said. The Los Angeles police department said officers from a gang homicide unit had been conducting a follow-up investigation on Tuesday when they encountered several people, including one carrying what appeared to be a gun. "Officers saw that individual pointing the firearm at another individual," a police statement said. The individual ignored the officer's commands and an officer-involved shooting occurred." The 15-year-old, who was not identified, was shot once in the upper back, while the person who had been holding the replica was not injured.

Senate approves Carter as new defense secretary Posted: 12 Feb 2015 12:09 PM PST Ashton Carter is now confirmed to lead the Pentagon.

Lawyer for accused 9/11 plotter alleges mistreatment at Guantanamo Posted: 12 Feb 2015 11:03 AM PST By Tom Ramstack FORT MEADE, Md. (Reuters) - An attorney for a Saudi man charged in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks accused his U.S. jailers at the Guantanamo Bay military prison on Thursday of mistreatment. The charges by defense attorney Walter Ruiz at a pretrial hearing at Guantanamo prompted arguments about whether the remaining 122 inmates at the prison in Cuba should be treated under standards of U.S. or international law. "Constitutional rights do not stop at a prison door," said Ruiz, who is defending Mustafa al-Hawsawi, 46, against war crimes charges.

Maryland, sheriff settle deputy's sex harassment suit Posted: 12 Feb 2015 10:00 AM PST A former Maryland sheriff's deputy who alleged sexual harassment at work will get $250,000 under a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, the state and the sheriff's office, the department said on Thursday. The Queen Anne's County sheriff's deputy, Kristy Murphy-Taylor, alleged in a federal lawsuit that she had undergone unwanted groping by supervisors, including the brother of Sheriff Gary Hofmann, and had been fired when she complained about it. As part of the settlement, Maryland and the sheriff's office on the state's Eastern Shore agreed to revise sexual harassment policies and how complaints about harassment and retaliation are handled, the statement said. The Maryland State Police will oversee sexual harassment complaints involving the sheriff's office.

Lawsuits say Harvard, MIT webcasts leave out deaf Americans Posted: 12 Feb 2015 08:25 AM PST An advocacy group for the deaf on Thursday sued Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, saying the prestigious schools had violated laws by posting online video and audio recordings for public use that lacked accurate captions. Two lawsuits charged that Harvard and MIT said the webcast recordings were intended to provide the public free access to the schools but were unusable by people with difficulty hearing because they either lacked captions or had captions that were so poor as to be unusable. "Harvard has largely denied access to this content to the approximately 48 million - nearly one out of five - Americans who are deaf or hard of heading," plaintiffs, including the National Association for the Deaf, said in a filing in U.S. District Court in Boston on Thursday.

U.S. appeals court to hear arguments on moving Boston bombing trial Posted: 12 Feb 2015 08:09 AM PST A U.S. appeals court on Thursday said it would hear arguments on whether to move the trial of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect out of the city that was the site of the largest mass-casualty attack on U.S. soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The appeals court's decision to hear arguments on Feb. 19 comes after a district court judge three times rejected pleas by defendant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's attorneys to move the trial, saying too many people in the Boston area had a direct connection to the event to empanel an impartial jury.

Fewer shark bites in 2014, but Florida still tops for attacks Posted: 12 Feb 2015 07:54 AM PST By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - Shark attacks killed three people worldwide in 2014, a dramatic drop from 10 fatalities seen a year earlier, researchers found in an annual global tally released this week. Two of the deaths occurred in New South Wales in eastern Australia, and the other in South Africa's Eastern Cape, according to the data, submitted by scientists around the world and cataloged at the University of Florida. It said about half took place off Florida's eastern coast, where smaller sharks mistake swimmers for prey in hit-and-run attacks, then quickly leave. "It's pretty amazing," said researcher George Burgess, who oversees the database called the International Shark Attack File, based at the university.

Philadelphia chosen for 2016 U.S. Democratic national convention Posted: 12 Feb 2015 07:22 AM PST The U.S. Democratic Party has chosen Philadelphia as the site of its 2016 national convention to nominate a presidential candidate, the Democratic National Committee said on Thursday. The Democratic convention will be held the week of July 25, 2016. Republicans previously announced that their national convention would be held in Cleveland. "In addition to their commitment to a seamless and safe convention, Philadelphia's deep rooted place in American history provides a perfect setting for this special gathering," DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.

Democrats pick city for 2016 convention Posted: 12 Feb 2015 07:06 AM PST The DNC has chosen the location where it will nominate their presidential candidate.

New York City sets record with no murders in 10 days in a row Posted: 12 Feb 2015 06:51 AM PST By Barbara Goldberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City, once notorious for high crime, broke a record on Thursday with no murders reported for 10 straight days, police said. The historic calm achieved at 12:01 a.m. Thursday comes on the heels of a notable year - murders in New York City in 2014 fell to an all-time low of 328, the fewest since the New York Police Department started keeping reliable records in 1963. "Everybody is behaving," said Sergeant Daniel Doody of the New York City Police Department. This year's notable zero comes in the wake of Mayor Bill de Blasio's struggle to mend a serious rift between City Hall and the country's biggest police force.

Matt Bai: The always amusing Brian Williams Posted: 12 Feb 2015 05:28 AM PST What resonates in the case of Brian Williams, who was suspended by NBC for six months, is the collision of celebrity, politics and media that first occurred with Gary Hart in 1987. Nearly three decades later, TV news and entertainment are almost impossible to separate, and probably no one has embodied that cultural shift more comfortably than Williams.

Defiance over gay marriage ruling in Alabama headed to court Posted: 12 Feb 2015 04:42 AM PST (Reuters) - A federal judge in Alabama will hear arguments on Thursday on whether to force a local judge to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, a case with implications for dozens of counties in the state that have not granted the licenses in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court. The hearing, set to take place at 1 p.m. local time in Mobile, will pit gay rights advocates against Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis, whose county is the most populous of more than 40 of 67 in the state that have refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Mobile County's marriage license operations have been shuttered since Monday, when a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Callie Granade striking down the state's ban on gay marriage took effect.

Putin announces Ukraine cease-fire deal Posted: 12 Feb 2015 01:57 AM PST The Russian leader says the warring parties have agreed on a truce to begin on Sunday.

Montana homeowner convicted of killing German teen to be sentenced Posted: 12 Feb 2015 01:24 AM PST By Lori Grannis MISSOULA, Mont. (Reuters) - A Montana homeowner convicted of deliberate homicide last year for fatally shooting an unarmed teenage German exchange student who entered the garage attached to his home is set to be sentenced on Thursday. Homeowner Markus Kaarma was convicted of killing 17-year-old Diren Dede of Hamburg in December, in a trial that tested the limits of Montana's "castle doctrine" self-defense law, which allows deadly force against a home invasion if a person reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent an assault.

Court sentences Korean Air nut rage exec to 1 year in prison Posted: 12 Feb 2015 01:08 AM PST SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A Seoul court on Thursday sentenced a former Korean Air executive to a year in prison for aviation law violations that stemmed from her inflight tantrum over how she was served macadamia nuts.

Police in Washington state fatally shoot man who threw rocks at them Posted: 11 Feb 2015 11:09 PM PST (Reuters) - Police in Washington state shot a man to death who threw rocks at them, officials said on Wednesday, as a video published online appearing to show the incident drew criticism of the officers' actions. The police shooting in Pasco, Washington comes amid heightened tension across the country in the wake of high-profile police killings of unarmed minorities, particularly in Ferguson, Missouri and New York City. Officers Ryan Flanagan, Adam Wright, and Adrian Alaniz arrived at the parking lot of a Fiesta Foods grocery store around 5 p.m. local time on Tuesday, where suspect Antonio Zambrano-Montes threw rocks at them, Pasco Police Chief Bob Metzger said in a statement. A video of the incident posted on YouTube and cited by local media showed the man running away from the three officers before he was killed.

CBS News correspondent Bob Simon killed in New York City car wreck Posted: 11 Feb 2015 07:17 PM PST (Reuters) - Veteran CBS News correspondent Bob Simon, a longtime member of the "60 Minutes" team of journalists, was killed in a New York City car accident on Wednesday night, CBS said. He was 73. The network had no further immediate details on Simon's death. His career spanned five decades, from covering the Vietnam War to a piece on "60 Minutes" last weekend about the Oscar-nominated civil rights drama "Selma." (Reporting by Steve Gorman from Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney)

San Francisco commuters possibly exposed to measles on train Posted: 11 Feb 2015 06:45 PM PST By Robin Respaut SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of commuters on San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit system may have been exposed to measles after an infectious Bay Area resident rode a train to and from work for three days last week, public health officials said on Wednesday. The rider represents the first case of measles confirmed by Contra Costa County health officials during an outbreak of the disease that began in late December. "Although the risk of contracting measles by being exposed on BART is low, Bay Area residents should be aware of the situation," the county public health department said in a statement. The California Department of Public Health said on Wednesday that 110 cases of measles had been confirmed in California, many of them linked to the outbreak that authorities believe began when an infected person from out of the country visited Disneyland in late December.

U.S. gunman kills three young Muslims; motive disputed Posted: 11 Feb 2015 05:24 PM PST By Colleen Jenkins CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Reuters) - A gunman who had posted anti-religious messages on Facebook and quarreled with neighbors was charged with killing three young Muslims in what police said on Wednesday was a dispute over parking and possibly a hate crime. Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, a full-time paralegal student from Chapel Hill, was charged with first-degree murder in Tuesday's shootings around 5 p.m. two miles (three km) from the University of North Carolina campus. The victims were newlyweds Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, a University of North Carolina dental student, and his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Yusor's sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.

Shooting deaths of young Muslims leave North Carolina community reeling Posted: 11 Feb 2015 04:53 PM PST By Colleen Jenkins CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Reuters) - In post-9/11 America, Aya Zouhri and her fellow Muslim female friends who cover their heads with scarves say they are used to getting occasional dirty looks or ugly comments from strangers. "The way he said it was very much like, 'I'm actually worried something could happen to you,'" the senior global studies major recalled outside a room at the university where Muslim students gathered for afternoon prayers. Several Muslim students who attend the university said they have always felt safe and accepted in Chapel Hill, a college town about 30 miles (48 km) from Raleigh that is known for basketball and affordable higher education. Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, was a University of North Carolina dental student, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, was preparing to start at the dentistry school in the fall, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, was a sophomore at nearby North Carolina State University, where the couple were both alumni.

Congress clears Keystone XL pipeline bill, setting up veto Posted: 11 Feb 2015 02:59 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled Congress approved a bill Wednesday to construct the Keystone XL oil pipeline, setting up a confrontation with President Barack Obama, who has threatened to veto the measure.

Self-proclaimed atheist charged in slayings of Muslim students Posted: 11 Feb 2015 02:29 PM PST The suspect professes on Facebook to be an atheist who dislikes all religions.

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