Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines

---

• Gas vapor eyed as factor in West Virginia oil train fireball
• Hazmat team responds to Los Angeles courthouse over suspicious letters
• Washington rabbi pleads guilty to voyeurism charges
• Ex-New York assembly speaker Silver indicted
• Texas county issues marriage license to same-sex couple
• Colombians sentenced to prison for U.S. drug agent's murder
• Record-breaking cold in U.S. Midwest heads to frigid East Coast
• Giuliani: Obama doesn’t love America
• More than 100 possibly exposed to 'superbug' within UCLA Health System
• Britain to award U.S. firm Leidos military logistics contract
• ‘American Sniper’ trial puts rural Texas town in unwanted spotlight
• Matt Bai: Obama, facilitator-in-chief
• Accused Boston Marathon bomber's Hail Mary to change trial venue
• Member of rapper Nicki Minaj's tour crew killed in Philadelphia stabbing
• UCLA says more than 100 may have encountered 'superbug'
• Washington state protests spread over police shooting of Mexican man
• U.S. preparing to sue Ferguson police over charges of racial bias: CNN
• California confirms 119 cases of measles in state
• Oklahoma House panel OKs bill to punish licensing of gay marriage
• Blast at Exxon refinery in California could hike gasoline prices
• U.S. says Saudi was bin Laden's 'man in London'

Gas vapor eyed as factor in West Virginia oil train fireball Posted: 19 Feb 2015 12:47 PM PST By Patrick Rucker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal investigators will examine whether pressurized gas played a role in the massive blast that followed the derailment of a train carrying crude oil through West Virginia this week, the U.S. Transportation Department said on Thursday. Questioning the possible role of gas vapors in the West Virginia fire broadens the debate over how to ensure public safety at a time when drastically larger volumes of crude oil are being shipped by rail and roll through cities and towns. At least two dozen oil tankers jumped a CSX Corp track about 30 miles south of the state capital, Charleston, on Monday, touching off a fireball that sent flames hundreds of feet into the sky. The U.S. Transportation Department said it has an investigator at the site to take samples of crude once the wreckage stops burning.

Hazmat team responds to Los Angeles courthouse over suspicious letters Posted: 19 Feb 2015 12:15 PM PST A hazardous materials team was sent to a Los Angeles courthouse on Thursday over suspicious letters mailed to court personnel, the local Sheriff's Department said in a statement. The hazardous materials team from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident at the downtown courthouse, the statement said.

Washington rabbi pleads guilty to voyeurism charges Posted: 19 Feb 2015 11:59 AM PST By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON(Reuters) - A prominent Washington rabbi charged with secretly videotaping women during ritual baths pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism on Thursday. Rabbi Barry Freundel, 63, was accused of installing video cameras to spy on women in the bathing area of his Orthodox synagogue, Kesher Israel Congregation, in Washington's upscale Georgetown neighborhood.

Ex-New York assembly speaker Silver indicted Posted: 19 Feb 2015 10:37 AM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A grand jury returned an indictment of Sheldon Silver, the former New York State Assembly speaker, for federal corruption charges on Thursday, federal prosecutors said. Silver, who has resigned as speaker but remains the assembly man for Manhattan's Lower East Side, was indicted on two counts of "honest services mail fraud" and one count of using his office for extortion. Silver's lawyers said in a statement on Thursday that he is not guilty. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Frank McGurty)

Texas county issues marriage license to same-sex couple Posted: 19 Feb 2015 09:14 AM PST By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas county issued a marriage license to a same-sex couple on Thursday in what may be the first legal certification for a gay couple in the state, which has a constitutional amendment defining marriage as only being between a man and a woman. A Travis County clerk said the marriage license was given to one couple after a court order earlier in the day and the county, home to the state capital Austin, is not planning to issue more licenses to same-sex couples. Legal experts believe it is the first marriage license granted to a same-sex couple in the state. A U.S. district judge in Texas last year ruled the state's bans on gay marriage unconstitutional because it denied the couples equal protection under the law.

Colombians sentenced to prison for U.S. drug agent's murder Posted: 19 Feb 2015 08:58 AM PST Two Colombians have been sentenced to prison for the 2013 kidnapping and murder of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Bogota, the Justice Department said on Thursday. Edwin Gerardo Figueroa Sepulveda, 39, was sentenced in federal court to 30 years for his role in the killing of DEA Special Agent James "Terry" Watson, the department said in a statement. Wilson Daniel Peralta-Bocachica, 31, received a 40-month sentence during the hearing on Wednesday before Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. Figueroa Sepulveda had pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the murder and to conspiracy to kidnap.

Record-breaking cold in U.S. Midwest heads to frigid East Coast Posted: 19 Feb 2015 08:40 AM PST By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bone-chilling cold in the U.S. Midwest shattered records in Chicago on Thursday, closing schools and starting its trudge eastward to an already frozen Boston and New York. Arctic air was expected to keep its grip on the nation's midsection on Friday morning, a day after the minus 8 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 22 Celsius) measured in Chicago broke the low temperature record of minus 7 degrees for the day set in 1936, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Oravec. The wind chill made temperatures in Chicago feel like minus 25, he said. Chicago public schools, serving 396,000 students in the third largest U.S. school district, canceled classes on Thursday.

Giuliani: Obama doesn’t love America Posted: 19 Feb 2015 07:17 AM PST The former New York City mayor says he believes the president does not love the United States — or the people in it.

More than 100 possibly exposed to 'superbug' within UCLA Health System Posted: 19 Feb 2015 04:28 AM PST The UCLA Health System said seven patients were infected with a potentially deadly, drug-resistant strain of bacteria and that more than 100 might have been exposed to it. The patients were potentially exposed to carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) bacteria between October and January, and the bug may have contributed to the deaths of two patients, UCLA said in a statement on Wednesday. The statement did not specify where the patients were infected, but the Los Angeles Times reported that it occurred at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles. According to the Times, UCLA became aware late last month of the outbreak, which may have been spread by a specialized endoscope inserted down the throat.

Britain to award U.S. firm Leidos military logistics contract Posted: 19 Feb 2015 04:11 AM PST Britain said it would award a contract to run military logistics to Leidos Holdings Inc, a U.S. company specializing in defense and health services, as part of a plan to save 500 million pounds ($772 million) over 13 years. The country's Ministry of Defense (MOD) is outsourcing activities such as managing inventory and military equipment buying to save money and help reduce a record budget deficit. The MOD on Thursday named Leidos as preferred bidder for the Logistics Commodities and Services program and said the deal would improve efficiency in procurement and stock control of food, clothing and other supplies, adding that Leidos would build a new fulfillment center.

‘American Sniper’ trial puts rural Texas town in unwanted spotlight Posted: 19 Feb 2015 03:38 AM PST People in the small Texas town where "American Sniper" Chris Kyle and his best friend were slain want justice, but say celebrity murder cases are meant for Hollywood, not rural hideaways. "It's different than normal life in Stephenville," longtime resident Chick Elms said of the trial now in its second week.

Matt Bai: Obama, facilitator-in-chief Posted: 19 Feb 2015 03:21 AM PST In the last year or so, Barack Obama's team has deployed the presidential summit as a central response to just about every topic of national significance. At this late stage of Obama's presidency, the idea seems to be that talking about a policy — or at least being seen talking about it — is a kind of policy in itself.

Accused Boston Marathon bomber's Hail Mary to change trial venue Posted: 19 Feb 2015 01:55 AM PST Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's attorneys argue that an impartial jury can't be found in Boston.

Member of rapper Nicki Minaj's tour crew killed in Philadelphia stabbing Posted: 19 Feb 2015 12:32 AM PST (Reuters) - A member of rapper Nicki Minaj's touring crew was killed and another seriously injured in a stabbing outside a bar in Philadelphia on Wednesday, police and the musician said. The victims, 29-year-old Devon Pickett and an unidentified 27-year-old man, were stabbed numerous times outside the Che' Bar and Grill in the early hours of Wednesday after an argument, the Philadelphia Police Department said. Minaj's tour is due to launch in Europe in March, according to her website.

UCLA says more than 100 may have encountered 'superbug' Posted: 18 Feb 2015 11:18 PM PST LOS ANGELES (AP) — A potentially deadly "superbug" resistant to antibiotics infected seven patients, including two who died, and nearly 200 others were exposed at a Southern California hospital through contaminated medical instruments, UCLA reported Wednesday.

Washington state protests spread over police shooting of Mexican man Posted: 18 Feb 2015 09:44 PM PST By Victoria Cavaliere SEATTLE (Reuters) - Protests over the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Mexican immigrant in southeastern Washington spread to the state's largest city, Seattle, on Wednesday, with demonstrators renewing calls for change in policing tactics in the United States. About two dozen people attended the rally in downtown Seattle, some 200 miles (320 km) northwest of the largely agricultural city of Pasco, where Antonio Zambrano-Montes was killed on Feb. 10. Demonstrators said during Wednesday's rally in Seattle the shooting was the latest example of police use of excessive force in minority communities in the United States. Zambrano-Montes, a 35-year-old orchard worker from Mexico's Michoacan state, was unarmed when he was shot dead by three officers at whom he had thrown rocks before fleeing in an incident captured on video, law enforcement officials said.

U.S. preparing to sue Ferguson police over charges of racial bias: CNN Posted: 18 Feb 2015 06:34 PM PST The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to sue the Ferguson, Missouri, police department over allegations of racially discriminatory practices unless the police force agrees to make changes, CNN reported on Wednesday. The network, citing sources, said the Justice Department would not charge the white Ferguson police officer involved in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown last August but was expected to outline allegations of discriminatory Ferguson police tactics. The department would file suit if Ferguson police did not agree to review and change those tactics, CNN reported. The shooting of Brown last August by officer Darren Wilson led to months of sometimes violent protests in Ferguson and galvanized critics of the treatment by police and the U.S. criminal justice system of blacks and other minority groups.

California confirms 119 cases of measles in state Posted: 18 Feb 2015 06:18 PM PST By Dan Whitcomb and Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Public health officials said on Wednesday that six more cases of measles had been confirmed in California, bringing to 119 the total number of people infected by a strain of the virus that has also been linked to a large outbreak in the Philippines. More than 150 people across the United States have been diagnosed with measles, many of them linked to the wave of illness that authorities believe began when an infected person from out of the country visited Disneyland in late December. California Department of Public Health researchers, in a report to federal officials released on Friday, said that specimens from 30 of the state's measles patients had been genotyped and that all were of the same strain that has caused an outbreak in the Philippines.

Oklahoma House panel OKs bill to punish licensing of gay marriage Posted: 18 Feb 2015 05:27 PM PST By By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - An Oklahoma bill to punish any local or state employee who issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples will be heading to a vote in the state House of Representatives after a committee approved the legislation this week. It also says that those who issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples can be subject to removal from office. The bill's author, Representative Sally Kern, a Republican, said the measure is a response to U.S. courts overstepping their authority by forcing Oklahoma to recognize gay marriage. Representative Emily Virgin, a Democrat who voted against the measure in committee on Tuesday, said: "No other state in the union has seen more anti-LGBT legislation introduced during this legislative session.

Blast at Exxon refinery in California could hike gasoline prices Posted: 18 Feb 2015 04:54 PM PST Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the blast in Torrance, California, which occurred shortly before 9 a.m. PST (12 p.m. ET). Exxon said late on Wednesday that three of the workers had been released. Torrance Fire Captain Steve Deuel said a small ground fire that followed the explosion had been quickly extinguished. The California Department of Industrial Relations opened an investigation into the blast, agency spokeswoman Julia Bernstein said.

U.S. says Saudi was bin Laden's 'man in London' Posted: 18 Feb 2015 02:40 PM PST By David Ingram NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. prosecutor asked a jury on Wednesday to find a Saudi man guilty of conspiring with al Qaeda in the 1990s when he allegedly managed a training camp in Afghanistan and then served as Osama bin Laden's agent in London. Near the end of a month-long trial of Khalid al-Fawwaz, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Buckley told jurors in a closing argument that they had seen enough evidence to convict al-Fawwaz of four terrorism counts. "Khalid al-Fawwaz did everything that al Qaeda asked of him," Buckley said in Manhattan federal court.

You are subscribed to email updates from Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States