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As U.S. gay-marriage battle looms, attorneys fight over fees
White House expresses concerns about DEA after sex party scandal
Oklahoma reserve deputy records falsified: newspaper
Ohio man who trained with Islamic State charged with supporting terrorism
Los Angeles judge orders rap mogul 'Suge' Knight to stand trial for murder
Obama administration to remove hurdle to 'wellness' penalties
Al-Qaida captures major airport in southern Yemen
Michigan boy held in basement could testify on Thursday
Friend feared Capitol gyrocopter pilot would get shot down
Eugene awarded 2021 world athletics championships
Search area for Flight 370 to be doubled if plane not found
Parasite treatment kills many fish at Texas aquarium
Los Angeles schools seeking refund over botched iPad plan: LA Times
Rep. Nancy Pelosi on 2016, her future
U.S. fast-food workers mark Tax Day demanding higher wages
In drought-stricken California, cities push back against steep water cuts
Florida man arrested after landing small helicopter on U.S. Capitol grounds
Protester’s gyrocopter causes stir at U.S. Capitol
Details emerge about jury picked for Colorado theater shooting trial

As U.S. gay-marriage battle looms, attorneys fight over fees

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 12:52 PM PDT

By Joan Biskupic WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As a historic constitutional showdown over gay marriage looms this month at the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys are fighting over another bitterly disputed issue: their fees. The battles over billables are erupting far from the Washington, D.C., limelight, in lower courts from West Virginia to Wisconsin and Oklahoma. In some cases, the fee requests run well into seven figures and are submitted on behalf of powerful law firms that a Reuters examination found have outsized access to the Supreme Court. Gay-marriage litigation, especially, has become a magnet for prominent lawyers and national firms with connections to the Supreme Court.

White House expresses concerns about DEA after sex party scandal

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 11:14 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to say whether President Barack Obama retains confidence in Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart after reports that DEA agents took part in sex parties with prostitutes in Colombia. "We do have concerns about what's been reported by the Office of the Inspector General," Earnest told reporters at a briefing, referring to the internal watchdog at the Justice Department that detailed the allegations. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Will Dunham)

Oklahoma reserve deputy records falsified: newspaper

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 10:41 AM PDT

Tulsa County Sheriff's Office supervisors were ordered to falsify training records for a white reserve deputy who fatally shot a black suspect, an Oklahoma newspaper reported on Thursday. The Tulsa World newspaper cited anonymous sources as saying volunteer deputy Robert Bates, 73, received credit for field training he didn't have and firearms certifications he should not have had. "The media outlet that is putting this information out is using unconfirmed and unidentified sources and also relying on anonymity," Major Shannon Clark, spokesman for the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office. Bates was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Eric Harris, 44, on April 2 during a police sting operation.

Ohio man who trained with Islamic State charged with supporting terrorism

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 10:25 AM PDT

A Columbus, Ohio man who trained with the Islamic State militant group in Syria has been arrested and charged with supporting terrorism and making false statements, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, 23, a naturalized American, had been instructed by an Islamic State cleric to return to the United States and carry out an act of terrorism, the indictment said. Mohamud's brother was killed fighting with Islamic State in Syria, the Justice Department said.

Los Angeles judge orders rap mogul 'Suge' Knight to stand trial for murder

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 10:09 AM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A judge in Los Angeles on Thursday ordered rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight to stand trial for murder in the hit-and-run death of a man outside a hamburger stand in January. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen made his ruling after a preliminary hearing to consider evidence in the case. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Will Dunham)

Obama administration to remove hurdle to 'wellness' penalties

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 09:36 AM PDT

In what would be a significant and hard-fought victory for U.S. businesses, the Obama administration on Thursday announced that it will propose new rules for "workplace wellness programs" that would treat as "voluntary" programs that penalize workers thousands of dollars for not participating.

Al-Qaida captures major airport in southern Yemen

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 08:29 AM PDT

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Military officials and residents say al-Qaida has taken control of a major airport in southern Yemen after briefly clashing with troops.

Michigan boy held in basement could testify on Thursday

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 04:26 AM PDT

By Serena Maria Daniels DETROIT (Reuters) - A Detroit boy who was missing for 11 days last June before police found him emaciated in his own basement may testify about abuse at the hands of his parents at a court hearing on Thursday, a prosecutor said. The now 13-year-old boy will testify at a preliminary hearing to determine if his father and step-mother should stand trial in the case, said Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Carin Goldfarb. The boy's father, Charles Bothuell IV, 46, and his step-mother, Monique Dillard-Bothuell, 37, are charged with torture and second-degree child abuse. Bothuell's attorney, Shawn Patrick Smith, has called the boy a liar.

Friend feared Capitol gyrocopter pilot would get shot down

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 03:05 AM PDT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Florida postal worker who piloted a gyrocopter onto the U.S. Capitol lawn to call attention to his belief that campaign finance laws are too weak is "a patriot" who first came up with the idea about a year ago, a friend said.

Eugene awarded 2021 world athletics championships

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 02:49 AM PDT

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The United States will stage the world athletics championships for the first time after Eugene was surprisingly named as the 2021 host on Thursday. Eugene lost out to Doha for the right to host the 2019 championships but the sport's world governing body said on Thursday it had decided to bypass the usual bidding process and give the 2021 edition to Eugene. (Reporting by Julian Linden in Singapore; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

Search area for Flight 370 to be doubled if plane not found

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 02:32 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will be expanded by another 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 square miles) in the Indian Ocean if the jetliner is not found by May, officials said Thursday, affirming their commitment to not give up until it is located.

Parasite treatment kills many fish at Texas aquarium

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 01:44 AM PDT

(Reuters) - Up to 100 fish died at an aquarium in Texas that houses stingrays, barracuda and sharks after their tanks were treated with a compound designed to kill a parasite infestation, officials and media reports said on Wednesday. Staff at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi administered the treatment, which caused many of the fish to fall ill despite having been used successfully at other aquariums. Workers struggled through the night to save as many of the fish as they could, but "considerable losses were sustained," the aquarium said in a statement. Its Chief Marketing Officer Richard Glover told the Los Angeles Times newspaper that as many as 100 fish in four affected tanks had died.

Los Angeles schools seeking refund over botched iPad plan: LA Times

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 01:11 AM PDT

(Reuters) - The Los Angeles Unified School District is seeking a refund from Apple Inc over the district's bungled $1.3 billion effort to supply students with iPads, the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday. The district's initiative, launched in 2013, to equip each of its roughly 650,000 students with an iPad or another computer device with curriculum from Pearson Plc , was the largest educational technology project of its kind in the United States. The Los Angeles Times said the LAUSD's Board of Education in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday authorized its attorneys to consider potential legal action against Apple and Pearson. "As you are aware, LAUSD is extremely dissatisfied with the work of Pearson," the district's general counsel, David Holmquist, said in a letter to Apple on Monday, according to the Times.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi on 2016, her future

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 12:56 AM PDT

The Democratic leader talks to Katie Couric about the 2016 presidential campaign and more.

U.S. fast-food workers mark Tax Day demanding higher wages

Posted: 15 Apr 2015 09:12 PM PDT

Fast-food workers rallied in U.S. cities on Wednesday to demand higher pay, using the April 15 deadline for filing tax returns to publicize their claim that they cannot survive on the hourly wages paid by many U.S. corporations. The protests demanding pay increases to $15 an hour kicked off at dawn outside a McDonald's Corp restaurant in New York with several hundred demonstrators. "I have no benefits, I have no stability from semester to semester in any way being able to calculate out if and where I'll have a job," said Alyson Warren, 34, an adjunct writing professor at both Columbia College Chicago and Loyola University Chicago.

In drought-stricken California, cities push back against steep water cuts

Posted: 15 Apr 2015 07:53 PM PDT

By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Cities set to feel the brunt of California's mandated cutbacks in water use pushed back on Wednesday, calling a plan by regulators to demand reductions of as much as 35 percent in some communities unfair. Water utilities in the areas surrounding the state capital of Sacramento, in line to face steep rationing despite years of conservation said factors such as leaks in the delivery system from streams and reservoirs, and the needs of big local water consumers like prisons and hospitals should be considered before a region was penalized. "I am not against severe conservation," said Rob Roscoe, General Manager of the Sacramento Suburban Water District, which serves about 173,000 people in Sacramento's northeastern suburbs. "But I want everybody playing from the same rulebook." Earlier this month, California Governor Jerry Brown, standing in a dry mountain meadow that in a typical year would have been covered with five feet of snow, ordered a 25-percent statewide reduction in water use for urban areas.

Florida man arrested after landing small helicopter on U.S. Capitol grounds

Posted: 15 Apr 2015 05:59 PM PDT

A Florida man was arrested after he landed his small helicopter on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, police said, violating restricted airspace and causing a security scare. Doug Hughes, 61, a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier from Ruskin, Florida, has been jailed and is facing undisclosed charges after he flew his "gyro copter" over Washington and landed on the Capitol grounds about 1:30 p.m., the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement. The Tampa Bay Times reported that Hughes planned to make the flight to draw attention to the issue of campaign finance reform.