| Sources: Hastert engaged in sexual misconduct as a teacher Posted: 29 May 2015 01:44 PM PDT  Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct during his time as a high school wrestling coach and history teacher, ABC News has learned from sources with knowledge of the case. Associates and former colleagues of Hastert expressed surprise and dismay today over allegations that he disbursed $1.7 million in hush money payments to conceal alleged misconduct from a period before he entered politics. The school district that employed Hastert from 1965 to 1981 as a high school history teacher and wrestling coach noted it "was first made aware of any concerns regarding Mr. Hastert when the federal indictment was released" Thursday.
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| Another round of rain brings more serious flooding in Texas Posted: 29 May 2015 11:37 AM PDT  HOUSTON (AP) — Floodwaters submerged highways and threatened homes Friday in Texas as another round of heavy rain added to the damage inflicted by storms that have killed at least 22 people and left 13 missing.
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| Sepp Blatter wins FIFA re-election the old fashioned way Posted: 29 May 2015 10:31 AM PDT  Despite scandal all around him, Sepp Blatter remained FIFA's president thanks to a voting bloc he's spent years building using old-school politics.
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| Idaho laws restricting abortions are unconstitutional: appeals court Posted: 29 May 2015 09:58 AM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Idaho law that prohibits abortions of fetuses twenty or more weeks after fertilization is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday. The ruling, from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, also struck down an Idaho law which required that all second trimester abortions occur in a hospital. (Reporting by Dan Levine) |
| Phoenix braces for 'Draw Mohammad' contest outside mosque Posted: 29 May 2015 09:42 AM PDT (Reuters) - Arizona police stepped up security on Friday near a mosque for a planned outdoor protest that includes drawing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, weeks after a similar competition in Texas came under attack by two gunmen. Friday's event is set to run concurrently with evening prayers at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix. "Dealing with this type of activity is a challenge that is facing law enforcement across the country," Phoenix police Sergeant Trent Crump said in an email response to questions. |
| Cuba removed from U.S. terror list Posted: 29 May 2015 08:52 AM PDT  Secretary of State John Kerry has signed an order as part of the process of normalizing relations between the Cold War foes.
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| Ex-NFL star Darren Sharper to change plea in U.S. sex crime case Posted: 29 May 2015 06:58 AM PDT  (Reuters) - Former NFL player Darren Sharper, accused of drugging and raping women in four states, was expected on Friday to change his not-guilty plea on related federal charges in New Orleans. Sharper, 39, already has pleaded guilty or no contest to rape or attempted rape in Arizona, California and Nevada as part of a series of plea agreements with prosecutors that call for his sentences to be served concurrently in federal prison. Court records indicate Sharper, a five-time Pro Bowl National Football League safety who helped lead the New Orleans Saints to a Super Bowl victory in 2010, will change his plea on charges that he drugged women in Louisiana and elsewhere with the intent to rape them.
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| Barbara Scrivner's difficult journey after receiving clemency Posted: 29 May 2015 06:08 AM PDT |
| U.S. swimming pools ban long breath-holding after deaths Posted: 29 May 2015 04:28 AM PDT By Barbara Goldberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy SEAL hopeful and his friend, an off-duty lifeguard, were barreling through underwater drills in a pool just 3.5 feet (1 meter) deep. This summer, nearly four years after those deaths in a Staten Island pool raised alarms about a little known hazard called shallow-water blackout or hypoxic blackout, New York City is putting up warning signs at all public pools prohibiting prolonged breath holding. It is part of a movement to raise awareness of the peril that has killed accomplished swimmers and to stop it by banning lengthy breath holding in the nation's estimated 300,000 public pools. |
| Bill Clinton as first gent? He'd break new ground — and maybe a little White House china Posted: 29 May 2015 03:23 AM PDT  The election of a woman president would mean that for the first time, the first lady would be … a man.
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| Hundreds seek safety from Texas floods, severe weather kills 17 Posted: 29 May 2015 02:32 AM PDT  By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Hundreds of people fled areas near Texas rivers that overflowed their banks on Thursday as the state reeled from severe storms this week that killed at least 17 people, flooded cities and set a record for the wettest month. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch stretching from south of San Antonio to Dallas, through Oklahoma, where severe weather this week killed an additional six people, and into Kansas.
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| Blatter seeks re-election as scandal engulfs FIFA Posted: 29 May 2015 12:55 AM PDT  By Mike Collett and Brian Homewood ZURICH (Reuters) - The embattled head of world soccer, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, is expected to be re-elected on Friday despite growing calls for his resignation amid a corruption scandal that has engulfed the sport's governing body. At a meeting in Zurich starting at 0730 GMT, up to 209 FIFA members will choose between Blatter, who is seeking his fifth term as president, and his sole challenger Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan. Anger within Europe's powerful regional soccer body UEFA and other members over the damage allegations of graft are doing to FIFA is unlikely to be enough to topple the 79-year-old Swiss, who is backed by the Asian and African confederations.
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| 6.9 magnitude quake strikes offshore Alaska: USGS Posted: 29 May 2015 12:39 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 struck off the southwest coast of Alaska on Friday, the United States Geological Survey reported. The USGS said the quake's epicenter was 110 km (69 miles) south-southeast of Ugashik and 33 km deep. (reporting by John Stonestreet; editing by Mark Heinrich) |
| Creator of Silk Road website faces sentencing for drug scheme Posted: 28 May 2015 10:32 PM PDT  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - The accused mastermind behind the underground website Silk Road will be sentenced on Friday for orchestrating a scheme that enabled more than $200 million of anonymous online drug sales using the digital currency bitcoin. Ross Ulbricht, 31, faces up to life in prison after a federal jury in Manhattan found him guilty in February of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence "substantially above" the 20-year mandatory minimum that U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest must impose on Ulbricht, who admitted to creating Silk Road but denied wrongdoing.
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| Defense in Freddie Gray case seeks to move trial from Baltimore Posted: 28 May 2015 08:55 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Defense attorneys for six police officers facing criminal charges in the Freddie Gray case are seeking to have the trial moved from Baltimore, saying their clients cannot get a fair trial there, the Baltimore Sun reported on Thursday. The lawyers filed an 85-page document on Wednesday in Baltimore Circuit Court asking for a change of venue, arguing that a "presumption of prejudice" exists in the city, the newspaper said. Gray, a 25-year-old black man, was arrested April 12 and suffered a spinal injury in police custody.
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| National Spelling Bee ends in tie for 2nd year in a row Posted: 28 May 2015 08:39 PM PDT  OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — They couldn't be rattled. They couldn't be denied. Gokul Venkatachalam and Vanya Shivashankar had worked too hard and come close too many times not to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
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| Kansas, Missouri students co-champs of National Spelling bee Posted: 28 May 2015 07:34 PM PDT  OXON HILL, Md. (Reuters) - Eighth-graders Gokul Venkatachalam of Chesterfield, Missouri, and Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, were declared co-winners of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday. Gokul ended a tense standoff by correctly spelling "nunatak," an Inuit word for an exposed ridge in a glacier. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Ken Wills)
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| Jurors hear from Holmes on video that he regretted attack Posted: 28 May 2015 05:40 PM PDT  CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — Jurors in the Colorado theater shooting trial heard for the first time in the gunman's own words that he regretted the attack and sometimes cried about it at night.
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| Google wants to store all your photos for free, forever Posted: 28 May 2015 04:15 PM PDT |
| CDC investigating error that caused live anthrax shipments Posted: 28 May 2015 03:25 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Army's top general said Thursday that human error probably was not a factor in the Army's mistaken shipment of live anthrax samples from a chemical weapons testing site that was opened more than 70 years ago in a desolate stretch of desert in Utah.
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| Former U.S. House Speaker Hastert indicted on federal charges Posted: 28 May 2015 02:52 PM PDT  Dennis Hastert was indicted on Thursday on federal charges including making false statements to the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago said. The Illinois Republican, who left office in 2007, was charged with structuring the withdrawal of $952,000 in cash in order to evade the requirement that banks report cash transactions over $10,000, and lying to the FBI about his withdrawals, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.
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