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• Inspectors point to wood rot in fatal California balcony collapse
• New York agrees on early budget, boosts police force
• Obama to drop U.S. threat of prosecution over hostage ransom: N.Y. Times
• NY prison worker's husband breaks silence on 18th day of escapee hunt
• Three injured after New York train, truck collide: reports
• Trade bill clears Senate hurdle, at brink of final passage
• South Carolina lawmakers push for Confederate flag debate
• Court revives challenge to ban on gun sales to Americans visiting from abroad
• Virginia governor orders Confederate flag removed from license plates
• White House to announce hostage policy on Wednesday: official
• Capitol Visitor Center being evacuated: Senate office
• Former U.S. agent to plead guilty to bitcoin theft in Silk Road probe
• JetBlue adds premium class to Boston flights on corporate demand
• Lawmakers' changing tone on flag follows 15 years of refusal
• Tornado rips up homes near Chicago, disrupts power, traffic, injures several
• Top lawmaker: Remove Confederate sign from Mississippi flag
• South Carolina governor calls for Confederate flag's removal
• Baltimore police face October trial for Freddie Gray death
• U.S., NYC reach deal over reforms for Rikers jail complex
• Florida man who flew gyrocopter to U.S. Capitol rejects plea deal
• Three men convicted in parachute jump from New York's 1 World Trade Center

Inspectors point to wood rot in fatal California balcony collapse Posted: 23 Jun 2015 12:14 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Wooden support beams sheared off in the collapse of a fourth-floor apartment balcony that killed six people in Berkeley, California, last week were found to be severely rotted, city building inspectors said in a report issued on Tuesday.

New York agrees on early budget, boosts police force Posted: 23 Jun 2015 11:58 AM PDT New York City's mayor and City Council have reached agreement on early adoption of a more than $78.5 billion budget that includes hiring nearly 1,300 police officers by the end of next fiscal year in July 2016, city leaders said on Tuesday. The extra police will be used to create a dedicated counter terrorism force that does not rely of officers pulled from other precincts, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, as well as a new community policing initiative that he will announce in the coming days. The hiring agreement combines a plan by Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to have 300 police dedicated to counter terrorism and the City Council's desire for an extra 1,000 officers, the mayor said.

Obama to drop U.S. threat of prosecution over hostage ransom: N.Y. Times Posted: 23 Jun 2015 11:10 AM PDT President Barack Obama has decided the U.S. government will stop threatening criminal prosecution of families who try to pay ransom to win the release of American hostages held by militant groups overseas, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. The White House on Wednesday will announce the results of a six-month review of how the government works with families of hostages, an administration official told Reuters on Tuesday, declining comment on the details of the review. The Times, citing an unnamed senior administration official, reported that Obama, in a presidential directive and an executive order, plans to keep a longstanding American government prohibition on making concessions to hostage-takers.

NY prison worker's husband breaks silence on 18th day of escapee hunt Posted: 23 Jun 2015 10:21 AM PDT A force of 1,000 law enforcement officers focused the search for murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat in eastern Franklin County, about 20 miles from Clinton Correctional Facility, said New York State Police spokesman Beau Duffy. Lyle Mitchell, whose wife, Joyce Mitchell, admitted she helped the convicts, said on NBC's "Today" show that the men gave her pills to knock him out so that she could slip away and drive their getaway car.

Three injured after New York train, truck collide: reports Posted: 23 Jun 2015 10:04 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three people were injured early on Tuesday after a freight train and a tractor-trailer collided and caught fire near a cereal and flour plant in upstate New York, according to media reports.

Trade bill clears Senate hurdle, at brink of final passage Posted: 23 Jun 2015 09:30 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate pushed bipartisan trade legislation to the brink of final approval Tuesday in a combined effort by President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders to rescue a measure that appeared all but dead less than two weeks ago.

South Carolina lawmakers push for Confederate flag debate Posted: 23 Jun 2015 09:12 AM PDT By Harriet McLeod COLUMBIA, S.C. (Reuters) - South Carolina lawmakers plan to introduce a resolution on Tuesday to begin a debate on removing the Confederate flag from the State House grounds following the killings last week of nine African-American churchgoers allegedly by a white gunman. Political leaders and civil rights organizations, including Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network, also plan to rally Tuesday in support of the measure on the steps of the State House in Columbia, about 120 miles (190 km) from Charleston, the site of Wednesday's shooting. Federal authorities are investigating the attack as a hate crime by accused gunman Dylann Roof, 21, who posed with the flag in photos posted online.

Court revives challenge to ban on gun sales to Americans visiting from abroad Posted: 23 Jun 2015 08:57 AM PDT A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit backed by gun rights activists challenging a U.S. government policy that prevents American citizens who live abroad from buying guns when they visit the United States. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, by a 2-1 vote, threw out a federal district judge's ruling that had rejected the challenge. At issue are provisions of U.S. law that prevent gun sales to people who do not live in the state where the sale takes place, as is the case with people who reside in another country.

Virginia governor orders Confederate flag removed from license plates Posted: 23 Jun 2015 08:40 AM PDT Virginia will phase out vehicle license plates featuring the Confederate battle flag, the state's governor said on Tuesday, following the fatal shootings of nine black worshipers at a historic South Carolina church, allegedly by a white gunman. The state, which was part of the pro-slavery Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War, will no longer allow specialty license plates for the Sons of Confederate Veterans group that feature the flag, said Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat. On Monday, the governor of South Carolina called for the Confederate flag to be removed from the grounds of the capitol after a racist manifesto apparently written by accused gunman Dylann Roof, 21, emerged online, accompanied by photos of Roof posing with the flag.

White House to announce hostage policy on Wednesday: official Posted: 23 Jun 2015 08:24 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday will announce the results of a six-month review of how the government works with families of hostages, an administration official said on Tuesday, declining comment on the details of the review.

Capitol Visitor Center being evacuated: Senate office Posted: 23 Jun 2015 06:48 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Capitol Visitor Center is being evacuated following an audible alarm, the Senate Sergeant at Arms Office said in a post on Twitter on Tuesday.

Former U.S. agent to plead guilty to bitcoin theft in Silk Road probe Posted: 23 Jun 2015 06:33 AM PDT Carl Force, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, has agreed to plead guilty on July 1 to charges of extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice, according to papers filed on Monday in federal court in San Francisco. The deal came after prosecutors last week reached a plea agreement with Shaun Bridges, a former Secret Service agent who was charged along with Force in March with stealing bitcoins, the web-based digital currency, during the investigation.

JetBlue adds premium class to Boston flights on corporate demand Posted: 23 Jun 2015 02:57 AM PDT JetBlue Airways Corp on Tuesday said it will add its premium "Mint" class to transcontinental flights from Boston, the first new city for a service that JetBlue credits with helping it steal share from competitors. JetBlue will offer Mint service, the airline's answer to first and business class, on flights from Boston to San Francisco starting March 2016 and to Los Angeles starting in the fall of that year. The move reflects the budget airline's plan to roll out Mint to more cities since it entered the lucrative market for premium travel a year ago, starting with Mint between New York and the California hubs.

Lawmakers' changing tone on flag follows 15 years of refusal Posted: 23 Jun 2015 02:09 AM PDT On Monday, Gov. Nikki Haley did what a previous GOP governor found to be political suicide.

Tornado rips up homes near Chicago, disrupts power, traffic, injures several Posted: 22 Jun 2015 11:12 PM PDT Emergency responders in the small town of Coal City, about 60 miles (100 km) south of Chicago, reported that homes were destroyed by the storm, said Joe Schroeder, director of the Grundy County Emergency Management Agency. At least three homes had been heavily damaged in Monday night's storm, Brittany Halliday, daughter of Coal City Mayor Terry Halliday, told a regional newspaper, the Herald-News. Traffic on a nearby highway was blocked because of fallen power lines, an Illinois State Police dispatcher said, adding that three truck tractors had overturned there.

Top lawmaker: Remove Confederate sign from Mississippi flag Posted: 22 Jun 2015 06:18 PM PDT JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A top Mississippi lawmaker said Monday that the Confederate battle emblem is offensive and needs to be removed from the state flag.

South Carolina governor calls for Confederate flag's removal Posted: 22 Jun 2015 05:32 PM PDT By Harriet McLeod, Luciana Lopez and Alana Wise CHARLESTON/COLUMBIA, S.C. (Reuters) - South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on Monday called on lawmakers to take down the Confederate battle flag at the state capitol grounds, a week after a white gunman allegedly shot dead nine black worshipers at a historic church. The flag that has flown at the State House grounds in Columbia for a half century became a fresh focus of criticism after the Charleston church massacre. Federal authorities are investigating the attack as a hate crime and an act of terrorism by accused gunman Dylann Roof, 21, who posed with the flag in photos posted online.

Baltimore police face October trial for Freddie Gray death Posted: 22 Jun 2015 04:59 PM PDT Six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of a black man will go on trial on Oct. 13 in a case that sparked rioting and protests, a spokeswoman for prosecutors said on Monday. The trial is set for Maryland's Circuit Court for Baltimore City, the spokeswoman for State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said. The officers have been charged in the April death of Freddie Gray, 25, who allegedly died from a spinal injury suffered in police custody.

U.S., NYC reach deal over reforms for Rikers jail complex Posted: 22 Jun 2015 03:21 PM PDT New York City has agreed to carry out a series of reforms at its Rikers Island jail complex to resolve U.S. Justice Department claims that guards regularly used unnecessary force against inmates, U.S. officials said on Monday. In a letter filed in federal court in New York, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office said the deal included appointing a federal monitor to oversee the reforms at Rikers, one of the largest jail complexes in the country.

Florida man who flew gyrocopter to U.S. Capitol rejects plea deal Posted: 22 Jun 2015 02:31 PM PDT A Florida man who flew a gyrocopter onto the U.S. Capitol grounds rejected a plea deal on Monday that would likely involve jail time, prosecutors said. Douglas Hughes, a 61-year-old mail carrier from Ruskin, Florida, appeared in federal court where he turned down a plea deal, according to a spokesman for Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal Chawla. Hughes told reporters outside the courthouse that he would not accept a plea deal that would involve several years of prison time, and called his illegal flight a "pure act of civil disobedience," according to the Washington Post.

Three men convicted in parachute jump from New York's 1 World Trade Center Posted: 22 Jun 2015 01:58 PM PDT Three men who jumped with parachutes from the top of One World Trade Center were convicted of criminal charges on Monday in their plunge from America's tallest building. A jury in state Supreme Court in Manhattan deliberated over the course of four days before reaching a verdict in the trial of James Brady, 33, Andrew Rossig, 34, and Marko Markovich, 28, who live in the New York City suburbs.

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