Evansville

Accused N.Y attacker says U.S. court's judgment 'not important'

The Uzbek national accused of killing eight people by driving a speeding truck along a New York City bike path last October spoke of a "war" led by Islamic State at a pre-trial hearing on Friday and dismissed the court's judgment as not important. The statement by Sayfullo Saipov, a legal permanent resident of the United States, came at the end of a hearing at which U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick set an Oct. 7, 2019, trial date in the case. "The Islamic State, in order to impose sharia (Islamic law) on Earth, is leading a war," Saipov said.

Octogenarian New England ex-mob boss convicted of 1993 murder

A federal jury on Friday found a former boss of the New England mob and one of his associates guilty of the 1993 murder of a nightclub owner whose remains were discovered buried in Rhode Island two years ago. Jurors in Boston convicted Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, 84, and Paul Weadick, 63, of killing club owner Steven DiSarro because they believed he would cooperate with federal investigators. Steven Boozang, Salemme's lawyer, said he was disappointed and plans to appeal.

Trump urges Republican lawmakers to drop immigration bill until election

By Doina Chiacu and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump urged Republican lawmakers on Friday to drop their efforts to pass comprehensive immigration legislation until after the November elections, sending mixed signals to his party amid an ongoing crisis over his border policies. Trump, faced with a public outcry over his policy that separated children from their migrant parents at the U.S. border with Mexico, has gone back and forth on ways to solve the country's immigration problems, which he blames on Democrats.

No drugs, no alcohol in U.S. celebrity chef Bourdain's body when he died: prosecutor

U.S. celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who killed himself in a French hotel room earlier this month, had no narcotics or alcohol in his body when he died, a local prosecutor said on Friday. Bourdain, host of CNN's food-and-travel-focused "Parts Unknown" television series, was 61. "No trace of narcotics, no trace of any toxic products, no trace of medicines, no trace of alcohol," prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny told Reuters.

Supreme Court restricts police on cellphone location data

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday imposed limits on the ability of police to obtain cellphone data pinpointing the past location of criminal suspects in a major victory for digital privacy advocates and a setback for law enforcement authorities. In the 5-4 ruling, the court said police generally need a court-approved warrant to get the data, setting a higher legal hurdle than previously existed under federal law. The court said obtaining such data without a warrant from wireless carriers, as police routinely do, amounted to an unreasonable search and seizure under the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

Uber car's 'safety' driver streamed TV show before fatal crash: police

By Heather Somerville and David Shepardson SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The safety driver behind the wheel of a self-driving Uber car in Tempe, Arizona, was streaming a television show on her phone until about the time of a fatal crash, according to a police report that deemed the March 18 incident "entirely avoidable." A report by the Tempe Police Department said the driver, Rafaela Vasquez, repeatedly looked down and not at the road, glancing up a half second before the car hit Elaine Herzberg, 49, who was crossing the street at night. The report said police concluded the crash, which has dealt Uber Technologies Inc a major setback in its efforts to develop self-driving cars, would have been "entirely avoidable" if Vasquez had been paying attention.

Tesla recycling machine catches fire at Fremont, California campus

The fire occurred after a cardboard baling machines that is used for recycling overheated, and was contained, Fremont Fire Department Division Chief Diane Hendry said on Friday. In a tweet earlier this week, Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk touted a new tent on the campus that is being used for the production of the Model 3. The Tesla spokeswoman said the production tent was not affected by the fire.

Reality Winner to change her plea on leaking Russian interference report

Reality Leigh Winner pleaded not guilty in June, 2017 after she was charged with passing the top secret National Security Agency report to The Intercept last year while working with Pluribus International Corp, which provides analytical services for U.S. defense and intelligence. Attorneys for Winner, a 26-year-old from Augusta, Georgia, filed on Thursday a request in the Southern District of Georgia to change her not guilty plea, a court document showed. A plea agreement, detailing her new plea, was also filed with the court, but was not made public.

Conservative U.S. commentator Charles Krauthammer dies

By Bill Trott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Krauthammer, who gave up a psychiatric career to become one of the leading conservative political commentators in the U.S. media, died on Thursday at the age of 68, the Washington Post and Fox News said. Krauthammer was a fixture on the Fox News Channel as well as on editorial pages of the Washington Post and other U.S. newspapers. "My fight is over." Less than a month earlier, Krauthammer had told a Fox colleague that the worst appeared to be behind him.

U.S. House again postpones vote on Republican immigration bill

By Amanda Becker and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives delayed for a second time - likely to next week - a vote on an immigration bill they had originally planned to take up on Thursday. The vote on the so-called compromise Republican plan had earlier been delayed to Friday to allow members additional time to review it. The Republican-controlled House earlier on Thursday defeated another, more conservative immigration bill designed to significantly reduce visas for legal immigration to the United States and to temporarily protect from deportation young "Dreamers" brought to the country illegally as children.

Trump tries to defuse immigrant crisis, but policy hit by confusion

By Richard Cowan and Steve Holland WASHINGTON/MCALLEN, Texas (Reuters) - President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies on Thursday to begin reuniting immigrant families recently separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, but his efforts to roll back a policy that drew global condemnation were beset by confusion. Despite Trump's order, it remained unclear how and when more than 2,300 children who have been separated from their parents in the past few weeks would be reunited with them, and where the families would be held while the parents face criminal charges. It was also not clear if the government would keep prosecuting cases against people caught crossing the border illegally.

Melania Trump's jacket mixes message during visit to detained immigrant children

Melania Trump, the wife of U.S. President Donald Trump, on Thursday visited children displaced by the country’s immigration crisis in Texas, only a day after Trump reversed course and ordered families to be kept intact when entering the United States illegally from Mexico. According to her spokesperson, Melania Trump decided to visit detention centers housing children because she deeply cares about the controversial issue. The trip to Texas was the most high-profile public appearance Melania Trump had made since undergoing a surgical procedure for a kidney condition on May 14.

Parents in California torture case ordered to stand trial: prosecutors

A judge on Thursday ordered a married couple to stand trial on 49 counts of torture, false imprisonment and abuse over the treatment of 13 siblings who were found imprisoned and starving in their suburban California home, prosecutors said. David and Louise Turpin were bound over for trial after a two-day hearing in Riverside County Superior Court in which the court heard tape of an emotional 911 call by a 17-year-old girl who climbed out a window and dialed police on a borrowed and deactivated cell phone, said John Hall of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. Officers who went to the Turpins’ home in Perris, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles, found 12 siblings ranging in age from two to 29 inside, suffering from malnourishment, muscle wasting and other signs of severe abuse.

Illinois, Iowa, Rhode Island urge rejection of Sinclair-Tribune tie-up

In April, Sinclair said it would sell 23 television stations to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals of the Tribune transaction. Sinclair, based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, said that if the deal was approved it would reach nearly 59 percent of the nation’s television households.

Majority of Americans say Trump should agree to interview with Mueller: poll

Most Americans think President Donald Trump should agree to an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, if asked, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows. A majority of Democrats wants Trump to consent to an interview while Republicans appear divided after months of negotiations between Trump and Mueller's teams and the president's changing position on the matter. The following are some key findings from the poll:     ** Sixty percent of U.S. adults said President Trump should agree to an interview with Special Counsel Mueller, to answer questions about whether there was any coordination between associates of Trump's 2016 election campaign and Russia.     Trump has repeatedly said there was no collusion, and Russia has denied election meddling.

Despite Trump order, border child separations could go on: legal experts

"The first thing that hit me when I read the order was the tremendous amount of wiggle room built into it," said John Banzhaf, a professor or public interest law at George Washington University. The order signed by Trump on Wednesday calls for those families to be detained together but it permits separation if deemed that detention with a parent "would pose a risk to the child's welfare." Family unity is the policy "where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources," the order said. Legal experts said this language could be exploited by the government to separate families on various grounds and be challenged in court, potentially adding to the welter of litigation against Trump's hardline immigration policy.

SEC judge appointments unconstitutional, U.S. high court says

By Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court gave presidents more control over key jobs in federal agencies on Thursday, ruling that the way the Securities and Exchange Commission selected in-house judges who enforce investor protection laws violated the U.S. Constitution. The justices agreed with President Donald Trump's administration that the SEC, in having low-level staff install administrative law judges, infringed upon powers given to the president in the U.S. Constitution's "appointments clause" regarding the filling of certain federal posts. The ruling could reverberate through the federal government, which has nearly 2,000 administrative law judges who decide matters as varied as unfair trade practices, veterans benefits and patent infringement.

U.S. appeals court calls D.C. sniper's life sentences illegal

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an appeal by prosecutors who said Lee Boyd Malvo need not be resentenced over his role in the D.C. sniper case, which left 10 people dead over three weeks in Washington, Maryland and Virginia. It cited recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles were unconstitutional, and that this rule applied retroactively. "We make this ruling not with any satisfaction, but to sustain the law," Circuit Judge Paul Niemeyer wrote for a three-judge panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based appeals court.

U.S. states set to gain billions in sales taxes after court ruling

U.S. states could reap billions in online sales tax revenue and buttress their budgets after the nation's top court ruled on Thursday that e-commerce companies could be forced to collect the money, even if they have no physical presence in a state. The Supreme Court's ruling in favor of South Dakota and against Wayfair Inc and two other online retailers was a victory for state governments, and a boost for brick-and-mortar stores. The effect is expected to be positive and widespread because 45 states impose sales taxes and until now were barred from requiring those companies to collect remote sales taxes.

Tent city for migrant children puts Texas border town in limelight

A small Texas farming community near El Paso with no traffic lights, a cotton gin and two dollar stores has found itself playing the uncomfortable host to a U.S. government tent city for children suspected of illegal border crossings. In a quiet corner of Texas with vast desert spaces, dusty roads and cotton fields, Tornillo was thrust into the limelight when the first tents went up last week. The tent city has come under scrutiny amid outcry at home and abroad over the Trump administration's policy of separating parents and children after families cross the border from Mexico illegally.