No leaks detected from grounded Shell drill barge
No leaks detected from grounded Shell drill barge
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — There's no indication of a fuel leak from a petroleum drilling vessel that ran aground on a remote Alaska island, the Coast Guard said of a maritime accident that has refueled debate over oil exploration in the U.S. Arctic Ocean. The Royal Dutch Shell PLC ship Kulluk was being towed to a Pacific Northwest shipyard for maintenance and upgrades when it went aground in the Gulf of Alaska during a vicious New Year's Eve storm.
Continue ReadingAttorney: Kansas law on sperm donors outdated
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas law governing artificial insemination is outdated and fails to recognize modern concepts of family, according to the attorney for a Topeka man being pursued to pay child support for a girl born to a lesbian couple as the result of his sperm donation. Kansas law says a sperm donor is not the father of a child if a doctor handles the artificial insemination. But the law does not specifically address the donor's rights and obligations when no doctor was involved, as was the case in 2009 when William Marotta donated sperm to Jennifer Schreiner and then-partner Angela Bauer, and Schreiner became pregnant.
Continue ReadingToday's Stories
Detroit mom to stay in jail in daughter's death
ASSOCIATED PRESS, BY ED WHITE AND COREY WILLIAMS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Detroit mom to stay in jail in daughter's death
ASSOCIATED PRESS, BY ED WHITE AND COREY WILLIAMS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT (AP) — A not-guilty plea has been entered for a Detroit mother charged with fatally stabbing her daughter three days before the girl's ninth birthday. Semeria Greene remained silent during her brief first court appearance Thursday. She will stay in jail without bail on the murder charge. Tameria Greene was found bleeding Sunday on the floor of the family's apartment.
Continue ReadingCHICAGO (AP) — A convicted bank robber no longer face charges for climbing out of a high-rise jail in downtown Chicago on a rope made of bed sheets and leading authorities on a two-day manhunt that ended with his capture on the city's North Side. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Baker asked a federal judge Thursday to dismiss the escape charges because Joseph "Jose" Banks, 37, already faces up to 80 years in prison in the separate bank robbery case.
Continue ReadingInmate ordered retried in '80 'waiting ever since'
ASSOCIATED PRESS
GATESVILLE, Texas (AP) — Jerry Hartfield was still a young man when an uncle visited him in prison to tell him that his murder conviction had been overturned and he would get a new trial. Not long afterward, he was moved off of death row. "A sergeant told me to pack my stuff and I wouldn't return. I've been waiting ever since for that new trial," Hartfield, now 56, said during a recent interview at the prison near Gatesville where he's serving life for the 1976 robbery and killing of a Bay City bus station worker.
Continue ReadingDETROIT (AP) — Strong U.S. sales in December capped a remarkable year for the auto industry — especially Japanese brands — and 2013 should be even better. Sales of new cars and trucks are expected to total 14.5 million after all carmakers announce figures on Thursday. That is 13 percent better than 2011 and the best performance in five years.
Continue ReadingEx-hedge fund manager pleads not guilty in NYC
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A former hedge fund portfolio manager charged with carrying out a record-setting insider trading scheme pleaded not guilty to insider trading charges Thursday as the prosecution hinted that he would not be the last person arrested in the case. Mathew Martoma, 38, of Boca Raton, Fla., persuaded a medical professor to leak secret data from an Alzheimer's disease drug trial between 2006 and 2008 when Martoma did work for an expert consulting service in New York, prosecutors said.
Continue ReadingGroups seek halt to Arctic offshore drilling
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Groups seek halt to Arctic offshore drilling
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Two national environmental groups are calling for a halt to federal permits for Arctic offshore petroleum drilling after the grounding of a Royal Dutch Shell PLC drill ship off Alaska's coast. Representatives of the Natural Resources Defense Council and The Wilderness Society say Shell has demonstrated it's not ready to drill in Arctic waters.
Continue ReadingNEW YORK (AP) — Hormel Foods apparently has a hankering for a peanut butter and bacon sandwich. The company primarily known for Spam and other cured, smoked and deli meats said Thursday that it's buying Skippy, the country's No. 2 peanut butter brand, in its biggest-ever acquisition. Skippy, which was introduced in 1932 and is a staple in American pantries, is intended to increase Hormel's presence in the center of the supermarket where nonperishable foods are sold.
Continue ReadingALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — In a story Dec. 20 about public pension funds investing in gun makers, The Associated Press erroneously attributed a quote. Howard Goldman, spokesman for the Texas Retirement System, did not say it would be difficult if not impossible to fulfill the fund's obligations "while managing portfolios that reflect the social concerns of all of our shareholders."
Continue ReadingSHOW LOW, Ariz. (AP) — Two teenagers were rescued after spending two frigid hours hanging onto a dead tree after ice on an Arizona lake began to crack, authorities said Thursday. A third teen who had stayed on the snow-covered bank of Fool Hollow Lake called for help while the other two clung to the tree, authorities said. Each of the two stranded teenagers lost a shoe that got stuck to the ice.
Continue ReadingSandy Hook kids face 1st classes since shooting
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sandy Hook kids face 1st classes since shooting
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONROE, Conn. (AP) — The youngsters who survived the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary returned to class Thursday for the first time since the shooting rampage, settling in at their old, familiar desks but in a different school in a different town. Classes resumed for the first time since last month's shooting in Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators.
Continue ReadingWASHINGTON (AP) — Housing is rebounding. Families are shrinking debts. Europe has avoided a financial crackup. And the fiscal cliff deal has removed the most urgent threat to the U.S. economy. So why don't economists foresee stronger growth and hiring in 2013? Part of the answer is what Congress' agreement did (raise Social Security taxes for most of us).
Continue Reading10 Things to Know for Today
ASSOCIATED PRESS,
10 Things to Know for Today
ASSOCIATED PRESS,
1. OVER THE CLIFF AND BACK TO CONGRESS After a contentious vote on the "fiscal cliff," the 113th Congress is sworn in, following one of the least productive terms in decades. 2. ANYTHING BUT A NORMAL SCHOOL DAY Survivors of the Newtown rampage in Connecticut go back to school for the first time in a nearby town. 3. WHERE THE GOOGLE CEO WON'T BE ABLE TO TAKE HIS SMARTPHONE The AP's Jean H. Lee reports Eric Schmidt is traveling on a humanitarian mission to North Korea.
Continue ReadingNJ Gov. Christie blasts Boehner, Republicans
ASSOCIATED PRESS, BY KATIE ZEZIMA AND GEOFF MULVIHILL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
NJ Gov. Christie blasts Boehner, Republicans
ASSOCIATED PRESS, BY KATIE ZEZIMA AND GEOFF MULVIHILL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Chris Christie's blunt talk has long been one of his hallmarks. But Christie, who has verbally tangled with many, showed Wednesday he's willing to aim his barbs at the highest echelons of his own party. In a State House news conference, Christie blasted Republican U.S. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio for delaying a vote on a $60 billion aid package for Superstorm Sandy recovery.
Continue ReadingMom says boy didn't steal plane in Alabama crash
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mom says boy didn't steal plane in Alabama crash
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JASPER, Ala. (AP) — Jordan Smith fell in love with flying at an early age and was just one test short of earning his private license when the small plane he was piloting crashed after taking off from the county airport, his mother said. The owner of the Piper PA 30 had given the 17-year-old high school junior his own key and the code to a security gate behind which it was parked, Sherrie Smith said.
Continue ReadingColo. theater shooting kin reject movie invitation
ASSOCIATED PRESS, BY DAN ELLIOTT AND COLLEEN SLEVIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER (AP) — Relatives of those killed at a Colorado movie theater rejected an invitation Wednesday to attend its planned reopening, calling it a "disgusting offer" that came at a terrible time — right after the first Christmas without their loved ones. The parents, grandparents, cousins and widow of nine of the 12 people killed in the July shooting said they were asked to attend an "evening of remembrance" followed by a movie when the Aurora theater reopens on Jan. 17.
Continue ReadingLa. cemeteries sinking, washing away
ASSOCIATED PRESS
La. cemeteries sinking, washing away
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEEVILLE, La. (AP) — As a young adult, Kathleen Cheramie visited her grandmother's grave in a tree-lined cemetery where white concrete crosses dotted a plot of lush green grass just off Louisiana Highway 1. Now, the cemetery in Leeville is a skeleton of its former self. The few trees still standing have been killed by saltwater intruding from the Gulf.
Continue ReadingCritics say grounding shows Arctic drilling danger
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Critics say grounding shows Arctic drilling danger
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The grounding of a petroleum drilling ship on a remote Alaska island has refueled the debate over oil exploration in the U.S. Arctic Ocean, where critics for years have said the conditions are too harsh and the stakes too high to allow dangerous industrial development. The drilling sites are 1,000 miles from Coast Guard resources, and environmentalists argue offshore drilling in the Arctic's fragile ecosystem is too risky.
Continue Reading10 Things to Know for Thursday
ASSOCIATED PRESS,
10 Things to Know for Thursday
ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and stories that will be talked about Thursday: 1. AL-JAZEERA CHASING AMERICAN VIEWERS The Pan-Arab network seals a deal to take over Al Gore's Current TV. 2. CLINTON LEAVES HOSPITAL She'll continue to be treated with blood thinners to dissolve a clot in a vein in her head. 3. FOR LAWMAKERS, BARELY TIME TO TAKE A BREATH The fiscal cliff deal only sets the stage for more combustible struggles in Washington.
Continue ReadingMother charged in stabbing death of daughter, 8
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mother charged in stabbing death of daughter, 8
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT (AP) — A 26-year-old woman was charged Wednesday with felony murder in the stabbing death of her daughter at their Detroit home just days before the girl's ninth birthday. The mother, Semeria Greene, was also charged with one count of first-degree child abuse. Greene's four young sons have been turned over to Child Protective Services, police spokeswoman Sgt. Eren Stephens said.
Continue ReadingOn school tour, Newtown parents thank teachers
ASSOCIATED PRESS, BY PAT EATON-ROBB AND DAVE COLLINS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
On school tour, Newtown parents thank teachers
ASSOCIATED PRESS, BY PAT EATON-ROBB AND DAVE COLLINS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONROE, Conn. (AP) — On a tour Wednesday of his daughter's new school, Vinny Alvarez took a moment to thank her third-grade teacher, who protected the class from a rampaging gunman by locking her classroom door and keeping the children in a corner. Alvarez was one of many Sandy Hook Elementary School parents expressing gratitude to the teachers during an open house at their school in the neighboring town of Monroe, where their children are resuming classes Thursday for the first time since the Dec. 14 shooting that left 20 students and six educators dead.
Continue Reading