Wichita

Some would-be immigrants left in limbo after Supreme Court travel ban order

Without close family in the United States, Elly and her husband had few options for getting permission to immigrate to America from Iran. "Since last year, we made all the important decisions in our lives because we hoped we would get a visa," Elly said, declining to give her full name because her visa application is still in process. The couple decided to put off having children and purchasing a home until after their move to the United States.

New York mob suspects admit to vendetta arson, robbery

Three men, including the late mobster John Gotti's grandson, admitted on Tuesday that they torched a car because its driver cut off a reputed Bonanno crime family associate in traffic in April 2012, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Vincent Asaro, 82, who was cleared in November 2015 of involvement in the famed 1978 Lufthansa airport heist that helped inspire the movie "Goodfellas," became enraged when a motorist moved in front of his car at a traffic light. John J. Gotti, Matthew "Fat Matt" Rullan and Asaro, an alleged member of the Bonanno crime family, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn to charges related to the arson and robbery under an agreement with federal prosecutors, said John Marzulli, a spokesman for Acting U.S. Attorney Bridget Rohde.

Family sues over fatal police shooting of Louisiana black man

The family of a black man killed last year by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and police on Tuesday, alleging a history of excessive-force incidents and racism toward African-Americans. The death of Alton Sterling, 37, was among a series of racially charged police killings that inflamed a national debate over treatment of minorities by law enforcement. The lawsuit, filed in state court on behalf of Sterling's five children, seeks unspecified damages from the city, Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. and his department, and the two officers involved in the shooting, among others.

Connecticut will seek solution in Yale gender-neutral bathroom suit

A Connecticut official said on Tuesday the state would reconsider policies that can limit gender-neutral bathrooms in public buildings following a lawsuit by Yale University, the latest skirmish in the broader U.S. fight about gender identity. The Ivy League school said in the lawsuit it wants to designate all single-occupant restrooms at its law school as gender neutral, but the plan runs afoul of the state building code, which does not count gender-neutral bathrooms when it assesses whether a public building has enough toilets.

EPA and Army Corps seek to rescind clean water rule

By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers released a proposal on Tuesday to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule, the latest move by the Trump administration to unwind environmental regulations put in place under former President Barack Obama. The agencies are working to rescind the rule, known as the Waters of the United States rule, and reinstate the language of the rule before it was changed in 2015. The rule updated the federal Clean Water Act to define what waterways - including streams, rivers and other bodies - can be regulated by the federal government, stirring anger by the agriculture and energy industries, which said it gave regulators too much authority.

North Carolina man gets life in prison for plotting Islamic State attack

Justin Sullivan, 21, of Morganton, was sentenced in federal court in Asheville on one count of attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, the Justice Department said in a statement. Sullivan had pleaded guilty in November 2016, and the agreement with prosecutors called for the life sentence. Prosecutors said Sullivan conspired with Junaid Hussain, a British hacker who was an online recruiter of people to carry out attacks on behalf of the militant group Islamic State.

Ten Commandments monument installed in Arkansas; ACLU vows court fight

Arkansas installed a Ten Commandments monument on the state's Capitol grounds on Tuesday, and a civil liberties group pledged a court challenge, saying it showed an unconstitutional government preference for a certain religion. Legislators approved the act for the monument in 2015, and whether it was appropriate for the public grounds has been debated since. At the installation ceremony for the some 3,000-pound (1,360 kg) granite slab in Little Rock, state Senator Jason Rapert noted that the Ten Commandments were chiseled into the portals of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Supreme Court tosses ruling against religious school subsidies

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a lower court's ruling prohibiting the use of public funds to pay for children to attend private religious schools, a day after it issued a major ruling narrowing the separation of church and state. The justices ordered Colorado's top court to reconsider the legality of school "voucher" programs in light of Monday's ruling that churches and other religious entities cannot be categorically denied public money even in states whose constitutions explicitly ban such funding. In that ruling, which could bolster the case for vouchers and other subsidies to religious schools, the justices sided with a Missouri church that objected to being denied access to public grant money for a playground improvement project because the state's constitution bans public funding of religious entities.

New York City subway train derails, 34 injured

A New York City subway train derailed in upper Manhattan on Tuesday, causing minor injuries to 34 people and forcing the evacuation of passengers from dark, smoke-filled carriages, officials and witnesses said. Authorities said the southbound train struck a tunnel wall just before 10 a.m., causing two cars to derail near the 125th-street station in Harlem. The crash was being investigated, the city's Office of Emergency Management said.

Evangelical Christians becoming less opposed to gay marriage, poll finds

U.S. groups who traditionally have opposed same-sex marriage, including Republicans and white evangelical Christians, have become much less steadfast in their objections, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. Sixty-two percent of U.S. respondents now approve of same-sex marriage, up from 57 percent when the Supreme Court legalized it in all 50 states two years ago and from 37 percent in 2007, according to the survey, which was released on Monday. The survey found rising support for same-sex marriage across affiliations with political parties, race and religion, with support strongest among younger Americans born after 1980 and Democrats.

Watchdog group sues EPA to access communications with Icahn

A U.S. watchdog group filed a lawsuit in a federal court on Tuesday to force the Environmental Protection Agency to release communications with billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who it says tried to influence biofuels policy for personal gain. American Oversight, which has filed nearly a dozen lawsuits against the Trump administration on a range of issues, filed the suit after it did not get an "adequate" response from two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for communications between Icahn and representatives of his oil refining company CVR Energy Inc and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and senior agency officials.

Maine governor warns of partial government shutdown in budget fight

Maine Governor Paul LePage warned residents on Tuesday that parts of the state's government could shut down as soon as Friday if lawmakers are unable to reach an agreement on the next two-year budget of roughly $7 billion. LePage said he and legislative leaders are $145 million apart in their negotiations over the budget, with Democrats seeking additional funding for schools while LePage is urging cuts elsewhere in the budget to offset spending.

U.S. judge halts deportation of Iraqis nationwide

By Steve Friess DETROIT (Reuters) - A federal judge halted late on Monday the deportation of all Iraqi nationals detained during immigration sweeps across the United States this month until at least July 10, expanding a stay he imposed last week. The stay had initially only protected 114 detainees from the Detroit area. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith sided with lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union who filed an amended complaint on Saturday seeking to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from deporting Iraqis from anywhere in the United States.

California to list herbicide as cancer-causing; Monsanto vows fight

(Reuters) - Glyphosate, an herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto Co's popular Roundup weed killer, will be added to California's list of chemicals known to cause cancer effective July 7, the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) said on Monday.

California to list glyphosate as cancer-causing; Monsanto vows fight

Glyphosate, an herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto Co's popular Roundup weed killer, will be added to California's list of chemicals known to cause cancer effective July 7, the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) said on Monday. Monsanto vowed to continue its legal fight against the designation, required under a state law known as Proposition 65, and called the decision "unwarranted on the basis of science and the law." The listing is the latest legal setback for the seeds and chemicals company, which has faced increasing litigation over glyphosate since the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer said that it is "probably carcinogenic" in a controversial ruling in 2015.

Texas sanctuary city law could lead to immigration police state: lawyer

A small border town and some of the largest cities in Texas told a federal judge on Monday a new state law aimed at punishing sanctuary cities could lead to an immigration police state and asked him to halt it because it was unconstitutional. The Republican-backed law in Texas, the U.S. state with the longest border with Mexico, takes effect on September 1. It is the first of its kind since Republican Donald Trump became president in January, promising to crack down on illegal immigration.

Seattle employers cut hours after latest minimum wage rise, study finds

Low-wage workers on average now clock 9 percent fewer hours and earn $125 less each month than before the Pacific Northwest city set one of the highest minimum wages in the nation, the University of Washington research paper said. Seattle, which has a booming economy and a strong technology sector, is midway through an initiative to increase its minimum wage for all employers to $15 an hour.

Move to rename Harlem neighborhood sparks outrage over erasing black history

New York City real estate companies' attempts to rename a Harlem neighborhood "SoHa" have enraged long-time residents of the historically black enclave, who say the move erases the community's rich cultural history. The neighborhood served as home and inspiration to generations of leading African Americans, including activists W.E.B. Du Bois and Malcolm X, who dubbed it "Seventh Heaven." Artists such as poet Langston Hughes and singers Harry Belafonte and Ella Fitzgerald also lived there. The "SoHa" name, echoing the high-priced, largely white Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo in lower Manhattan, has begun appearing in real estate listings for apartments located between 110th Street and 125th Street, and Realtor Keller Williams boasts a "SoHa Team" of agents on its website.

Twenty-two million Americans would lose health coverage under Senate bill: CBO

Twenty-two million Americans would lose their health insurance coverage over the next decade under draft legislation unveiled by Senate Republicans last week, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said on Monday. By comparison, the CBO had earlier estimated that similar legislation passed by the House of Representatives would cause 23 million Americans to lose coverage by 2026. In an analysis of the Senate draft, the CBO said the number of Americans who would be uninsured by 2026 under the Senate bill would be 49 million.

Former Green Bay Packers star charged with slapping daughter

Green, 40, was arrested at his home in a suburb of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and charged with physical abuse of a child and disorderly conduct after a neighbor called police when the girl fled his home, police said in papers filed in Brown County Circuit Court. The former National Football League star running back told responding officers that he struck the girl and shoved her late on Sunday after a day-long dispute over household chores, police said. A representative of Lammi Sports Management, which represents Green, declined to comment.

U.S. top court backs church in major religious rights case

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Churches and other religious entities cannot be flatly denied public money even in states where constitutions explicitly ban such funding, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a major religious rights case that narrows the separation of church and state. The justices, in a 7-2 ruling, sided with Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri, which sued after being denied access to a state grant program that helps nonprofit groups buy rubber playground surfaces made from recycled tires. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court's majority, said that "the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution" and "cannot stand." Missouri's constitution prohibits "any church, sect or denomination of religion" or clergy member from receiving state money, language that goes further than the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state.

Kentucky lawyer in $600 million fraud scheme flees U.S.: report

A Kentucky lawyer who pleaded guilty to participating in a $600 million disability fraud scheme has fled to a country that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, local media reported. Eric Christopher Conn, 56, used a fake passport to flee to a country he did not identify, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, which said it exchanged emails with a person it identified as Conn. The paper said on Sunday that person answered correctly questions only Conn would know. Scott White, Conn's attorney, could not be reached by Reuters for comment, but he told the newspaper that he also received emails from that same address, from a person he believed to be Conn.

SEC wins latest round over how its judges are appointed

A divided U.S. appeals court handed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a victory on Monday over how it appoints its in-house judges in a decision that could pave the way for the Supreme Court to resolve the matter. In a 5-5 split, a panel of 10 judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit effectively rejected a legal challenge by former radio talk show host Raymond Lucia, who had asked the court to review whether the SEC violated the U.S. Constitution when it appointed its administrative law judges. Monday's decision in the SEC's favor is at odds with the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which previously ruled that the SEC violated the Constitution in how its judges were appointed in a similar case.

U.S. top court deals setback to gun control advocates on felon ban

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dealt a blow to gun control advocates by opening the door for some convicted felons to challenge a federal ban on them owning firearms. The case involved two Pennsylvania men who were convicted of non-violent crimes who challenged the ban. The Trump administration had appealed last year's ruling by the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, calling it a threat to public safety.

Missing North Carolina girl's alleged captor held in Georgia

A Georgia man was ordered on Monday to remain in jail on charges related to the disappearance of a North Carolina teenager found alive over the weekend after she had been missing for more than a year. After authorities received a tip late Saturday regarding her possible whereabouts, they found her being held at a house in Duluth, Georgia, about 25 miles north of Atlanta, FBI spokeswoman Shelley Lynch said on Monday. The suspect, Michael Ren Wysolovski, 31, appeared in court in Lawrenceville on Monday on local charges of false imprisonment, aggravated sodomy, interference with custody and cruelty to children.

St. Louis reaches deal to remove Confederate monument

The granite and bronze memorial was the latest Confederate monument to be targeted as U.S. cities remove the structures seen as reminders of slavery and the racism that underpinned it. St. Louis reached the agreement with the Missouri Civil War Museum and other groups after a lawsuit halted the city's effort to dismantle the 32-foot memorial earlier this month, according to the mayor's office. Workers were already taking apart the monument in the city's Forest Park on Monday, shortly after the settlement was announced, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Boston man found guilty of murder in 'Baby Doe' case

Michael McCarthy, 37, escaped conviction on the more serious charge of first-degree murder for allegedly punching 2-1/2-year-old Bella Bond to death in the apartment he shared with his former girlfriend, Rachelle Bond, and dumping her plastic-wrapped body in Massachusetts Bay. Defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro had tried to undercut Bond's testimony during the trial, which included describing seeing McCarthy punch the child so hard that her body bounced off a bed. Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley told reporters after the verdict was read that Bond's testimony was truthful.

U.S. top court to hear baker's religious objection to making cake for gay couple

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide a major case on whether business owners can refuse to service gay couples if they oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds involving a Christian baker in Colorado who declined to make a wedding cake for two men. The court took up an appeal by Jack Phillips, a baker who runs Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, just outside Denver, of a state court ruling that his refusal violated a Colorado anti-discrimination law. Phillips contends the law violated his rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

U.S. top court leaves in place California concealed guns curbs

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sidestepped one of the most hotly contested gun rights disputes in years, declining to rule in a California case on whether a person's constitutional right to keep firearms for self-defense extends outside the home. Gun owners had taken aim at a California law that bars them from being granted a permit to carry a concealed gun in public places unless they show "good cause" for having it, with county sheriffs making the determination. The justices let stand a lower court's ruling upholding a San Diego County sheriff's policy of denying such permits unless the gun owner documents a need for self-defense.

Slain Minnesota man's family in $3 million police-shooting settlement

The agreement between the Minnesota city and Valerie Castile, the victim's mother, comes a week after the officer who shot Castile, 32, five times was found not guilty of any crime - the bloody aftermath that was seen by millions of people after Castile's girlfriend livestreamed it online. Castile's death drew national attention, coming amid a wave of high-profile police killings of black men, which sparked street protests in cities across the United States.