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U.S. court backs transgender student at center of bathroom dispute

A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled that federal law protects a transgender student who fought all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to use a bathroom at a high school in Virginia that corresponded with his gender identity. U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen in Norfolk rejected a bid by the Gloucester County School Board to dismiss the civil rights lawsuit filed by student Gavin Grimm. The judge said Grimm has valid claims under a federal law, called Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, that bars discrimination on the basis of sex in education as well as the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.

Shooter in Panama City, Florida, killed: local TV

(Reuters) - A man firing a gun who barricaded himself inside a Panama City, Florida, apartment complex on Tuesday has been killed, WMBB-TV reported on its website. The suspect, Kevin Holroyd, 49, was wanted in connection with a homicide investigation in Walton County, the Sheriff's Office in Bay County said on Facebook. Walton County is west of Bay County, which includes Panama City.

Video of stun gun on Bucks' guard Brown worries Milwaukee mayor

Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett said he is concerned about public backlash that could emerge when a video of police officers tasing Bucks guard Sterling Brown is released to the public this week. "I'm going to let the release of that speak for itself, but yes, I definitely have concerns after watching that video," Barrett told reporters Monday, adding that Police Chief Alfonso Morales felt similarly. In the body-camera video, which could be released as soon as Wednesday, Brown "doesn't appear to be provocative at all" before officers use a stun gun on him, a source told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

'That must be stopped;' Texas opens talks on safety after shooting

Days after 10 people were shot and killed at a Texas high school, Governor Greg Abbott and a group of lawmakers and school superintendents began to wrestle on Tuesday with how to stem school violence in a state with strong support for gun rights. About 20 people, including supporters and opponents of arming teachers, attended the first of three days of meetings in the state capital, Austin, following the fourth-deadliest U.S. school shooting this year at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, on Friday.

Trump administration to publish proposed rule changes for gun exports: official

The Trump administration is preparing to publish on Thursday long-delayed proposed rule changes for the export of U.S. firearms, a State Department official said on Tuesday. The rule changes would move the oversight of commercial firearm exports from the U.S. Department of State to the Department of Commerce. The action is part of a broader Trump administration overhaul of weapons export policy that was announced in April.

Businessman who sold diseased human body parts gets nine years in prison

By Serena Maria Daniels and John Shiffman DETROIT (Reuters) - A Detroit businessman who sold and leased human body parts was sentenced to nine years in prison Tuesday for selling diseased remains to medical educators. Arthur Rathburn, 64, is the third and most significant person convicted as part of a national investigation into the largely unregulated market for body parts in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating other so-called body brokers in Illinois, Oregon and Colorado, and has executed search warrants in each of those cases.

Maryland police arrest suspects in police officer's slaying

The female Baltimore County officer, Amy Caprio, on Monday had confronted burglary suspects who attempted to flee in a vehicle, sparking a violent altercation that left the nearly four-year-veteran of the force critically injured, police said. Sixteen-year-old Dawnta Harris, was arrested shortly after Monday's altercation and was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, Baltimore police spokesman Natalie Litofsky said in a post on Twitter. Heavily armed Maryland police working with dogs had searched through the night for the other three suspects.

As U.S. shrinks refugee operations, new arrivals in Kansas town lose a lifeline

Through all the confusing experiences since they arrived in February, Htoo, his wife Htoo Say and their 2-year-old child had been guided by a refugee center run by the non-profit International Rescue Committee (IRC), one of nine designated resettlement agencies in the country. Now, on an overcast March morning, staff members were eager to help him land a job quickly.

Texas leaders want more screening and more guns to prevent more shootings

Texas political leaders are considering installing airport-style security at public schools and screening students for mental health issues as alternatives to gun control to thwart a repeat of last week's deadly shooting at a Houston-area high school. The focus on school security and mental health has emerged since the shooting because Republican Governor Greg Abbott is facing few calls to overhaul gun laws in a state where the majority of the electorate backs gun ownership. Eight students and two teachers were killed when a 17-year-old student opened fire at Santa Fe High School last week in the latest mass shooting at a U.S. school.

Lava creeps onto geothermal plant site on Hawaii's Big Island

By Terray Sylvester PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Molten lava from the erupting Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's Big Island crept onto a geothermal power plant site on Monday, as workers rushed to shut down the facility to prevent the uncontrollable release of toxic gases. Crews worked into the night to cap the 11th and final well at the Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) plant, which provides about 25 percent of the Big Island's power, as lava from an active fissure flowed 200 to 300 yards from the nearest well pad, county and federal officials said. The latest explosive eruption at the Kilauea summit occurred shortly before 6 p.m. local time, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported.

Hawaii volcano eruption driving away millions in tourism dollars

Cruise ships have canceled stops on Hawaii's Big Island. Hotel rooms will sit vacant this summer despite price cuts. Tourism authorities say summer bookings for hotels on Hawaii's Big Island have fallen almost 50 percent since the volcano began spewing lava and toxic gases on May 3.

U.S. proposes end of grizzly-baiting ban in Alaska's national preserves

Environmental groups immediately assailed the proposal, saying bear-baiting and other hunting and trapping practices the measure would permit are inhumane and disruptive to the natural predator-prey dynamic in Alaska's preserves. The plan, pushed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, would give state wildlife managers the discretion to decide what kinds of bear-hunting methods are permitted across 20 million acres (8.million hectares) of national preserve lands in Alaska.

Justice Department expands 2016 probe into alleged Russia collusion

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Monday agreed to expand its investigation into alleged Russia collusion in the 2016 election to include "any irregularities" involving FBI tactics on Trump's presidential campaign, a White House spokeswoman said.

Pennsylvania sues over troubled Harrisburg incinerator bond deals

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf's administration on Monday sued an array of financial, legal and other professional firms over their involvement in a 15-year-old incinerator upgrade project that nearly bankrupted the state capital, Harrisburg. The state sued RBC Capital Markets, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, Public Financial Management Inc (PFM) and others over the 2003 ill-fated trash-to-energy project, which saddled the city with more than $360 million of debt. In its time, Harrisburg's debt saga was the most dramatic episode in U.S. public finance, coming before both Detroit and Puerto Rico filed their respective bankruptcies.

Gunman who killed Indian man in Kansas bar pleads guilty to federal charges

A Kansas man who shot and killed an Indian software engineer and injured two others in February 2017 pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to hate crime and firearm charges, the Justice Department said. The shooting drew international attention as part of a wave of attacks nationwide against ethnic and religious minority groups following the 2016 election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has railed against illegal immigration. The shooter, Adam Purinton, approached two Indian men, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, at a bar, demanding to know where they were from, calling one a terrorist and shouting, "Get out of my country!" Two other patrons escorted him out of the bar.

Same grief, different outcomes: Texas mulls school safety

Mourners knelt before white wooden crosses on Monday outside the Texas high school where 10 people were killed in the fourth deadly U.S. school shooting this year, an image recalling similar gatherings following February's Florida school massacre. A crowd of a few dozen people including student survivors of the attack, family members, chaplains and police gathered to observe a 10 a.m. CT (1500 GMT) moment of silence called for by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. In contrast to Florida, where the deaths of 17 teens and educators sparked a youth-led movement calling for new restrictions on gun ownership, the Texas tragedy saw elected officials and survivors alike voicing support for gun rights.

Companies win big at U.S. top court on worker class-action curbs

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a blow to the rights of workers on Monday by allowing companies to require them to sign away their ability to bring class-action claims against management, agreements already in place for about 25 million employees. The justices, in a 5-4 ruling with the court's conservatives in the majority, endorsed the legality of the growing practice by companies to compel workers to sign arbitration agreements waiving their right to bring class-action claims on various disputes, primarily over wages and hours. The ruling could apply more broadly to discrimination claims like those raised by women as part of the #MeToo movement raising awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace but the court did not explicitly address that issue.

U.S. top court takes up challenge to Virginia uranium mining ban

By Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether states have the right to ban uranium mining for public health reasons in a dispute over a moratorium Virginia put in place on the radioactive metal in 1982. The court will hear a bid by a Virginia Energy Resources Inc subsidiary and other owners of the largest U.S. uranium deposit to revive a lawsuit thrown out by a lower court that sought to invalidate Virginia's ban because it conflicted with a federal law that regulates nuclear power generation. Uranium, a main source of fuel for nuclear power plants and material in nuclear warheads, remains a strategic resource for electricity and national defense.

U.S. Supreme Court takes up dispute over power plant in India

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider reviving a lawsuit by Indian villagers seeking to hold a Washington-based international financial institution responsible for widespread environmental damage they blame on a power plant it financed. The justices will hear an appeal by the villagers of a lower court ruling that the International Finance Corp was immune from such lawsuits under federal law. IFC, part of the World Bank Group, is an international institution with 184 member countries that helps secure financing for projects in developing nations.

Hawaii faces new threat of fumes from volcano's lava

By Terray Sylvester PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Hawaii faced a new hazard on Sunday as lava flows from Kilauea's volcanic eruption could produce clouds of acid fumes, steam and glass-like particles as they reach the Pacific, authorities said. Civil defense notices cautioned motorists, boaters and beachgoers to beware of caustic plumes of "laze" formed from two streams of hot lava pouring into the sea after cutting across Highway 137 on the south coast of Hawaii's Big Island late on Saturday and early Sunday.

Grief and anguish transcend two faiths' prayers after Texas school shooting

By Liz Hampton SANTA FE, Texas (Reuters) - The rituals and religious traditions may have been strikingly different, but a Methodist memorial service and Islamic funeral prayers held in two Houston suburbs on Sunday shared a profound anguish at the lives lost to high school gun violence in Santa Fe, Texas. The two services unfolded a day after authorities officially released the names of the eight students and two teachers slain on Friday at Santa Fe High School, marking the fourth deadliest shooting at a public school in modern U.S. history. "What was supposed to be a safe place was not," Rusty Norman, president of the Santa Fe Independent School District board of trustees, said as he addressed about 100 congregants at the Aldersgate United Methodist Church.

Spurned advances provoked Texas school shooting, victim's mother says

By Liz Hampton SANTA FE, Texas (Reuters) - A teenage boy charged with fatally shooting eight students and two teachers during a gun rampage at a Houston-area high school had been spurned by one of his victims after making aggressive advances, her mother told a newspaper. Sadie Rodriguez, the mother of Shana Fisher, 16, who was killed in the attack, told the Los Angeles Times that her daughter rejected four months of aggressive advances from Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, who is in jail accused of murdering 10 people early on Friday at the high school in Santa Fe. If true, it would be the second school shooting in recent months driven by such rejection.

Hawaii faces new threat from volcano - gassy, glassy laze

By Terray Sylvester PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Hawaii residents dealing with Kilauea's volcanic eruption faced a potentially deadly new challenge on Sunday as lava that reached the Pacific Ocean threatened to send up laze, a hazardous mix of glass particles and noxious gas. The new challenge came when a stream of lava from the volcano cut through Highway 137 on the south coast of Hawaii's Big Island late on Saturday and then poured into the sea, authorities said. The mix of erupting lava, which can reach 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,093 degrees Celsius), and sea water could send up plumes of laze, a mix of hydrochloric acid, steam and volcanic glass particles, Hawaii County Civil Defense said in a statement.

Spurned advances provoked Texas school shooting, victim's mother says

A teenage boy who shot and killed eight students and two teachers during a gun rampage at a Houston-area high school had been spurned by one of his victims after making aggressive advances, her mother told a newspaper. Sadie Rodriguez, the mother of Shana Fisher, 16, told the Los Angeles Times that her daughter rejected four months of aggressive advances from Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, who is in jail charged with murdering 10 people early on Friday at the high school in Santa Fe. If true, it would be the second school shooting in recent months driven by such rejection.

A Noah's Ark of animals rescued from Hawaii lava

When hundreds of residents of Hawaii's Big Island fled their homes after the Kilauea volcano erupted, some left behind not only most of their belongings, but also their beloved pets. In the two weeks since fountains of lava and poisonous gas spewed from the volcano, volunteers have made heroic efforts to retrieve a veritable Noah's Ark of dogs and cats, geese and ducks, cows and goats, horses, cattle and exotic birds. Many were reuniting with their owners at evacuation shelters.

Texas shooting suspect seems 'weirdly nonemotional,' lawyer says

By Erwin Seba SANTA FE, Texas (Reuters) - The 17-year-old student who authorities said killed 10 people when he opened fire in an art class in his Houston-area high school appeared "weirdly nonemotional" on the morning after the rampage, one of his lawyers said on Saturday. The teenager, identified by law enforcement as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, has been charged with capital murder and is being held without bail in Santa Fe, Texas, where authorities said he went on a shooting spree shortly before 8 a.m. on Friday. For graphic on timeline of major mass shootings in the United States since 2007 click https://tmsnrt.rs/2LfKug6 Nicholas Poehl, one of two lawyers hired by the suspect's parents to represent him, told Reuters he had spent a total of one hour with Pagourtzis on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Hawaii lava flow engulfs more homes as ash plume ascends

By Terray Sylvester PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - New, fast-moving lava poured from the flank of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on Saturday, destroying four more homes on the Big Island after a second explosive eruption shot a nearly two-mile-high (10,000 foot) ash plume from the crater. Molten rock from two huge cracks formed a single channel and traveled 1,000 feet in under an hour, twice the speed of previous flows of older lava that have torn through homes, roads and tropical forest for over two weeks, the County of Hawaii's Civil Defense Agency said. The new lava, which is flowing east underground from the sinking lava lake at Kilauea's summit, is expected to create more voluminous flows that travel further, threatening homes and a coastal road that is a key exit route for around 2,000 residents.

Melania Trump returns to White House after kidney procedure

President Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, returned to the White House on Saturday after undergoing a surgical procedure this week to treat a benign kidney condition, her office said. The first lady, 48, had been recovering at Walter Reed medical center since Monday, when she underwent an embolization procedure to treat the kidney condition. Spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that Melania Trump returned to the White House on Saturday morning.

Two weeks on, Hawaii residents look for "normalcy" amid ash, lava

By Terray Sylvester PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Two weeks after fountains of lava and poisonous gas from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano forced hundreds of people to flee their homes in the middle of the night, things were only getting worse for residents on Friday after another eruption. As Kilauea oozed lava from 22 fissures on its eastern flank, residents of Pahoa on the Big Island, some wearing ash masks, hunkered down in shelters and waited for an expected resumption of major eruptions. "We're all trying to establish or find some normalcy in our lives knowing that we're on an active volcano that's very active right now," said Cindy Hartman, a dietician at Hilo Medical Center.

"Born to kill" Texas shooter a quiet teenager in trench coat

He was a quiet Texas teenager who danced with his Greek church group and played football. On Friday, authorities said, 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis put on a trenchcoat, walked into an art class at his high school in Santa Fe, near Houston, and shot nine fellow students and a teacher dead. There were no red flags beforehand to indicate that Pagourtzis was headed for trouble, Governor Greg Abbott said.

Diana's favorite flowers adorn her son's wedding chapel

White roses - the favorite flowers of Prince Harry's late mother Diana - arched over the organ loft and West Door of St George's chapel, where he will marry American actress Meghan Markle on Saturday. London florist Philippa Craddock used roses, peonies and foxgloves, set against beech, birch and hornbeam branches, many of them gathered from the gardens and parkland of the Crown Estate and Windsor Great Park, the royal family's press office said. "One of the things that has been very important in this brief to me is to make sure we're sourcing locally and that the designs reflect the landscape that's around Windsor Castle, that's what we're looking to do in the chapel," Craddock said in a statement.

'Loner' student shoots and kills 10 at Texas school

A 17-year-old student dressed in a trench coat and armed with a shotgun and pistol opened fire at his high school outside Houston on Friday, killing nine students and a teacher, before surrendering to officers, authorities said. Santa Fe High School, southeast of Houston, joined a long list of U.S. campuses where students and faculty have been killed in a spray of gunfire. The Texas shooting stoked the nation's long-running debate over firearms ownership and came about three months after 17 teens and educators were fatally shot in Parkland, Florida.

'Quiet' student shoots and kills 10 at Texas school: authorities

By Liz Hampton and Erwin Seba SANTA FE, Texas (Reuters) - A 17-year-old student armed with a shotgun and pistol opened fire at his Texas high school on Friday, killing nine fellow students and a teacher, authorities said, in an attack with eerie echoes of the massacre at a Florida high school in February. Students said the gunman, identified by law enforcement as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, opened fire in an art class at Santa Fe High School shortly before 8 a.m. Students and staff fled after seeing classmates wounded and a fire alarm triggered a full evacuation.

Accused Texas high school gunman described as bullied loner in a trench coat

The teen accused of killing 10 people in a mass shooting at his Texas high school on Friday was described by fellow students as a quiet loner who played football but kept to himself and was reportedly the victim of some bullying. The suspect, identified as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, was a junior at Santa Fe High School near Houston. Classmates remembered he often wore a trench coat, similar to the garment authorities said the assailant used to conceal the two firearms he carried into the school.

'DO SOMETHING,' Parkland survivors urge action after Texas school shooting

Survivors of the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida, vowed support on Friday for Texas students caught up in the latest deadly school shooting, saying tighter gun laws were needed to stop further bloodshed. Students at Santa Fe High School, about 30 miles (48 km) outside Houston, were among the thousands across the country who staged a walkout in April to protest congressional inaction after 17 students and staff members were killed by a former student on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.