| Schapiro stepping down at SEC, Walter to step in Nov 27th 2012, 00:28  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, will step down next month after a tumultuous four years spent rehabilitating the agency's battered reputation, handing the reins temporarily to a close ally. SEC Commissioner Elisse Walter, a career regulator who has sided with Schapiro on most of the critical issues before the agency, was named chairman-designate and could serve until December 2013, buying time for President Barack Obama to win Senate approval for a long-term replacement. ...
|  | New York, New Jersey put $71 billion price tag on Sandy Nov 27th 2012, 00:21  (Reuters) - New York state and New Jersey need at least $71.3 billion to recover from the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy and prevent similar damage from future storms, according to their latest estimates. The total, which could grow, came as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday the state will need $41.9 billion, including $32.8 billion to repair and restore damaged housing, parks and infrastructure and to cover lost revenue and other expenses. The figure also includes $9.1 billion to mitigate potential damage from future severe weather events, Cuomo said. ...
| | Chicago offers to pause school closings after 2013 cuts Nov 27th 2012, 00:18 CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Monday he wants a five-year moratorium on closing public schools after anticipated cuts in 2013, but the teachers union called his gesture a "sleight of hand." The third-largest school district in the United States, which was hit with a strike by public school teachers in September, was already facing a financial crisis that was made worse by granting pay rises to teachers. The school district forecasts a $1 billion deficit next year and is widely expected to try to balance its budget in part by closing public schools. ... | | California man accused in plot to join al Qaeda denied bail Nov 26th 2012, 23:57 RIVERSIDE, California (Reuters) - A California man accused alongside three co-defendants of conspiring to provide support to al Qaeda and Taliban militants plotting attacks against Americans overseas was ordered held without bail on Monday by a federal judge. Arifeen David Gojali, 21, was arrested with two others last week outside a southern California apartment complex by authorities who said the trio had imminent plans to travel to Afghanistan via Mexico and Turkey to prepare for "violent jihad. ... | | Navy moves ahead to replace presidential helicopters Nov 26th 2012, 23:56  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy is moving forward with a long-delayed effort to replace the aging fleet of Marine One helicopters that transport the U.S. president, with the first of the new aircraft slated to enter service in 2020. The Navy's last attempt to buy a new presidential helicopter ended in 2009, when then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates cancelled a program run by Lockheed Martin Corp after numerous requirement changes threatened to double the cost of the program to more than $13 billion. ...
| | Police probe how Romney security data became New York City parade confetti Nov 26th 2012, 23:40 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Police are investigating how shredded documents revealing confidential information, including details about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's motorcade, wound up as confetti on a Manhattan sidewalk during the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Bits of shredded paper from the Nassau County Police Department could still be found on Monday afternoon in the cracks of the sidewalks along Central Park, according to Saul Finkelstein, the eyewitness who first alerted authorities to the problem. ... | | Officials probe how mentally ill man got gun used in Alabama shooting Nov 26th 2012, 23:28 BAY MINETTE, Alabama (Reuters) - Investigators in Alabama are trying to determine how a man with a history of mental illness obtained a gun he used to kill a sheriff's deputy and wound another when they responded to a 911 call at his trailer, a prosecutor said on Monday The man, 53-year-old Michael Jansen, initially opened fire from inside the trailer on Friday after three officers went to his home following a call from his mother that he was behaving erratically, according to police. Jansen was killed in the gunfight near the southern Alabama city of Fairhope. ... | | LA money manager gets no jail in NY corruption case Nov 26th 2012, 23:06 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Los Angeles money manager Elliott Broidy was spared jail time and a felony conviction on Monday for his role in a "pay to play" scheme at the New York state pension fund. Justice Lewis Bart Stone reduced Broidy's felony to a misdemeanor and sentenced him to a conditional discharge. Broidy, 55, admitted making nearly $1 million in gifts for New York state pension fund officials, including $75,000 in travel expenses for luxury trips to Israel and Italy. ... | | 132 online counterfeit sites seized in Cyber Monday blitz Nov 26th 2012, 23:04 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and European authorities seized 132 domain names in a counterfeit goods crackdown linked to Cyber Monday, the online bargain day, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. ICE agents seized 101 domain names in the United States and 31 were taken over by officers in Britain, Romania, Belgium, France and Denmark and by Europol, the European Police Office, ICE Director John Morton said. ... | | Analysis: For Obama, could 10,000 troops in Afghanistan be too many? Nov 26th 2012, 23:01  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama publicly scoffed at the idea of keeping 10,000 troops in Iraq. So could he really be persuaded to keep that many in Afghanistan after the war formally ends in 2014? The 10,000 figure is well within a preliminary range put forward by the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, and which is informing deliberations by the Obama administration, one U.S. official said. ...
| | Three from California family drown in ocean trying to save dog Nov 26th 2012, 22:56 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California mother and father and their 16-year-old son were swept out to sea over the weekend after a deadly chain of events set off when the teenager jumped into frigid waters to save the family dog from turbulent Pacific Ocean waves. The dog escaped on his own from the water off the Northern California coast. But Howard Kuljian, 50, and Mary Scott, 54, of Eureka died while their 16-year-old son, Gregory Kuljian, remained lost at sea, said Deputy Ariel Gruenthal of the Humboldt County Coroner's office. ... | | Ohio inmate loses bid to stay his execution because of weight Nov 26th 2012, 22:45 CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A federal judge said on Monday that an Ohio death row inmate weighing more than 450 pounds cannot be given a stay of execution because of his obesity. Ronald Post, 53, is scheduled to be executed January 16 for the 1983 aggravated murder of hotel clerk Helen Vantz in Elyria, Ohio. Since his first appeal in 1997, Post's attorneys have argued that his weight, of more than 450 pounds, in combination with the state's death penalty drug protocols creates a certainty of, "substantial risk for serious and psychological pain" and a "torturous and lingering death. ... | | Head of patent office to step down Nov 26th 2012, 22:13 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The popular director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, David Kappos, will be stepping down in January, according to an email sent to agency employees on Monday. In the email, Kappos said he would be leaving around the end of January and thanked agency employees for their work. A patent office spokesman confirmed that Kappos would step down. Kappos, who is famous for his long hours, has been popular with patent attorneys and industry for being responsive to their desire for more communication and a reduced backlog in patent applications. ... | | Top court will not revisit Illinois eavesdropping law Nov 26th 2012, 21:55 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court refused on Monday to revive a controversial Illinois law that prohibited audio recordings of police officers acting in public places, a ban that critics said violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Without comment, the court on Monday let stand a May 8 ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that blocked enforcement of the law, which had made it a felony to record audio of conversations unless all parties consented. ... | | Fugitive returned to L.A. from Mexico to face murder charges Nov 26th 2012, 21:55  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A suspected gang member and drug cartel enforcer accused of four Los Angeles-area slayings has been returned to California to face murder charges after he was captured in Mexico, ending a three-year stint on the FBI's list of most-wanted fugitives. Jose "Joe" Luis Saenz, a U.S. citizen from Los Angeles who has been on the run through North and Central America in recent years, was apprehended last Thursday in western Mexico and deported back to the United States the following day, the FBI said. ...
| | Eight-year term sought for California campaign treasurer fraud Nov 26th 2012, 21:43 SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors are seeking an eight-year prison sentence for a Democratic campaign treasurer accused of draining up to $20 million from the war chests of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and other politicians, court documents showed on Monday. Kinde Durkee, who controlled the funds of some 400 political candidates and groups, should spend 97 months in federal custody and pay an as-yet undetermined amount of restitution, a sentencing memo by prosecutors said. Durkee was arrested in September 2011 and charged with criminal mail fraud. ... | | Trade groups hit airwaves to protect tax benefits Nov 26th 2012, 21:26 NEW YORK (Reuters) - As the debate around tax reform grows more heated, broker-dealers and other companies that service retirement plans offered by employers are increasingly concerned that the tax benefits of 401(k) plans are on the chopping block. Groups representing the spectrum of financial services have begun marketing campaigns online as well as on television protect their members' interests and bring investors to their side. ... | | White House: no decision on troops in Afghanistan post 2014 Nov 26th 2012, 21:08  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has not made a decision about how many U.S. troops may stay in Afghanistan after 2014 or the pace of a troop drawdown before that, the White House said on Monday. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama would be reviewing proposals on the subject in the coming weeks and months. "He will evaluate proposals from the Pentagon and elsewhere on what we might negotiate with the Afghan government on a future presence in Afghanistan," after 2014, Carney told reporters. "That presence would be very limited in scope ... ...
| | Obama committed to immigration reform: White House Nov 26th 2012, 21:07 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will push for comprehensive immigration reform, his spokesman said on Monday, an accomplishment that eluded him during his first four years in office. "There is a real opportunity here to move forward and the president is committed to that," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a briefing. "He believes that comprehensive immigration reform is achievable. ... | |
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