Palm Desert

Trump makes his debut at ceremonies for new U.S. citizens

More than 4,500 people from 120 countries were among the first to catch Trump's video as they were sworn in at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Wednesday morning. "You now share the obligation to teach our values to others, to help newcomers assimilate to our way of life, and uplift America by living according to its highest ideals of self-governance and its highest standards," Trump says in the video. Attendees applauded at the end of the one-minute-and-37- second recording, which few realized was new to such ceremonies.

Attorney General Sessions says marijuana still illegal

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday criticized the legalization of marijuana in multiple states and warned that the federal law banning use and sale of the drug "remains in effect," remarks that could stoke fears of a federal crackdown. "I've never felt that we should legalize marijuana," Sessions said in response to a question from a reporter during a press conference in San Diego announcing record-breaking narcotics seizures by the U.S. Coast Guard in fiscal 2017. "It doesn't strike me that the country would be better if it's being sold at every street corner," he said, adding that medical organizations oppose it and federal law prohibits it.

California sues Trump administration over border wall

By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California filed a lawsuit on Wednesday over the Trump administration's plan to construct a wall along the border with Mexico, adding to the obstacles facing one of the Republican president's key campaign promises. President Donald Trump has insisted Mexico would pay for building the wall, which experts said could cost about $22 billion and take more than three years to complete. With Mexico refusing to pay, Trump has said since taking office in January that the wall will initially need U.S. funding but that he will find a way to make Mexico ultimately pay for it.

Boston beheading plotter cited 2013 bombing: prosecutor

A Massachusetts man charged with plotting to attack police and behead a conservative blogger on behalf of Islamic State told someone online that he wanted to cause more harm than the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, a prosecutor said on Wednesday. David Wright's trial on charges of conspiring to help a foreign terrorist organization opened in Boston federal court with a prosecutor describing what she called his plan with two other men to kill Pamela Geller, a blogger who organized a 2015 "Draw Mohammed" contest in Texas. "He stated in an online conversation that he wanted to harm the United States more than the Boston Marathon bombings, because in his words, that was not sufficient," Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Siegmann told jurors.

Eerie calm hangs over Puerto Rican capital before storm

By Dave Graham and Robin Respaut SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Streets usually abuzz with diners, shoppers, and traffic stood silent, shuttered and empty in the center of San Juan on Tuesday as the Puerto Rican capital prepared for the onslaught of a massive hurricane the following morning. Category 5 storm Maria was expected to tear across Puerto Rico after barreling through St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the early hours of Wednesday, becoming the second highest-category hurricane to ravage the Caribbean this month. "We're taking more precautions this time after Irma." Swathes of the Caribbean are still reeling from the impact of Hurricane Irma, which killed more than 80 people as it plowed through the Leeward Islands, Cuba and Florida this month.

Trump's U.N. speech shows nationalist instincts firmly intact

Among the many signals that Donald Trump sent in his speech to the United Nations on Tuesday, one was especially clear: former chief strategist Steve Bannon's White House departure has not muted the president's "America First" foreign policy instincts. Trump's eight months in office have been characterized by a sometimes dramatic tug-of-war between "globalists" and "nationalist" advisers who have sought to move the president in myriad ways on issues both domestic and international. Bannon's exit last month caused some of the former New York businessman's core supporters to fret that the more multilateral-leaning group inside the administration had gained ground.

Hospital allow kids to drive themselves to operating room

A San Diego children's hospital unveiled a collection of remote controlled luxury mini cars on Tuesday that allow its young patients to 'drive' themselves to the operating room. The cars at the Rady Children's Hospital are actually operated by a nurse or a doctor, and are part of a new program designed to make children more relaxed before their procedures. The parents are seeing that they're relaxed and that they're happy," said Dr. Daniela Carvalho, medical director of surgical services at the hospital.

Attorney General Sessions steps up anti-'sanctuary' rhetoric after setbacks

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped up the Trump administration's critique of so-called sanctuary cities on Tuesday, saying local and state policies to limit cooperation with immigration enforcement are a criminal's "best friend." Sessions' remarks, at a gathering of law enforcement authorities in Portland, Oregon, came days after repudiation of his stance against the sanctuary movement in separate actions by a federal judge in Chicago and the California legislature. The judge in Chicago on Friday barred the Justice Department from withholding public safety grants to cities unless they allowed U.S. immigration authorities unlimited access to local jails and provided 48 hours' notice before releasing individuals sought for deportation.

As clock ticks, Republicans try to move ahead on Obamacare repeal

By Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration and top U.S. Senate Republicans pushed on Tuesday for action on a bill to dismantle Obamacare, but time was running out and they were still hunting for the votes needed to pass their latest attempt to gut the 2010 healthcare law. Vice President Mike Pence lunched with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill to urge them to approve the legislation introduced last week by Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy. Pence said President Donald Trump backs the bill.

After protests, St. Louis mayor says address racism

By Brendan O'Brien ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - The legacies of racism, not only the violent protests that gripped St. Louis after a white former police officer was acquitted of murdering a black man, must be addressed, the city's mayor said on Tuesday. Mayor Lyda Krewson said she had listened and read the reaction of residents since the controversial verdict on Friday and was ready to find ways to move the city forward. "This is institutional racism." The city has been working to expedite existing plans to increase equity as well as develop new approaches, including changing how police shootings are investigated and granting subpoena powers to a police civilian oversight board, and expanding jobs programs, Krewson said.

Police, protesters clash after vigil for slain Georgia Tech student

The clashes at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta broke out when several dozen of the almost 500 people who had attended the vigil for slain student Scout Schultz faced off with officers at the campus police headquarters, the school said. Two Georgia Tech officers were injured and a police car was damaged, the school said in a statement.

Exclusive: Trump administration prepares to ease export rules for U.S. guns

The Trump administration is preparing to make it easier for American gun makers to sell small arms, including assault rifles and ammunition, to foreign buyers, according to senior U.S. officials. Aides to President Donald Trump are completing a plan to shift oversight of international non-military firearms sales from the State Department to the Commerce Department, four officials told Reuters. While the State Department is primarily concerned about international threats to stability and maintains tight restrictions on weapons deals, the Commerce Department typically focuses more on facilitating trade.

White man arrested in killings of two black men in Louisiana

Kenneth Gleason is accused of carrying out the killings on Sept. 12 and Sept. 14. In both incidents a motorist opened fire on a pedestrian, said Parish of East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore. Once the victims were on the ground, Moore said, the assailant got out of the car and shot them again several times.

Drug dealer gets 11 years in death of Hollywood movie executive

John Lenzie Creech, 45, was convicted in July of involuntary manslaughter after a two-week jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus imposed the maximum sentence for the manslaughter conviction, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said in a statement. Marcus called Creech "a cold person" for killing Smith and then concealing the body, according to video of the hearing aired on CBS Los Angeles.

'Shocking' disregard for safety in U.S. meningitis case -prosecutor

By Nate Raymond BOSTON (Reuters) - A federal prosecutor on Tuesday accused a Massachusetts pharmacist charged with murder for his role in a deadly 2012 U.S. meningitis outbreak of showing a "shocking" disregard for patients' lives, while his lawyer argued the man was no killer. Glenn Chin, a former supervisory pharmacist at New England Compounding Center, oversaw the production in filthy conditions of tainted steroids, Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese said at the start of the man's trial in Boston federal court. Varghese told jurors that Chin, 49, recklessly failed to ensure the compounding pharmacy's drugs were produced in sanitary conditions in order to keep up with demand from hospitals nationally for its products.

After Irma, special oxygen masks helped Florida pets breathe easier

Soon after millions of Floridians lost power in the wake of Hurricane Irma last week, firefighters in the city of Titusville responded to an emergency call at a home where a gasoline-powered generator had been running in an attached garage. Like thousands of other fire departments and rescue squads across the country, Titusville first-responders carry special masks as standard equipment to deliver oxygen to dogs, cats and other pets in the city, about 40 miles east of Orlando. "A pet mask would be specific to the pet's anatomy," said Battalion Chief Greg Sutton at the Titusville Fire Department.

McCain urges end to 100-hour work weeks in Navy after collisions

U.S. Senator John McCain called on Tuesday for an immediate stop to U.S. sailors working over 100 hours a week as top Navy leaders struggled to explain a series of fatal naval collisions in the past few months. Earlier this month, the Government Accountability Office government watchdog said that a reduction in crew sizes was contributing to safety risks, with some sailors working over 100 hours a week. "I think I know what 100 hours a week does to people over time and that has been standard procedure for a long time," McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.

Black cops in St. Louis stuck between public, fellow officers

During a peaceful protest moments before St. Louis would erupt into three nights of racially charged riots, five people confronted a black police officer alone in his Jeep. "How do you sleep at night?" Lisa Vega, who is Hispanic, asked the officer through an open window. Such questions are typical of what African-American police officers face every time a white colleague kills a black man in the United States.

Illinois' unpaid bill backlog hits a record $16 billion

The bill backlog is growing despite the enactment of a fiscal 2018 spending plan and income tax increase in July that ended a budget impasse between Illinois' Republican governor and Democrats who control the legislature. "What is going to take this backlog down is the borrowing," said Abdon Pallasch, spokesman for Democratic state Comptroller Susana Mendoza. A provision in the budget enacted by lawmakers over the vetoes of Governor Bruce Rauner authorized the sale of up to $6 billion of general obligation bonds to pay bills from vendors and service providers that are accruing late payment penalties of as much as 12 percent.

Venture capitalists sue Trump admin over foreign entrepreneur rule delay

A national association of U.S. venture capitalists filed suit against the Trump administration on Tuesday, claiming it illegally delayed a policy that would have allowed foreign entrepreneurs to stay in the United States to build their companies. The suit, filed in Washington, D.C. District Court by the National Venture Capital Association, argues that the Trump administration did not go through proper procedures when it delayed the Obama administration's "International Entrepreneur" rule, which was due to go into effect in July and would have allowed some foreign start-up founders to stay in the United States for up to five years in hopes of growing their businesses.

Unbudgeted: How the opioid crisis is blowing a hole in small-town America's finances

INDIANA, Pa./CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (Reuters) - As deaths mount in America's opioid crisis, communities on the front lines face a hidden toll: the financial cost. The drug addiction epidemic is shattering not just lives but also stressing the county budget.

New York governor wants credit-reporting firms to follow cyber rules

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that he wants credit-reporting firms to comply with the state's cyber-security regulations, the latest government official to crack down on the industry in the wake of the massive Equifax hack. Also on Monday, Bloomberg News reported that federal authorities have opened a criminal probe into stock sales by three Equifax Inc executives before the company disclosed the massive data breach, news that has weighed heavily on the stock price. Equifax's legal woes worsened as the U.S Attorney's office in Atlanta issued a statement saying it was working with the FBI on a criminal investigation into the breach and theft of personal information.

St. Louis police probe whether officers chanted 'Whose streets? Our streets'

St. Louis police are investigating whether some of its officers chanted "Whose streets? Several hundred people marched through the streets of St. Louis again on Monday evening, but rallies remained peaceful as on-and-off rain appeared to keep some protesters at home. More than 120 people were arrested late Sunday, when police in riot gear used pepper spray and detained activists who defied orders to disperse following larger, peaceful protests.

St. Louis police probe whether officers chanted, 'Whose streets? Our streets'

By Valerie Volcovici ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - St. Louis police are investigating whether some of its officers chanted, "Whose streets? More than 120 people were arrested late Sunday, when police in riot gear used pepper spray and detained activists who defied orders to disperse following larger, peaceful protests. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch photojournalist, David Carson, tweeted that he and others heard some officers chant, "Whose streets?

Trump adviser says without new terms, U.S. still leaving climate pact

By Jeff Mason NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's top economic adviser said at a United Nations meeting on Monday that the United States stood by its plans to abandon the Paris climate pact unless there is a renegotiation more favorable to Washington, a step for which the international community has little appetite. Trump in June announced that the United States would withdraw from the landmark 2015 accord, saying it would harm U.S. industries, cost U.S. jobs, weaken American national sovereignty and put the country at a permanent disadvantage to other nations. "We made the president's position unambiguous, to where the president stands, where the administration stands on Paris," Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters after an informal breakfast meeting that also included ministers from a dozen countries and the European Union on the sidelines of the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders.

Family seeks answers after Georgia Tech student killed by police

The family of a Georgia Institute of Technology student shot and killed by police in Atlanta over the weekend questioned on Monday why campus officers did not try to disarm the computer engineering major with nonlethal force. Scout Schultz, 21, died after being shot on campus on Saturday night. Schultz made a 911 call to Georgia Tech Police alerting them to a suspicious person on campus, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said.

Inspired by French, Trump considering July 4 military parade in Washington

President Donald Trump said on Monday he was considering staging a U.S. military parade in Washington on the July 4 Independence Day holiday, inspired by the parade he saw on Bastille Day in Paris. Meeting French President Emmanuel Macron on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly, Trump said he had asked his White House chief of staff, retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, to look into the possibility of holding such a display of U.S. military might. Trump said he marveled at the French parade that he saw with Macron on France's July 14 national holiday.

Two men, one a convicted murderer, escape from Mississippi prison

The men were discovered missing during a routine count of prisoners at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman on Monday morning, prison officials said. The escapees are James Sanders, 41, convicted of murder and sentenced in 2000 to life in prison, and Ryan Young, 22, who is serving 40 years for charges including burglary, grand larceny and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Wine maven Kurniawan, convicted of fraud, loses bid for freedom

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman rejected Kurniawan's argument that his trial lawyers represented him ineffectively by failing to demand hearings to suppress evidence discovered when Kurniawan, 40, was arrested at his home in Arcadia, California. The Manhattan judge said he would not second-guess the lawyers' "strategic decision" not to demand hearings, and that holding them would not have mattered because authorities had probable cause to believe Kurniawan was selling "rare and expensive" counterfeit Burgundy wines at auction. When Kurniawan was arrested on March 8, 2012, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents observed crates and wine bottles stacked 15 feet (4.5 m) high near the front door of his home, in plain view.