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U.S. attorney general ties gang violence to immigration

Protesters gathered outside a federal court in Boston on Thursday where U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions came to address law enforcement about what he called the need to tackle transnational gang violence and to secure the Mexican border. Sessions reemphasized what he said was a need to target cross-border criminal organizations, specifically the gang MS-13, which the Justice Department says has more than 30,000 members worldwide and 10,000 members in the United States. Tying the effort to fight the gang and Republican President Donald Trump's administration's efforts to crackdown on illegal immigration, Sessions said the Justice Department was directing more prosecutorial resources to the U.S.-Mexican border.

Puerto Rico, St. Croix devastated by powerful Hurricane Maria

By Dave Graham and Robin Respaut SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Deadly Hurricane Maria caused flooding in the Dominican Republic as it brushed past the country on Thursday after destroying buildings and knocking out power across the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and St. Croix. The second major hurricane to rage through the Caribbean this month, Maria has killed at least 17 people and devastated several small islands, including St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Dominica.

London's National Gallery prevails in 'stolen' Matisse lawsuit: New York judge

The National Gallery in London on Thursday won the dismissal of a lawsuit in which three grandchildren of a muse of the artist Henri Matisse sought to recover a painting they said was stolen shortly after World War Two. Oliver Williams and Margarete Green, both of Great Britain, and Iris Filmer, of Germany, had accused the National Gallery of ignoring signs that the 1908 painting might have been stolen, and should not profit from "war-related" theft.

NFL star Hernandez's family sues league over 'severe' CTE

By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, who killed himself in prison in April, had a "severe case" of the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a lawyer said on Thursday as he sued the team and NFL on behalf of the athlete's young daughter. Hernandez was a rising star in the National Football League when he was arrested in 2013 and charged with murdering an acquaintance. Days later, he hanged himself in a Massachusetts prison.

Navajo tribe says ready to sue Trump over changes to Utah monument

The Navajo Nation will sue the Trump administration if it tries to reduce the size of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, its top lawyer told Reuters on Thursday, ahead of the release of a broad government review of such sites across the country. President Donald Trump had ordered the Interior Department to examine whether 27 national monuments designated by past presidents could be reduced or rescinded to make way for oil and gas drilling and other economic development. The results have not been announced, but a leak of the review obtained by the Washington Post shows the Interior Department will recommend shrinking some sites, including Bears Ears, a 1.35-million-acre wilderness that the Navajo and other tribes consider sacred.

Storm Maria brings fear, pain and shock to Puerto Ricans

By Dave Graham and Robin Respaut SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Miguel Cruz awoke to the descent of Hurricane Maria on his home on Wednesday morning when the massive storm peeled off most of the roof, sent his belongings flying in all directions, but left intact an icon of Jesus hanging above his bed. Cruz was one of thousands of Puerto Ricans picking through the wreckage left by Maria after the hurricane devastated basic services on the debt-laden U.S. territory, pitching most of its 3.4 million residents into darkness as night fell. Crashing into Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, Maria flipped the tops off buildings, knocked out phones and electricity across the island and turned low-lying roads into swollen rivers awash with debris.

U.S. safety board says train crash engineers had undiagnosed sleep disorder

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The engineers in two New York City area commuter train crashes suffered from sleep apnea that had not been diagnosed, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday. The NTSB released factual findings on Thursday regarding its investigations into the crashes and said it planned to hold a meeting next February about both incidents and safety recommendations. The NTSB said the brakes were working on the New Jersey Transit train that was traveling at 8 miles (13 km) per hour 38 seconds before the crash.

Death toll from overheated Florida nursing home rises to 10

The resident of the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills died on Wednesday, police in Hollywood, Florida, said in a statement, without giving details. Police have opened a criminal investigation into the deaths at the center, which city officials have said continued to operate with little or no air conditioning after power was cut off by Irma, which struck the state on Sept. 10. Julie Allison, a lawyer for the nursing home, did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. judge aims to quickly decide lawsuits over DACA

A U.S. judge on Thursday said he wanted to decide quickly lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's decision to end a program that shielded from deportation children brought to the United States illegally by their parents. President Donald Trump this month decided to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, in March 2018. Since it was authorized in 2012 by President Barack Obama, the program has provided protection from deportation and the right to work legally to nearly 800,000 young people.

Former U.S. Attorney Bharara joins CNN as senior legal analyst

Bharara was fired as U.S. Attorney in March by President Donald Trump, after refusing to resign his post when asked to do so by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Bharara joins CNN, a unit of Time Warner Inc , at a time when the cable network faces numerous accusations of being "fake news" from President Trump on Twitter.

Trump says will be putting more sanctions on North Korea

NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States would be adding more sanctions on North Korea. Tensions have escalated in recent weeks over Pyongyang's missile and nuclear weapons program, despite intense pressure from world powers. "We will be putting more sanctions on North Korea," Trump said in response to a question at a meeting with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani. On Afghanistan, Trump said the U.S. military was doing more leading than fighting. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Trump administration red tape tangles up visas for skilled foreigners, data shows

The more intense scrutiny of the applications for H-1B visas comes after President Donald Trump called for changes to the visa program so that it benefits the highest-paid workers, though he has not enacted any such reforms. Data provided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows that between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, the agency issued 85,000 challenges, or "requests for evidence" (RFEs), to H-1B visa petitions - a 45 percent increase over the same period last year. The challenges, which can slow down the issuance of visas by months, were issued at a greater rate in 2017 than at any time in the Obama administration except for one year, 2009, according to the USCIS data, which has not been previously reported.

St. Louis approves police body cameras ahead of more protests

St. Louis officials decided on Wednesday to supply police officers with body cameras for a year as the city prepares for a sixth night of protests after a white former police officer was acquitted of killing a black man. The city's Board of Estimate and Apportionment voted 3-0 to have Axon Enterprise Inc, a police body camera company, supply its 1,200 officers with free software, hardware and training for a year.

Tax breaks cost New York $1.2 billion in financial year 2017, half went to film industry

The state included the information in a July financial statement, but the report was not widely known until the group Good Jobs First spotted it. Hundreds of cities, counties and other local governments across the country have already reported similar information under a new mandated accounting rule now in effect. "It's important for state taxpayers and residents to be able to see accounting in one place and make their own judgments about whether those investments have been worth it," said Good Jobs First researcher Scott Klinger.

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.

Washington state sues over $1/day wages paid to immigrant detainees

The lawsuit, filed in state court in Tacoma, follows a months-long investigation by the Attorney General's office that found immigrant detainees at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma who prepared food and did maintenance in the center sometimes only received only snacks for their work. Geo Group has owned and operated the 1,575-bed facility for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which holds immigrants awaiting court hearings or deportation, since 2005.

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.