| Texas abortion law teed up for Supreme Court review Posted: 21 Jun 2015 05:31 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Abortion is back before the Supreme Court, and the justices could signal by the end of June whether they are likely to take up the biggest case on the hot-button subject in nearly a quarter-century.
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| Confederate flag sets off debate in GOP 2016 class Posted: 20 Jun 2015 06:03 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president in 2012, called for the immediate removal of the Confederate battle flag from outside the South Carolina Statehouse, scrambling the 2016 GOP presidential contenders into staking a position on a contentious cultural issue. |
| Mourning shooting victims, Charleston anguishes over 'freshness of death' Posted: 21 Jun 2015 10:35 AM PDT  Hundreds of people packed a sweltering Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston for an emotional memorial service on Sunday just days after a gunman, identified by authorities as a 21-year-old white man, shot dead nine black church members. "We are reminded this morning about the freshness of death that comes like a thief in the night," the Reverend Norvel Goff told a mostly black congregation that swelled to about 400 people for a service remembering those killed on Wednesday in the latest U.S. mass shooting. Armed police searched bags at the door of the church, home to the oldest African-American congregation in the southern United States, and officers stood at intervals inside the church along the side of the nave and in the gallery.
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| Tensions build as Supreme Court readies blockbuster rulings Posted: 21 Jun 2015 06:13 AM PDT  By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tensions are building inside and outside the white marble facade of the U.S. Supreme Court building as the nine justices prepare to issue major rulings on gay marriage and President Barack Obama's healthcare law by the end of the month. Of the 11 cases left to decide, the biggest are a challenge by gay couples to state laws banning same-sex marriage and a conservative challenge to subsidies provided under the Obamacare law to help low- and middle-income people buy health insurance that could lead to millions of people losing medical coverage. Many legal experts predict the court will legalize gay marriage nationwide by finding that the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of equal treatment under the law and due process prohibit states from banning same-sex nuptials.
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| Suspect arrested in fatal shooting of New Orleans policeman Posted: 21 Jun 2015 10:49 AM PDT  Police said Travis Boys, 33, who was handcuffed, managed to grab a gun and fatally shoot Officer Daryle Holloway before escaping the police cruiser which crashed into a utility pole. Holloway, 45, a 22-year New Orleans police veteran and a father of three, was found in his department vehicle with a gunshot wound and his prisoner missing. When the suspect was taken into custody a day later, he still had handcuffs on him, though they were damaged, New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison told reporters.
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| Manhunt for escaped killers shifts after possible sightings Posted: 21 Jun 2015 10:05 AM PDT  FRIENDSHIP, N.Y. (AP) — Investigators tracking two murder convicts who escaped from a northern New York prison scoured a rural area Sunday near the Pennsylvania border after possible sightings shifted the search across the state.
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| Songs, prayer accompany 1st service at church since shooting Posted: 21 Jun 2015 09:28 AM PDT  Members of a historic black church returned to their sanctuary Sunday, perhaps united like never before.
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| Hillary Clinton calls for gun control, decries racism Posted: 20 Jun 2015 11:16 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Issuing an emotional plea following the South Carolina church shooting, Hillary Rodham Clinton called for "common-sense" gun reforms and a national reckoning with the persistent problem of "institutional racism."
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| Police check out new lead on escaped New York prisoners Posted: 20 Jun 2015 07:08 PM PDT FRIENDSHIP, N.Y. (AP) — The search for two killers landed Saturday in New York's southern tier near the Pennsylvania border, about 350 miles from the prison where they escaped two weeks ago. |
