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More minority babies than whites in U.S.: Census Bureau
May 18, 2012 US Leave a comment
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For the first time, there are more black, Hispanic and other minority babies being born in the United States than white babies, according to government data released on Thursday that confirm a long-growing trend. U.S. Census Bureau data show the United States is on its way to becoming “majority minority,” with almost half of all young children currently from minority groups, including Hispanic, black and Asian. As of July 1, 2011, 50.4 percent of babies younger than age 1 were minorities or of more than one race, up from 49.5 percent in 2010, the data showed. …
Parents of slain Chinese students sue California university
May 18, 2012 US Leave a comment
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The parents of two Chinese graduate students slain near the University of Southern California last month have filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing the school of misrepresenting the area as safe and failing to provide security patrols. The 15-page lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court comes just over a month after Ming Qu and Ying Wu, both 23, were fatally shot as they were sitting in a 2003 BMW car that had been double-parked. …
Anti-war protesters march at Obama campaign headquarters
May 18, 2012 US Leave a comment
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A small group of anti-war demonstrators staged a peaceful “die in” on Thursday at President Barack Obama’s election campaign headquarters in Chicago to demand an end to the war in Afghanistan and unmanned drone aircraft attacks overseas. Despite calling ahead, some of the roughly 50 protesters said they were unable to deliver a letter to the Obama campaign calling for the United States to leave NATO and its “violent mission of protecting the 1 percent in the global economy who represent 99 percent of corporate wealth in the world. …
Trayvon evidence fails to answer who screamed for help
May 18, 2012 US Leave a comment
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – An FBI expert found crucial evidence in the Trayvon Martin case was inconclusive, saying it was impossible to tell if the voice screaming for help belonged to the black Florida teenager or his shooter George Zimmerman just before the neighborhood watch captain pulled the trigger. That detail came from a mass of evidence made public on Thursday in the case that sparked civil rights protests across the United States and debates over guns, self-defense laws and race relations in America. …
Protests after Houston cop cleared of beating black teen
May 18, 2012 US Leave a comment
HOUSTON (Reuters) – The day after an all-white jury acquitted a former Houston police officer for his role in the beating of a 15-year-old African American burglary suspect, community activists rallied a crowd of at least 200 people on the courthouse steps to protest. Andrew Blomberg was acquitted by a jury in Houston on Wednesday in the alleged beating and stomping of Chad Holley two years ago. Protesters carrying signs with slogans like, “No justice, no peace. …
Kansas governor apologizes for century of segregation
May 18, 2012 US Leave a comment
KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) – Kansas Governor Sam Brownback apologized on Thursday to blacks for segregation in his state in the last century as he marked the anniversary of a ruling that struck down segregation in schools. The Republican governor said Kansas had never really apologized for the “hateful practice” of segregating black people from white in public places after the abolition of slavery. Brownback signed the proclamation on the 58th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 ruling in Brown vs. …
Oklahoma park accused of letting kids play with tigers
May 18, 2012 US Leave a comment
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – The Humane Society of the United States is accusing an Oklahoma exotic animal park of allowing children to handle and pose for photographs with juvenile tigers in what they called “a petting zoo for carnivores.” Joe Schreibvogel, owner of the G.W. Exotic Animal Park, 65 miles south of Oklahoma City, denies the allegations, and he said on Thursday that the humane society simply wants to bankrupt him. Wayne Pacelle, head of the animal rights organization, contends that allowing visitors to handle the unpredictable felines placed the visitors at risk. …
Storied battleship making final port call in Los Angeles
May 18, 2012 US Leave a comment
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The USS Iowa, which ferried the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the perilous Atlantic waters to a historic meeting with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin in the dark days of World War Two, will have to be towed to its final port call. The battleship saw combat in the Pacific, survived a devastating explosion in a gun turret, and even a snub from the city of San Francisco. At the end of its final voyage, the storied warship will have a permanent mooring in Los Angeles. …
Mississippi high court declines to rehear pardon case
May 18, 2012 US Leave a comment
TUPELO, Miss (Reuters) – Mississippi’s high court on Thursday rejected a motion by its state attorney general to reconsider its approval of 10 pardons issued in January by then Governor Haley Barbour. The decision not to rehear the case was handed down by the state Supreme Court without comment. Attorney General Jim Hood had asked the court to void those pardons, among some 200 issued by the former Republican governor, on the grounds that technical procedures set out in the state constitution had not been met. …
New York state says jobless rate steady at 8.5 pct
May 18, 2012 US Leave a comment
(Reuters) – New York state’s unemployment rate was unchanged in April from March at 8.5 percent but the state has won back all the private sector jobs lost during the recession, the state’s Department of Labor said on Thursday. New York’s jobless rate is up from 8 percent in April 2011 and is above the national rate for April of 8.1 percent. Only four other states have regained all the jobs lost during the Great Recession: Alaska, Louisiana, North Dakota and Texas, said Kevin Jack, a state labor market analyst. …