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Activists, executives tell Texas Senate to ditch bathroom bill

By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Transgender activists and business leaders urged a Texas Senate panel on Friday to scrap legislation that would limit bathroom access for transgender people, saying it was a discriminatory measure that would hurt the state's economy. More than 250 civil rights activists, executives and others registered to speak to the Republican-dominated Senate as it began consideration of the measure, the most closely watched item on the state's agenda during a 30-day special session. Ashley Smith, a transgender woman and San Antonio architect, said transgender women suffer more violence than the general public, and a bathroom bill would make her more fearful.

Lawsuit says North Carolina bathroom law still harmful

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - Transgender people still face discrimination and threats to their safety in North Carolina despite lawmakers replacing a measure that restricted their access to many public bathrooms, advocacy groups said in a new federal court action on Friday. The law thrust the state into the center of a national debate over equality, privacy and religious freedom last year by requiring transgender people to use restrooms in state-run buildings that matched the sex on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity. "When legislation fails to protect us, when it leaves us in limbo, it sends a message that our lives are expendable," plaintiff Joaquín Carcaño, a transgender man who works at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told reporters.

Trump to order review of U.S. defense industrial base: official

U.S. President Donald Trump intends to sign an executive order initiating a broad "whole of government" review of the defense industrial base including labor and the defense supply chain, a White House officials told reporters on Friday. "There's just one company in the U.S. that can repair propellers for Navy submarines," Peter Navarro, the White House National Trade Council director, said as he explained the order to reporters.

Evacuation order may be lifted Friday as California wildfire grows

(Reuters) - Some residents of a historic gold-mining town in central California may be able to return on Friday after they fled their homes amid a spreading wildfire nearby that has destroyed dozens of houses over the past week, fire officials said. About 2,000 residents of the town of Mariposa, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, evacuated their homes on Tuesday as the so-called Detwiler Fire approached. "Even though the fire has grown in one area, there's containment in other areas and those are safe for the owners to go back," Cal Fire spokesman John Clingingsmith said on Friday.

Australian woman 'didn't have to die': Minneapolis police chief

The death of Justine Damond, 40, from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen fired through an open window of a police patrol car, has outraged her relatives and the public in both Australia and the United States. "Justine didn't have to die," Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau told reporters on Thursday in her first news conference about the shooting. Harteau said she apologized to Damond's fiance for the loss of life, adding that the action taken by Officer Mohamed Noor, who fired the fatal shot, reflected "one individual's actions." She said the body cameras of the two officers on the scene should have been activated.

Judge refuses to remove block on Trump sanctuary city order

U.S. District Judge William Orrick III in San Francisco ruled that a recent memo from the Justice Department that appeared to narrow the scope of Trump's executive order on sanctuary cities did not remove the need for a court-ordered injunction. Orrick wrote that the memo is not binding and the attorney general can revoke it at any time.

O.J. Simpson granted October release from Nevada prison

By Steve Gorman CARSON CITY, Nev. (Reuters) - O.J. Simpson was granted parole on Thursday and will be released from a Nevada prison in October, following an emotional hearing that centered on the botched armed robbery of his own mementos at a Las Vegas hotel that landed him behind bars for nine years. A four-member panel of the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners voted unanimously to release the 70-year-old former National Football League star turned TV pitchman and actor, now best remembered as the defendant in a sensational double-murder trial that gripped America two decades ago. Simpson participated by video feed from Lovelock Correctional Center, about 100 miles (160 km) from the parole board's offices in Carson City, sitting at a wooden table next to his attorney dressed in a prison-issue denim shirt and dark pants.

Five lawsuits aim to get Texas to enforce air quality laws

By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - Green groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday to force Texas to toughen its stance on air pollution by using stricter language in permits it issues to oil refineries and power plants. Five separate lawsuits have asked a federal court in Washington to force EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to respond to petitions by the groups, including the Environmental Integrity Project and the Sierra Club.

California wildfire burns 45 buildings near Yosemite

By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A raging wildfire in central California that has forced more than 5,000 people from their homes spread rapidly on Thursday after destroying dozens of buildings not far from Yosemite National Park, fire officials said. The Detwiler Fire, which is menacing the former gold rush town of Mariposa in the Sierra Nevada foothills, is only 10 percent contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said on its website. "We're doing everything we can to protect that town and all the other communities in that area," Amy Head, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire, said by telephone.

Chipotle shares fall on Norovirus, rodent incidents

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc shares fell to a four-year low on Thursday after testing confirmed Norovirus in a customer who ate at one of the chain's Virginia restaurants and a video of rodents crawling on the floor of a Dallas shop went viral. Chipotle has worked to win back customers and rebuild the reputation of the once-high flying chain, whose stock traded well above $700 before it was connected to E. coli, Salmonella and Norovirus outbreaks in 2015. Testing confirmed Norovirus in one customer who ate at the Virginia Chipotle restaurant that was briefly closed this week following reports of diners falling ill, said Victor Avitto, environmental health supervisor for the Loudoun County Public Health Department, which has jurisdiction over the restaurant.

Musk touts approval of New York-Washington 'hyperloop'

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk on Thursday said he had received "verbal" approval to start building an ultra-high-speed underground transport system linking New York and Washington that would cut travel time between the cities to about half an hour. Musk, the chief executive of electric car maker Tesla Inc and rocket company SpaceX, is seeking to revolutionize transportation by sending passengers and cargo packed into pods through an intercity system of giant vacuum tubes known as the "hyperloop." Officials in Washington and New York said they had not approved any project, and under federal rules Musk would need extensive environmental and building permits to mount such an ambitious project. Musk recently started an enterprise called the Boring Company to build transport tunnels for the system, which he says would be far faster than current high-speed trains and use electromagnetic propulsion.

Mexico marines kill eight suspected gangsters in Mexico City

At least eight suspected gang members died on Thursday in a gun battle with Mexican marines in Mexico City, which has largely been spared the worst of the country's drug violence. Mexico's Navy said in statement that a patrol of marines in Tlahuac, in the southeastern part of the capital, was attacked by suspected gang members, sparking the gunfight. The Navy said that among the dead was Felipe de Jesus Luna, whom it described as the head of a violent criminal organization.

Illinois man charged with Chinese scholar kidnapping pleads not guilty

An Illinois man charged with kidnapping a female Chinese scholar who has been missing for more than a month pleaded not guilty during an appearance in a U.S. court on Thursday. Brendt Christensen, 28, is accused of abducting Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old visiting scholar at the University of Illinois from southeastern China, who disappeared on June 9. Zhang, who had been studying photosynthesis and crop productivity, was last seen when a security camera recorded her getting into a black car that authorities linked to Christensen, according to court records.

UAW talking to GM about impact of car sales slump on U.S. jobs

"We are talking to (GM) right now about the products that they currently have" at underused car plants such as Hamtramck in Michigan and Lordstown in Ohio, and whether they might be replaced with newer, more popular vehicles such as crossovers, Dennis Williams told reporters. GM has cut shifts at several U.S. plants this year as inventories of unsold cars have ballooned. GM is reviewing whether to cancel at least six passenger cars in the U.S. market after 2020, including the Chevrolet Volt hybrid, which could be replaced in 2022 with a new gasoline-electric crossover model, Reuters has learned from people familiar with the plans.

Revenge led driver to hit mourners at S. Carolina cemetery -police

The man who plowed his car into mourners at a South Carolina cemetery targeted the graveside service as an act of revenge toward the state mental health agency that had employed the woman being laid to rest, police said on Thursday. James Kester, 64, injured 12 people when he intentionally drove his car into a crowd at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Columbia, the state capital, on Wednesday, police said.

Ex-Akebia employee faces losing bail in insider trading case

Schultz Chan, who had been the director of biostatistics at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company, has been free on $250,000 bond since arrest last year on charges brought by federal prosecutors in Boston. Cabell had ordered the weekly check-ins less than two weeks ago after prosecutors said that Chan's wife had booked airline tickets for herself, Chan and their daughter to fly to China. Frank told the magistrate on Thursday he was increasingly concerned that Chan may be a danger to himself and others, saying he has made threatening comments to his probation officer and the prosecution.

Baltimore to review about 100 cases of officers in suspected drug planting

"This is a matter of public safety and we are laser-focused on this particular incident," Mosby said in a statement. The union for Baltimore City police was not immediately available for comment. The incident was another black eye for a police department under a U.S. Justice Department consent decree to overhaul operations that includes changes in training and the use of force after officers were found to have routinely harassed minorities.

Delta proceeds with New York's LaGuardia $4 billion project without Goldman

Transportation officials on Thursday approved a revised $4 billion plan from Delta Air Lines to renovate its terminal at New York's LaGuardia Airport after Goldman, Sachs & Co , a financial partner in the project, exited the deal. Delta now plans to pay for nearly the entire project by itself, although the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will still contribute up to $600 million as previously agreed. "Following a period of fiscal review, Delta has opted to directly fund and finance the costs of its LaGuardia redevelopment project, an arrangement that Delta and Goldman Sachs agree is in the best interest of both parties," Delta told Reuters in a statement.

Abortion rights groups sue Texas to block procedure ban

Abortion rights groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block a Texas law that bans the most common method of second-trimester abortion which critics argue erodes women's rights. The challenge, which came six weeks after the state's governor signed the law, was the latest salvo in a battle over state laws enacted by Republican-controlled state legislatures that advocates say limit access to abortion. "The law we challenged today in Texas is part of a nationwide scheme to undermine these constitutional rights and ban abortion one restriction at a time," Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement.

NBA: Warriors to require 30-year commitment for season tickets

(The Sports Xchange) - The Golden State Warriors are bringing the personal seat license to the NBA, and the fans interested in purchasing them will be asked for a 30-year commitment. While pricing of the licenses has not been revealed, ESPN cited a team official as saying that the number of seats dedicated for season-ticket holders will decrease from 14,500 at Oracle Arena in Oakland to approximately 12,000 at Chase Center in San Francisco. The privately financed $1 billion Chase Center is scheduled to open in 2019.

Burundi teenage robotics team goes missing after U.S. contest: police

By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six teenagers from a Burundi robotics team have been reported missing after an international competition in Washington and two of them were seen entering Canada, police said on Thursday. The four males and two females were last seen late on Tuesday afternoon when the robotics contest ended at the FIRST Global Challenge, police said. Authorities issued missing persons photographs of the six on Wednesday.

Republicans meet late into night as Trump demands new U.S. healthcare plan

By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans struggling to agree on healthcare legislation to overhaul Obamacare obeyed U.S. President Donald Trump's orders to try to swiftly reach a deal but were unable to resolve their differences in a long, late-night meeting. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump took Senate Republicans to task for failing to agree on how to dismantle Obamacare, as a new report showed 32 million Americans would lose health insurance if senators opt to repeal the law without a replacement.

One in eight people who voted for Trump having second thoughts - Reuters/Ipsos poll

About one in eight people who voted for President Donald Trump said they are not sure they would do so again after witnessing Trump's tumultuous first six months in office, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll of 2016 voters. Trump, who won the White House with the slimmest of margins, needs every last supporter behind him to push his agenda through a divided Congress and potentially win a second term in 2020. While other surveys have measured varying levels of disillusionment among Trump supporters, the Reuters/Ipsos poll shows how many would go as far as changing the way they voted.

Parents of kidnapped U.S. journalist Tice renew plea for release

The parents of a U.S. journalist kidnapped in Syria nearly five years ago issued a new plea for his release on Thursday. Austin Tice, a freelance reporter and former U.S. Marine from Houston, Texas, was kidnapped in August 2012 aged 31 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "We are willing to engage with any government, any group, any individual who can help us in this effort to secure Austin's safe release," his father Marc Tice said at a news conference in Beirut.

Aurora, Colorado marks five-year anniversary of theater massacre

A somber crowd marked the fifth anniversary early on Thursday of a shooting rampage at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado that left 12 people dead and 70 injured. About 100 family and community members and friends gathered outside Aurora's city hall to remember the victims and first responders with a solemn candlelight vigil and procession. "The thing I see after five years is the resilience of this community," said Aurora Police Department's Jad Lanigan, who was the incident commander at the scene of the July 20, 2012 shooting.

U.S. ends controversial laptop ban on Middle East carriers

The United States has ended a four month ban on passengers carrying laptops onboard U.S. bound flights from certain airports in the Middle East and North Africa, bringing to an end one of the controversial travel restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump's administration. Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport was the last of 10 airports to be exempted from the ban, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed in a tweet late on Wednesday local time. Middle East carriers have blamed Trump's travel restrictions, which include banning citizens of some Muslim majority countries from visiting the United States, for a downturn in demand on U.S routes.

Video appears to show Baltimore police planting drugs: public defender

The minute-long video released by the public defender's office shows the officer placing a small plastic bag in a trash-strewn yard as two colleagues look on. One officer seen in the video has been suspended, while the two other officers have been placed on administrative duty, the Baltimore Police Department said at a news conference on Wednesday. The department showed other videos on Wednesday, recorded the same day as the footage released by the public defender, that it said raised the possibility the officer genuinely discovered the drugs at the scene but inappropriately chose to stage and film a recreation of the discovery.

Turkey's publication of U.S. troop locations poses risk, Pentagon says

The publication by Turkey's state-run news agency of the locations of what appeared to be U.S. military posts in Syria puts American forces in danger, and the United States has complained to Turkey, a NATO ally, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. Anadolu news agency published a report on Tuesday naming the location of 10 U.S. military posts in northern Syria, in some cases detailing the number of U.S and French troops present.

South Carolina newborn dies after being put in trash by mom: police

The mother of the baby, Estela Ruiz Gomez, and her mother, Lorenza Gomez Rodriguez, 41, were being held in jail without bond in Greenville, South Carolina, said Jonathan Bragg, spokesman for the Greenville police. The grandmother of the newborn was also held for federal immigration authorities because she did not leave the United States when ordered to do so in 2016, Greenville police said in a statement.

32 million people lose insurance under U.S. Senate Obamacare repeal plan: CBO

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thirty-two million Americans would lose their health insurance by 2026 under a U.S. Senate plan to repeal Obamacare without providing a replacement, the Congressional Budget Office reported on Wednesday.

California wildfire explodes in size as blazes scorch U.S. West

By Stephen Lam MARIPOSA, Calif. (Reuters) - A wildfire that has forced thousands of Californians to flee their homes exploded in size on Wednesday, threatening a picturesque gold rush town outside Yosemite National Park as dozens of blazes scorched the U.S. West. More than 2,000 firefighters have contained just 7 percent of the Detwiler Fire, which is approaching the town of Mariposa and tiny communities in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Cal Fire state agency said on its website. The blaze has mushroomed to 46,000 acres (18,000 hectares), an increase of about 20,000 acres (8,094 hectares) compared with the day before, and is threatening some 1,500 structures.

Australian woman shot in Minneapolis called twice to report an assault

By Todd Melby MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Shortly before she was fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer, Justine Damond made two 911 calls to help a nearby woman she thought was possibly being sexually assaulted, according to transcripts released on Wednesday by police. The death of Australian native Damond from a single gunshot has sparked outrage among family members and the public, and led Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to call it "shocking" and "inexplicable." In the 911 calls, Damond reported hearing sounds of a woman screaming. "I can hear someone out the back and I, I'm not sure if she's having sex or being raped," she told the 911 operator on the call at 11:27 pm. "And I think she just yelled out 'help'." Damond called again at 11:35 pm, and was assured officers were on the way.

New York man gets 22 years in prison for hammer attacks

A hammer-wielding man who attacked four people including a police officer during a three-day string of assaults in New York City two years ago was sentenced on Wednesday to 22 years in prison, prosecutors said. David Baril, 32, pleaded guilty in May to attempted aggravated assault upon a police officer and multiple counts of assault in the second degree, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement, adding that "New Yorkers were gripped with fear" during the attacks. Baril, a native of New York City's Bronx borough who police said suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, was also sentenced to five years of post-release supervision.