Houston

Chemicals leak from Houston-area petrochemical fire disrupts ship traffic

An earthen barrier holding chemicals that leaked from a massive petrochemical fire outside Houston breached on Friday, prompting restrictions on travel around the site and through a part of the busiest U.S. oil export port. Intercontinental Terminals Co, a unit of Japan's Mitsui & Co, called for workers at the Deer Park, Texas, fuels storage facility and neighboring businesses to shelter in place. It was the third time this week that chemical releases from the plant prompted local travel restrictions.

Trump: 'I know nothing' about Kushner's WhatsApp messaging

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he knew nothing about son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner's use of the WhatsApp encrypted messaging tool, a day after a top Democratic congressman pressed the White House for information on the issue. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, on Thursday asked the White House about Kushner's use of the Facebook Inc-owned messaging application as part of his government work. In a letter to the White House, seen by Reuters, Cummings said Kushner's lawyer Abbe Lowell had told lawmakers that Kushner used WhatsApp for official duties, a move that would violate current law prohibiting White House officials from using non-official electronic messaging accounts.

Deadly floods flow into Missouri, other drenched Midwestern states

By Karen Dillon KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - Frigid Missouri River floodwaters were expected to crest in northwestern Missouri on Friday, threatening more towns and cities after causing death and ruins and drowning livestock across the U.S. Midwest's farmland. Police issued voluntary evacuation orders in the small riverfront city of St. Joseph, Missouri, where on Friday North America's longest river was at 32.02 feet (9.76 meters), less than an inch below its record level. ...

Citizenship question on U.S. Census would cause big Latino undercount: study

By Nick Brown NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Trump administration's proposal to ask a citizenship question on the 2020 U.S. census could lead to an undercount of some 4.2 million among Hispanics, costing their communities federal aid and political representation, according to a study by Harvard researchers released on Friday. The study by the Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is the first to assess the impact of the proposed question since U.S. ...

Teen arrested over racist threat that closed Charlottesville schools

City leaders have worked to ease racial tensions in the city since a white nationalist rally in August 2017 descended into violence, with a white nationalist killing a counter-protester and injuring others after he drove into a crowd. The threat against Charlottesville High School was reported to the police on Wednesday afternoon, according to the police department. According to U.S Census Bureau data, African Americans make up around 19 percent of Charlottesville's population of nearly 50,000 people.

UCLA soccer coach charged in admissions fraud scandal resigns

The University of California, Los Angeles' men's soccer coach, Jorge Salcedo, who is among those charged in the biggest college admissions fraud scheme ever uncovered in the United States, resigned his post on Thursday, school officials said. Salcedo was one of nine current or former college coaches, as well as an associate athletic director, who were charged by federal prosecutors in Boston on March 12 in connection with the fraud scheme that has captured national attention. University officials confirmed Salcedo's resignation to Reuters on Friday, and said that they had no additional comment.

GM confirms plans to build new EV, invest $300 million in Michigan plant

The largest U.S. automaker has come under heavy criticism from President Donald Trump in recent days over its decision to end production at its Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant earlier this month. GM officials said the announcement was planned well before Trump's series of angry GM tweets that started on Saturday. Trump called GM CEO Mary Barra on Sunday to urge her to reverse the decision to end production at the Ohio plant, which is in a crucial state for the 2020 presidential election.

Engineering elections? U.S. top court examines electoral map manipulation

Thanks to partisan gerrymandering - a practice the Supreme Court will examine on Tuesday in two cases that could impact American politics for decades - that is no longer the case. A U.S. House of Representatives district that once covered heavily Democratic Greensboro was reconfigured in 2016, with the voters in the city of 290,000 people inserted into two other districts spanning rural areas with reliable Republican majorities. In adopting the electoral map, the legislature partitioned the campus of North Carolina A&T State University, the nation's largest historically black public college, into two separate districts.

Democrats push financial inclusion as 2020 election race heats up

Following the 2008 financial crisis, many banks pulled back from their poorest customers. The shift has had lasting costs for millions of Americans now struggling to access mainstream financial services such as checking accounts and credit cards. The three Democrats, along with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, have advocated for the U.S. Postal Service to provide banking services.

Climate change's fingerprints are on U.S. Midwest floods: scientists

The "bomb cyclone" that dumped rain on Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri and killed at least four people now threatens a wider region downstream of swollen rivers and smashed levees. "The atmosphere is pretty close to fully saturated, it's got all the water it can take," said Michael Wehner, a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Big storms like the bomb cyclone and Hurricane Harvey, which smacked Houston in 2017 with record downpours, are where the impact of climate change can most clearly be seen, he said, adding that climate change's fingerprints were all over the recent storm.

New Mexico compound suspects plead not guilty, targeted as Muslims: lawyers

The three women and two men faced charges last week of conspiring to support planned attacks on U.S. law enforcement officers, military members and government employees while living in their makeshift home in Taos County, New Mexico. The case gained significant attention after Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said the group were "extremist of the Muslim belief" and prosecutors accused them of training two teenage sons to carry out school shootings. Defendants Jany Leveille, 36, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40, Hujrah Wahhaj, 38, Subhanah Wahhaj, 36, and Lucas Morton, 41, are all related as siblings or by marriage.

Man charged with sending bombs to Trump critics pleads guilty

A Florida man pleaded guilty on Thursday to using weapons of mass destruction and other crimes in connection with mailing explosives to prominent Democrats and other critics of U.S. President Donald Trump. Cesar Sayoc, 57, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan federal court, speaking in a halting, shaky voice that often dropped to a whisper. Sayoc listed the intended recipients of his packages, including former President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, billionaire investor and Democratic donor George Soros, former Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan, actor Robert DeNiro and CNN.

Trump signs executive 'free speech' order for U.S. colleges

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order linking "free speech" efforts at public universities to federal grants in an effort to combat what he considers a clamp down on conservative students' abilities to share their views. Under the order, the schools will themselves certify whether they are protecting students' free speech rights, which are already guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. Trump administration officials have suggested that the rights of speakers on college campuses have been trampled by student protesters, and that conservatives have been unfairly targeted.

Missouri governor declares state of emergency amid rising floodwaters in Midwestern U.S.

Flooding triggered by last week's so-called "bomb cyclone" storm has already inflicted damage estimated at nearly $1.5 billion in Nebraska, killed at least four people in Nebraska and Iowa and left a man missing below Nebraska's collapsed Spencer Dam. "The rising floodwaters are affecting more Missouri communities and farms, closing more roads and threatening levees, water treatment plants and other critical infrastructure," Governor Mike Parson said in issuing his emergency declaration. "We will continue to work closely with our local partners to assess needs and provide resources to help as Missourians continue this flood fight and as we work to assist one another," Parson said.

Houston suburbs lift travel restrictions imposed after petrochemical fire

Two Houston-area cities told residents to stay indoors and closed schools on Thursday due to air pollution from a petrochemical plant fire, then lifted the travel restrictions after airborne levels of the chemicals abated. The three-day blaze at Mitsui unit Intercontinental Terminals Co (ITC) in Deer Park, Texas, was extinguished on Wednesday after sending a plume of smoke over the area from 11 burning fuel tanks. No injuries were reported, but air monitors detected high levels of benzene, a toxic chemical linked to cancer.

Pastor convicted of hacking, insider trading gets five years prison: NY judge

A former hedge fund manager who also worked as a pastor was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison after being convicted of insider trading on non-public corporate press releases stolen by computer hackers. Vitaly Korchevsky, 53, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie in Brooklyn after being convicted by a jury last July on two securities fraud counts and three conspiracy counts. Korchevsky was among 10 people, including seven traders and three Ukraine-based hackers, criminally charged in Brooklyn and New Jersey over the theft of more than 150,000 press releases from Business Wire, Marketwired and PR Newswire that had yet to be made public from February 2010 to August 2015.

U.S. farmers face devastation following Midwest floods

WINSLOW, Neb./CHICAGO (Reuters) - Midwestern farmers have been gambling they could ride out the U.S.-China trade war by storing their corn and soybeans anywhere they could - in bins, plastic tubes, in barns or even outside. Record floods have devastated a wide swath of the Farm Belt across Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and several other states. Early estimates of lost crops and livestock are approaching $1 billion in Nebraska alone.

Mississippi governor signs 'heartbeat' abortion ban

Mississippi's Republican governor signed one of America's strictest abortion bills on Thursday banning women from obtaining an abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can often occur before a woman even realizes she is pregnant. Dubbed the 'heartbeat bill,' this is the second legislative attempt in less than a year aimed at restricting abortions in a state with a single abortion clinic. The Mississippi law joins a wave of similar Republican-backed measures recently introduced in Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia.

FBI not properly assessing potential U.S. maritime terrorism threats: report

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is not taking appropriate steps to review and assess potential maritime terrorism risks facing U.S. sea ports, the Justice Department's internal watchdog has found. In a letter to Horowitz dated Aug. 30 that was released as part of the final audit, FBI Acting Section Chief Thomas Seiler for the External Audit and Compliance Section of the Inspection Division said the FBI concurs with all of the report's recommendations and will work to implement them.

U.S. team heading in positive direction from dark place, says Biles

Simone Biles believes U.S gymnastics is moving in a positive direction after the "dark place" it found itself in a year ago following a sex-abuse scandal. The Texas-based 22-year-old, winner of a record-equaling four gold medals at the Rio Olympics, was one of more than 100 gymnasts who say they were abused by former Gymnastics USA doctor Larry Nassar who was jailed last year. Gymnastics USA was criticized for failing to safeguard the welfare of its athletes and the subject of dozens of lawsuits by victims of Nassar.

Harvard sued by descendant of U.S. slave photographed in 19th century

The photos, depicting a black man named Renty and his daughter Delia, were taken as part of a study by Harvard Professor Louis Agassiz and are among the earliest known photos of American slaves. A representative for Harvard declined to comment and said the university had not yet been served with the complaint. Tamara Lanier of Norwich, Connecticut, who claims to be the great-great-great-granddaughter of Renty, accused Harvard of celebrating its former professor who studied "racist pseudoscience" and profiting from photos that were taken without Renty and his daughter's consent.

U.S. farmers face devastation following Midwest floods

WINSLOW, Neb./CHICAGO (Reuters) - Midwestern farmers have been gambling they could ride out the U.S.-China trade war by storing their corn and soybeans anywhere they could - in bins, plastic tubes, in barns or even outside. Record floods have devastated a wide swath of the Farm Belt across Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and several other states. Early estimates of lost crops and livestock are approaching $1 billion in Nebraska alone.

Missouri towns prepare for deluge as floods move downstream

A string of small Missouri towns on Wednesday prepared for the next deluge along the snow-melt-swollen Missouri River after flooding wreaked nearly $1.5 billion in damage in Nebraska, killing at least four people and leaving another man missing. High water unleashed by last week's late-winter storm and swiftly melting snow this week has already inundated a large swath of Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa along the Missouri River, North America's longest river. The Missouri River's next big flood crest was due to hit St. Joseph, Missouri, about 55 miles (89 km) north of Kansas City, Missouri, and Atchison, Kansas, a short distance downstream, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman James Lowe said on a briefing call.

Harvard sued by descendant of U.S. slave photographed in 19th century

The photos, depicting a black man named Renty and his daughter Delia, were taken as part of a study by Harvard Professor Louis Agassiz and are among the earliest known photos of American slaves. A representative for Harvard declined to comment and said the university had not yet been served with the complaint. Tamara Lanier of Norwich, Connecticut, who claims to be the great-great-great-granddaughter of Renty, accused Harvard of celebrating its former professor who studied "racist pseudoscience" and profiting from photos that were taken without Renty and his daughter's consent.

Mitsui petrochemical unit probed after Texas fire rages for days

State and local investigators have begun probing a petrochemical storage company outside Houston where a massive fire fed by giant tanks of fuel burned for days, darkening the skies with soot for dozens of miles, officials said. The blaze at Mitsui unit Intercontinental Terminals Co (ITC) in Deer Park, Texas, began on Sunday and was not extinguished until early Wednesday. The agency has cited Intercontinental Terminals for violations of state air-emissions rules 39 times in the last 16 years.

Trump's border wall money may come at expense of schools for military kids

The U.S. Department of Defense is proposing to pay for President Donald Trump's much-debated border wall by shifting funds away from projects that include $1.2 billion for schools, childcare centers and other facilities for military children, according to a list it has provided to lawmakers. The Pentagon gave Congress a list on Monday that included $12.8 billion of construction projects for which it said funds could be redirected. The move comes as a surprise given the Trump administration's oft-touted support for the sacrifices made by military families and suggests the White House's desire to build a wall on the border with Mexico outstrips nearly all other issues.

U.S. judge blocks drilling over climate change, casting doubt on Trump agenda

The ruling, by Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was issued late on Tuesday, according to court documents. It blocked drilling on more than 300,000 acres (121,400 hectares) in Wyoming until the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management conducts further analyses about how the development would impact climate change.

Justice Thomas speaks as U.S. top court confronts racial bias in jury selection

U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared poised to side with a black Mississippi death row inmate put on trial six times for a 1996 quadruple murder who accused a prosecutor of repeatedly blocking black potential jurors, though the court's only black member sounded skeptical. Justice Clarence Thomas, who had not posed a question during an oral argument in three years, asked several in the case involving Curtis Flowers, 48, who has argued that his constitutional right to a fair trial was violated. Thomas, an idiosyncratic conservative and only the second African American ever appointed to the court, signaled through his questions he might vote against Flowers, who otherwise drew broad support among the other justices, both liberal and conservative.

Trump gets a U.S. Supreme Court victory on immigration detention

The Supreme Court on Tuesday endorsed the U.S. government's authority to detain immigrants awaiting deportation anytime - potentially even years - after they have completed prison terms for criminal convictions, handing President Donald Trump a victory as he pursues hardline immigration policies. The court ruled 5-4 along ideological lines, with its conservative justices in the majority and its liberal justices dissenting, that federal authorities could place such immigrants into indefinite detention anytime without the possibility of bail, not just immediately after they finish prison sentences. The ruling, authored by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, left open the possibility that some immigrants could challenge their detention.

Petrochemical blaze near Houston extinguished, company says

Firefighters on Wednesday extinguished a fire at a Mitsui & Co petrochemical storage site outside Houston that has been billowing acrid smoke for days, the company said. By Tuesday morning, the fire had ignited 12 of 15 tanks. There were no employees or firefighters injured since the blaze began, an ITC spokesman said on Tuesday.

In early campaigning, 2020 Democrats try out tactics for taking on Trump

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York appears willing to go the furthest yet, at least symbolically, in trying to prove she is ready to go toe-to-toe with the president. On Sunday, she will deliver her campaign launch speech at a rally in view of one of Trump's hotels in New York City, taking her "vision of restoring America’s moral integrity straight to President Trump’s doorstep," her campaign said. Trump is present at every campaign stop - not physically, but as a constant topic of discussion, even if his name is not uttered by those seeking to defeat him.

Pence arrives in Nebraska as U.S. Midwest reels from historic floods

Vice President Mike Pence in Nebraska on Tuesday took stock of the devastation unleashed across the U.S. Midwest by floods that have killed four people, left one missing and caused more than a billion dollars in damage to crops, livestock and roads. The way communities come together and people volunteer to put themselves in harm's way to help others," Pence said Tuesday in Omaha, according to an official statement. Pence also said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working to expedite a request from Nebraska's governor for a federal emergency declaration, which will provide more aid to the state.

Patriots owner Kraft can avoid prosecution in Florida prostitution sting: prosecutors

Robert Kraft, the National Football League team owner, is receiving the same offer from the Office of the State Attorney for Palm Beach County as the other first-time misdemeanor offenders caught up in the case last month, said Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for the office. Edmondson declined to say if Kraft has agreed to the offer for avoiding prosecution. Kraft, 77, a businessman who built the Patriots into the NFL's most dominant franchise, was charged following a police sting targeting sex-trafficking in day spas and massage parlors.

Missouri River flooding catches small Nebraska town off guard

When Jim and Rose Downing heard forecasts last week for dangerously high water in their Nebraska hometown on the Missouri River, they were nonplussed since their house had not flooded in 100 years. Rose is the third generation of her family to reside in the brick home in the Gunnysack Flats neighborhood near downtown Peru, Nebraska, and 2 miles west of a levee that townspeople said never faltered in the past. This time was different, as the fewer than 1,000 residents of Peru discovered on Saturday when numerous Missouri River levees were breached due to heavy rainfall and snow melt.

Pence arrives in Nebraska as U.S. Midwest reels from historic floods

The floodwaters have inundated a large swath of farm states Iowa and Nebraska along the Missouri River, North America's longest river, prompting half of Iowa's 99 counties to declare states of emergency."Touched down in Omaha, Nebraska to survey flood damage & thank volunteers & emergency personnel," Pence said on Twitter, in a post that included photos of him meeting with the governors of both states and lawmakers. Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin have all declared states of emergency in the floods, which stem from a powerful winter hurricane known as a "bomb cyclone" that slammed into the U.S. Farm Belt last week, killing untold numbers of livestock, destroying grains and soybeans in storage, and cutting off access to farms because of road and rail damage. The latest confirmed death was identified by the sheriff in Fremont County, Iowa, as 55-year-old Aleido Rojas Galan, who was pulled from floodwaters along with another man on Friday and later succumbed to injuries.

Houston petrochemical fire spreads, Texas expands air monitoring

Houston officials and environmental groups raced to expand air monitoring after a raging fire at a Mitsui & Co petrochemical storage site spread on Tuesday, billowing acrid smoke that could be seen and smelled miles away. The blaze at Mitsui unit Intercontinental Terminals Co in Deer Park, Texas, has ignited or consumed 12 of 15 tanks at the site, officials said in a late Tuesday briefing. The fire began on Sunday when a leaking tank containing volatile naphtha, a fuel used in the production of gasoline, ignited and flames quickly spread to nearby tanks, ITC said.