MiamiHerald.com: Nation Wires

Mikulski backs oversight of military academies

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:53 EDT

U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski has called on the Pentagon to increase oversight and accountability of military service academy superintendents in response to increasing rates of sexual assaults.

Defense: US man never joined Syrian al-Qaida group

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:39 EDT

Defense lawyers say a U.S. Army veteran was confused and mistaken when he told authorities he fought with an al-Qaida group seeking to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Montana court says bison transfer legal

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:23 EDT

The relocation of Yellowstone National Park bison to tribal lands in Montana can resume, under a Wednesday ruling from the state's Supreme Court that could revive a stalled conservation initiative for the animals.

Feds find possible remains at NYC mobster's home

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:23 EDT

The FBI has found possible human remains in a dig at the New York City house once occupied by a famous gangster.

Ohio woman allegedly enslaved spent time in jail

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:14 EDT

A mentally disabled Ohio woman who authorities say was enslaved for two years with her daughter recently spent time in jail after pleading guilty to beating the girl.

Man pleads not guilty in NYC hate-crime shooting

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:10 EDT

A man accused of fatally shooting a gay man walking with a companion in New York City's Greenwich Village afterward claimed that he opened fire because the victim "thought he was tough in front of his bitch," prosecutors said in court papers Tuesday.

ND judge allows new complaint to abortion lawsuit

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:59 EDT

A North Dakota judge on Wednesday agreed to combine a lawsuit that challenges a new requirement for doctors who perform abortions with litigation over a 2011 law that limits the use of drugs to terminate pregnancies.

Wooden beam could be detached part of shipwreck

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:54 EDT

A wooden beam that has long been the focus of the search for a 17th century shipwreck in northern Lake Michigan was not attached to a buried vessel as searchers had suspected, but still may have come from the elusive Griffin or some other ship, archaeologists said Wednesday.

Group: Exclude Chad troops from UN force in Mali

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:49 EDT

A network of human rights groups on Wednesday criticized plans to include Chadian troops in a new U.N. peacekeeping force for Mali while Chad's military remains on a U.N. 'list of shame' for child recruitment. But U.N. officials made clear they had no intention of excluding a country whose soldiers are considered among the best African desert fighters.

As fires rage, feds cut funding on prevention

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:39 EDT

As the West battles one catastrophic wildfire after another, the federal government is spending less and less on its main program for preventing blazes in the first place.