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Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Fierce California winds expected as crews fight to tame wildfire

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Crews battling a devastating California wildfire that now ranks as the state's second-largest on record may face another round of fierce winds on Wednesday after they made progress corralling the flames.

Tax bill's 'pass-through' rule will aid wealthy, not workers: critics

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wealthy business owners, such as President Donald Trump, stand to gain from a provision in the Republican tax bill that creates a valuable deduction for owners of pass-through businesses, Democrats and some tax experts say.

Disgraced Cardinal Law, byword for Catholic sexual abuse crisis, dies

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Archbishop of Boston who resigned in disgrace after covering up years of sexual abuse of children by priests and whose name became a byword for scandal in the Catholic Church, died on Wednesday.

U.S. investigators seek answers from train crew in Washington derailment

DUPONT, Wash. (Reuters) - U.S. safety inspectors probing the deadly wreck of a passenger train that careened off a bridge onto a highway in Washington state are eager to question the engineer and a conductor-in-training who were in the cab of the locomotive, officials said on Tuesday.

Crews battling California wildfire make headway in third day of fair weather

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Crews battling a devastating California wildfire that now ranks as the state's second-largest on record capitalized on a third straight day of favorable weather conditions on Tuesday as they made greater progress corralling the flames.

Trump aides hope win on taxes will stem slide in poll numbers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Near the end of President Donald Trump's rocky first year in office, White House aides view imminent victory on a tax overhaul as a starting point to strengthen his weak approval ratings ahead of key congressional elections next November.

NY City Comptroller proposes pension funds to cut fossil fuel portfolio

(Reuters) - New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said on Tuesday his office would propose to the trustees of the NYC pension funds to explore stopping additional investments in fossil fuels and increasing investments in clean energy.

Democrat wins by one vote in Virginia legislative election recount

(Reuters) - Virginia Democrat Shelly Simonds won a seat in the House of Delegates by one vote, changing the power balance in the state legislature and extending a tide of Democratic victories beginning with November's capture of the governorship and several legislative seats.

Former Mexican drug cartel leader extradited to U.S.: Justice Department

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An alleged former leader of a Mexican drug cartel has been extradited to the United States to face drug conspiracy charges, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement on Tuesday.

South Carolina capital could be first U.S. city to ban gun bump stocks

(Reuters) - South Carolina's capital on Tuesday could become the first U.S. city to ban the use of bump stocks, a gun accessory that has drawn national scrutiny after being found among the Las Vegas mass shooter's arsenal of weapons in the October rampage.

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