The Other Side of Life 24/7: U.S. Top News: White House readies gun-control plan as more children laid to rest

Thursday, December 20, 2012

U.S. Top News: White House readies gun-control plan as more children laid to rest

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12/20/2012

Reuters Election 2012 Daily round-up of the day's top news from the campaign trail, the White House and all the politics in between

White House readies gun-control plan as more children laid to rest

NEWTOWN, Connecticut (Reuters) - President Barack Obama assigned Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday to find ways to curtail gun violence in America and try to avoid tragedies like the elementary school massacre in Connecticut, where the town buried one of its heroes on Wednesday.

NY MTA chief to step down, considers mayoral run

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The chairman of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Joseph Lhota, will step down at the end of the year as he considers to run for mayor of New York City.

Multi-vehicle crash on NY's Long Island Expressway kills one, injures 33

(Reuters) - An accident involving 35 vehicles on the Long Island Expressway in New York Wednesday afternoon left one woman dead and 33 other people injured and closed the expressway in both directions, Suffolk County police said.

Mayor of Trenton pleads not guilty to corruption

TRENTON, New Jersey (Reuters) - The mayor of Trenton, New Jersey's capital city, and two associates pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in a corruption case prosecutors say is laced with esoteric aliases, clandestine meetings and payments code-named Uncle Remus.

KKR joins private equity charge in U.S. water

(Reuters) - Private equity firm KKR & Co LP on Thursday kicked off a joint venture with Suez Environment to run the water and wastewater systems of a New Jersey city it hopes will become a model for cash-strapped local authorities in the United States.

Senate Republicans aim to cut Sandy aid bill down to $24 billion

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans sought to slash a $60.4 billion aid bill to cover reconstruction after Superstorm Sandy, proposing on Wednesday to fund only $23.8 billion in immediate disaster relief while assessing longer-term needs.

Winter storm bears down on Midwest after dumping snow on Rockies

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A major U.S. winter storm, which started Tuesday in the Rocky Mountains, could dump more than a foot of snow in some areas of the central Plains late Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

US probes how gun bought by ex-official found at Mexican crime scene

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Federal authorities were probing how a gun bought by a former top U.S. federal agent in Phoenix ended up at the scene of a fatal shootout that killed a beauty queen in Mexico, a U.S. law enforcement official said on Wednesday.

Chicago jail escapees hailed a cab to get away: investigators

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Two bank robbers who broke out of a high-rise jail in downtown Chicago hailed a cab and used it as a getaway car after they escaped from the facility, investigators searching for the pair said on Wednesday.

U.S. teen smoking declines to record low in 2012: study

(Reuters) - Cigarette smoking among American teenagers dropped to a record low in 2012, a decline that may have been partly driven by a sharp hike in the federal tobacco tax, researchers said on Wednesday.