NowMyNews

The Pentagon has granted many exceptions, possibly numbering in the thousands, to allow staff members who administer secure computer networks to use flash drives and other portable storage devices, department spokesmen say. The exceptions to policies barring the use of such devices could make it easier for rogue employees to remove sensitive documents. But officials say waivers go to people who update software and run helpdesk services for the Pentagon's vast computer network and are needed to run the system efficiently.   The U.S. government's handling of sensitive documents has come under scrutiny since Edward Snowden, a systems administrator for a contractor with the National Security Administration, copied classified materials at a Hawaii installation and leaked them to the news media. Snowden used a simple flash drive to store the materials, according to a government source close to the investigation. Storage devices have been a concern at the Defense Department sinc

Southwest Airlines Co canceled or delayed about 250 flights overnight and early on Saturday due to a system-wide outage of computers used to dispatch aircraft, said a spokeswoman for the airline. _0"> The Dallas-based airline said 43 overnight flights were canceled as a result of the outage, which began around 11 p.m. EDT on Friday (0300 GMT on Saturday) and lasted until about 3 a.m. on Saturday (0700 GMT), said Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Michelle Agnew.   Another 14 morning flights were canceled due to "flight crew availability and aircraft positioning" after the outage ended, she said. Most of the cancellations affected routes in the western United States, Agnew said. Flights that were already airborne were not affected by the outage, while planes on the ground were held back, she said, adding that the cause of the computer failure was unknown. Southwest, which operates some 3,400 flights daily, said in a statement on its website that its "systems are

Rather than euthanize unwanted cats and dogs, politicians in Florida's Miami-Dade County are proposing a special property tax that would pay for saving the animals for possible adoption. Lawmakers gave initial approval this week to a plan that would raise $20 million annually for the pet fund, amounting to about $20 per homeowner per year.   The money would be used to fund a variety of programs to make the county a "no kill" zone, where at least 90 percent of abandoned animals would be protected until new homes are found. Last year the county euthanized almost 12,000 animals. Each year, about 8 million stray and unwanted animals are taken in by shelters across the United States, with almost half being euthanized when homes can't be found for them, according to the American Humane Association. The Miami-Dade County plan would include expanding free and low-cost spay and neutering services to reduce the homeless population on the streets, adding veterinarians and

Police on Saturday searched the Massachusetts home of New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez in connection with the shooting death of a 27-year-old man earlier this week, local media reported. _0"> Hernandez, a 23-year-old tight end and rising star in the National Football League, is at the center of an investigation into the death of Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional football player for the Boston Bandits. Lloyd's body was discovered on Monday in an industrial park about a mile from Hernandez's home in North Attleborough, some 40 miles south of Boston, near Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots play. About a dozen law-enforcement officers arrived at Hernandez's home on Saturday afternoon, the Boston Globe and local radio station WBZ reported. The Globe published a photo showing two Massachusetts State Police vehicles and another marked police car parked in the sprawling home's driveway.   A state police spokesman declined to comment on Saturday

A woman performing a wing-walking stunt and her pilot were killed on Saturday when their biplane crashed and burst into flames while doing acrobatics at an air show in Ohio, organizers of the event said. Jane Wicker and her pilot were killed when their Boeing Stearman, nicknamed "Aurora," crashed around 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) at the Vectren Dayton Air Show in Dayton, organizers said.   Wicker and her male pilot, who has not yet been identified, appeared to be executing a stunt in which Wicker sits on the wing as the plane flips. Once inverted, the vintage aircraft suddenly lost altitude and struck the ground. "There was a significant explosion. There was smoke and fire. The announcers had the kids look away," said Michael Emoff, chairman of the 39th annual show. "The weather was fine. Clearly something went wrong." No one was injured in the crash, organizers said. Emoff said that "fairly aggressive acrobatic acts" are common at the show, w

The United States said on Saturday it wants Hong Kong to extradite Edward Snowden and urged it to act quickly, paving the way for what could be a lengthy legal battle to prosecute the former National Security Agency contractor on espionage charges. Legal sources say Snowden, who is believed to be hiding in Hong Kong, has sought legal representation from human rights lawyers since leaking details about secret U.S. surveillance activities to news media.   "If Hong Kong doesn't act soon, it will complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong's commitment to the rule of law," a senior Obama administration official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told CBS News the United States had a "good case" to bring Snowden back to America to face trial and expected Hong Kong to comply with its extradition treaty. "We have gone to the Hong Kong authorities seeking extradition of S

Two voice identification experts who suggested that unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin screamed for help before he was shot and killed by George Zimmerman will not be allowed to testify at his murder trial, the judge in the case has ruled. The ruling by Judge Debra Nelson was released on Saturday, marking the last major hurdle before opening statements in the high-profile case begin on Monday in Seminole County courthouse in Sanford, Florida.   Prosecutors had sought to call audio experts to testify about a 911 emergency call in which screams for help can be heard in the background during an altercation between Zimmerman and Martin before the shooting. The screams could be pivotal evidence and help identify who was the aggressor on the night of the February 2012 killing. Zimmerman's family and supporters claim the voice was his, while Martin's parents insist the voice belonged to their son. Last year, an FBI expert said a voice analysis of the call was inconclusive. D

Hundreds of supporters rallied on Saturday in the central Idaho hometown of prisoner-of-war Bowe Bergdahl to call for the safe return of the U.S. Army sergeant believed to be held captive by Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan . The rally, expected to be the largest yet for the only known American prisoner of war tied to the Afghanistan conflict, marks the latest effort by residents of Hailey, a close-knit town of 7,000, to draw attention to Bergdahl's plight and push for his release.   Bergdahl, now 27, was serving with an Alaska-based infantry unit when he disappeared from his base in southern Afghanistan in June 2009 and was taken captive by the Taliban. Saturday's gathering in Hailey caps a week of renewed hope for Bergdahl's release amid reports of a potential prisoner exchange as part of planned peace talks between the United States and the Taliban. But the latest bid to end Afghanistan's 12-year-old war appeared to lose momentum late this week after

An estimated 2,000 supporters rallied on Saturday in the Idaho hometown of prisoner-of-war Bowe Bergdahl to call for the safe return of the U.S. Army sergeant believed to be held captive by Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan . The rally, the largest yet for the only known American prisoner of war tied to the Afghanistan war, marked the latest effort by residents of Hailey, a close-knit town of 7,000, to draw attention to Bergdahl's plight and push for his release.   Bergdahl, now 27, was serving with an Alaska-based infantry unit when he disappeared from his base in southern Afghanistan in June 2009 and was taken captive by the Taliban. The gathering in Hailey capped a week of renewed hope for Bergdahl's release after reports that planned peace talks between the United States and the Taliban could yield a possible prisoner swap as a confidence-building measure. U.S. officials were due to hold preliminary discussions with the Taliban on Thursday on ending the 12-y

The United States said on Saturday it wants Hong Kong to extradite Edward Snowden and urged it to act quickly, paving the way for what could be a lengthy legal battle to prosecute the former National Security Agency contractor on espionage charges. Legal sources say Snowden, who is believed to be hiding in Hong Kong, has sought legal representation from human rights lawyers since leaking details about secret U.S. surveillance activities to news media.   "If Hong Kong doesn't act soon, it will complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong's commitment to the rule of law," a senior Obama administration official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told CBS News the United States had a "good case" to bring Snowden back to America to face trial and expected Hong Kong to comply with its extradition treaty. "We have gone to the Hong Kong authorities seeking extradition of S

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday he will ask federal prosecutors to review a report that found "breathtaking waste and inefficiency" in the state-owned Long Island Power Authority's dealings with a private consulting firm. _0"> A scathing New York commission report released on Saturday found questionable billing practices and a troubling "revolving door" relationship between the state-owned utility and Navigant Consulting Inc, which may have been a breach of state ethics laws.   Cuomo said the state would refer its investigation to federal prosecutors. Last week, New York approved legislation to mostly dismantle the utility, known as LIPA, which was criticized for an inept response to Superstorm Sandy last October, when more than 90 percent of the 1.1 million LIPA customers on Long Island were left without power, some for more than two weeks. Public Service Enterprise Group Inc, a private utility in neighboring New Jersey, will take ov

Police sorted through bags of items retrieved from the home of New England Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez on Sunday amid a deepening investigation into last week's shooting death of a 27-year-old man. Hernandez, 23, a tight end and rising star in the National Football League, is at the center of an investigation into the death of Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional football player for the Boston Bandits. Lloyd's body was discovered on Monday in an industrial park about a mile from Hernandez's home in North Attleborough, some 40 miles south of Boston, near Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots play. Investigators searched Hernandez's house for nearly four hours on Saturday, removing several bags of material. A law enforcement official with knowledge of the case said on Sunday that police investigators were now busy examining the items, but he declined to give details.   Hernandez has not spoken publicly about the case, and his agent and lawyer have repeatedly

An Ohio air show resumed on Sunday with a moment of silence for a pilot and a stunt woman killed during a wing-walking trick a day earlier when their biplane crashed and burst into flames. Organizers of the Vectren Dayton Air Show in Dayton honored stuntwoman Jane Wicker and her pilot, Charlie Schwenker, who died when their Boeing Stearman crashed on Saturday while doing aerobatics at the show. Video of the incident replayed on television and the Internet showed that at the time of the crash, the duo appeared to have been executing a stunt in which the vintage plane flips as Wicker is out on one of its wings.   The plane crashed into a grassy area before Schwenker could pull out of the stunt. "There was a significant explosion. There was smoke and fire. The announcers had the kids look away," said Michael Emoff, chairman of the 39th annual show. "The weather was fine. Clearly something went wrong." No one on the ground was injured, organizers said. Wicker be

Since his first day in office, President Barack Obama's foreign policy has rested on outreach: resetting ties with Russia, building a partnership with China and offering a fresh start with antagonistic leaders from Iran to Venezuela. But the global travels on Sunday of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden highlight the limits of that approach. Leaders Obama has wooed - and met recently - were willing to snub the American president.   The cocky defiance by so-called "non-state actors" - Snowden himself and the anti-secrecy group, WikiLeaks, completes the picture of a world less willing than ever to bend to U.S. prescriptions of right and wrong. Snowden flew out of Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, early on Sunday after Hong Kong authorities rebuffed a U.S. request to detain him pending extradition to the United States for trial. Snowden has acknowledged leaking details of highly classified NSA surveillance programs. Beijing may m

Fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was seeking asylum in Ecuador on Sunday after Hong Kong allowed his departure for Russia in a slap to Washington's efforts to extradite him on espionage charges. In a major embarrassment for President Barack Obama, an aircraft thought to have carried Snowden landed in Moscow on Sunday, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said he was "bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum."   Earlier, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, visiting Vietnam, tweeted: "The Government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. #Snowden." It was a blow to Obama's foreign policy goals of resetting ties with Russia and building a partnership with China . The leaders of both countries were willing to snub the American president in a month when each had held talks with Obama. The United States continued efforts to prevent Snowden from gaining asylum. It warned

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday he will ask federal prosecutors to review a report that found "breathtaking waste and inefficiency" in the state-owned Long Island Power Authority's dealings with a private consulting firm. _0"> A scathing New York commission report released on Saturday found questionable billing practices and a troubling "revolving door" relationship between the state-owned utility and Navigant Consulting Inc, which may have been a breach of state ethics laws.   Cuomo said the state would refer its investigation to federal prosecutors. Last week, New York approved legislation to mostly dismantle the utility, known as LIPA, which was criticized for an inept response to Superstorm Sandy last October, when more than 90 percent of the 1.1 million LIPA customers on Long Island were left without power, some for more than two weeks. Public Service Enterprise Group Inc, a private utility in neighboring New Jersey, will take ov

Since his first day in office, President Barack Obama's foreign policy has rested on outreach: resetting ties with Russia, building a partnership with China and offering a fresh start with antagonistic leaders from Iran to Venezuela. But the global travels on Sunday of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden highlight the limits of that approach. Leaders Obama has wooed - and met recently - were willing to snub the American president.   The cocky defiance by so-called "non-state actors" - Snowden himself and the anti-secrecy group, WikiLeaks, completes the picture of a world less willing than ever to bend to U.S. prescriptions of right and wrong. Snowden flew out of Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, early on Sunday after Hong Kong authorities rebuffed a U.S. request to detain him pending extradition to the United States for trial. Snowden has acknowledged leaking details of highly classified NSA surveillance programs. Beijing may m

Daredevil Nik Wallenda completed a historic high-wire walk on a 2-inch (5-cm) steel cable over the Grand Canyon on Sunday and was greeted by wild cheers after his hair-raising stunt. Wallenda, the self-described "King of the High Wire," took 22 minutes and 54 seconds to walk 1,400 feet across the crimson-hued canyon with just a distant ribbon of the Little Colorado River beneath him. The event was broadcast live around the world.   Wallenda, the first person to cross the canyon, made the walk without a tether or safety net. Wallenda could be heard praying almost constantly during the walk, murmuring "Thank you, Jesus." He kissed the ground when he reached the other side. "It took every bit of me to stay focused that entire time," Wallenda said. "My arms are aching like you wouldn't believe." He said he stopped and crouched down twice, first because of the wind, the second because the cable had picked up an unsettling rhythm. He spat o

The jury in the murder and racketeering trial of accused mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger will hear on Monday from a former FBI supervisor who admitted he and another agent used to swap secrets with the notorious Winter Hill Gang. John Morris, who supervised the Federal Bureau of Investigation's local organized crime squad during the Winter Hill's bloody rampage in Boston in the 1970s and '80s, helped its members elude arrest and silence so-called rats, threatening to implicate them in crimes.   Prosecutors will now call him to testify against Bulger, 83, who is accused of killing or ordering the murders of 19 people while at the helm of the gang as it ran extortion and gambling rings, and settled scores. The accused gangster's story has captured Boston's imagination for decades and inspired the Academy Award-winning 2006 film "The Departed." On Friday, jurors got their first inside glimpse of the FBI's reported double-dealings with membe

Neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin simply because "he wanted to," because he was an armed vigilante, and because he viewed the 17-year-old whom he'd never met as just another "punk," a prosecutor said in opening statements to the jury in a trial that promises to raise thorny issues of race and gun rights. In a case that centers on a shooting that occurred without a clear eyewitness on a rainy, dark night more than a year ago, prosecutor John Guy sought to cut through doubts surrounding the incident in a fiery 30-minute opening statement that branded Zimmerman as the aggressor for the six jurors who will decide the case. As the second-degree murder trial opened in earnest after two weeks of jury selection and evidentiary rulings, the prosecutor began by bluntly quoting from Zimmerman's call to a police dispatcher after first spotting the unarmed, black teen. "'Fucking punks. These assholes, they always get away',&quo

The United States on Monday increased pressure on Russia to hand over Edward Snowden, the American charged with disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programs, and said it believed he was still in Moscow despite reports he was leaving for Cuba . Earlier Snowden, until recently a contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency, had been expected to fly to Havana from Moscow, perhaps on the way to Ecuador, but he was not seen on the plane and Russian officials declined to say where he was.   The U.S. State Department said diplomats and Justice Department officials were engaged in discussions with Russia , suggesting they were looking for a deal to secure his return. "Given our intensified cooperation working with Russia on law enforcement matters ... we hope that the Russian government will look at all available options to return Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged," spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters. Snowden flew t