A 32-year-old Pennsylvania man with Down syndrome was so severely neglected by his family that his body was covered in scabies and he weighed just 69 pounds when he died, police said in charging his mother and two sisters with murder. Robert Gensiak had open sores down to the bone at the time of his death March 20. He was taken to the hospital a day earlier because he was only semi-responsive and ...

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:31:40 GMT

President Barack Obama says he wants to reduce the number of deployed U.S. nuclear weapons by a third, but even if the Russians agree to do the same, it could be a decade or longer before the 500 or so U.S. warheads under discussion are actually destroyed.A massive backlog at the Texas Pantex plant where nukes are dismantled means warheads removed from submarines and land-based missiles as a resul...

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 08:24:27 GMT

Struggling student loan debtors are being tricked into paying up to $1,600 in fees to private firms offering "debt relief" that they could get for free, according to a report issued Wednesday by the National Consumer Law Center.Student loan debt relief ads began crowding their way onto media in recent months. Consumers deep in credit card debt have heard the pitch for years, in seemingly incessant...

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:16:53 GMT

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina — North Carolina's governor, hoping to resume executions in his state, on Wednesday signed the repeal of a law that has allowed death row inmates to seek a reduced sentence if they could prove racial bias affected their punishmentThe Racial Justice Act, the only law of its kind in the United States, had led to four inmates getting their sentences changed to life in pr...

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:32:38 GMT

A prosecutor says a Boston man found dead in an industrial park about a mile from New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez's home was a homicide victim.Bristol District Attorney Samuel Sutter's office said Wednesday the state medical examiner has identified 27-year-old Odin Lloyd and ruled he was a homicide victim.Lloyd's family says he had connections to Hernandez but hasn't elaborated...

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:13:31 GMT