Neb. lawmakers override veto, ban death penalty

Neb. lawmakers override veto, ban death penalty

LINCOLN, Neb.

In a climactic political showdown, Nebraska’s lawmakers overrode a veto and banned the death penalty Wednesday.

The ban passed by the thinnest of margins, making Nebraska the first conservative-dominated legislature to outlaw the death-penalty since North Dakota in 1973.

The landmark vote comes as the use of capital punishment, though still favored by a majority of Americans, has gone into general decline and received increased scrutiny across the U.S. Nebraska itself hadn’t carried out an execution since 1997.

Source: IRS thinks identity thieves are from Russia

WASHINGTON

IRS investigators believe the identity thieves who stole the personal tax information of more than 100,000 taxpayers from an IRS website are part of a sophisticated criminal operation based in Russia, two officials told The Associated Press.

The information was stolen as part of an elaborate scheme to claim fraudulent tax refunds, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told reporters. Koskinen declined to say where the crime originated.

But two officials briefed on the matter said Wednesday the IRS believes the criminals were in Russia, based on computer data about who accessed the information. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing criminal investigation.

Study reveals flaws in genetic testing

The first report from a big public-private project to improve genetic testing reveals it is not as rock solid as many people believe, with flaws that result in some people wrongly advised to worry about a disease risk and others wrongly told they can relax.

Researchers say the study shows the need for consumers to be careful about choosing where to have a gene test done and acting on the results, such as having or forgoing a preventive surgery.

“We have very clear documentation that there are differences in what patients are getting” in terms of how tests on the same gene variations are interpreted, said the study leader, Heidi Rehm, genetics lab chief at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Teen sentenced to community service for starting wildfire

SAN DIEGO

A judge on Wednesday ordered a 14-year-old girl to serve 400 hours of community service for causing one of the worst wildfires in San Diego County last year.

The girl was sentenced in juvenile court. Her name was not being published because she is a minor.

She was found guilty of multiple felony counts of arson and one misdemeanor count of unlawfully allowing a fire to escape control.

Prosecutors argued during the two-week trial in March that the girl ignited branches in her backyard amid a spate of other wildfires in the county and laughed about it when she told her sister.

Investigators said an ember traveled nearly a half-mile and ignited a fire that destroyed more than three dozen homes and burned nearly 2,000 acres in what was called the Cocos Fire.

It’s not known if the girl’s parents could be held liable for damages that totaled about $12 million. A restitution hearing will take place at a later date.

Combined dispatches