• Mormon church OK with ending Boy Scouts' ban on gay youth

    Richard W. Rodriguez/AP file

    Boy Scouts hold signs at the "Save Our Scouts" prayer vigil and rally in front of the Boy Scouts of America' national headquarters in Irving, Texas, on Feb. 6, 2013.

    By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has given tacit approval to the Boy Scouts’ proposal to allow gay youth to join, saying they “appreciate the positive things” included in the plan to end the organization's controversial ban on gay boys.

    The Boy Scouts of America last week proposed allowing gay youth – but not adults – to participate in the private youth organization. That came two months after they floated the idea of allowing gays and lesbians of all ages to join, a proposal that was denounced by the conservative religious groups that make up a bulk of Scouting.

    “We are grateful to BSA for their careful consideration of these issues. We appreciate the positive things contained in this current proposal that will help build and strengthen the moral character and leadership skills of youth as we work together in the future,” the LDS church said Thursday in a statement posted to their website.

    “The current BSA proposal constructively addresses a number of important issues that have been part of the ongoing dialogue, including consistent standards for all BSA partners, recognition that Scouting exists to serve and benefit youth rather than Scout leaders, a single standard of moral purity for youth in the program, and a renewed emphasis for Scouts to honor their duty to God."

    The Mormon church tops the list of membership enrollment numbers, with 431,000 youths participating in LDS-sponsored units as of Dec. 31, 2012. That was followed by the United Methodist Church at 364,000 and the Catholic Church at 274,000. More than 70 percent of Scouting units are chartered to faith-based groups.

    The Boy Scouts said Thursday in a statement that it was pleased the LDS church was “satisfied that the BSA has made a thoughtful, good-faith effort to address this issue.”

    “For nearly 100 years we have worked together with the mutual goal of building the moral character and leadership skills of youth. We believe kids are better off when they are in Scouting, and the program is successful because of its relationships with valued chartered organizations like the Church,” the statement said.

    The Boy Scouts’ policy has increasingly been a sore spot for the organization over the last year, following the dismissal of a den leader because she is a lesbian and the denial of the Eagle Scout rank to a California teen because he is gay.

    The BSA’s National Council will vote on changing the membership policy on May 23. Its biannual “The Voice of the Scout Survey,” conducted earlier this year, for the first time included questions on gay membership.

    Among the 280 administrative local councils, half recommended no change, 38 percent recommended a change and 14 percent took a neutral position, the Scouts said.

    "While perspectives and opinions vary significantly, parents, adults in the Scouting community and teens alike tend to agree that youth should not be denied the benefits of Scouting," the organization said last week in a statement.

    If you are a current or former member of the Boy Scouts and would like to share your thoughts on how your troop, pack or council is handling the BSA's proposed change to the membership policy, you can email the reporter at miranda.leitsinger@msnbc.com. We may use some comments for a follow-up story, so please specify if your remarks can be used and provide your name, hometown, age, Boy Scout affiliation and a phone number.

  • Law enforcement leads the way in overturning bad convictions, group says

    Reza A. Marvashti / The Free Lance-Star via AP

    Michael Wayne Hash is escorted to a police car in Culpeper, Va. on March 14, 2012. A Culpeper County Circuit Judge ordered Hash's release after his life sentence for killing an elderly woman was tossed out by a federal judge. That judge overturned Hash's 2001 murder conviction, citing prosecutorial and police misconduct and an inadequate defense.

    By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

    The number of cases in which prosecutors or police helped exonerate people convicted of crimes surged in 2012, passing 50 percent for the first time, a research group said Wednesday.

    Authorities led or cooperated on investigations into 34 of last year’s 63 known exonerations, the group said.

    “To the extent that they are focused … on correcting errors that have been made, that’s really good news,” said Professor Sam Gross, editor of The National Registry of Exonerations, a project of the law schools at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University. “That means that more innocent people will be released and that we’ll, over time, learn more about the process that produces mistakes like this and avoid more tragic errors.”

    The development may reflect the spread of what are often known as Conviction Integrity Units in district attorney’s offices in major cities across the country as well as changes in state laws making it easier to do post-conviction DNA testing, according to the registry, which launched last year and provides information about exonerations since 1989.

    Gross said it was an important change, noting that police and prosecutors are the “central actors” in the criminal justice system and had the key role of investigating crimes and pursuing justice. “They have more information; they have more power than anybody else,” said Gross.

    But Scott Burns, executive director of the National District Attorneys Association, took exception to the report’s findings, particularly that it was the first time law enforcement helped in a majority of such cases.

    “It’s offensive because that’s our job all the time is to … hold the guilty accountable, but our job is (also) to make sure that the innocent are acquitted or exonerated,” he said. “We do that in every case.”

    He also objected to some of the exonerations, saying that in decades-old crimes being challenged today, there were bars to prosecutors re-trying these cases, such as dead witnesses or lost evidence.

    “A number of these people are not innocent,” he said. “I can’t stress this enough because you have victims out there. … If you live through that kind of stuff it’s maddening.”

    He also noted that the 1,089 exonerations found by the registry from 1989 to 2012 was a small number compared to the more than 10 million felony cases that prosecutors nationwide handle annually.

    Man held for 42 years in deadly Arizona hotel fire freed from prison

    The registry uses its own criteria to determine when someone has been exonerated, since there is no such legal category. People have been exonerated through a governor’s pardon, court dismissal of the case, acquittal on retrial and a few through court-issued “certificates of innocence” or “declarations of wrongful imprisonment.” This includes cases where DNA testing was a factor. Some people have been exonerated posthumously.

    Code snippet for US news stories:

    The 2012 exonerations included those charged with murder, including: Damon Thibodeaux, who was cleared by DNA testing in the rape and killing of his 14-year-old step cousin and was released from death row; Michael Hash, who was was freed after 12 years following his life sentence conviction in the killing of an elderly woman. A federal judge vacated the conviction, citing misconduct by the prosecutor and police, and an inadequate defense.

    The conviction integrity units, have emerged in recent years in Dallas, Houston, New York (Manhattan and Brooklyn), Santa Clara, Calif., and Lake and Cook counties in Illinois to review disputed cases. Some state attorneys general, such as in Virginia and Colorado, have also undertaken programs to facilitate exonerations or help particular defendants.

    A snapshot of the 1,050 individual exonerations from January 1989-December 2012:

    --  93.2 percent were men; 6.7 percent were women.

    --  The race of the defendants was known in 97.6 percent of the cases: 47.3 percent were black, 38.5 percent were white, 12.2 percent were Hispanic and 1.8 percent were Native American or Asian.

    --  9.4 percent pled guilty. The rest were convicted at trial: 82.2 percent by juries and 7 percent by judges. In about 1 percent of the cases, the Registry could not determine whether the trial conviction was by a jury or judge.

    --  32.4 percent were cleared at least in part through DNA evidence

    --  67.5 percent were cleared without DNA evidence.

    --  Nearly all had been in prison for years: half for at least 9 years; more than 75 percent for at least 4 years.

    Related:

    Wrongfully imprisoned for 23 years, freed man suffers heart attack a day after release

    Conviction: Reporter's 10-year quest for answers in little-known murder case

    Witness error: How mind tricks can put the innocent behind bars

  • Woman who led Augusta charge 'knew we could outlast them'

    Martha Burk, chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations, talks with the media during Masters week protests outside the gates of Augusta National on April 12, 2003 in Augusta, Ga.

    By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

    The woman who led a protest starting in 2002 calling for the Augusta National Golf Club to admit female members on Monday welcomed the club’s decision to end its males-only policy, saying, “I knew we could outlast them.”

    Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne announced Monday that it had invited Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore to become the first women members when the club begins its new season in October and that they had accepted.

    The home of the Masters was under growing criticism due to the policy. Dr. Martha Burk made national headlines when she led a protest against it, culminating in a 2003 parking lot protest during the National Championships. At the time, former club Chairman Hootie Johnson said Augusta National could one day have a woman in the member's green jacket, ''but not at the point of a bayonet.''

    Augusta National announces inclusion of women

    Burk, former chair of the National Council of Women’s Organizations and now director of its corporate accountability project, told NBC News she was pleased with the decision.

    “I think it has pretty broad significance because the club is emblematic of the power structure of corporate America,” Burk said from Albuquerque, N.M. “It makes a statement that women are going to be accepted into, shall we say, these off-campus venues of power that the leaders of corporate America hang at.”

     

     


    Burk attributed the change to their unrelenting pressure.

    "I thought it was going to take a long time but I knew we could outlast them," she said. “I knew that if we kept bringing pressure and did not let up, which we have not, that it would happen."

    While there are other organizations that maintain a males-only policy, none of them is functioning as “de facto public accommodations as Augusta was,” Burk said.

    “None of them … are able to make the statement that Augusta makes as to the place of women, not only in society, but in corporate America, because none of them have the six-star roster that Augusta National has,” she added.

    The lesson learned for women’s rights groups,  is to “never give up, never give up, never give up. That’s it,” she said.

    When asked if she would be interested in becoming a member, she said one doesn't apply, but "if they offer me a membership, I will certainly accept it. 

    More content from NBCNews.com:  

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • Fire threatens portion of Sequoia National Forest

    NBC Los Angeles

    The George fire in the Sequoia National Forest.

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    Updated at 5:16 p.m. ET: A wind-driven wildfire raged in the Sequoia National Forest on Monday, devouring at least 1,700 acres of the park in the southern Sierra Nevada.


    More than 500 firefighters were battling the blaze, dubbed the George Fire, and more resources were expected to arrive throughout the day, said Michelle Puckett, a fire information officer with the U.S. Forest Service.

    Firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service evacuated hikers and campers along the Lloyd Meadow Road and at several trailheads.

    “We don’t know the number of people evacuated, but we do know that all hikers and campers are out,” Puckett told msnbc.com.

    The fire grew from about 1,000 acres on Sunday to 1,700 acres on Monday. The fire was 25 percent contained.

    A firefighting aircraft crashed into rugged terrain near the Utah-Nevada border as it dropped retardant on a 5,000-acre wildfire, killing the two Idaho men on board. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    So far, the fire has consumed dead and downed trees in an area of the forest that hasn’t burned in 140 years, Puckett said.

    View NBCLosAngeles.com's coverage of fire at Sequoia National Forest 

    She said fire was still burning away from the forest's legendary sequoia groves. When fully grown, sequoias can grow 20 feet in diameter and reach lofty heights of more than 250 feet.

    Puckett said the fire started Friday near a tree named for President George H.W. Bush, who signed a proclamation protecting all groves of giant Sequoias in the Sierra in 1992. The “George Tree” is located in the eastern edge of the Freeman Creek Giant Sequoia Grove, Puckett said.

    The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • Virginia girl is youngest ever in National Spelling Bee

    Jacquelyn Martin / AP file

    Lori Anne Madison, 6, of Lake Ridge, Va., walks through river water while playing with friends in a park in McLean, Va., on May 11.

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    Lori Anne Madison may be only 6 years old, but she's got a big talent: She's among the best spellers in the nation.


    On Wednesday, the home-schooled girl from Lake Ridge, Va., who loves swimming, math and the outdoors, will compete with 277 other contestants -- many twice her age and size -- at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

    “It’s been a busy day for everyone and I know her parents want her to get some rest and to be ready for the competition,” Ria Schalnat, spokeswoman for the bee, told msnbc.com on Tuesday.

    Schalnat said Lori Anne's parents have refused interviews until Thursday, “and that is dependent on whether she qualifies for the semifinals.”

    The annual spelling bee continues through Thursday. Preliminary competition starts at 8 a.m. ET Wednesday. The championship finals, slated for 8 p.m. ET Thursday, will be aired live on ESPN. 

    Lori Anne started making waves in March when she correctly spelled “vaquero” to win her regional bee in northern Virginia, according to the Washington Post.

    "It was shocking," The Associated Press quoted Sorina Madison as saying. "I didn't expect all the media attention. We're private people. We're regular people. It was intimidating. But I'm happy for her. She loves it and she does it because it's a passion, and we never push her into anything and want her to make her own choices."

    Take the test: Could you keep up with these kids?

    Lori Anne says she wants to be an astrobiologist.

    Why? She told the AP: "I'm going to sort of find life forms. And, plus, alien planets are new."

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • 'I was nervous': Texas whiz kid beats teens in 2012 National Geographic Bee

    Texas whiz kid beats Wisconsin teen in 2012 National Geographic Bee.

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    A Houston-area whiz kid is the new champion of 2012 National Geographic Bee after correctly answering the question: "Name the Bavarian city located on the Danube River that was a legislative seat of the Holy Roman Empire from 1663 to 1806."


    Rahul Nagvekar’s answer: Regensburg.

    The 14-year-old eighth-grader from Quail Middle School in Missouri City, Texas, won the grand prize, including a $25,000 college scholarship and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.

    “My parents have helped me tremendously and everyone -- my family, my teachers, my friends, all the students at the school -- have been so encouraging and supportive,” Nagvekar told msnbc.com on Thursday. “I could not have done this without them.”

    Nagvekar admits he was a little nervous during the competition.

    “I knew that if I remained calm and focused and listened to the questions I would do well,” Nagvekar said. “I was nervous, but relaxed.”

    After four rounds of intense tie-breaker questions, Nagvekar finally ousted Vansh Jain, a 13-year-old bee veteran from northwestern Wisconsin, to win the coveted prize, according to NBC News.

    Susan Walsh / AP

    National Geographic Bee host Alex Trebek stands with National Geographic Bee champion Rahul Nagvekar, 14, from Missouri City, Texas, on Thursday.

    Jain, an eighth-grader at Minocqua-Hazelhurst-Lake Tomahawk Elementary School in Minocqua, Wis., had been in the finals the past three years. Jain's second-place finish earned him a $15,000 college scholarship.

    “I saw him on TV in the finals last year. I admired him for being so well-versed and looked forward to competing with him,” Nagvekar said.

    Nagvekar said he will crack open more books, maps and National Geographic publications to prepare for more contests. Nagvekar has a chance to represent the U.S. at the world championship in Russia in 2013.

    But first things first, he said. He wanted to chat a little more with some of his competitors during a dinner on Thursday evening, hosted by National Geographic staff in Washington, D.C.

    He described his peers as "very nice, very welcoming."

    Watch the Top Videos on msnbc.com

    Varun Mahadevan, a 13-year-old seventh-grader at Prince of Peace Christian School in Fremont, near San Francisco, won third place and a $10,000 scholarship, according to National Geographic.

    Alex Trebek of “Jeopardy!” hosted the event, which will be televised on the National Geographic Channel Thursday at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET/PT.

    This is the third time in four years that a student from Texas has won the National Geographic Bee, according to National Geographic. Last year's winner was Tine Valencic of Fort Worth. The 2009 winner was Eric Yang from The Colony, Texas, according to the National Geographic.

    Millions of students from thousands of schools took part in the 2012 National Geographic Bee, sponsored by Google.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • Pentagon spies get new service, stepped up mission

    By Associated Press

    The Pentagon is rebranding and reorganizing its clandestine spy shop, sending more of its case officers to work alongside CIA officers to gather intelligence in places like China, after a decade of focusing intensely on war zones.


    Several hundred case officers will make up the new Defense Clandestine Service,  according to a senior defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the classified program.

    Drawn from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the officers will be sent to beef up U.S. intelligence teams in areas that are now receiving more attention. Those include Africa, where al-Qaida is increasingly active, to parts of Asia where the North Korean missile threat and Chinese military expansion are causing increasing U.S. concern.

    Defense Department case officers already secretly gather intelligence across the globe on terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and other issues, mostly working out of CIA stations in embassies and operating undercover like their CIA counterparts.

    But an internal study by the Director of National Intelligence last year found the agency still focused more on its traditional mission of providing the military with intelligence in war zones, and less on what's called "national" intelligence — gathering and disseminating information on global issues and sharing that intelligence with other national security agencies, the official said.

    The study also found that the Pentagon did not always reward clandestine service overseas with promotions, so its most experienced case officers often left for the CIA, or switched to other career paths within the Pentagon.

    The new service is intended to curb personnel losses, making clandestine work part of the Pentagon's professional career track and rewarding those who prove successful at operating covertly overseas with further tours and promotions, like their CIA colleagues.

    The case officers in the field — some military and some civilian — will answer directly to the top intelligence representative in their post, usually the CIA's chief of station, in addition to serving their agency back home. The arrangement is likely to curb complaints seen in earlier expansions of the Defense Department's spy mission, which the CIA and other agencies saw as the military stepping on their territory.

    The changes were worked out by the top Pentagon intelligence official, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers, and his CIA counterpart who heads the National Clandestine Service, and briefed to Congress before Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed off on the new program last Friday.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Attorney General Eric Holder: People 'rightly concerned' about Trayvon Martin death

    By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Updated at 6:18 p.m. ET: Attorney General Eric Holder told a civil rights group on Wednesday people were “rightly concerned” about the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, and if the Justice Department found evidence of a potential federal civil rights crime, officials would take “appropriate action.”


    Holder made his remarks to a gathering of the National Action Network, founded by Rev. Al Sharpton, host of MSNBC PoliticsNation. Later in the day, a special prosecutor in Florida announced that George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman who shot Martin, would be charged with second-degree murder.

    “I know that many of you are greatly -- and rightly -- concerned about the recent shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a young man whose future has been lost to the ages,” Holder told the group’s annual convention.

    Though an ongoing Justice Department investigation prevented Holder from speaking in detail about the case, he said several officials had traveled to Sanford, Fla. – where Martin was shot – to meet with the boy’s family, the community and local authorities.

    “If we find evidence of a potential federal criminal civil rights crime, we will take appropriate action,” Holder said.

    His comments came ahead of a 6 p.m. ET press conference by Angela Corey, the special prosecutor appointed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott to re-examine the case. Corey announced the second-degree murder charge and said Zimmerman was in custody in Florida.

    On Tuesday, the attorneys for Zimmerman said they had lost touch with their client and were withdrawing from the case. Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig said at a news conference outside the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford that Zimmerman had contacted the special prosecutor against their advice.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • City may issue Occupy Albany permit

    By WNYT.com

    The Albany, N.Y.,  Fire Department will be at Occupy Albany Tuesday afternoon.  If there no violations found, city officials are likely to issue a permit allowing the group to continue stay overnight in Academy Park.

    Read the original story on WNYT.com

    The protesters have already agreed to reduce their tent encampment by two-thirds in exchange for a city permit. They had about 90 tents late last week, now they are down to 30.

    Part of the compromise bans individual space heaters in tent city.

    Elsewhere across the country Tuesday:

    For more on today's Occupy action, click here.

  • BofA workers told to be careful amid Occupy protests

    By msnbc.com staff

    Bank of America employees are being told to be careful Tuesday as housing activists and Occupy protesters gear up to take over foreclosed homes and empty lots and help defend families facing eviction in at least 25 cities.

    "Your safety is our primary concern, so do not engage with the protesters," said a bank memo issued Tuesday.

    The move by activists is part of a bid to re-energize the grassroots movement and put the spotlight on the ongoing housing crisis.

    "As ungrateful bailed-out banks continue to foreclose on American families, Occupy Wall Street takes fight to the ‘home front’," said a press release sent to Business Insider.

    In response, bank officials reportedly sent out a memo telling their employees to be extra careful, and even referred to a specific story on occupyourhomes.org that features a Bank of America customer they're "researching."

    Thanks to zerohedge.com for providing a copy of the memo.

    Elsewhere across the country Tuesday:

    For more on today's Occupy action, click here.

     

  • Occupy Hartford protesters told to vacate

    By msnbc.com staff

    Occupy protesters in Hartford, Conn., have until 6 p.m. Tuesday to leave their encampment or risk being arrested after the deadline passes.

    "I don't anticipate any trouble, but I will take appropriate corrective action," Hartford Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts told the Hartford Courant. 

    Roberts said that Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra notified the campers of his decision early Tuesday morning through a written statement handed out by city employees, the Courant reported.

    The decision to vacate the site was reportedly prompted by continuing reports of illegal activity, including drug use and a sexual assault last week.

    Amanda Robinson told the Courant that she has been camping at the site since Oct. 24.  When asked what response the protesters might make to the deadline notice, Robinson said: "I'm sure we're going to make it interesting."

    Elsewhere across the country Tuesday:

    For more on today's 'Occupy' action, Click here 

     The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  • Housing and 'Occupy' activists take aim at foreclosed homes, empty lots

    By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Housing activists and "Occupy"protesters were gearing up Tuesday to take over foreclosed homes and empty lots and help defend families facing eviction in at least 25 cities as part of a bid to re-energize the grassroots movement and put the spotlight on the ongoing housing crisis.

    From towns such as Southgate, Mich., and Lake Worth, Fla., to cities like Portland, Ore., and Chicago, activists were planning to disrupt auctions on foreclosed homes, hold candlelight vigils and join families battling eviction in their residences. In Denver, they were intending to dump trash from empty homes on the mayor's lawn; in Minneapolis they planned to help a veteran remain in his foreclosed home; in New York they planned to move a homeless family into an abandoned home.

    "Like September 17, when Occupy Wall Street started, people looked at it and there was this real question, 'Is this going to last? how is it going to grow?' and one of the reasons it grew is that as people stayed down at Zuccotti Park ... other people were inspired to take action," said Matt Browner Hamlin, an activist with occupyourhomes.org. "This is not something (where) ... we want a family to have a home for a day, we want them to have that home for a lifetime."

    "Occupy" protesters already have been squatting in vacant houses in cities like New York, Seattle, Portland, Oakland and London, where protesters have taken over an abandoned office block bought by UBS several years ago and dubbed it the "Bank of Ideas." They also have made scattered efforts – some of them successful -- to help families facing eviction defend their homes in California, West Harlem, and Minneapolis, among other places.

    Banks are expected to repossess some 800,000 homes this year, down from more than 1 million last year, said RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio. But the number of U.S. homes that received a first-time default notice during the July to September quarter increased 14 percent compared to the second quarter of the year, according to the firm.

    The increase is a sign that banks are now moving more aggressively against borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments following industrywide foreclosure processing problems that emerged last fall. Those problems resulted in a sharp drop in foreclosure activity early this year.

    Click here for all the developments on this breaking news story.