Former judge sentenced to prison for "kids for cash" scheme

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A former Pennsylvania juvenile court judge was sentenced on Thursday to 28 years in prison for accepting payment to send juveniles to a for-profit detention facility in a scandal dubbed "kids for cash,". Former Luzerne County Juvenile Court Judge Mark Ciavarella, 61, accepted nearly $1 million from a developer who built the detention facility, prosecutors said.

Woman mauled by chimp shows new face in first photo

BOSTON (Reuters) - A woman who underwent a full face transplant in May after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009 revealed her new face in a photo released on Thursday. Charla Nash, 57, who was photographed in her hospital bed at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, appears dramatically different with a new nose, lips and facial skin.

Judge rules Little Rock bus line wrong to deny atheist ads

LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Reuters) - A federal judge ruled on Thursday that the free speech of a coalition of atheists had been violated when Little Rock's public bus line denied them the right to place $5,000 worth of ads on city buses. Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled that the Central Arkansas Transit Authority and its advertising agency should not have denied the group the right to place the ads on 18 publicly-funded city buses during Memorial Day weekend.

Police: Dougherty sister admits firing at officer

DENVER (Reuters) - A former topless dancer accused along with her two brothers in a three-state crime spree admitted she leveled a machine pistol at a Colorado police officer before he shot her, arrest warrant affidavits showed on Thursday. "I pointed the gun at the cop ... I deserved to get shot," Lee Grace Dougherty told an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, according to an affidavit. "(I)nstantly, I let go of the gun ... The pain was all through my body."

No guilty verdicts in Alabama gambling trial

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - An Alabama jury returned not guilty verdicts on Thursday against nine defendants accused in an alleged vote-buying scheme involving state lawmakers, casino owners and lobbyists, a lawyer involved in the case said. The verdicts represent a setback for the U.S. Department of Justice, which prosecuted the case.

Teen dies after fall on Yosemite hiking trail

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A teenager has died at a hospital four days after suffering head injuries in a fall at Yosemite National Park, in a deadly year for visitors to the California nature reserve, authorities said on Thursday. Kao Kue, 17, died at Doctor's Medical Center in Modesto, in central California, on Wednesday, a Stanislaus County coroner's clerk said.

Stephen Colbert aims comedic political ad at Iowa

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Stephen Colbert is putting his political action committee cash to work with advertisements that mockingly endorse Texas Governor Rick Perry ahead of an Iowa straw poll this week on the other Republican presidential hopefuls. The tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign is the first that Colbert has launched since the Comedy Central comedian won approval in June from the Federal Election Commission to form his "Super PAC."