US HEADLINES

Ex-U.S. House Speaker Hastert to plead guilty in hush-money case

By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) – Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has reached a deal with prosecutors and is expected to plead guilty to wrongdoing in a hush-money case, his lawyers told a federal judge in Chicago on Thursday. Prosecutors and defense attorneys did not say to which charge he would plead, or whether Hastert, the Republican speaker from 1999 to 2007, would serve time in prison. The agreement

Parishioners vow to continue Massachusetts vigil despite trespass ruling

Parishioners who have occupied their Massachusetts church for 11 years to prevent the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston from closing it vowed on Thursday to continue their vigil despite a ruling by the state’s top court that they are trespassing. A group of parishioners of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Scituate said they would keep up their 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week vigil, the last of a half-dozen mounted by Boston-area parishes

Lamar Odom reported in critical condition

Former NBA player and reality television star Lamar Odom was reported to be on a respirator and fighting for his life in a Las Vegas hospital on Wednesday after being found unresponsive at a Nevada brothel. Odom, 35, the ex-husband of Khloe Kardashian, suffered a medical emergency on Tuesday at the Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada, about 80 miles (50 kms) northwest of Las Vegas, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office