WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Roger Clemens’ lawyer rejected federal charges of perjury against the former pitching star, saying on Tuesday Clemens is opposed to steroid use and simply told the truth in denying he had used them.

“You are sitting in judgment to decide whether it is a crime to deny a crime,” attorney Rusty Hardin told jurors in his opening statement at the trial of Clemens, who is charged with lying to Congress in testimony concerning performance-enhancing drugs.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Attorneys for Roger Clemens and the government are expected to make opening arguments on Monday in a new trial of the former baseball pitching ace, who is accused of lying to Congress about taking performance-enhancing steroids.

The two sides were in the final steps of selecting the 12-member jury and four alternates, concluding a process that began a week ago, roughly nine months after his first trial was halted due to a misstep by prosecutors.

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) – Washington’s historic Howard
Theater, a launching pad for black performers from Duke
Ellington to The Supremes, reopened on Monday after a $29
million restoration saved it from the wrecking ball.

Hundreds of people crowded outside the Howard to celebrate
the rebirth of the century-old building, famed as the oldest
legitimate theater aimed at a black audience.

By Ian Simpson

(Reuters) – The Justice Department will probe the Pasadena Police Department for possible civil rights violations related to a March 24 police shooting that killed Kendrec McDade, federal officials said Friday.

McDade, 19, was fatally shot on March 24 after police received a 911 call about an armed robbery. Officers responded and discovered McDade and a second teenager at the scene.

By Ian Simpson

(Reuters) – Police in Pasadena, California, have asked the FBI to review the shooting death of an unarmed black college student by two white officers.

Kendrec McDade, 19, was fatally shot on March 24 after police received a 911 call about an armed robbery. Officers responded and saw McDade and a second teenager, and when the two suspects split up, they chased McDade and shot him when they thought he was reaching for a gun.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The suspect in a California shooting rampage that killed seven people and wounded three had changed his name because he thought “Su” sounded like a girl’s name, according to a court document.

The suspect, One Goh, 43, was born Su Nam Ko in South Korea but changed it in February 2002 when he lived in Falls Church, Virginia, the Fairfax County Circuit Court filing showed.

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) – One in five American adults
read an electronic book in the last year, as gift-giving sped
the shift away from the printed page, a Pew Research Center
survey showed on Wednesday.

In a sweeping survey of e-books’ impact on reading habits,
the Pew report said that four times more U.S. readers, or 15
percent, were reading e-books on a typical day now compared with
less than two years ago.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Agents arrested 3,168 people in the biggest sweep of an operation targeting criminal and fugitive immigrants for deportation, immigration officials said on Monday.

The roundup last week was the third “Cross Check” sweep since May 2011. It brought to more than 10,000 the number of foreign lawbreakers or repeat immigration offenders arrested in national and regional operations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton said.

By Ian Simpson

(Reuters) – A Pennsylvania court on Thursday ordered the start of the child sex abuse trial of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky delayed three weeks to June 5, citing logistical issues.

Sandusky, 68, a former Penn State defensive coordinator, faces 52 counts of child molestation over accusations he abused 10 boys over a 15-year period. He has denied the charges and is under house arrest.

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) – The Supreme Court is not
expected to rule on the U.S. healthcare law’s contentious
individual mandate for another three months.

But that did not stop partisans on both sides of the
political battle from claiming – or at least trying to salvage -
an early victory in the court of public opinion on Tuesday.