In the Nation

NEW YORK

Court favors reporter, Colo. news sources

A Fox News reporter is protected by New York law from being forced to reveal her sources for an article about the suspect in the mass shooting that left 12 people dead in a suburban Denver movie theater last year, the state's top court ruled Tuesday.

New York shield law supports refusing to recognize a Colorado court's petition for a subpoena, the New York Court of Appeals ruled, 4-3.

Lawyers for the suspect, James Holmes, wanted New York-based reporter Jana Winter brought to Colorado to name two law officers who told her Holmes had mailed a notebook depicting violence to a psychiatrist. The lawyers argued that the sources violated a judge's gag order, may have lied under oath about that, and won't be credible as trial witnesses.

Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes described the decision as "a major win for all journalists." - AP

WISCONSIN

Ties cut over cruelty

Frozen pizza brand DiGiorno and its cheese supplier are cutting ties with a Wisconsin dairy farm after an animal-rights group released video showing workers beating, kicking, stabbing, and whipping sick and injured cows. Wiese Bros. Farm owner Mark Wiese says he fired two employees and assigned another to duties that don't involve handling animals. - AP
NEW YORK
Technology lacking
Federal safety officials say the technology known as positive train control would probably have prevented the Dec. 1 train derailment that killed four people in New York. The National Transportation Safety Board says the system would have required the engineer to slow the train to an appropriate speed. If he failed to do so, the technology would have stopped the train, "likely preventing the derailment." Railroads face a congressional deadline to install the technology by 2016. - AP