The Pentagon says air operations in Iraq against the Islamic State have now cost more than half a billion dollars since they began in June. NPR's Tom Boman reports the military is also looking to expand the training effort for   moderate rebels in neighbouring Syria. The Obama administration has asked Congress for 500 million dollars to increase  for rebel forces who are fighting both the Islamic State and the Assad regime. The CIA already is providing some limited training to moderate rebels in Syria. Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said before the military takes part, there are a number of hurdles to overcome. You gotta have a moderate opposition that you can rely on. ****** You got to have at least one willing partner in the region to help sponsor some other tips for training. I mean there's a lot of work that we gotta do and more work after we are through that. Meanwhile Admiral Kirby said there's a possibility that the current US assessment of Iraqi forces could turn into advisory mission. Tom Boman, NPR News, Washington.

 

    Present officials in California agreed to segregate mentally ill inmates into specialized housing units. NPR's Richard Gonzales explains the move comes in response to a federal court ruling that past treatment of the inmates has violated constitutional safeguards. In April, a federal court ruled the conditions for mentally ill inmates amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling came after the release of videos showing guards using large amounts of pepper spray to subdue inmates in their cells. In a court filing, the state agreed to create separate, short- and long- term housing units for about 2500 mentally ill inmates who are currently in solitary confinement. The state plans to improve inmates' access to mental health professionsls and will review the cases of thousands of other mentally ill inmates to see whether they need to remain in solitary confinement. Richard Gonzales, NPR News, San Francisco.

 

    A federal judge is throwing out new abortion restrictions in Texas that would affectably close down more than a dozen clinics in that state. US district court judge signing with clinics and suitor of a part of a sweeping- any- abortion measure signed the law by the state governor Rich Perry would have required clinics provide abortion with the hospital operating standards. 

 

    On Wall Street the Dow was up 18 points. This is NPR.

 

    The man accused of masterminding, one of the largest ever insurance scam in Florida's history has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. The judge today sentenced in Joel Steinger, the former head of Fort Lauderdale-based Mutual Benefits Corp. to the prison term after he pleaded guilty in March to mail and wire fraud and conspiracy charges. Prosecutors contend the company was actually a massive fraud scheme, in which investors lost up to 850 million dollars from 1994 to 2004. Now they found company purchased life insurance policies from people with AIDs, cancer and other chronic illnesses, then sold them to investors. 

 

    During her closing arguments in the corruption trial against former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell today, NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports McDonnell and his wife could face decades in prison. They are convicted of doing favours for wealthy businessmen in exchange for loans and gifts. Prosecutors laid out a detailed timeline of phone calls, e- mails, texts showing the gifts from CEO Jonnie Williams for closely followed by the governor's actions on his behalf. They also argued that McDonnell tried to keep the loans in country island's secret, assigned he knew they were wrong. Defense Attorney said McDonnell did not know about many of the gifts and did not give Williams anything concrete in return. This case, they said, amounted to a quid without a quo. They also repeated their contention that the couple's marriage was so broken- they were bearly speaking, and so could not have conspired together. ** expected to start their deliberations next week. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News.

 

    The CEO of US- based catering company is in hot water after being caught on video tape kicking a dog. The board of the company ccnter place announcing it's placed CEO Desmond Hague in a definite probation, who's caught by surveillance camera in an elevator.

 

    I'm Jack Speer, NPR News.