PHOENIX (Reuters) – Court proceedings against accused Tucson shooter Jared Loughner are set to move to a U.S. federal court in Tucson, after the prosecution and defense reached agreement, court documents showed on Friday

Prosecutor Wallace Kleindienst and Loughner's attorney Judy Clarke agreed proceedings should "be held in the Tucson Division, without waiving the right of either party to raise motions or objections to venue in the future," according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.

Loughner, a 22-year old college dropout, pleaded not guilty in the Phoenix court on Monday to federal charges of attempting to assassinate U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and attempting to murder two of her staff members.

He is accused of opening fire on Giffords and a crowd of bystanders outside a grocery store on January 8, killing six people, including a federal judge, and wounding 13. Giffords was shot in the head but survived.

The agreement between the two sides would still have to be formally approved by Judge Larry Burns, the San Diego federal justice who is hearing the case, the U.S. Attorney's Office said on Friday.

In a motion filed last Sunday, prosecutors sought to shift any future proceedings against Loughner to Tucson, citing the principle that defendants stand trial in the jurisdiction where their alleged crimes took place.

Prosecutors also argued that the 19 people struck by gunfire in the rampage, and the "vast majority" of witnesses to the shooting, all lived in the Tucson area.

At the hearing on Monday, Burns set March 9 as the next court date in the federal case.

Clarke had said she did not object to moving the proceedings to Tucson but sought clarification on where Loughner would be housed.

Last Friday, Giffords was transferred to a rehabilitation facility in Houston, Texas, following life-saving surgery and intensive care at the University Medical Center in Tucson in the days after the shooting.

Judge Burns was appointed to the case after Roll's colleagues on the Arizona federal bench recused themselves.

Loughner could face up to life in prison if convicted of trying to kill the lawmaker and the other two attempted murder charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.

(Reporting by David Schwartz; Writing by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Jerry Norton)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New Pentagon rules allowing gays to serve openly in the military prohibit separate bathroom facilities based on sexual orientation and say that not all benefits will be extended to same sex dependents.

The Pentagon issued new guidelines on Friday as a first step to ending the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that forces gays to keep their preferences secret in order to serve in the military.

Congress repealed the policy last month but gave the military an unspecified amount of time to prepare the sweeping change. President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union address this week that the change would be enforced this year.

The new guidelines ask the military top brass for precise plans within a week to implement the policy.

It says that while some benefits such as choosing the beneficiaries of life insurance and death gratuities are a matter of individual preference of service personnel, federal laws such as the Defense of Marriage Act mean certain benefits that go to married couples will not apply to same-sex partnerships.

"Strong, engaged and informed leadership will be required at every level to implement the repeal of (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) properly, effectively, and in a deliberate and careful manner," Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in the guidelines.

"This is not, however, a change that should be done incrementally," he said.

The memo sets out principles to mold the new policy, focusing on respect and eliminating any discrimination that might be directly based on sexual orientation.

Despite the Congressional repeal, there has been push back from leadership in the military and Gates himself has stressed that change will take a while.

"It is therefore important that our men and women in uniform understand that while today's historic vote means that this policy will change, the implementation and certification process will take an additional period of time," Gates said after the policy was repealed last month.

Marine Corps Commandant James Amos had said that implementing the change could cost lives because of the impact on discipline and unit cohesiveness.

More than 13,500 people were discharged from the military under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy since 1993.

Even after the repeal of the policy by Congress, gay rights groups have continued to press legal challenges because they fear the Pentagon will be slow to implement the new policy.

(Reporting by Wendell Marsh; Editing by Greg McCune)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City might have to lay off 15,000 teachers if the state, grappling with a $10 billion deficit, cuts the city's education budget by $1 billion, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Friday.

The city has around 75,000 teachers and Bloomberg is already planning to lay off around 6,000 to help deal with New York City's deficit for the next fiscal year. In December, the budget director predicted the city's budget gap could rise to $4.4 billion, depending on state cuts.

Like many cities, towns and states, New York is struggling with the end of the federal stimulus program. The city is losing $800 million. This is why Bloomberg was already preparing to lay off so many teachers.

"The scuttlebutt is -- I don't know if it's true or not -- is that the education budget will be cut statewide and New York City's share of that would be a $1 billion cut," Bloomberg, an independent, told WOR radio.

The teacher layoffs could be higher, depending on what New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo announces when he unveils his budget plan on Tuesday. Cuts are expected to play a major role because the Democrat has vowed not to increase taxes.

A Cuomo spokesman was not available to comment on reductions in education aid or other cutbacks, including the possibility the state will lay off 10,000 to 15,000 workers, shutter some prisons, and slash Medicaid, the state-federal health plan for the poor, by $2.1 billion.

(Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Andrew Hay)

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Arizona Republicans introduced legislation on Thursday seeking to challenge the right to U.S. citizenship for children born in the state whose parents are illegal immigrants or other non-citizens.

The move by state legislators came the same day the sheriff for Phoenix and surrounding areas sent a force of 200 deputies and citizen volunteers on an immigration sweep, an action the controversial lawman has undertaken periodically since 2008.

Republicans introduced bills in the Arizona legislature that aim to provoke a legal review of the 14th amendment to the Constitution, which anchors citizenship rights for the children of immigrants.

The 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof."

It was adopted in 1868 after the U.S. Civil War to ensure citizenship for former African-American slaves.

The aim is "to trigger ... a Supreme Court review of the phrase 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof' in the 14th amendment," said Rep. John Kavanagh, one on the backers of the legislation.

It ultimately seeks "to deny citizenship to any child born of parents who are not citizens of the United States, be they illegal aliens, or foreigners on business or for tourist purposes," he added.

A total of four proposals were introduced, two in the state House of Representatives and two in the Senate, where Republicans have a majority.

Kavanagh said the legislation would likely come to a vote in several weeks, after legislators vote on the cash-strapped border state's budget.

SHERIFF'S SWEEP

In Phoenix, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday kicked off a sweep to crack down on illegal immigration.

Aside from his deputies, Arpaio also relied on volunteer members of a newly formed Illegal Immigration Enforcement Posse, who took to the streets in a two-day countywide operation targeting drop houses, drug activity and human smuggling, said sheriff's spokesman Sergeant Jesse Spurgin.

Action flick star Steven Seagal is a member of the sheriff's posse, and he took part in the operation, Spurgin said. Twenty-two suspected illegal immigrants had been arrested by late Thursday, he said.

The legislation Arizona lawmakers introduced on Thursday is part of a coordinated drive by Republican legislators in several U.S. states that seeks to deny birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.

The National Conference of State Legislatures said Arizona is the sixth state this year to introduce legislation relating to birth records or birth certificates and the foreign born.

The current drive follows the desert state's tough immigration crackdown last year that required police to quiz those they suspected were in the country illegally about their immigration status. Key parts of the state law were blocked by a federal judge before they came into effect.

Arizona has appealed the ruling.

Also on Thursday, a citizens' group took out petitions to recall Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, a high-profile Republican behind bills aimed at illegal immigrants.

Halina Reed, treasurer for Arizonans for Better Government, said the group opposes those bills. The petition needs to collect 7,756 signatures by May 27 to qualify for the ballot.

State Democrats slammed their Republican colleagues' latest proposal as a waste of "taxpayers' time and money" that would tie the state up in further costly litigation.

"Instead of focusing on jobs, the economy and a strong future for Arizona, (the backers of the law) want to get Arizona involved in another losing lawsuit," state Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said in a statement.

(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Jerry Norton)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Northeast dug out of yet another winter storm on Thursday that pummeled the region with unexpectedly heavy snowfall, making January the snowiest month in New York in more than 85 years.

In Central Park, 19 inches of snow fell overnight in the storm that forced airports and schools to close. The wet snow fell at dizzying speeds during the height of the storm, as much as three inches per hour, said Weather Channel meteorologists.

New York officials vowed to keep the city running after Mayor Michael Bloomberg, agency heads and municipal workers came under heavy criticism for the slow response to the Christmas weekend blizzard that brought services to a halt.

"We learn," said Bloomberg at a City Hall news conference on Thursday. "We asked the questions of what didn't work last time and whether there's anything we could do differently."

The city suspended bus service shortly after midnight, he noted. In the Christmas blizzard, 600 city buses became stranded but with this suspension, almost no buses were stranded on Thursday, the mayor said.

Bus service was gradually restored through the day, and about 1,500 laborers were shoveling out bus stops, he said.

"Our expectation is that by tomorrow morning's rush hour all of the city streets and roadways will have been plowed," Bloomberg said.

The storm, which dropped twice as much snow as had been predicted, brought the city's January total accumulation to 36 inches, breaking a record from 1925, the mayor said.

"This is so much worse than I think we all expected," said Julia Scharf, 27, a dental technician who commuted to New York from Bethpage, Long Island.

"I had to clean about 15 or so inches off my car before I could drive to the train station."

Commuter train and bus service from some suburbs, including Long Island, was limited or suspended throughout the day.

Metro-North Railroad lines between New York and some towns in Connecticut, including New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury, were out of service. The day's ridership throughout the region was down by about half, a spokeswoman said.

New York City schools were closed, only the ninth time since 1978 that schools closed due to snow, the mayor said.

The National Weather Service said that in addition to the 19 inches of new snow in Central Park, nearly 19 inches fell at Newark Airport and 18 inches in suburban New Canaan, Connecticut.

The snowfall was just shy of the Christmas blizzard that dropped 20 inches on New York City.

Flight delays averaging more than four hours were reported at John F. Kennedy International Airport, which had been closed due to the storm but reopened on Thursday morning.

Delays averaging about two hours were reported at Newark International Airport, LaGuardia Airport in New York and Philadelphia International Airport.

Snowfall ranged from 12 to 17 inches in Philadelphia, where nine people spent nine hours on a bus stuck in the snow, said Jerri Williams, a spokeswoman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

Along with the driver, those nine chose to remain on the heated bus rather than brave the elements, she said.

About 15,000 households south and west of Philadelphia lost power, according to the utility Peco. By late afternoon, some 10,000 had power restored, and the rest were expected to have power restored by midnight, the utility said.

In the Washington, D.C., area, where some commuters were caught in hours-long traffic jams during the storm, tens of thousands were without power, mostly due to snow-laden trees downing utility lines.

About 163,000 Pepco customers in the Washington area remained without power by late afternoon on Thursday and may not have power until late Friday, a Pepco spokesman said.

In Boston, a second runway at Logan International Airport was closed until mid-afternoon, an airport spokesman said.

Snow accumulation contributed to a handful of large, industrial properties and smaller buildings across Massachusetts and Connecticut that reported roof collapses.

"If you have a roof, particularly a flat roof on any part of your house, now is the time to get up there and remove as much of that snow as you can," Connecticut Gov. Dannell Malloy said at a news conference in Hartford.

Given the winter weather pattern, he said: "We might as well count on receiving additional snow, so acting on this stuff before it becomes rock solid is a good idea."

In weather-related deaths, a woman was struck and killed by a snowplow on Wednesday in Center Moriches, New York. In Wilmington, a 51-year-old woman died early Thursday after being hit by a snow plow owned by the Delaware Department of Transportation.

(Additional reporting by Lauren Keiper in Boston, Jon Hurdle in Philadelphia, Ted Lorson in Norwich, Connecticut, Jerry Norton in Washington, and Bernd Debusmann Jr. and Daniel Trotta in New York; Editing by Greg McCune)

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel can run for mayor of Chicago, the Illinois high court ruled unanimously on Thursday, overturning a lower court ruling earlier this week to exclude him.

Some residents of Chicago challenged Emanuel's residency, saying his stay in Washington, D.C. as President Obama's chief of staff disqualified him from running for mayor under residency rules. Emanuel had argued he always intended to return to Chicago after his U.S. service was over.

"This is a situation in which, not only did the candidate testify that his intent was not to abandon his Chicago residence, his acts fully support and confirm that intent," the court found, in a 7-0 opinion.

Emanuel had rented out his Chicago house while he was serving in the Obama administration. He also had left personal belongings in a storage space in the house.

Speaking at the start of a televised debate Thursday night, Emanuel said: "What I've always said is the voters should make the decision about who should be the next mayor." He said the court ruling allows voters to do that.

Emanuel had the support of 44 percent of Chicago voters in a recent Chicago Tribune poll, compared with 21 percent for his closest opponent, former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun.

Braun said after the decision that with the legal battle over, she looked forward "to actually debating the issues" with Emanuel and the other candidates.

Emanuel has raised $11.8 million for his mayoral run, with donations from luminaries like film director Steven Spielberg.

The February 22 election is to replace long-time Mayor Richard M. Daley, who is stepping down after 22 years in office.

(Writing by Mary Wisniewski, Editing by Greg McCune and Jerry Norton)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Financier Allen Stanford is incompetent to stand trial at this time over accusations that he led a $7 billion fraud, a U.S. judge in Texas ruled on Wednesday.

Stanford, who had been accustomed to jetting around the globe in private aircraft, was indicted in 2009 on 21 counts including securities fraud and money laundering. U.S. prosecutors accuse him of creating false accounting records, lying to investors and bribing a regulatory official in Antigua.

Stanford has pleaded not guilty and was previously scheduled to begin trial this week. But that was postponed amid uncertainty about his condition.

In a written ruling, U.S. District Judge David Hittner found that Stanford did not have the present mental capacity to assist his lawyers in his defense.

While incarcerated, Stanford sustained a head injury during a 2009 confrontation with another inmate and underwent surgery for repair of facial fractures.

Psychiatrists for both the government and the defense who examined Stanford also recommended that his anti-anxiety medication be withdrawn. One doctor testified that it was unclear whether Stanford is incompetent for trial because of the injury, or due to over-medication.

The government contends that Stanford is legally competent, but nevertheless asked the court to move him to a suitable facility for psychiatric evaluation.

A representative for the U.S. Attorney's office in Houston was not immediately available to comment on Wednesday.

Hittner rejected defense arguments that the judge could commit Stanford to a private medical facility. Instead, Hittner recommended that Stanford be sent to a medical facility within the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for treatment.

Ali Fazel, an attorney for Stanford, said once Stanford is weaned off his medication, additional tests will determine how much damage was caused by the prison injury, and the drugs.

"We just have to take it a step at a time," Fazel said.

The judge did not specify a new trial date, though he admonished attorneys on both sides to diligently prepare despite Stanford's absence.

The case in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas is United States v. Robert Allen Stanford, 09-cr-342.

(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Gary Hill, Tim Dobbyn and Bernard Orr)

HOUSTON (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was moved on Wednesday from an intensive-care ward to a long-term rehabilitation facility to begin her first full round of therapy since she was shot through the head 17 days ago.

Doctors also said they planned soon to insert a special valve in the breathing tube connected to Giffords' windpipe that would allow her to speak, though her medical team was vague about the extent of her capacity to form words.

Her transfer to The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) came a day after doctors upgraded Giffords' medical condition from serious to good, following removal of a stent from her skull on Monday that had been draining excess fluid around her brain.

Since arriving in Houston from Tucson, Arizona, last Friday, the stent, and the elevated risk of infection it posed, had forced Giffords to remain in the ICU, limiting the range of rehab activities she could pursue.

Even under those circumstances, doctors said on Wednesday, the pace of the congresswoman's recovery as remarkable.

"Since Gabby arrived we have continued to see daily improvement," Dr. Dong Kim, one of her neurosurgeons, told a news conference. He described her progress as proceeding with "lightning speed."

With the stent now removed, her transition into the TIRR went smoothly, according to Dr. John Holcomb, a trauma surgeon at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, the nearby complex where Giffords was in intensive care.

"It couldn't have been better," he told reporters.

By Wednesday afternoon, she was undergoing her first full round of rehabilitation, including physical, speech and occupational therapy. The sessions last as long as the patient can tolerate, said Dr. Gerard Francisco, chief medical officer for TIRR.

"We've already increased the amount of her therapy because her tolerance has improved in the last few days," he said.

For the time being, her therapy will focus on conditioning, balance, strengthening and maintaining range of motion with activities such as sitting and standing up.

Giffords, 40, suffered a gunshot wound to the head at close range on January 8 when a gunman opened fire outside a Tucson supermarket where she was meeting with constituents. Doctors have described her progress so far as akin to a miracle.

Jared Lee Loughner, a 22-year-old college dropout, is charged with the shooting. Six bystanders including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl were killed in the incident, and 13 others were wounded, Giffords among them.

Giffords has not spoken since the shooting. The presence of a breathing tube that first ran down her throat, and was later attached through a hole in her neck to her windpipe, has prevented her voicebox from functioning.

Dr. Imoigele Aisiku, director of neurocritical care at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, said doctors would soon fit her breathing tube with a valve designed to let tracheostomy patients speak. But he was vague about whether she possessed the neurological capacity for speech.

Her vision has not yet been tested and she still shows some muscle weakness. While upbeat about her condition overall, her medical team remained vague on details, such as how long Giffords is sitting up at a time or whether her communication seems purposeful.

"I've seen her be interactive, appropriate with her family and the staff round her," Kim said. "She's just making great progress."

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A majority of Californians back Governor Jerry Brown's plan to ask them to extend tax increases to help close a $25.4 billion state budget gap, poll results released on Wednesday showed.

Brown, a Democrat sworn in to a third term earlier this month as leader of America's most populous state, wants lawmakers to help him put a measure to voters in June that would propose extending tax increases that expire this year to raise money for California's cash-strapped government.

Revenue from tax extensions, $12.5 billion in spending cuts and other moves would balance the state's books under Brown's budget proposal.

Revenue from tax extensions would also go to bolster the state government's finances in future years.

California's government, like many other state governments across the nation, is struggling to balance its books in the face of weak revenue caused by the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found two-thirds of Californians in favor of a special election on Brown's tax measure and 58 percent saying they were generally satisfied with his overall budget plan.

"Brown's proposed special election on a tax and fee package to prevent further budget cuts is a good idea, according to 67 percent of adults," the survey report said. "Among likely voters, 66 percent say a special election is a good idea."

That is much stronger than the 50 percent who thought a special election in 2009 championed by previous Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers was a good idea. The state's leaders had hoped voters that year would approve a slate of budget-related measures, including a measure for an extension of tax increases. Voters did not.

"The voters in this case see the need to go to the ballot and they also, I think, are weighing the consequences very carefully," said Mark Baldassare, chief executive of the California Public Policy Institute.

The institute's survey report said 53 percent of adults and 54 percent of likely voters "favor the general plan they would be voting on, which would extend tax and fee increases and divert some revenues from state to local governments."

The institute conducted its telephone survey from January 11 through January 18, contacting 2,004 adult residents of California.

Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. The survey's sampling error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for all adults, plus or minus 3.7 points for registered voters and plus or minus 4.2 points for likely voters.

(Reporting by Jim Christie; Editing by Peter Cooney)

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Tucson shooting rampage suspect Jared Lee Loughner pleaded not guilty on Monday to federal charges of attempting to assassinate U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and attempting to murder two of her staff members.

The 22-year-old college dropout is accused of opening fire on Giffords and a crowd of bystanders outside a grocery store on January 8, killing six people, including a federal judge, and wounding 13. Giffords was shot in the head but survived.

Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and wire-rimmed glasses, the hair on his shaved head starting to grow, Loughner said nothing as the not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf by the judge at his lawyer's request in a federal court in Phoenix.

The shackled defendant was earlier seen smiling, nodding and chatting quietly with his attorney, Judy Clarke, as the proceedings were about to begin. She patted Loughner on the shoulder as the hearing ended.

Authorities have said Giffords, who remains hospitalized, was his primary target.

The rampage renewed a national debate over gun control in the United States and whether the vitriolic tone of U.S. politics had encouraged violence against elected officials, though the motives for the attack remained unclear.

In the meantime, investigators for the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department in Arizona are pressing ahead with parallel criminal investigations.

The plea of not guilty was entered for each of the three charges contained in a federal grand jury indictment returned last Wednesday -- the attempted assassination of Giffords and attempted murder of two aides who also were struck by gunfire.

Loughner could face up to life in prison for trying to kill the lawmaker and the other two attempted murder charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REVIEW

The indictment did not include any murder charges for two other federal employees who were slain -- Judge John Roll, the chief federal judge in Arizona who had stopped at the supermarket to talk to Giffords, or Gabe Zimmerman, the lawmaker's director of community outreach.

Before federal prosecutors can charge Loughner with murder, they must first seek a review of the case by the Justice Department, and ultimately by Attorney General Eric Holder, on whether to seek the death penalty.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns set March 9 as the next court date in the federal case.

Prosecutor Wallace Kleindienst said evidence that included statements from some 250 interviews and dozens of tapes from Loughner's computer had been shared with the defense. The FBI has said investigators also have video of the rampage.

Burns, normally based in San Diego, California, was appointed to the case after Roll's colleagues on the Arizona federal bench recused themselves.

In a motion filed on Sunday, prosecutors sought to shift any future proceedings against Loughner to Tucson, citing the principle that defendants stand trial in the jurisdiction where their alleged crimes took place.

Prosecutors also argued that the 19 people struck by gunfire in the rampage, and the "vast majority" of witnesses to the shooting, all lived in the Tucson area.

Clarke said she did not object to moving the proceedings to Tucson but sought clarification on where Loughner would be housed.

Last Friday, Giffords was transferred to a rehabilitation facility in Houston, Texas, following life-saving surgery and intensive care at the University Medical Center in Tucson in the days after the shooting.

(Reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Steve Gorman, Will Dunham and Paul Simao)

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A state appeals court on Monday threw the Chicago mayor's race into turmoil by ruling that front-runner and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel did not qualify for the February ballot.

Emanuel immediately responded that he would appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court and urged quick consideration. The ruling on Monday overturned decisions by a lower court and a Chicago elections board that allowed him on the February 22 ballot.

"I have no doubt that, in the end, we will prevail," Emanuel said at a news conference held at a downtown restaurant. "As my father always used to say, 'nothing is ever easy in this life.'"

"I do believe the people of Chicago deserve the right to choose who they want as the next mayor," Emanuel said.

Illinois law requires candidates for municipal offices be residents of the city for a year prior to elections. Emanuel, who resigned as President Barack Obama's White House chief of staff in October to run for mayor, was challenged on the issue by several Chicago residents.

The appellate court, in its 2-1 ruling, said that though Emanuel owned a house in the city, he rented it out and did not live there. The 25-page ruling cited legal and dictionary definitions of the word to "reside," which the court said means "to dwell permanently or continuously" -- and which it said Emanuel clearly did not do over the past year.

The court said the exception for residency while serving elsewhere on U.S. business is extended to voters, but not to candidates.

Emanuel said he ought to qualify for the ballot because he owns a home in Chicago and said his job as the president's top aide "counts as service to your country."

"Of course it changes the entire complexion of the race," said Dick Simpson, a political analyst at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Simpson said former Senator Carol Moseley Braun now is the nominal front-runner, although the ruling scrambles the race.

Emanuel's legal appeal could consume his campaign for weeks and remind voters that he had spent a lot of time away from the city, Simpson said. The current mayor, long-time Chicagoan Richard Daley, is retiring after 22 years in office.

A Chicago Tribune poll published last week showed Emanuel leading the race by a comfortable margin, with 44 percent compared to his nearest rival Braun at 21 percent.

If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote in February, the top two vote-getters face each other in a run-off in April.

Braun hailed the ruling as "a major milestone," at an appearance on Monday with civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.

"I'm extending the hand of friendship to all supporters of Mr. Emanuel and to those who have yet to make up their minds," said Braun.

A spokesperson for Gery Chico, the former head of the Chicago Board of Education who is battling Braun for second place, said that the news about Emanuel "is a surprise but it will not impact how we run our campaign."

Emanuel raised $11.8 million for the campaign, from big names such as film director Steven Spielberg. Braun, by contrast, raised less than $500,000.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Stern, Editing by Greg McCune)

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A package of U.S. tax cuts should give a lift to a global economic recovery that had already begun to gain speed late last year, the IMF said on Tuesday as it revised its world growth forecast higher.

In an updated World Economic Outlook report, the International Monetary Fund said the global economy would likely expand 4.4 percent this year, a touch higher than the 4.2 percent it forecast in October. It said it expected growth of 4.5 percent in 2012.

Tax cuts enacted late last year will likely lift growth in the United States by half a percent this year, and a separate stimulative package from Japan would also help sustain the moderate global recovery, the IMF said.

"More generally, signs are increasing that private consumption -- which fell sharply during the crisis -- is starting to gain a foothold in major advanced economies," it said.

Advanced economies have been a drag on global growth since the financial crisis erupted in 2007.

While they are beginning to offer a bigger contribution, the IMF said those economies still pose the biggest risk to the world recovery. In particular, it warned of downside risks from the debt crisis in Europe and the high debt levels in many other advanced economies.

It said "comprehensive, rapid, and decisive policy actions" were needed to tackle troubles in the euro zone. In a separate report on Tuesday, the IMF called for an increase in the effective size of Europe's financial rescue fund and rigorous stress-testing of the region's banks.

The Fund revised up its 2011 growth projection for advanced economies to 2.5 percent from an October forecast of 2.2 percent. It said growth would likely remain at 2.5 percent next year -- a pace it warned was not sufficient to make a dent in high unemployment rates.

The IMF said rich nations needed to keep in place loose monetary policies to support growth. "As long as inflation expectations remain anchored and unemployment stays higher, this is the right policy from a domestic perspective," it said.

The Fund said the U.S. economy would likely grow 3.0 percent this year, a sharp upward revision from its 2.3 percent October forecast. The IMF expects growth in the world's largest economy to ease slightly to 2.7 percent in 2012.

For Japan, the IMF said growth was now expected to reach 1.6 percent this year, an upward revision from October, and 1.8 percent next year.

It maintained its October forecast for the euro zone at 1.5 percent and estimated growth would accelerate to 1.7 percent next year. It upgraded its 2011 growth forecast for Germany to 2.2 percent from 2.0 percent due to stronger domestic demand.

EMERGING MARKETS OUT FRONT

The IMF said it expects emerging and developing economies, which include China, India, Brazil and Russia, to keep up their brisk pace of growth, although it noted that inflation pressures were rising in these countries.

It revised up its 2011 growth figure for emerging economies to 6.5 percent from an October projection of 6.4 percent, and said it sees similar growth next year.

For China, the IMF maintained its 2011 growth forecast at 9.6 percent and said growth next year would slow slightly to 9.5 percent.

The Fund revised up its 2011 forecast for Brazilian growth to 4.5 percent versus a previous projection of 4.1 percent. It said Brazil would likely grow 4.1 percent next year.

The IMF said the surge in private investment flows into emerging market economies would likely remain strong, buoyed by low interest rates in mature markets and a strong investor appetite.

It cited inflation as the key risk for emerging economies, and said tighter monetary policies were needed.

"If policymakers fall behind the curve in responding to nascent overheating pressures and asset price bubbles, macroeconomic policies in key emerging economies could be setting the stage for boom-bust dynamics in real estate and credit markets and, eventually, a hard landing in these economies," the IMF cautioned.

With emerging economies accounting for almost 40 percent of global consumption, a slowdown in these economies "would deal a serious blow to the global recovery," the IMF warned.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Neil Fullick)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Jack LaLanne, a one-time sugar-holic who became a television fitness guru preaching exercise and healthy diet to a generation of American housewives, died on Sunday at age 96, his daughter said.

LaLanne, who became U.S. television fixture in his close-fitting jumpsuit starting in 1959 and came to be regarded as the father of the modern fitness movement, succumbed to pneumonia following a brief illness at his home in Morro Bay, along the California's central coast.

"He was surrounded by his family and passed very peacefully and in no distress ... and with the football game on Sunday, so everything was normal," Yvonne LaLanne, 66, told Reuters.

She said her father had remained active until a few months ago, including the taping of a recent public TV special.

Well into his 90s, LaLanne exercised for two hours a day. A typical workout would be 90 minutes of weightlifting and 30 minutes of swimming, changing his routine every 30 days.

He preached the gospel of exercise, raw vegetables and clean living long after his contemporaries had traded in their bicycles for nursing home beds.

"I can't die," LaLanne would say. "It would ruin my image."

LaLanne was born Francois Henri LaLanne on September 26, 1914, in San Francisco, the son of French immigrants. He said he grew into a "sugar-holic" who suffered terrible headaches, mood swings and depression.

In desperation when he was 14, LaLanne's mother took him to hear health lecturer Paul Bragg, who urged followers to exercise and eat unprocessed foods.

The young LaLanne swore off white flour, most fat and sugar and began eating more fruits and vegetables. By age 15, he had built a backyard gym of climbing ropes, chin-up bars, sit-up machines and weights.

Soon, LaLanne, who was only 5 feet, 6 inches tall, was playing high school football. He added weight-lifting to recover from a football injury and was hooked.

LaLanne opened the nation's first modern health club in Oakland, California, in 1936. It had a gym, juice bar and health food store. Soon there were 100 gyms nationwide.

Without bothering with patents, LaLanne designed his own exercise equipment, which he had built by a blacksmith. In 1951, he started using television to get the first generation of couch potatoes to try jumping jacks, push-ups and sit-ups.

"The Jack LaLanne Show," which went national in 1959, showed housewives how to work out and eat right, becoming a staple of U.S. daytime television during a 34-year run.

He also was known for a series of promotional fitness stunts. At age 45, in 1959, he did 1,000 push-ups and 1,000 chin-ups in 86 minutes. In 1984 a 70-year-old LaLanne had himself shackled and handcuffed and towed 70 boats 1.5 miles in Long Beach Harbor.

LaLanne said in 2007 his focus was always to help people the way Paul Bragg had helped him, adding, "Billy Graham is for the hereafter, I'm for the here and now!"

(Additional reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Bill Trott and Chris Wilson)

DETROIT (Reuters) – A gunman opened fire inside a Detroit police station on Sunday, wounding four police officers, including a commander, before the attacker was shot and killed, Police Chief Ralph Godbee said.

The precise circumstances of the attack remained sketchy, but the chief, speaking at a news conference, said the most seriously wounded of the officers was a commander who was shot in the lower back.

However, Godbee said, the commander emerged from surgery with a favorable prognosis, "and we're very encouraged by the doctor's report."

"As a department, we're just very sobered by the events, but very relieved that it appears to be that all of our officers are going to be OK," Godbee told reporters.

In addition to the commander, one police sergeant was struck by gunfire in the chest, but her bullet-resistant vest "deflected any major injury," and she was released from the hospital after treatment, Godbee said.

Two other officers, including a second sergeant, suffered graze wounds to the head, but both men were conscious, alert and talking, and were expected to fully recover, he said.

Police returned fire and the gunman was shot dead, Godbee said. He said it was too soon to characterize the gunman's motives.

Police said they have identified the shooter, but would only publicly say that he was a 35-year-old black male.

"We have closed the 6th and 8th precinct to ensure the safety of our officers. It is an active crime scene and our investigation is ongoing," said Sergeant Erin Stephens, a spokeswoman for the Detroit Police Department.

Godbee said that in light of Sunday's incident, and the shooting rampage two weeks ago that left six dead in Tucson, Arizona, his department would be reassessing its security procedures.

(Additional reporting by Eric Johnson in Chicago; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jerry Norton)

SEATTLE (Reuters) – A shooting on Sunday at a Wal-Mart store in Port Orchard, Washington, just west of Seattle, left two people dead and two sheriff's deputies wounded, authorities said.

A suspected gunman and a young woman were killed in the gunfire, but it was not immediately certain whether they were together or what link if any there was between them, Washington State Patrol spokeswoman Krista Hedstrom told Reuters.

"We believe she was with him, it's just that their association is unknown," Hedstrom said.

She said deputies were called to the Wal-Mart in response to a report of a suspicious person outside the store, and that the suspect opened fire on the two officers when they confronted him.

The suspect was killed as he tried to flee and deputies returned fire. A third, female deputy on the scene was unharmed, but Hedstrom said it was not clear who shot the gunman or the woman who died.

Three people struck by gunfire were taken to Tacoma General Hospital -- two male sheriff's deputies and the young woman, who subsequently died, Hedstrom said.

The deputies' injuries were not life-threatening, she added.

A hospital spokeswoman told Reuters she had no further information about the people admitted. Authorities have not released the identities of any of the people involved in the incident.

Port Orchard sits on a Puget Sound inlet opposite a naval shipyard south of Bainbridge Island and about 10 miles west of Seattle.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby in Seattle; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jerry Norton)