Appeals court lets same-sex weddings go ahead in Utah

  Jim Urquhart/ReutersJax Collins and Heather Collins were married Monday at the Salt Lake County Government Building after a federal judge Robert Shelby upheld his own order making same-sex marriage legal in Utah.By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC NewsUtah officials were busy Tuesday night planning an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court denied their request to stop same-sex marriages while they try to overturn a judge's ruling legalizing them.In a two-page order (.pdf) entered late Tuesday in Denver, two judges on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to grant Gov. Gary Herbert's request for a stay halting the marriages while Utah pursues its appeal. Herbert's office didn't return a call for comment, but the state attorney general's office — which filed the motion on his behalf — said it would seek an emergency stay with the Supreme Court as early as Thursday. That motion would be heard by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has jurisdiction over the 10th Circuit.Herbert asked for a stay Monday after U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby upheld his own ruling that Utah's ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional.The appeals judges, Robert E. Bacharach and Jerome A. Holmes, fast-tracked Utah's appeal, but they said they wouldn't stop the marriages in the meantime, writing that the state would have a tough time proving that letting the marriages go ahead would cause "irreparable harm" or that it had a good shot at winning its appeal.Bacharach was appointed to the court by President Barack Obama; Holmes was appointed by President George W. Bush. While it prepares its Supreme Court motion,  the attorney general's office issued an advisory opinion telling county clerks that they could be held in contempt of court if they refused to issue marriage licenses. And Herbert's chief of staff sent a message telling state agencies that "where no conflicting laws exist you should conduct business in compliance with the federal judge's ruling until such time that the current district court decision is addressed by the 10th Circuit Court."The state Workforce Services Department said it would recognize the marriages as establishing eligibility for food stamps and other benefits.Hundreds of same-sex couples raced to county clerks' offices to get wedding licenses after Shelby's ruling Monday. Salt Lake County alone issued 353 licenses Monday, NBC station KSL of Salt Lake City reported — 4½ times its previous single-day record for marriage licenses.The Rev. Curtis Price was waiting in the lobby of the Salt Lake County Government Building to marry Shauna Griffen and Brooke Shepherd, who'd spent the night waiting in line wearing matching shirts proclaiming "Love conquers hate.""It was a long night. We were worried," Griffen told KSL. "I had faith in Salt Lake County — they came through."Watch the top videos on NBCNews.comThis story was originally published on Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:44 PM EST

Pope Francis delivers his first Christmas homily

  Gregorio Borgia / APPope Francis kisses a statue of baby Jesus as he celebrates the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, on Dec. 24.By Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC NewsThe faithful flocked to St. Peter's Basilica for Pope Francis' first Christmas Eve midnight Mass, in which the pontiff once again preached the importance of acceptance and humility, qualities he has demonstrated continually in his first nine months as head of the Catholic Church."The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light," Francis began, quoting from Isaiah, a book of the Bible that includes prophesies foretelling the birth of Jesus.Pope Francis offered a traditional lesson of light and love during his first Christmas Eve midnight Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports.Jesus brought light and grace to the world, and that grace "made salvation possible for the whole human race," Francis said, choosing to highlight a scripture from the biblical book of Titus.While Jesus embodied light and love, Francis said, those who hate walk in "darkness.""If we love God and our brothers and sisters, we walk in the light; but if our heart is closed, if we are dominated by pride, deceit, self-seeking, then darkness falls within us and around us," the pontiff said.Francis, who celebrated the Mass with more than 300 cardinals, bishops and priests, urged people not to be afraid to reach out to God - echoing the words of the biblical angel delivering news of Jesus' birth."Do not be afraid! Our Father is patient, he loves us, he gives us Jesus to guide us on the way which leads to the promised land. Jesus is the light who brightens the darkness. He is our peace," he said. Francis has sought to change the image of the Catholic Church as a judgmental, lavish, inflexible institution since his election in March.Of gay priests, he has asked, "who am I to judge?" He has washed the feet of prisoners, refused to move into the papal palace and celebrated his recent birthday breakfast with three homeless men. On Monday, he made a Christmas visit to Pope Emeritus Benedict and asked him to pray for him.  "(He) is bringing a new era into the Church, a Church that is focusing much more on the poor and that is more austere, more lively, a Church that cares about everyone in the world," said Dolores Di Benedetto, who travelled from the pope's homeland, Argentina to hear him speak.“I thought it would be very nice to hear the words of this pope close up and to see how the people are overwhelmed by him," said Giacchino Sabello, one of more than 10,000 people who packed St. Peter's Basilica or stood outside watching the ceremony on mega-screens.In Christmas Eve's Mass, Francis reiterated the importance of reaching out to the downtrodden, using the shepherds who were the first to hear of Jesus' birth as an example. "They were the first because they were among the last, the outcast," he said."We bless you, Lord God most high, who lowered yourself for our sake. You are immense, and you made yourself small; you are rich and you made yourself poor; you are all-powerful and you made yourself vulnerable," said Francis in thanks to God and also a clear indication of the humility he encourages his flock to emulate. Ettore Ferrari / EPAPope Francis leads the midnight Christmas Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican late on Dec. 24.In his address to Vatican administrators on Saturday, Francis said holiness was a practice of "deep humility and fraternal charity in our relationships with our fellow workers," as he urged the cardinals, bishops and priests to avoid gossip.Before the Mass, Francis further inspired meekness, when he personally placed a baby Jesus doll in a replica of a manger, a custom usually performed by an aid.The 2 1/2-hour Mass was the first of many services Francis will lead during the holidays. On Christmas Day, he will deliver a "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message from the basilica's balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square.He will also hold mass on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and another on Jan. 6, for the feast of the Epiphany or “Three Kings’ Day,” celebrating the Magi’s visit to the baby Jesus.Reuters contributed to this report.Related:

'What an amazing present': Boston Marathon survivor makes bid to walk

  Courtesy of Rebekah GregoryRebekah Gregory, 26, has had 14 surgeries in a bid to save the leg, though she has faced constant pain and the prospect of amputation many times. By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC NewsEight months after twin bombings at the Boston Marathon nearly took one survivor’s left leg, she can finally put two feet on the ground.Rebekah Gregory, 26, has had 14 surgeries in a bid to save the leg, though she has faced constant pain and the prospect of amputation many times. She started physical therapy in the summer but had to stop when her doctors determined she would need to wear a device to get her foot into the right position if she hoped to ever walk on it again. That came off at Thanksgiving, when they replaced it with a cast. And on Monday, Gregory graduated to a walking boot.“To put two feet on the ground again was the most amazing feeling,” Gregory told NBC News Tuesday from her parents’ home in Richmond, Texas. “And just right before Christmas, too. It’s like, what an amazing present this year.”But Gregory still has a long way to go, a reminder she got the first moment she put her foot down in the boot.“It was awful. It was the worst pain all over again,” she said. “Putting it on the ground doesn’t feel right and it feels like it’s just crushing what bones I have left.”“It was the hardest thing to do to try to stand up and put weight on my leg,” she said.Gregory suffered multiple serious injuries in the April 15 attack on the iconic Boston road race that killed three people and wounded 275 others: she lost a lot of soft tissue in a series of what she calls “craters” going down her leg to her foot, and she endured multiple fractures to her foot as well as the loss of part of her fourth and fifth metatarsals. Doctors had to rebuild her ankle and she was treated for months for a painful bone infection.Her case was rare even among the more seriously wounded: while amputees moved ahead with prosthesis training and others recovered in rehabilitation, she was stuck many steps behind since salvaging such a severely-wounded leg is a slow process. She is believed to have been the last patient connected to the bombings released from the hospital when she was discharged on June 10 -- after 56 days in medical centers in Boston and Houston.How much use she will have of her leg and foot won’t be clear for another six months to a year, said one of her physicians, Dr. William McGarvey, an orthopedic surgeon at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. There are still many unanswered questions, including how much stability, neurological function and muscle use she will have.“I gave her the boot yesterday and gave her the green light to be able to get up, just try and put some weight on it,” he said. “The entire leg is structurally different and functionally, certainly, just from not using it. … The first few weeks are just basically getting used to her foot as it is.”But this phase was a “huge milestone” in her recovery and amputation was less likely as she moves forward, said McGarvey, chief of foot and ankle surgery at UTHealth.“She’s seeing that the effort and the energy she’s expended to try and get well, and that have gone into trying to heal her, have actually borne some fruit.”Gregory said she at first was disappointed Monday that she couldn’t walk out of the doctor’s office in the boot. It will be a while before she can do that, with weight bearing on her foot being the first challenge. But she did realize her efforts have paid off on Tuesday morning while looking at pictures of herself in the intensive care unit in Boston on a ventilator in the immediate aftermath of the bombing. “It just hit me: I’ve come such a long way and even though I have such a long way to go, I’m so blessed for this journey and to be able to help people and inspire people along the way,” she said.McGarvey cleared Gregory for another first following the bombing: taking a bath. She spent a few hours in the tub on Tuesday and checked out her lower left leg, which was hidden under devices and the cast a lot of the time. It bears the many scars of that day, when she went with her boyfriend-now-fiancé Pete DiMartino to watch his mom compete in the marathon. He and his sister, as well as Gregory’s six-year-old son, Noah, were also injured in the blast. Eric Kayne / for NBC News fileBoston bombing survivor Rebekah Gregory, right, speaks with physical therapist Andrew Hyde during a physical therapy session, on July 25, 2013 in Katy, Texas.“I keep going even though it’s really hard some days,” she said. “Every day I wake up, I have the choice to wallow in self-pity or get up and try to do something to progress that day … whatever I can do to make that day worth it because every single day is so precious.”The family was honoring that attitude this Christmas Eve: they all assembled at the home of her parents outside Houston, where they were “in the middle of flour and sugar and everything else,” quipped Gregory, who keeps positive amid some of her toughest times.Her mom, Tina, said she had to admit she was anxious about the next part of her eldest daughter’s journey: “You’re afraid it’s not going to be perfect or it’s not going to be as good as what we anticipate.”But at the same time, her being able to try and use her foot was “the best Christmas present ever, ever. There’s no comparison. Nothing – nothing -- could beat this.”Though Gregory has never ruled out amputation, she is clear on one thing: She will walk again.“No matter what happens, I am going to be fine. I am fine,” she said. “I’m just happy to be able to see another day.”Do you have a Boston Marathon story? Share it with reporter Miranda Leitsinger at miranda.leitsinger@nbcuni.com or on Facebook.Related:

New Jersey 'go-go bar' shooting: 3 dead, 2 hurt

  Three men were shot dead and two others wounded outside a "go-go bar" in New Jersey early Christmas morning, officials said.The shooting happened outside Slick's Go-Go Bar, in Irvington, N.J., at 12.45 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office told NBC News.The prosecutor's office identified two of the victims as Pierre Clervoyant Jr., 34, the son of the club's owner, and Woodley Daniel, 32, an employee of the club. Daniel, a bouncer, patted down a man trying to enter the nightclub, The Star-Ledger reported, citing an anonymous police source. The bouncer felt a gun triggering an altercation that spilled outside, the newspaper said."It appears the gunman was trying to enter the bar armed and was stopped by the bouncer," said Chief Anthony Ambrose of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The shooter then fired an undetermined number of rounds, killing Daniel and Clervoyant, the bar's manager.It was not clear how the third, unidentified man died. Authorities said he appears to have been an unintended target.Two other people were shot: a 27-year-old male and a 34-year-old male, neither of whom police have identified. The two wounded men were taken to University Hospital in Newark.The bar, which is in an industrial area, was hosting a theme party called "Sluddie Tuesday" at the time of the incident, The Star-Ledger reported.Essex County Prosecutor’s Office office said the incident was being investigated by its homicide and major crimes task force.Related:This story was originally published on Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:46 AM EST

Girl's letter to Santa a gift from heaven for grieving San Diego man

 By R. Stickney, NBCSanDiego.comA little girl's letter to Santa launched by a red balloon was found miles away by a stranger who, sensing a connection with its author, wanted to find her and make her Christmas wish come true.Joie, 5, had written the letter, tied it to a balloon and set it free last week along with the rest of her kindergarten class in Chula Vista, just south of San Diego.“Dear Santa, I would like to have a mermaid doll with a bow for Christmas. Thank you, Love, Joie,” the letter read.Defense contract negotiator Terry Hardin was leaving work on Dec. 17 when he noticed a red balloon with something tied to it floating down from the sky.He watched it travel to the ground and into the parking lot. It took three to five minutes, he said.“I walked over, so interested and intrigued as to what it was,” he recalled.He said when he noticed the name of the child at the end of the letter, he paused. His mother, Joie Britt, had passed away in August 2012.“It put a chill up my spine,” Hardin said.He and his mother weren’t on the best of terms at the time of her death. He now admits he was very angry with her.Now, he believes that in some way the kindergartner’s letter was meant for him.“This literally came from Heaven to make things right,” he said.Hardin’s wife, Angel, went to work trying to track down the little girl so the couple could fulfill the wish.She sent emails to news organizations, including NBC 7 San Diego, asking for help."We don't know who this girl is or how this balloon got to be over downtown, but somehow I feel like I really want this girl to get her doll,” she wrote.San Diego-area talk show host Mike Slater enlisted the help of his listeners and soon, the author of the letter was found.On Thursday, Hardin met Joie face to face in her classroom at St. Rose of Lima. He handed her the gift – a "Little Mermaid" doll complete with bow. Joie was shy, but with encouragement from her classmates, she quickly unwrapped the gift.She and her family later posed for a picture with Hardin, who said he is enjoying the enthusiasm the story has generated around the U.S. and even overseas.

UPS draws fire after Christmas delivery breakdown

  In Houston, the Amaya family has spent the last few days waiting by the door for UPS to arrive. But after 10 days and two delays, they had just about lost hope. KPRC-TV's Gianna Caserta reports.By Tony Dokoupil, Staff Writer, NBC NewsThe Grinch wore brown this Christmas.Thousands of Americans awoke to find that special something missing from beneath the Christmas tree Wednesday, a day after UPS acknowledged getting swamped by the seasonal cheer and failing to deliver orders in time."The volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity in our network," UPS spokeswoman Natalie Godwin said in a statement.Now, even as the company is lionized on the holiday cover of Bloomberg Businessweek for making “dreams come true,” customers are streaming online to pummel the shipping giant.  “UPS SUCKS,” wrote Kip Ingram in a post on the company’s Facebook page, a short scroll from a “Happy Christmas” message from the company’s delivery crew. “They just FAILED. SUCK, SUCK, SUCK!” “Beyond angry,” posted Susan Danielle Harrison. “We have not left the house all day & have been nervously pacing. This was supposed to be my son's big gift. Never showed up, thanks for nothing."“I. WILL. NEVER. USE. UPS. AGAIN!” vowed Judie Larson on Twitter, which fluoresced with messages bearing the hashtag “UPSfail.” For some, the void under the tree came despite days of phone-and-Web wrangling with UPS customer service. In Houston, the Amaya family toggled between tracking their package online and waiting by the door for UPS to arrive. But after 10 days and two delays, they finally gave up hope.“My kids and the rest of my extended family have no presents,” a deflated Jill Amaya told NBC News.Christmas is about more than just stuff, many posters acknowledged, but even some of the smaller, more symbolic gifts of Christmas got lost in transit.Katherine McEachen of Fairfield, Conn., suffers from lupus and complications left her bedridden much of the fall, when she leaned heavily on her father for help. She recovered by the holidays and the family cut down a tree together, a moment McEachen recorded with a photo she arranged to have it put on a mug and shipped to her father, beneath the message, “I love you”— a message that has yet to arrive.“UPS ruined my Christmas,” McEachen told NBC. “It's just a mug, but it was supposed to be so special and it's the only way I can say those words to him.”“Can UPS Save Christmas?” reads an unfortunately timed headline on the cover of the current edition of Bloomberg Businessweek, which went out to the magazine’s one million subscribers. The answer, evidently, was “no.”“UPS understands the importance of your holiday shipments,” the company said in a Christmas Day statement on its website. “However, the volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity of our network immediately preceding Christmas so some shipments were delayed.” Amazon.com, one of UPS’s biggest clients, cited UPS’s “failure” in an apologetic email to customers Wednesday morning. UPS itself is on a condolences tour, telling NBC in a statement that only “a small percentage” of packages were affected and pledging that most of these will arrive by Thursday. The last time a significant number of UPS packages were late for Christmas was 2004, when an ice storm crippled Worldport, the UPS distribution center in Louisville, Ky., in the run up to the holiday. Back then employees ended up manually loading packages for days, and surprising revelers with Christmas Day deliveries. This year the company declined to call its workers in for holiday service.It’s still unclear where the UPS network broke down, and the company has declined to specify the size of the problem. But Bloomberg Businessweek detailed the challenges likely to have stymied Santa’s corporate helper this year — and spotlighted the man who may take a fall for the year’s mishaps. Scott Abell is known as “Mr. Peak” to the brown-shirted faithful, and he spends his whole work year outlining the company’s holiday delivery plans, scrambling hundreds of planes and thousands of trucks from his office at Worldport. Beyond icy weather, which reportedly hampered UPS distribution hubs, the company was likely squeezed by a smaller window for holiday shopping and a record number of e-purchases being pushed through at the last minute. There were just 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. At the same time, there was the continued growth of online shopping, which not only facilitates last-minute gifting but often rewards it with deeper discounts. Online spending jumped 9 percent, to $37.8 billion, between Nov. 1 and Dec. 15, according to the online research firm comScore, and retailers expect overall holiday sales to be up nearly 4 percent, exceeding $600 million. UPS anticipated delivering 132 million bundles in the week before Christmas, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, and to meet that wave of holiday cheer, Abell organized 55,000 part time workers, 23 extra planes and what amounts to a second fleet of delivery trucks.A last-minute decision by one of UPS’s clients — reportedly Amazon.com — dumped additional packages into the system last weekend, but Abell doubled the number of shifts at Worldport, still hoping to stay ahead. It wasn’t enough.Abell usually heads to Florida in January to play golf and decompress after the madness of the holidays. When he returns, the 31-year veteran of the company gathers his lieutenants for a special lemon session, detailing all that could have gone better in the weeks before.Already he’s taken a small personal step to alleviate his workload, telling his immediate family to go easy on the online shopping. “I tell them that they should do it early,” he said, according to his magazine profile. “Early’s better.” Related:UPS system overload delays Christmas Eve deliveriesThis story was originally published on Wed Dec 25, 2013 1:20 PM EST

One dead, one critically injured in shooting outside San Diego mall

  NBC7 San DiegoSan Diego police are investigating a deadly shooting that happened in the early hours of Tuesday outside a Macy's at the Westfield Mission Valley Mall. By Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC NewsA woman was killed and a man critically injured in a shooting outside a San Diego mall in the early morning hours of Tuesday, police said.The female victim who died called 911 at 1:15 a.m. local time from the parking lot of Macy’s in the Westfield Mission Valley Mall, said San Diego Police Lt. Mike Hastings.Police arrived a short time later to find a woman in her 20s with gunshot wounds to the head, and a man, also in his 20s, with gunshot wounds to the head and torso inside a vehicle, Hastings said.The woman was pronounced dead at the scene and the man was transported to a local hospital with “life-threatening injuries,” Hastings said.Related coverage at NBCSanDiego.comHastings said the investigation was underway.“We’re not able to talk to our victims,” but “there were some witnesses and they’re being interviewed right now,” Hastings said. Investigators were also in the process of obtaining and analyzing surveillance video, he said.“We have a lot of evidence to look at,” said Hastings, adding that detectives did not want to prematurely determine whether the shooting was random or the victims knew the shooter. The suspect is male, wearing tan pants and was driving a dark gray Honda, Hastings said.Although Macy’s website listed that the Westfield Mission Valley Mall Macy’s would close at 10 p.m. Monday night, Hastings said he believed the store was open at the time of the shooting for extended holiday shopping.