House panel approves bill to overhaul sentencing laws

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare bipartisan effort, the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would make sweeping changes to U.S. sentencing laws, reducing prison time for some nonviolent drug offenders.
The bill, backed by voice vote, comes less than a month after the Senate’s judiciary panel approved similar legislation. The aim of the bipartisan bills, the products of years of negotiations, is to reduce overcrowding in the nation’s prisons, save taxpaye