U.S./World category, Page 1036
NYC surpasses 300 killings 3 years after modern-era low
NEW YORK — New York City’s annual homicide total has surpassed 300 for the first time since 2016, fueled by pockets of gang violence, a pair of quadruple killings and an unusual number of bookkeeping adjustments. Through Dec. 22, the city has tallied 311 homicides, compared with 290 at the...
Doctor charged in 25 deaths sues hospital for defamation
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio doctor accused of ordering drug overdoses in the deaths of 25 hospital patients has sued his former employer for defamation, saying in a lawsuit that he did nothing wrong and did not deviate from hospital policy on end-of-life care. Dr. William Husel, who is accused...
Plane crash kills 5, including LSU coach’s daughter-in-law
ATLANTA — A small plane en route to a college football playoff game crashed into a post office parking lot in Louisiana shortly after takeoff Saturday, killing five people, including a well-known sports reporter who was the daughter-in-law of one of the team’s coaches. The two-engine Piper Cheyenne crashed in...
US astronaut sets record for longest spaceflight by a woman
A U.S. astronaut set a record Saturday for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, breaking the old mark of 288 days with about two months left in her mission. Christina Koch, a 40-year-old electrical engineer from Livingston, Montana, arrived at the International Space Station on March 14. She broke...
Jim Beam fined in massive bourbon spill that killed fish
VERSAILLES, Ky. — Jim Beam was fined $600,000 earlier this month after a July warehouse fire sent a nearly 23-mile plume of alcohol into the Kentucky and Ohio rivers, killing fish. The distiller agreed to the fine in a Dec. 6 order from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, The...
Science teachers, students get Times Square New Year’s stage
NEW YORK — This year’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square will spotlight efforts to combat climate change when high school science teachers and students press the button that begins the famous 60-second ball drop and countdown to next year. “On New Year’s Eve, we look back and reflect...
NYC man, 60, dies after beating in $1 Christmas Eve mugging
NEW YORK (AP) — A 60-year-old man who was kicked and punched while defending his partner during a $1 mugging on Christmas Eve has died. Juan Fresnada died Friday afternoon at the Bronx hospital where he was taken in critical condition after the mugging early Tuesday, the New York Police...
Video: Tractor trailer narrowly misses crushing several first responders at Texas highway pileupVideo
Talk about a near miss. A tractor trailer narrowly missed crushing several first responders at the scene of a major pileup on Highway 84 in Lubbock County, Texas on Friday. Video captured by NBC-affiliate KCBD, which happened to be on the scene, shows crew wearing neon vests scrambling for their...
Texas sheriff: 2 dead, multiple shot in music video ‘ambush’
HOUSTON — Two people were shot and killed and multiple others were wounded when a group filming a music video was “ambushed” near Houston, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. After holding a media briefing in which he said two people were killed and four wounded, Gonzalez in a tweet...
US judge calls for retrial of 1 count in Texas attack
PHOENIX — A U.S. judge refused to toss out the entire case against a Phoenix man convicted of providing guns and training two friends who attacked a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest outside Dallas but said he should be retried on a a single count of transporting weapons across state lines....
Man who made 27,000 crosses for shooting victims is retiring
AURORA, Ill. — An Illinois man who made more than 27,000 crosses to commemorate victims of mass shootings across the country is retiring. Greg Zanis came to realize, after 23 years, his Crosses for Losses ministry was beginning to take a personal and financial toll on him, according to The...
DJ Don Imus, made and betrayed by his mouth, dead at 79
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Disc jockey Don Imus, whose career was made and then undone by his acid tongue during a decades-long rise to radio stardom and an abrupt public plunge after a nationally broadcast racial slur, has died. He was 79. Imus died Friday morning at Baylor Scott and...
Prosecutors in day spa prostitution sting turn up the heat on Patriots owner Robert Kraft
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida prosecutors just raised the stakes in New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s fight against prostitution charges. It’s been nearly a year since the 78-year-old part-time Palm Beach resident paid for sex acts at a Jupiter massage parlor likened to a brothel. But now lawyers for...
Tina Turner mural defaced at North Carolina record store
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Employees at a record store in North Carolina say a mural of pop star Tina Turner has been defaced with a red swastika. The Citizen Times reported Thursday that the mural is outside Static Age Records in downtown Asheville. Store owner Jesse McSwain said someone unconnected to...
About a dozen hurt in blast at Beechcraft plant in Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. — More than a dozen people were injured Friday when a nitrogen line ruptured at the Beechcraft aircraft manufacturing facility in Wichita, Kansas, causing part of the building to collapse, authorities said. Daniel Wegner, deputy fire chief for Sedgwick County, said the explosion happened at around 8 a.m....
Man demands money from bank teller — then gives it back, North Carolina cops say
RALEIGH, N.C. — A 66-year-old man who demanded money from a North Carolina bank isn’t being charged with a crime, officials say. The man was at a Wells Fargo in Wilmington on Thursday when he handed a teller a note with his request, according to police spokeswoman Linda Thompson. But...
12 killed, dozens hurt after jetliner crashes in Kazakhstan
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — A jetliner with 98 people aboard struggled to get airborne and crashed shortly after takeoff Friday in Kazakhstan, killing at least 12 people, authorities said. The Bek Air jet, identified as a 23-year-old Fokker 100, hit a concrete wall and a two-story building soon after departing from...
Disney characters say tourists inappropriately touched them
ORLANDO, Fla. — Walt Disney World employees who portray Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck each filed police reports this month claiming they were inappropriately touched by tourists. The woman inside the Mickey Mouse costume went to the hospital with neck injuries caused by a grandmother patting the character’s...
Remains of 6 people found after Hawaii helicopter crashVideo
HONOLULU — The remains of six people have been found after a helicopter heading to one of the most rugged and remote coastlines in Hawaii crashed at the top of a mountain on the island of Kauai, authorities said. Officials said Friday that there are no indications of survivors and...
EU chief warns that new Brexit delay might be necessary
BRUSSELS — The European Union and Britain will struggle to seal an agreement on trade and other aspects of their future ties after Brexit next year and should consider extending the negotiations beyond 2020, a top EU official said in an interview published Friday. The U.K. is scheduled to leave...
India clamps down on marches, internet after deadly protests
NEW DELHI — A group of protesters in New Delhi was beaten and shoved into buses by police on Friday as they attempted to demonstrate against a new citizenship law that has triggered nationwide protests in recent weeks. About two dozen people gathered near an Uttar Pradesh state government building...
Russia commissions intercontinental hypersonic weapon
MOSCOW — Russia’s defense minister reported to President Vladimir Putin that a new hypersonic weapon of intercontinental range became operational Friday following years of tests. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered combat duty, the Defense Ministry said....
California Supreme Court allows therapists to challenge law on child porn reporting
SAN FRANCISCO — Psychotherapists have spent years fighting a 2014 California law requiring them to report patients who confided having looked at child pornography, complaining that it deters people with sexual compulsions from seeking treatment and forces therapists to call the police on patients they do not believe pose a...
Daycare owner arrested after 26 kids found behind false wall
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado woman accused of hiding 26 children behind a false wall at her daycare center was arrested for investigation of misdemeanor child abuse, police said Thursday. Carla Faith, 58, was arrested Monday in Colorado Springs on suspicion of two counts of reckless child abuse without...
Photo of gorilla with ‘cool birthmark’ shows hand that looks remarkably human
Since elementary school, we’ve learned that gorillas are one of humankind’s closest relatives. A photo released in August of a western lowland gorilla at Zoo Atlanta is going viral this week. Captured in photo is the hand of 6-year-old Anaka, which reminds one of how close the resemblance between humans...
