U.S./World category, Page 1054
Cop pulls over giant banana car; gives driver $20
Getting pulled over on the highway can cost you some green. Unless your driving a yellow banana. Steve Braithwaite has been touring America in a banana-shaped convertible for two years, according to his Big Banana Car website. He was recently departing Michigan behind the wheel of his home-made fruit sculpture...
For some rural TV viewers, local news is anything but
LINCOLN, Neb. — When Dianne Johnson channel-surfs for news in her rural western Nebraska home, all she sees are stories about Colorado crime and car crashes from a Denver television station more than 200 miles away. It’s frustrating for the 61-year-old rancher, who wants to know the latest developments in...
Alabama sheriff shot, killed in line of duty
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama sheriff was fatally shot Saturday evening in a community near the state’s capital, authorities announced, later saying they were seeking a man considered to be a “serious risk” who may be traveling on foot. Gov. Kay Ivey tweeted that Lowndes County Sheriff John Williams had...
Hong Kong votes in election seen as referendum on protests
HONG KONG — Voting was underway Sunday in Hong Kong elections that have become a barometer of public support for anti-government protests now in their sixth month. Long lines formed outside polling stations for 452 seats in the city’s 18 district councils. The councils are largely advisory and have little...
Iowa woman gets 50 years in prison for 1992 beating death
MUSCATINE, Iowa — An Iowa grandmother convicted of the 1992 killing of her former boyfriend has been sentenced to 50 years in prison, which was the maximum allowed. The Muscatine Journal reports that 56-year-old Annette Cahill showed no emotion when she was sentenced Friday. Following a mistrial earlier this year,...
Memorial unveiled to victims of Texas Walmart mass shooting
EL PASO, Texas — A memorial was unveiled Saturday honoring the 22 people who were killed in a recent mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. The 30-foot tall golden obelisk, called the “Grand Candela,” or “Big Candle,” was revealed to the public during a morning ceremony in...
Feds fight back as Epstein death conspiracy theories swirl
NEW YORK — At another time in history, the indictment of two jail guards responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself might have served as an emphatic rebuttal to suspicions that the wealthy sex offender was actually murdered. Not in 2019. Conspiracy theories continued to flourish, even...
Till memorial, others taking security steps amid vandalism
A commission behind a memorial for teenage lynching victim Emmett Till in Mississippi was forced to get a new sign with a glass bulletproof front and add cameras and alarms after previous markers were riddled with bullet holes. It’s one of numerous monuments to U.S. civil rights figures or events...
3 wounded in shooting outside Salt Lake City concert venue
SALT LAKE CITY — Three people were wounded in a shooting outside a downtown concert venue in Utah’s capital, not far from the unrelated Friday night evacuation of an NBA arena, police said. The shots were fired shortly after 10 p.m. from a car as the three left The Complex,...
From air, pope greets leaders of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis managed an airborne diplomatic dance by sending telegrams of greetings to the leaders of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as he flew through their airspace on his way from Thailand to Japan. Francis made sure not to offend Beijing in the telegrams Saturday,...
5 states resisting creation of panels to promote the census
ORLANDO, Fla. — With billions in federal aid and seats in Congress at stake, some states are dragging their feet in carrying out one of the Census Bureau’s chief recommendations for making sure everyone is counted during the 2020 census. Five states — Florida, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas...
Officials: Don’t eat romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, California
U.S. health officials on Friday told people to avoid romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, California, because of another food poisoning outbreak. The warning comes almost exactly one year after a similar outbreak led to a blanket warning about tainted romaine. The officials urged people not to eat the leafy green...
Syracuse University, shaken by racism, welcomes the holiday break
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Benny Callahan didn’t leave her dorm for two straight days this week. The Syracuse University freshman didn’t feel safe, she said, away from home and under siege, it seemed, by day-after-day reports of racism in campus residence and academic halls. “My parents are freaking out,” Callahan, who...
Trump denigrates U.S. diplomats, pushes conspiracy theories
Offering his own take on five long days of public hearings, President Donald Trump brushed off the impeachment inquiry as “total nonsense” on Friday and bad-mouthed a number of the U.S. diplomats who testified to Congress about his Ukraine pressure campaign. In one breath, Trump said House Democrats looked like...
Spacewalking astronauts slice into cosmic ray detector
Spacewalking astronauts ventured out Friday for the second week in a row to repair a cosmic ray detector, this time actually cutting into the $2 billion instrument. The International Space Station’s Luca Parmitano sliced through eight stainless steel tubes, using hardware store-type bolt cutters. That set the stage to install...
Former Boston College student charged in boyfriend’s suicide pleads not guilty
BOSTON — A former Boston College student made her first court appearance Friday to face charges that she encouraged her boyfriend to take his own life in what prosecutors describe as a toxic and abusive relationship. Inyoung You, 21, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Suffolk County Superior Court...
Police: Pregnant woman forced to drink toilet water, bleach
ST. PETERS, Mo. — An eastern Missouri man is accused of holding his pregnant girlfriend captive, punching her and forcing her to drink toilet water and bleach. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 40-year-old Ronnie William Howard of St. Peters is charged with kidnapping, domestic assault and unlawful use of...
Supreme Court will hear case over no-fly list
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will take up the Trump administration’s bid to end a lawsuit filed by Muslim men who say they were placed on the government’s no-fly list because they refused to serve as FBI informants. The three foreign-born men claim in the lawsuit that their religious convictions...
FBI lawyer suspected of altering Russia probe document
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday touted news reports that a former FBI lawyer is suspected of altering a document related to surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser in 2016. The Associated Press has confirmed reports by CNN and The Washington Post that the finding is part of...
Dog befriends baby giraffe abandoned in South Africa
MOKOPANE, South Africa — A dog in South Africa has befriended a baby giraffe that was abandoned at birth, rescued and taken to a local orphanage. Jazz the giraffe arrived at The Rhino Orphanage just days after birth. A farmer found him in the wild, weak and dehydrated, and called...
UN: Spike in violence may jeopardize ending Ebola in Congo
GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Friday noted “a very dangerous and alarming development” in efforts to end the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, warning that the eruption of violence may re-ignite the epidemic. Dr. Mike Ryan, who directs the U.N. health agency’s Ebola response, said there were only...
Campus ministry ex-director sentenced in child porn case
PHILADELPHIA — A former campus minister at Villanova University who admitted possessing child pornography has been sentenced to nearly seven years in prison. Timothy O’Connell must also serve 10 years of supervised release once he’s freed from prison. The 52-year-old Drexel Hill resident had pleaded guilty in June to obtaining...
Indiana University says it can’t fire professor for ‘bigoted’ remarks
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — An Indiana University professor who defended comments he posted on his social media accounts that denigrated women, people of color and gay men will keep his job because his views are protected under the Constitution, university officials announced after they were bombarded with demands to fire him....
Sheriff at troubled Ohio’s Gallia County jail responds to allegations
CLEVELAND — The sheriff who oversees a small Ohio county jail that has been plagued with deaths and injuries over the last year said Thursday he’ll share information about the facility once an internal investigation is complete. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that family members of those who have died...
Utah woman fights charges after stepkids see her topless at home
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah woman charged with a crime after her stepchildren saw her topless in her own home is fighting the case that could force her to register as a sex offender, pointing to a court ruling that overturned a topless ban in Colorado and helped fuel...
