U.S./World category, Page 1100
FBI: Truck driver threatened mass shooting at Memphis church
A truck driver has been arrested after saying he would commit a mass shooting at a church in Memphis, Tennessee, authorities say in newly filed court records. Thomas Matthew McVicker was apprehended in Indianapolis before the plan could be carried out, according to court papers filed Monday. It’s the most...
Twitter shuts Chinese accounts targeting Hong Kong protests
WASHINGTON — Twitter said it has suspended more than 200,000 accounts that it believes were part of a Chinese government influence campaign targeting the protest movement in Hong Kong. The company also said Monday it will ban ads from state-backed media companies, expanding a prohibition it first applied in 2017...
Mattresses gone with the wind when gusts hit outdoor movie eventVideo
“Gone With the Wind” would have been an appropriate selection for this outdoor movie event. It had the appearance of a choreographed performance when a flock of untethered air mattresses danced across a field. The inflatable beds were intended for moviegoers in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday night but the plot...
Ohio man pleads not guilty in Jewish center video threatVideo
STRUTHERS, Ohio — A 20-year-old man pleaded not guilty Monday to threatening a Jewish community center in a video that authorities say showed him shooting a semi-automatic rifle. A judge near Youngstown set bond at $250,000 for James Reardon, ordered a mental health evaluation and told him to stay away...
Cal State Fullerton consultant killed in campus stabbing
FULLERTON, Calif. — A retired administrator working as a consultant to California State University, Fullerton was fatally stabbed in a campus parking lot Monday in what police called a targeted attack, though they were not sure of a motive. The victim was in his late 50s and worked in international...
U.S. prisons chief removed from position as a result of Jeffrey Epstein’s death
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr removed the acting director of the Bureau of Prisons from his position Monday, more than a week after millionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein took his own life while in federal custody. Hugh Hurwitz’s reassignment comes amid mounting evidence that guards at the chronically understaffed Metropolitan...
Planned Parenthood will stop taking Title X funding rather than comply with abortion ‘gag rule’Video
NEW YORK — Planned Parenthood said Monday it’s pulling out of the federal family planning program rather than abide by a new Trump administration rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions. Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood’s acting president and CEO, said the organization’s nationwide network of health centers would...
Florida woman upset over her dog being dyed by groomer
LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — A Florida woman got a colorful but unwanted surprise when she picked up her dog from a grooming session. The Palm Beach Post reports Graziella Puleo’s Goldendoodle named Lola was scheduled for a buzz cut and teeth cleaning recently at a Lake Worth grooming center....
Texas man who killed boy to make room in house gets life
LUFKIN, Texas — Prosecutors say a Texas man who told police he drowned a 3-year-old boy because his girlfriend was pregnant and they needed room in the home has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. Authorities say Bobby Woods Jr. told police that his girlfriend, Billie Jean Cuttler,...
Adnan Syed’s attorneys ask U.S. Supreme Court to hear ‘Serial’ case
BALTIMORE — Attorneys for Adnan Syed, the subject of the “Serial” podcast, are trying to take his case to the Supreme Court. The petition, filed Monday after an extended deadline, asks the justices to reverse a ruling by Maryland’s highest court. It had refused to grant a new trial to...
Jury selection begins for man accused of murder, cannibalism
JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — A murder trial is getting under way for a southern Indiana man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and eating parts of her body. Attorneys for 38-year-old Joseph Oberhansley and Clark County prosecutors began selecting jurors Monday in suburban Indianapolis, in the Hamilton County seat of Noblesville. Oberhansley’s...
NYPD fires officer for death of Eric Garner
NEW YORK — After five years of investigations and protests, New York City’s police commissioner on Monday fired an officer involved in the 2014 chokehold death of an unarmed black man whose dying cries of “I can’t breathe” fueled a national debate over race and police use of force. Police...
19-year-old accused of threating abortion clinic via iFunny
CHICAGO — A federal complaint accuses a Chicago 19-year-old of posting messages through a social media site typically used to produce humorous memes to threaten a deadly attack on an abortion clinic in the city. The document unsealed Monday says Farhan Sheikh wrote on his iFunny page last week that...
Detained immigrants sue over conditions, medical care
LOS ANGELES — Immigrants held in U.S. detention facilities filed a lawsuit Monday demanding adequate medical care and treatment and accommodations for disabilities. In the suit filed by disability and civil rights advocates in U.S. District Court, immigrants said they’re placed in isolation as punishment and denied recommended medical treatment...
Woman charged with aiding white supremacist’s jail escape
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An Arkansas woman has been charged with helping the leader of a white supremacist gang and another inmate escape from jail last month. A federal grand jury indicted 27-year-old Kennan Gililland on Aug. 8 on charges alleging that she helped Wesley Gullett and Christopher Sanderson escape...
Alaska man discovers message in bottle from Russian Navy
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A man discovered a 50-year-old letter in a bottle from the Russian Navy on the shores of western Alaska. Tyler Ivanoff found the handwritten Russian letter early this month while gathering firewood near Shishmaref about 600 miles northwest of Anchorage, television station KTUU reported. “I was just...
12 injured when bus, vehicle collide in Cleveland
CLEVELAND — Authorities say a bus and another vehicle collided at an intersection in Cleveland, injuring at least 12 people. The State Highway Patrol responded to the crash that occurred around 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Officials at the scene said the RTA bus was carrying several passengers at the time. Authorities...
Grad nixed from yearbook over tuxedo photo; reprint promised
SPRINGVILLE, Ala. — An Alabama high school graduate doesn’t appear in her yearbook after wearing a tuxedo top for her senior portrait, instead of the black drape female students usually wear. Holley Gerelds tweeted that she was left out of the Springville High yearbook “because I’m a lesbian who wanted...
Chinese K-pop stars publicly back Beijing on Hong Kong
At least eight pop stars from mainland China and one each from Taiwan and Hong Kong are publicly stating their support for Beijing’s one-China policy, eliciting a mixture of disappointment and understanding from fans. Many of the statements came after protesters opposed to Beijing’s growing influence over semi-autonomous Hong Kong...
Those who use more emojis have more sex, study says
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is an emoji worth? Perhaps a really good sex life. According to a pair of studies conducted by The Kinsey Institute (yeah, that one), texters who used emojis more often tended to have more dates, more romance, and more sex....
Bail set at $200,000 for NYC subway scare defendant
NEW YORK — Bail was set at $200,000 Sunday for a homeless man from West Virginia who was charged with placing two devices that looked like pressure cookers in a New York City subway station. Larry Kenton Griffin II of Bruno, W.Va., appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court before Judge Keisha...
New Jersey judge sorry for telling woman to sell nude photos to PlayboyVideo
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey judge is sorry for suggesting a woman sell nude photos of herself to “Playboy” founder Hugh Hefner. Middlesex County Assignment Judge Alberto Rivas made the comment in a dispute involving the girlfriend of a married man and his wife. The girlfriend was seeking to...
Trump likens buying Greenland to ‘a large real estate deal’Video
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Sunday the idea of buying Greenland from Denmark has been discussed within his administration because of the strategic benefits for the United States and suggested that the semi-autonomous territory is a financial burden to Denmark. Surprise and confusion greeted a Wall Street Journal report last...
Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana’s governor during Katrina, diesVideo
BATON ROUGE — Former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, who became the state’s first female elected governor only to see her political career derailed by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, has died. After struggling for years with cancer, Blanco died Sunday in hospice care in Lafayette. She was 76. “Our...
Police: Ohio man accused of threat to Jewish center arrested
NEW MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Police say a man accused of making what they believe was a threat to a Jewish center in Ohio on Instagram has been arrested on telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing charges. New Middletown police say they arrested 20-year-old James Reardon, Jr., at his home Saturday in...
