U.S./World category, Page 1143
After war on drugs, Seattle tries ‘peace’
SEATTLE - Police officers sprang from a black patrol van on a recent day, surrounding two men smoking crack on a gritty downtown block. The officers asked for ID and confiscated a homemade pipe fashioned from glass and surgical hose. Such stops have played out for decades on the front...
Utah man arrested in shooting of off-duty Los Angeles deputy
ALHAMBRA, Calif. — A Utah man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of shooting an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy at a fast-food restaurant, and authorities say they are investigating whether he killed another man an hour earlier in attacks that both appear to be random. Rhett Nelson, 30, of...
Woman alleges 2008 sexual assault by UCLA gynecologist
LOS ANGELES — A woman says she was sexually assaulted by a gynecologist who worked for the University of California, Los Angeles and is upset the school apparently knew about it from her social media post but never contacted her as it investigated other incidents that led to charges against...
Public rental bikes used for Naked Bike Ride in New Orleans
Public bicycles sponsored by a health insurance company were used in a rather unsanitary way. It was more than 90 degrees on June 8 in New Orleans when the 2019 World Naked Bike Ride kicked off and riders mounted their saddles for a ride through the French Quarter. Although many...
Jon Stewart lashes out at Congress over 9/11 victims fund
WASHINGTON — Comedian Jon Stewart scolded Congress Tuesday for failing to ensure that a victims’ compensation fund set up after the 9/11 attacks never runs out of money. Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9/11 responders, also called out lawmakers for failing to attend a hearing on a bill to ensure...
Florida Uber driver has ear medically reattached after fight
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — An Uber driver nearly lost an ear in a fight in a parking garage at a Florida airport. The South Florida SunSentinel reports 26-year-old Sir-Christian Alexander Gordon appeared in court Thursday to face a charge of aggravated battery. The charge stems from what authorities describe as...
In hot water? Study says warming may reduce sea life by 17%
WASHINGTON — The world’s oceans will likely lose about one sixth of its fish and other marine life by the end of the century if climate change continues on its current path, a new study says. Every degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) that the world’s oceans warm, the total mass...
U.S. Catholic bishops convene to confront sex-abuse crisis
BALTIMORE — The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops convened a high-stakes meeting Tuesday under pressure to defuse the ever-widening child sexual abuse crisis that has weakened the church. The bishops “face the task of rooting the evil of sexual abuse from the church,” Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference...
Boris Johnson builds momentum in U.K. Conservative race
LONDON — Boris Johnson solidified his front-runner status in the race to become Britain’s next prime minister on Tuesday, gaining backing from leading pro-Brexit lawmakers. But he faced calls from his rivals to abandon his low-profile campaign strategy and start answering questions from journalists and the public. Ten candidates are...
Republican governor signs bill protecting abortion rights
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Vermont’s Republican governor has signed a bill into law that protects a woman’s access to abortion services. Gov. Phil Scott signed the legislation Monday, saying he has consistently supported a woman’s right to choose. He says “the legislation affirms what is already allowable in Vermont — protecting...
Botswana decriminalizes gay sex in landmark Africa case
JOHANNESBURG — Botswana became the latest country to decriminalize gay sex on Tuesday in a landmark case for Africa when the High Court rejected as unconstitutional sections of the penal code punishing same-sex relations with up to seven years in prison. Jubilant activists in the packed courtroom cheered the unanimous...
Accused Mar-a-Lago intruder allowed to be her own attorney
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Chinese woman charged with illegally entering President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort will be allowed to act as her own attorney. Federal Judge Roy Altman granted Yujing Zhang’s request Tuesday to fire her public defenders and represent herself. Altman found Zhang competent and intelligent, but strongly...
Bishops meeting on sex abuse clouded by state investigations
DETROIT — Hundreds of boxes. Millions of records. From Michigan to New Mexico this month, attorneys general are sifting through files on clergy sex abuse, seized through search warrants and subpoenas at dozens of archdioceses. They’re looking to prosecute, and not just priests. If the boxes lining the hallways of...
Near-record ‘dead zone’ predicted in Gulf of Mexico
NEW ORLEANS — Scientists are predicting a near-record Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” where the water holds too little oxygen to sustain marine life. “A major factor contributing to the large dead zone this year is the abnormally high amount of spring rainfall in many parts of the Mississippi River...
Woodstock 50 in doubt but organizers say in talks with venue
The fate of the Woodstock 50 festival was unclear Monday when the host of the event pulled out, but organizers said they were in talks with another venue. The festival has faced a series of setbacks, and the latest came Monday afternoon, when Watkins Glen International announced it’s not hosting...
Move to bar rainbow flags outside U.S. embassies was ‘right decision,’ Pence saysVideo
WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence on Monday defended the Trump administration’s barring of rainbow flags from being flown on flagpoles outside U.S. embassies during LGBT Pride Month, calling it “the right decision.” Pence made the remarks in an interview with NBC News, which first reported on the move last...
Photos of travelers taken in data breach, Customs and Border Protection saysVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Monday that photos of travelers had been compromised as part of a “malicious cyberattack,” raising concerns over how federal officials’ expanding surveillance efforts could imperil Americans’ privacy. Customs officials said in a statement Monday that the images, which included photos of...
Two Florida deputies wounded in gunfight that began after man shot at an Amazon AlexaVideo
Two Florida deputies were injured in a shootout Saturday morning, which began with a girl’s call for help. Her father, she said, had fired a gun at her mother’s Amazon Alexa smart speaker. Members of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office responded to the home after midnight and encountered 62-year-old Terrance...
Report: Almost all U.S. coal production consumed for electric power
Almost all U.S. coal production is consumed for electric power, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Monday. Nearly all of the coal consumed in the United States is produced domestically, and most is consumed by the electric power sector to generate electricity, EIA said. In 2018, of the more...
Helicopter crashes on roof of Manhattan skyscraper; pilot killedVideo
NEW YORK — A helicopter crashed on the roof of a rain-shrouded midtown Manhattan skyscraper Monday, killing the pilot and briefly triggering memories of 9/11, after an erratic trip across some of the nation’s most restricted airspace. Authorities said they did not suspect terrorism. The crash near Times Square and...
Grandmother of dad who killed 5 kids asks to spare his life
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The grandmother of a South Carolina man facing a possible death sentence for killing his five children is asking a jury to spare his life. She says the family has already been through too much. Roberta Thornsberry testified Monday that along with losing her five great-grandchildren when...
Mother charged with putting newborn in garbage bag in wooded area pleads not guilty
CHARDON, Ohio — A woman who authorities say put her newborn baby boy in a garbage bag and left him in a wooded area in 1993 has pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder. Forty-nine-year-old Gail Eastwood-Ritchey pleaded not guilty Monday in Geauga County to aggravated murder and murder...
Largely unregulated, facial-recognition technology comes to airport gates
NEW YORK — You won’t need to pull out your ticket to board the flight to Cancun at JetBlue’s Gate 18 at John F. Kennedy Airport. Put away your passport, too. All this convenience costs is your face. You get only one of those, so I hope it’s worth it....
Wildfire prompts evacuation at California Six Flags park
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A fast-moving brush fire erupted near a huge amusement and water park in Southern California on Sunday, sending hundreds of visitors to the exit to escape clouds of smoke and ash before fire officials asked them to stay put while they worked to contain the blaze....
Deputies urge woman in Robert Kraft-related sex ring to say she was trafficked
STUART, Fla. — The Chinese masseuse shrinks into her chair as the Florida sheriff’s detective tells her deputies installed hidden cameras in her spa’s ceiling. He knows she and other women had sex with men for money. But you can save yourself, Martin County Detective Mike Fenton and others tell...
