U.S./World category, Page 1163
Swiping beach rocks will cost you $250 in this Massachusetts town
A Massachusetts town wants to stop people from stealing its beach. Westport added a new bylaw last week that imposes a $250 fine for taking rocks or vegetation from town beaches, reports South Coast Today. Beach Committee member Sean Leach is fed up with people swiping attractive stones and plants...
QR code on graduation cap sends people to list of high school shooting victims
A high school student in Ohio is using her cryptic graduation cap to make a statement. Gina Warren, 18, of Ashville, Ohio, is seeking to raise awareness of violence at schools by referring people to a website with a list of students killed in U.S. high schools. She is using...
Woman demands Disney apologize for CBD oil arrest
ORLANDO, Fla. — A 69-year-old woman is demanding an apology for her arrest at a Walt Disney World security checkpoint last month after a guard says CBD oil was found during a search of her purse. Hester Burkhalter has hired high-profile attorney Benjamin Crump, who represented Trayvon Martin’s family. Crump...
Businessman pleads guilty to stealing up to $1.5M in wine
BALTIMORE — A Maryland man has pleaded guilty to embezzling up to $1.5 million in upscale wine from customers who paid him to store the bottles, which he sold without their knowledge. A plea agreement calls for 54-year-old William Lamont Holder of Hanover, Md., to be sentenced to 18 months...
Pompeo tells Russia: no more election interference
SOCHI, Russia — On his first trip to Russia as U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that he warned his Russian counterpart against any “unacceptable” Russian meddling in U.S. elections. At a news conference following three hours of meetings, Pompeo said he told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov...
Sheriff: Carnival worker from Virginia shot, killed 3 women
Authorities in Virginia say two missing women and a missing teenage girl were shot to death by a carnival worker who met the victims through the traveling show. James Michael Wright, 23, is accused of killing the women in February and March near his home in a far western corner...
Second Florida county hacked in 2016 election, Gov. DeSantis says
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Russian hackers infiltrated the election files of two Florida counties during the 2016 election, Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Tuesday, though he was quick to add that no votes were manipulated or results altered. “Two Florida counties experienced intrusion into the supervisor of election networks,” DeSantis said....
Anthony Weiner leaves halfway house, completes sentence
NEW YORK — Former Rep. Anthony Weiner has left a New York City halfway house after completing his prison sentence for illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl. According to the New York Post, Weiner said while leaving the Bronx facility on Tuesday that it’s “good to be out” and...
Unofficial tally shows Duterte allies winning big in polls in Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies appeared to have overwhelming leads in elections for the Philippine Senate, one of the opposition’s last bulwarks against a brash populist leader accused of massive human rights violations. Preliminary results comprising 94% of returns from Monday’s midterm elections showed at least eight candidates...
Texas officer fatally shoots woman after struggle over Taser
BAYTOWN, Texas — A Texas police officer fatally shot a woman moments after she seems to say “I’m pregnant” in an altercation captured on video. The shooting happened late Monday in Baytown, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Houston. Baytown Police Lt. Steve Dorris says the officer was patrolling...
3 dead, 2 injured in shooting at St. Louis home
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Police say three people were killed and two others wounded during a shooting at a home on the city’s north side. Authorities say the shooting happened just before 9 p.m. Monday in the city’s Penrose neighborhood. Police said one victim is in critical condition while...
3 dead, 3 missing after small tour planes collide in Alaska
ANCHORAGE — Three people were killed after two sightseeing airplanes carrying cruise ship tourists collided in midair Monday near a southeast Alaska town, the Coast Guard said. Three others remaining missing after the collision near Ketchikan, Coast Guard Lt. Brian Dykens said. The floatplanes collided under unknown circumstances, Federal Aviation...
Boy calls 911 to report he was left in hot car with 6 kids
WALDORF, Md. — A boy called 911 to report that he and six other children had been left in a car in Maryland with the windows rolled up and the engine not running. The Charles County Sheriff’s Office tells news outlets that the children ranged in age from 2 to...
Mother of missing Texas girl Maleah Davis heckled after canceled hearingVideo
HOUSTON — The mother of a missing 4-year-old Texas girl was heckled outside a courtroom on Monday by people who questioned if she had done enough to protect her daughter before her disappearance. Brittany Bowens, Maleah Davis’s mother, along with her spokesman, community activist Quanell X, showed up for a...
Former president Jimmy Carter undergoes surgery to repair broken hip after fall
ATLANTA — While leaving to go turkey hunting Monday morning, former President Jimmy Carter fell at his home in Plains, Ga. He was recovering comfortably from surgery to repair a broken hip at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, according to information from Deanna Congileo, the press secretary for the...
Judge blocks release of Coast Guard officer Christopher Hasson
GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge in Maryland on Monday blocked the release of a Coast Guard lieutenant accused of stockpiling combat gear and compiling a hit list of prominent Democrats and TV journalists. U.S. District Judge George Hazel agreed to revoke a magistrate’s order to free 50-year-old Christopher Hasson...
Massachusetts man accused of killing hiker with machete on Appalachian Trail
A Massachusetts man is accused of assaulting two hikers with a machete, killing one of them, over the weekend on the Appalachian Trial in Virginia, federal prosecutors said. James L. Jordan, 30, was arrested early Saturday and charged with one count of murder and one count of assault with the...
Disney will use Stormtroopers to police ‘Star Wars’ land time limit
“Move along.” It’s something any true “Star Wars” fan would love hearing from a real Stormtrooper. But, wait. They’re serious? With tons — and we mean TONS — of people desperate to visit Disney’s new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction in California and Orlando, the Los Angeles Times reports the...
New York City officer in ‘I can’t breathe’ death is scapegoat, lawyer says
NEW YORK — The New York City police officer accused of using a banned chokehold in the July 2014 death of Eric Garner is being made a scapegoat in a politically charged atmosphere, a defense lawyer said Monday. Video evidence shows Officer Daniel Pantaleo used an approved technique for restraining...
Ex-Michigan trooper gets prison for teen’s Taser crash death
DETROIT — A former Michigan state trooper was sentenced to at least five years in prison Monday for causing the death of a Detroit teen who crashed an all-terrain vehicle after he was shot with a Taser. Judge Margaret Van Houten said Mark Bessner, a lawyer and experienced officer, used...
Canada increases protections for Pacific Northwest orcas
SEATTLE — Canada has approved measures designed to protect endangered orcas in the Pacific Northwest, with some policies going further than laws recently enacted by Washington state. The Seattle Times reports Canadian agencies last Friday announced the policies aimed at improving access to food for orcas, including reducing chinook salmon...
Supreme Court says 1 state can’t be sued in another’s courts
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court decided Monday that one state cannot unwillingly be sued in the courts of another, overruling a 40-year precedent and perhaps, foreshadowing an argument over the viability of other high court decisions. The outcome left one dissenting justice wondering “which cases the court will overrule next.”...
Arkansas police K9 Mya smiles wide for high school yearbook photo
That’s a good girl. A police K9 was pictured in the yearbook of the Arkansas high school where she doubles as a school resource officer. And she sure looks happy about it. Mya, a 2-year-old Belgian malinois who works with the Bryant Police Department about 20 miles southwest of Little...
Florida woman missing for 6 years found in warehouse freezer
MARGATE, Fla. — The body of a Florida woman who had been missing for six years was found inside a freezer at a scrap warehouse. The business owner said Friday she opened the freezer and found the body of 35-year-old Heather Lacey last month. Lacey’s father told the Sun Sentinel...
IHOP Mother’s Day tweet of pancakes in a sonogram falls flat
In an effort to celebrate Mother’s Day, IHOP offered its love to mothers everywhere by sharing a photoshopped sonogram of a woman’s womb full of pancakes, jokingly suggesting in a tweet that eating the breakfast favorite might cause a food baby to grow in the uterus. On Sunday morning, right...
