U.S./World category, Page 1174
New study says universe expanding faster, is younger
WASHINGTON — The universe is expanding faster than it used to, meaning it’s about a billion years younger than we thought, a new study by a Nobel Prize winner says. And that’s sending a shudder through the world of physics, making astronomers re-think some of their most basic concepts. At...
Pilot rescued from plane that crash-landed atop Idaho tree
MCCALL, Idaho — A pilot who was trying to crash-land this week in an Idaho field instead brought his small plane to rest at the top of a 60-foot tree, officials said. Pilot John Gregory was not hurt in the Monday night crash, which happened when his single-engine Piper Cub...
Meth smoking Florida man attacks mattress in jealous rage
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. — An apparently hallucinating Florida man used a bedpost to attack a mattress where he thought a man was hiding. In a Facebook post , The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s office quotes the girlfriend of 37-year-old Felipe Oquendo as saying that he began acting erratically early Friday....
Record 250 herpes cases reported per day near Coachella Festival
Music fans apparently caught more than some great tunes at a California music festival this month. The annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival draws about 250,000 people to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, across two weekends in April. In addition to the impacts that any large event...
Pentagon set to expand military’s role along southern border
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is preparing to approve a loosening of rules that bar troops from interacting with migrants entering the United States, expanding the military’s involvement in President Donald Trump’s operation along the southern border. Senior Defense Department officials have recommended that acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan approve a...
Multiple fatalities after tractor-trailer slams into traffic near Denver
Multiple people were killed Thursday near Denver after a tractor-trailer roared down a hill and into a traffic jam, incinerating a dozen cars and three trucks in a chain-reaction fireball. The aftermath left a smoldering apocalyptic stretch of highway in Lakewood, Colorado, with towering orange flames belching columns of black...
Trump to address a divided National Rifle Association
WASHINGTON — The nation’s largest gun rights organization played a pivotal role in President Donald Trump’s victory in 2016. Three years later, the National Rifle Association is limping toward the next election divided and diminished. It’s a reversal that has stunned longtime observers and that is raising questions about the...
Report: Nearly 100,000 undocumented immigrants graduate from U.S. high schools each year
Nearly 100,000 undocumented immigrants are estimated to graduate from U.S. high schools every year, a new report says, although many do not have the same protection against deportation and other benefits that the “dreamers” do. The report, based on census data, was published by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, a...
Yemen’s al-Qaida branch vows revenge over Saudi executions
SANAA, Yemen — Al-Qaida in Yemen is vowing to avenge beheadings carried out by Saudi Arabia this week — an indication that some of the 37 Saudis executed on terrorism-related charges were members of the Sunni militant group. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the branch is called, posted a...
Judge gives U.S. 6 months to identify children split at border
SAN DIEGO — The federal government has six months to identify potentially thousands of children who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border early in President Trump’s term, a judge said Thursday. Trump administration officials said they had a goal of six months but opposed any deadline, saying...
Trump administration hits pause on offshore oil plans as a result of court ruling
A recent federal court decision appears to have struck a blow to President Trump’s plans to expand offshore oil and natural gas drilling across the U.S. continental shelf, with the aim of turning the United States into an energy-exporting behemoth. In his first interview since being confirmed to Trump’s Cabinet,...
DA: New York man ran prostitution ring out of parents’ basement
NEW YORK — A Long Island man ran a prostitution ring out of his elderly parents’ sprawling suburban home, enticing women with drugs and locking them in a basement where he forced them to use a bucket instead of a bathroom, prosecutors said Thursday. Raymond Rodio III, 47, used social...
Massachusetts judge charged with helping man evade ICEVideo
BOSTON — A Massachusetts judge was indicted Thursday on charges that she helped a man who was living in the United States illegally evade an immigration agent by sneaking out the back door of a courthouse. District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph and onetime court officer Wesley MacGregor were...
Mother, son killed in tornado in northern Louisiana
A tornado killed two people as it tore through the northern Louisiana city of Ruston early Thursday, sending trees into houses, ripping roofs off buildings and causing a local public university to cancel classes, officials said. A mother and son in Lincoln Parish, which Ruston lies in, were killed when...
Veteran held on attempted murder counts after car hits crowd in California
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — A former Army sharpshooter with a history of post-traumatic stress disorder plowed his car at high speed into a group of pedestrians in a Silicon Valley suburb, injuring eight people, and then told authorities that he intentionally hit them, police said. Isaiah Joel Peoples, 34, gave no...
Remains of household cat to be launched into orbit around Earth
It will be a send-off like no other. The remains of a household cat named Pikachu, who died in January after a fight with diabetes, are slated to be launched into orbit around the Earth. Pikachu’s owner Steve Munt started a GoFundMe page to cover the costs of the space...
North Korea issued $2 million bill for comatose Otto Warmbier’s careVideo
BEIJING – North Korea issued a $2 million bill for the hospital care of comatose American Otto Warmbier, insisting that a U.S. official sign a pledge to pay it before being allowed to fly the University of Virginia student from Pyongyang in 2017. The presentation of the invoice – not...
South Carolina may use firing squad as death penalty workaround
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina lawmakers are considering legislation that would add firing squads to the state’s existing execution methods. The House Criminal Laws subcommittee on Thursday approved a Senate proposal that also changes South Carolina’s default execution method to the electric chair. Lawmakers acted after prison officials told them...
5 things we don’t know about Boeing 737 Max crisis
Boeing’s first earnings report since two deadly crashes of its 737 Max jets showed that a worldwide grounding of the company’s flagship jet is taking a toll on its business. But it left unanswered many key questions about the crisis. The aerospace giant said Wednesday that its first-quarter earnings fell...
Ammonia leak sends 37 to hospitals in Chicago suburb
BEACH PARK, Ill. — Plumes of a toxic gas that leaked in a northern Chicago suburb Thursday morning sent at least 37 people to hospitals and prompted an order for residents to stay locked inside their homes with windows shut tight, officials said. Three law enforcement officers who responded to...
Demonstrator glues her breasts to road in climate protest
For the past 10 days, climate change protesters have been causing havoc in central London. Protesters — organized as the group Extinction Rebellion — have been distrupting traffic and bus routes by blocking bridges and major intersections in non-violent gatherings. On Thursday, the Associated Press reports the group targeted London’s...
Gunmen kill polio vaccine worker, wound another in Pakistan
QUETTA, Pakistan — Pakistani police say gunmen riding on motorcycles opened fire on female polio vaccination workers in the southwestern town of Chaman, killing one and wounding the other. Local police official Sami Agha says the assailants fled after Thursday’s attack, which was the third this week. In separate attacks...
Trump disputes finding that he directed McGahn to seek Mueller’s ouster
President Donald Trump disputed Wednesday that he had told former White House counsel Donald McGahn to seek the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller in the midst of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The episode, detailed in the report by Mueller that was publicly released last...
Father of suspected Easter bombers arrested; Colombo on edge
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The father of two of the suspected Easter suicide bombers was arrested Thursday on suspicion of aiding his sons, Sri Lanka’s prime minister said, as businesses and religious leaders worried about a new attack four days after blasts killed more than 350 people. Across Colombo and...
Story on a teen porn worker could cost high school journalism teacher her job
The whispers wound their way through the hallways of Bear Creek High School in Stockton, California. They said a senior at the school was working in adult entertainment. Her name came up in March at a pitch meeting of the Bruin Voice, the award-winning high school newspaper, whose motto is,...
