U.S./World category, Page 1188
Washington wolf census finds more packs, breeding pairs
SPOKANE, Wash. — The number of gray wolves in Washington state kept growing last year and for the first time the state documented a pack living west of the Cascade Range, wildlife officials said Thursday. The state has a minimum of 126 wolves in 27 packs with 15 successful breeding...
Search warrant states ‘sneak and peek’ necessary at Jupiter spa
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jupiter police released documents Thursday detailing reasons the agency requested a “sneak and peek” search warrant that allowed them to set up surveillance cameras covertly inside the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. That comes a day after attorneys for New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft,...
NYPD’s secret weapon in standoffs: a simple length of rope
NEW YORK — The New York Police Department has all the latest crime-fighting tools: body cameras, algorithms, even drones. But it is now widely deploying a far simpler technology, a 5½-foot (1½-meter) piece of rope, to help officers deal with one of the diciest kinds of calls. The department this...
Biologists: Killing hungry sea lions saving imperiled fish
PORTLAND, Ore. — A plan to kill California sea lions to save an endangered run of fish on a river that cuts through Portland, Oregon, appears to be working just months after wildlife officials began euthanizing the giant marine mammals, biologists said Thursday. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife...
Attorneys, judge keep winnowing jury pool for ex-cop’s trial
MINNEAPOLIS — A judge and attorneys have excused seven more people from the jury pool for the murder trial of a former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman who had called 911 to report a possible rape near her home. Mohamed Noor is charged with murder in...
2 Georgia officers shot; police deal with hostage situation
ATLANTA — A gunman suspected of shooting two Georgia police officers remain barricaded in a home Thursday with a teenager who was considered a hostage, police said. Both officers were in serious condition at an Atlanta hospital as police negotiated with the gunman in a bid to get him to...
Mormons ease opposition to same-sex couples and their kids
SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Thursday repealed rules that banned baptisms for children of gay parents and that labeled same-sex couples as sinners eligible for expulsion — marking a reversal of policies condemned as jarring detours from a push by the faith...
Investigator details events preceding California SUV crash over cliff
SAN FRANCISCO — Before her wife drove an SUV off a Northern California cliff, Sarah Hart spent hours searching on her phone for overdosing options and whether it was relatively painless to die by drowning, a highway patrol investigator testified Thursday. California Highway Patrol investigator Jake Slates said despite the...
Man charged with killing Nipsey Hussle pleads not guilty
LOS ANGELES — The man charged with killing rapper Nipsey Hussle was ordered held on $5 million bail after pleading not guilty Thursday to murder and attempted murder charges. Eric R. Holder Jr., 29, making his first court appearance after Sunday’s shooting and subsequent two-day manhunt, spoke only to say...
California shoplifter stuffs chain saw down his pantsVideo
A man stretched the limits of shoplifting, and his waistband, when he slid a chainsaw down his pants in a California store. Jeff Bennett of RG Equipment in Fresno told the Fresno Bee his security camera caught the suspect Wednesday stuffing the chainsaw blade in his pants and then covering...
California woman fired from job after MAGA hat flap
A California woman who berated a man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and encouraged others to “get this guy!” has been fired from her job. The confrontation began Monday at a Starbucks, according to the man who identified himself to NBC Bay Area as Victor. “This woman comes...
Amid rising anxiety, colleges tell students it’s OK to fail
WALTHAM, Mass. — Bentley University has plenty of success stories among its faculty and alumni. But one recent evening, the school invited students to hear about the failures. Speaking to a crowded auditorium, one professor recounted the time he sank a $21 million company. Another recalled failing her college statistics...
CVS expands same-day prescription deliveries to 36 states
CVS Health is expanding same-day prescription deliveries nationwide in the latest push by drugstores to keep customers who don’t want to wait and are doing more shopping online. The drugstore chain says it can deliver medications and other products within a few hours to homes or offices from 6,000 locations....
Meow hear this: Study says cats react to sound of their name
NEW YORK — Hey Kitty! Yes, you. A new study suggests household cats can respond to the sound of their own names. No surprise to you or most cat owners, right? But Japanese scientists said Thursday that they’ve provided the first experimental evidence that cats can distinguish between words that...
14-year-old says he is Illinois boy who went missing in 2011
In 2011, 6-year-old Timmothy Pitzen’s mother picked him up at school in Illinois, took him to the zoo and a water park, and then killed herself at a hotel, leaving a note in which she said her son was fine but that no one would ever find him. On Wednesday,...
Texas bans clergy from executions after Supreme Court ruling
DALLAS — Texas prisons will no longer allow clergy in the death chamber after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the scheduled execution of a man who argued his religious freedom would be violated if his Buddhist spiritual adviser couldn’t accompany him. Effective immediately, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice will...
Yabba dabba don’t: California town rejects Flintstones house
HILLSBOROUGH, Calif. — Towering dinosaurs stand among fanciful mushrooms in the sloping backyard. A life-sized Fred Flintstone welcomes visitors near the front door. And by the driveway on the lawn is a giant “Yabba Dabba Do” sign in orange, purple and red. The latest battle in the war between government...
Arrest revives security concerns at Trump’s Florida estate
PALM BEACH, Fla. — As palm trees swayed in the ocean breeze, Yujing Zhang approached Secret Service agents in the Mar-a-Lago parking lot. She said she was going to the swimming pool at the Palm Beach presidential estate and presented agents with two Chinese passports in her name. That raised...
Search finds no evidence of student’s 2004 disappearance
HAVERHILL, N.H. — Authorities who searched a home and dug up a basement in northern New Hampshire said Wednesday they found no evidence of a college student who disappeared after crashing her car nearby 15 years ago. Maura Murray, a 21-year-old University of Massachusetts-Amherst nursing student, left campus on Feb....
Los Angeles police say bike-riding face slasher arrested
LOS ANGELES — A man who rode around on a bicycle and slashed the faces and necks of at least nine people in Los Angeles was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of attempted murder, police said. One victim said the man laughed after he cut her. Lenrey Briones was tracked down...
Texas bans clergy from executions after Supreme Court ruling
DALLAS — Texas prisons will no longer allow clergy in the death chamber after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the scheduled execution of a man who argued his religious freedom would be violated if his Buddhist spiritual adviser couldn’t accompany him. Effective immediately, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice will...
Joe Biden: I’ll be more mindful of respecting personal space
Former Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged Wednesday that his tendency toward physical displays of affection and encouragement has made some women uncomfortable, and he promised to be “much more mindful” of respecting personal space. “Social norms have begun to change. They’ve shifted,” the 76-year-old Biden said in a cellphone video...
Mark Cuban on immigration policy: ‘We’re being really, really, really stupid’
DALLAS — Tech billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wasn’t shy Tuesday night when asked about the country’s immigration policy. When it comes to recruiting and retaining the world’s best talent, he said, the country’s got it wrong. “Right now, we’re being really, really, really stupid by taking really,...
Republicans change Senate rules to speed nominations; leaders trade charges of hypocrisy
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Wednesday unilaterally changed the rules governing presidential nominations, a bitter escalation of the long-running dispute over the rights of the minority in a chamber once hailed for its bipartisan nature. The move, on a largely party-line vote of 51 to 48, will ease the confirmation...
Great Barrier Reef is being battered by climate change, and it might only get worse
The damage caused in recent years to the Great Barrier Reef by ocean heat waves has compromised the massive reef’s ability to recover, and climate change could make the problem more severe in the future, according to research published Wednesday. The world’s largest coral reef, which stretches for more than...
