U.S./World category, Page 1200
Kansas artist carves out Beto O’Rourke image in Texas field
AUSTIN, Texas — The face of Beto O’Rourke has been temporarily enshrined in a Texas field as the former Democratic congressman runs for president. A 2-acre circle with an image of the El Paso politician’s face has been carved into a field near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The crop art also...
Happy birthday! Trump’s youngest son, Barron, turns 13
WASHINGTON — A teenager is calling the White House home again. President Donald Trump’s youngest child, Barron, turned 13 on Wednesday, the first day of spring break at the Maryland private school where he’s a seventh-grader. Barron and his mother, Melania Trump, are keeping to tradition and spending the break...
GOP senator says he’s fed up with Trump’s attacks on McCain
WASHINGTON — A Republican senator says that he’s had enough of President Donald Trump’s personal attacks on the late John McCain and that “the country deserves better.” Johnny Isakson of Georgia is quoted Wednesday as telling The Bulwark conservative news and opinion website that “nothing is more important than the...
Cops: Arizona woman disciplined her adopted kids with pepper spray
MARICOPA, Ariz. — Arizona authorities say a woman has been arrested on allegations of using pepper spray to discipline her seven adopted children and locking them for days inside a closet. A police report says Machelle Hackney’s adopted children had no food, water or access to a bathroom for days...
Lawsuit: Harvard ‘shamelessly’ profits from photos of slaves
BOSTON — Harvard University has “shamelessly” turned a profit from photos of two 19th-century slaves while ignoring requests to turn the photos over to the slaves’ descendants, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Tamara Lanier, of Norwich, Connecticut, is suing the Ivy League school for “wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation”...
Where are the happiest people? In Finland
HELSINKI — Finland has topped an index of the happiest nations for the second consecutive year, with researchers saying the small Nordic country of 5.5 million has succeeded in generating a happiness recipe for a balanced life not simply dependent on economic and material wealth. The World Happiness Report, produced...
Italy: Driver abducts schoolchildren, sets bus ablaze
MILAN — A bus driver in northern Italy abducted 51 schoolchildren and their chaperones Wednesday and took them on an hour-long drive, then set the vehicle on fire when he was stopped by a Carabinieri blockade, officials said. Officers broke the glass in the back door of the bus and...
Spy cameras secretly live-streamed 1,600 hotel guests for subscribers
Four individuals were booked by authorities in Seoul on Wednesday for live-streaming secretly obtained video feed from dozens of local hotel rooms, South Korean police said. The Korean Herald reported that since launching in November, the site sold monthly subscriptions, raking in more than $6,000. It had more than 4,000...
Labrador retriever most pup-ular U.S. dog breed for 28th year
NEW YORK — Labrador retrievers aren’t letting go of their hold on U.S. dog lovers, but German shorthaired pointers are tugging on the top ranks of doggy popularity, according to new American Kennel Club data. Labs topped the list for the 28th year in a row. Yet there’s been plenty...
Trump escalates feud with Kellyanne Conway’s husband
WASHINGTON — Kellyanne Conway’s husband is a “husband from hell!” President Donald Trump declared Wednesday, escalating his awkward public fight with the spouse of a top aide. Trump’s feud with George Conway has played out with ever more heated rhetoric on social media. Conway, who has questioned Trump’s mental health,...
Report: Worker who died at Epcot fell off cherry picker
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Authorities say a man who died in an industrial accident at Disney World’s Epcot theme park fell from the elevated basket of a cherry picker. The Orlando Sentinel reports witnesses told investigators that 58-year-old George Grimes was in the elevated basket of the small cherry...
Trump keeps a sharp focus on Ohio for 2020 campaign
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is returning to the state that foretold his 2016 victory and serves as the linchpin of his re-election effort. Trump’s visit to Ohio on Wednesday marks his first trip to the state since last year’s midterm election campaign , when the state was a rare...
California man, 96, found in home with hundreds of rats
OJAI, Calif. — A Southern California woman is in custody after deputies discovered her 96-year-old father and multiple pets living in a home stinking of feces and infested with up to 700 rats, authorities said Tuesday. Catherine Ann Vandermaesen, 65, was arrested on suspicion of felony elder abuse and misdemeanor...
School official sorry for calling Hitler a ‘good leader’
MADISON, N.J. — A New Jersey sports official is apologizing for telling student athletes that Adolf Hitler was a “good leader” with “bad moral character and intentions.” Nutley High School athletic director Joe Piro made the remark while addressing Madison High School students Saturday during an assembly aimed at promoting...
God, country and chickenpox: How outbreak entangled school in vaccine showdown
Bill Kunkel used to vaccinate his kids, before he read where some vaccines come from. He is skeptical of the pharmaceutical industry’s motives and came across anti-vaxxer theories online, though they aren’t supported by science. But his main objection is about abortion. Decades ago, cells were taken from legally aborted...
Stories of the victims of the New Zealand mosque attack
Fifty people were killed in a terror attack at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday. Some information about the victims: HUSNA AHMED Farid Ahmed refuses to turn his back on his adopted home, despite losing his 45-year-old wife, Husna Ahmed, in the Al Noor mosque attack. They had...
Floodwaters threaten millions in crop and livestock losses
DES MOINES — Farmer Jeff Jorgenson looks out over 750 acres of cropland submerged beneath the swollen Missouri River, and he knows he probably won’t plant this year. But that’s not his biggest worry. He and other farmers have worked until midnight for days to move grain, equipment and fuel...
Jury: Roundup weed killer major factor in man’s cancer
SAN FRANCISCO — Roundup weed killer was a substantial factor in a California man’s cancer, a jury determined Tuesday in the first phase of a trial that attorneys said could help determine the fate of hundreds of similar lawsuits. The unanimous verdict by the six-person jury in federal court in...
Fish in Cuyahoga River that famously caught fire now OK’d for consumption
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Fish in the Cuyahoga River, which became synonymous with pollution when it caught fire in Cleveland in 1969, are now safe to eat, federal environmental regulators say. The easing of fish consumption restrictions on the Cuyahoga was lauded Monday by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine as an important...
Rep. Devin Nunes sues for $250 million over parody Twitter accountVideo
WASHINGTON — A parody Twitter account purporting to be owned by an unhappy cow living on one of Rep. Devin Nunes’ Iowa farms attacked the California Republican as a “treasonous cowpoke” and “udder-ly worthless” during the 2018 campaign. Now Nunes wants $250 million in damages from Twitter for failing to...
Report: U.S. renewable energy use has doubled since 2008
Americans relied on renewable energy sources for 17.6 percent of all electricity generation in 2018, setting a new record, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The federal agency said renewable sources — solar, wind and hydroelectric power — provided 742 million megawatt hours of electricity in 2018, nearly double...
Patriots owner Robert Kraft offered plea deal in prostitution case
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida prosecutors have offered a plea deal to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and other men charged with paying for illicit sex at a massage parlor. The Palm Beach State Attorney confirmed Tuesday it has offered Kraft and 24 other men charged with soliciting prostitution...
Police: Unicorn-costumed robbery suspect has been unmasked
BALDWIN, Md. — The robbery suspect wore a unicorn costume, and police in Maryland say he has been unmasked. News outlets report that Baltimore County police say 28-year-old Jacob William Rogge donned a pink-and-white unicorn costume and smashed a convenience store register with a crowbar Saturday. Police say 27-year-old Joseph...
Dutch prosecutors consider terror motive in fatal tram shooting
UTRECHT, Netherlands — Investigators probing the deadly tram shooting in the Dutch city of Utrecht sharpened their focus Tuesday on a possible extremist motive, as judicial authorities revealed that the main suspect was released from jail this month and faces a rape trial in July. The nature of Monday’s attack...
Iowa sues to shut down national puppy-laundering ring
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is suing to shut down what it describes as a national puppy-laundering ring that sells dogs from illegal breeding operations at inflated prices while pretending the animals are rescues. The lawsuit filed Monday seeks an injunction to dissolve breeder J.A.K.’s Puppies,...
