U.S./World category, Page 1201
Passengers restrain woman who tried to open plane door during flight
ROMULUS, Mich. — Officials say fellow passengers restrained a woman after she allegedly tried to open an exit during a flight from Indianapolis to Detroit. Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokeswoman Erica Donerson says the woman may have been suffering from a medical issue. Donerson says the woman was restrained until the...
West Virginia lawsuit accuses diocese of knowingly employing pedophilesVideo
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey sued the Catholic diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and its former bishop Michael Bransfield on Tuesday, charging that they “knowingly employed pedophiles and failed to conduct adequate background checks” for people working in Catholic schools and camps, a news release from Morrisey’s office says. The lawsuit,...
Facebook says no one flagged New Zealand mosque shooting livestream
LONDON — Facebook says none of the 200 or so people who watched live video of the New Zealand mosque shooting flagged it to moderators, underlining the challenge tech companies face in policing violent or disturbing content in real time. The social media giant released new details about its response...
Statue of Liberty climber gets 5 years’ probation
NEW YORK — A woman who climbed the base of the Statue of Liberty last July 4 to protest the separation of families at the Mexican border has been sentenced to five years’ probation and 200 hours of community service. Therese Okoumou entered the Manhattan federal courthouse on Tuesday with...
Mike Pence heads to flooded Midwest amid concerns about levees
OMAHA, Neb. — Vice President Mike Pence is headed to the Midwest to view flood damage as farmers raise concerns that busted levees won’t be fixed before the traditional spring flood season. Pence is scheduled to visit Omaha, Nebraska, late Tuesday afternoon. Hundreds of homes are damaged, and tens of...
Trump’s 2 Supreme Court picks on opposite sides in 2 cases
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s two Supreme Court appointees were on opposite sides of two of three cases that the justices decided Tuesday. The two new justices have solidified conservative control of the Supreme Court, but they do not march in lockstep, at least in the small corners of the...
Tyler Perry steps in to help 4 children of slain single mom
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Less than a day after the family of a slain single mother of four launched a fundraising appeal, actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry has lent his support. News outlets report Perry offered to take care of the family’s rent to stave off eviction, arrange for 45-year-old Tynesha...
High profile arrest led Alabama police to genealogy testing
OZARK, Ala. — A truck-driving preacher accused of killing two teenage girls from Alabama nearly 20 years ago was found with the same genealogy database techniques used to apprehend the suspected “Golden State Killer” last year. Law enforcement interest in using genetic genealogy to crack cold cases has ballooned since...
Dartmouth professor wins top religion prize
HANOVER, N.H. — A Dartmouth College professor of physics and astronomy was awarded one of the world’s leading religion prizes for blending hard science and deep spirituality in his work, a foundation announced Tuesday. The John Templeton Foundation is awarding its 2019 prize to Marcelo Gleiser, who has written books...
Sharpton, family seek change a year after Stephon Clark died
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Standing beside the family of a 22-year-old black man who was fatally shot by police a year ago Monday, the Rev. Al Sharpton called for California to make it easier to prosecute officers who kill civilians and to require that all cases go before a grand jury....
Judge: Feds can post info on FBI raid of Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen
NEW YORK — A judge directed prosecutors Monday to publicly release documents related to the search warrant for last year’s FBI raids on the home and office of President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen. U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III ordered that redacted versions of the documents be released...
New Jersey enacts law barring cashless stores
Retailers in New Jersey must accept cash as a form of payment after Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law Monday a ban on so-called cashless stores. With the exception of a few businesses, the new law prohibits most brick-and-mortar retailers from refusing to accept cash. Businesses can be fined up...
Alan Krueger, former White House economist, dead at 58 from suicide
Alan Krueger, a labor economist who advised two presidents and drew on empirical research, rather than abstract theories, to generate surprising insights into the impact of minimum wage increases, the origins of terrorists and the rising price of concert tickets, has died. He was 58. He died by suicide over...
Ex-officer says she had sex while child was dying in hot car
BILOXI, Miss. — A former Mississippi Gulf Coast police officer told a judge Monday that she had sex with her supervisor and then fell asleep while her 3-year-old daughter was dying inside an overheated patrol car. Cassie Barker pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter in a plea bargain after being indicted...
Suspect in mob boss hit flashes pro-Trump slogans on hand
TOMS RIVER, N.J. — The man charged with killing the reputed boss of the Gambino crime family wrote pro-Donald Trump slogans on his hand and flashed them to journalists before a court hearing Monday. Anthony Comello, 24, was arrested Saturday in New Jersey in the death of Francesco “Franky Boy”...
Over 1,000 feared dead as cyclone slams into Mozambique
JOHANNESBURG — More than 1,000 people were feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the country, submerging entire villages and leaving bodies floating in the floodwaters, the nation’s president said. “It is a real disaster of great proportions,” President Filipe Nyusi said. Cyclone Idai could prove...
NPYD: Bronx cop believed to have died after 1999 shooting is alive
NEW YORK — A cop believed to have died some time after he was shot 20 years ago in the Bronx by a man arrested Friday actually survived the shooting, the New York Police Department said Monday. Law enforcement authorities, including NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill in a tweet Sunday, had...
Get a 3-story home in Italy for only $66
Do you have dreams of packing it all up and getting away to a romantic setting in Italy? Have we got a house for you. And, it would only cost you $66. That’s if you are lucky enough to win it. A British couple, Jim and Lea Abbott, are raffling...
New Zealand prime minister says gun reforms are coming
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – New Zealand’s coalition government plans to announce gun law changes within the next week in response to Friday’s deadly shooting rampage at two mosques in Christchurch, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday. The measures could include restricting the military-style semiautomatic weapons that were used in the...
Man accused of throwing pancake batter faces battery charge
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A 45-year-old Florida man is accused of throwing a bowl of pancake batter at a woman who was making dinner. An arrest report says Dwayne Zimmerman was drunk on Friday night when he went onto the porch of a home where the woman was making pancakes. The...
U.S. drug czar says border wall will reduce influx of drugs
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — President Donald Trump’s drug czar says the president’s plan for a U.S.-Mexico border wall would save American lives by helping stem the flow of illegal drugs into the country. Jim Carroll said in Kentucky on Monday that Trump’s long-promised border wall would help stop drug smugglers looking...
DNA match leads to arrest in 1999 Alabama slaying, rape case
OZARK, Ala. — A DNA match found through genealogy testing led to the arrest of a truck-driving preacher in the killings of two teen girls who were found shot to death in a car trunk nearly 20 years ago, authorities said Monday. Coley McCraney, 45, of Dothan is charged with...
Homes flood as Missouri River overtops, breaches levees
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hundreds of homes have flooded in northwest Missouri after the Missouri River overtopped and breached several levees following heavy rain and snowmelt upstream, local officials said Monday. Many homes in the mostly rural area were inundated with 6 to 7 feet of water, Holt County Emergency...
Federal tax refunds up, despite early reports to the contrary
With tax day looming a month away, the Washington Post has a good news-bad news report about tax refunds. First the good news. Although early reports suggested tax refunds were down anywhere from 8 to 16.8 percent in the first year of the new tax system, more recent reports show...
Orangutan blinded after being shot 74 times with air gun
SIBOLANGIT, Indonesia — An endangered orangutan with a young baby on Indonesia’s Sumatra island was blinded after being shot at least 74 times with an air gun, an official and veterinarian said Monday. An X-ray showed at least 74 air gun pellets in its body, including four in its left...
