U.S./World category, Page 1205
Teenage climate activist nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Three Norwegian lawmakers have nominated Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg, who has become a prominent voice in campaigns against climate change, for the Nobel Peace Prize. Freddy Andre Oevstegaard and two other members of the Socialist Left Party said they believe “the massive movement Greta has set...
‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty
CHICAGO — “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett has pleaded not guilty to the charges accusing him of lying to police about being attacked in downtown Chicago a few weeks ago. The 36-year-old actor’s lawyer, Tina Glandian, entered the plea Thursday on Smollett’s behalf after Judge Steven Watkins was assigned to oversee...
Court: Middle finger protected by the constitution
TAYLOR, Mich. — When it comes to the middle finger, police might need a thicker skin. A federal appeals court says a Michigan woman’s constitutional rights were violated when she was handed a speeding ticket after giving the finger to a suburban Detroit officer in 2017. The decision means a...
Hate crimes unit investigates Ginsburg poster graffiti
NEW YORK — New York Police Department’s hate crimes unit is investigating after a poster of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was defaced with a swastika and an anti-Semitic insult. WNBC says a straphanger tweeted a photo of the defaced poster on a Brooklyn subway platform to the Metropolitan...
U.S. moves to lift remaining gray wolf protections
BILLINGS, Mont. — Gray wolves in the U.S. would be stripped of federal protection and subjected to hunting and trapping in more states under a proposal released Thursday that declares the predators recovered following a decades-long restoration effort. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to revoke the wolves’ endangered...
Charity used in fraudulent college donations, feds say
The mastermind of a wide-ranging college admissions scandal set up a charity that wove a deep web of deception and fraud to mask bribes and payoffs, funneling millions of dollars through the tax-exempt organization under the nose of U.S. officials, according to prosecutors and tax documents reviewed by The Associated...
GOP senators appear ready to block Trump border declaration
WASHINGTON — The Republican-led Senate is set to deal President Donald Trump a rebuke on his declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border, with the only remaining question how many GOP senators will join Democrats in defying him. Republicans are predicting that Thursday’s showdown vote will result in...
Colorado’s ‘bomb cyclone’ storm barrels toward Midwest
LONGMONT, Colo. — National Guard troops were using specialized vehicles with tank-like treads to rescue stranded drivers in Colorado in the wake of a massive late-winter storm that was expected to unleash heavy rain and snow on the Midwest plains on Thursday. Wednesday’s blizzard caused widespread power outages, forced the...
U.S. immigration agents find ways around ‘sanctuary’ policies
PHOENIX — Two years after New Mexico’s largest county barred local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration authorities, its leaders learned that the policy was being subverted from within. Staff members at the Bernalillo County jail in Albuquerque were still granting immigration authorities access to its database and, in some...
A lingering question in the college admissions scandal: Why?
LOS ANGELES — A college admissions scandal caught actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, a fashion designer, lawyers, CEOs and other wealthy families in an elaborate scheme to pay top dollar to ensure their kids got into elite universities. William “Rick” Singer, who ran a for-profit college admissions company in...
Students file lawsuit against colleges in bribery scandal
SAN FRANCISCO — Two college students have filed a lawsuit against the University of Southern California, Yale University and other colleges where prosecutors have accused rich and famous parents paying bribes to ensure their children’s admission. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco and alleges the...
Gambino crime family boss Frank Cali shot, killed
NEW YORK — Gambino crime family boss Frank (Franky Boy) Cali was gunned down and run over Wednesday night in a gory hit in front of his Staten Island home, police sources said. Cali, 53, was shot six times in the chest, and run over by a blue pickup truck...
Malaysia backtracks on plan to abolish death penalty
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s government backtracked Wednesday on abolishing capital punishment, saying instead that the death penalty would no longer be mandatory for selected offenses. Rights groups slammed the reversal and urged it to reconsider. Deputy Law Minister Hanipa Maidin made the announcement in parliament but didn’t give any...
Beto O’Rourke says, ‘I’m running,’ heads to Iowa
Beto O’Rourke starts a three-day trip to Iowa on Thursday, taking a first — and very high profile ◊ step into the crowded Democratic field for president, four months after narrowly losing a Texas Senate race that propelled him to national stardom. By Saturday night, the three-term congressman from El...
Guard won’t be charged in shooting outside LA synagogue
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles prosecutors say they won’t charge a synagogue security guard accused of shooting a person who was recording video of the building. The Los Angeles Times reports the announcement Thursday came as the woman who was shot filed a civil lawsuit against the guard and his...
Judge won’t let unvaccinated children back in New York school
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A federal judge, citing an “unprecedented measles outbreak” in suburban Rockland County, New York, has denied a request to let 44 unvaccinated children return to school. Parents of students in the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge have sued the county health department. They say...
‘Epic’ storm brings blizzards, floods, tornado to mid-U.S.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A window-rattling late winter storm sent blizzards, floods and a tornado across more than 25 states Wednesday, stretching from the northern Rocky Mountains to Texas and beyond. “This is a very epic cyclone,” said Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s...
Do voters long for a policy wonk? Elizabeth Warren hopes so
NEW YORK — More than 1,000 people packed a New York concert venue for an act that wasn’t on guitar and drums. It was Elizabeth Warren, vocalizing hard numbers. The Massachusetts Democratic senator wove data points into a stump speech that riffed on the policy proposals she’s rolled out in...
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma considers bankruptcy as lawsuits loom
The company that has made billions selling the prescription painkiller OxyContin said Wednesday that it is considering legal options including bankruptcy, a move that could upend hundreds of lawsuits claiming it had a major role in causing the U.S. opioid drug crisis. “As the company has stated, it is exploring...
States weigh bans on shackling jailed mothers during childbirth
SALT LAKE CITY — Michelle Aldana gave birth to her first child chained to a hospital bed. Then serving time at the Utah state prison on a drug charge, she says she labored through the difficult 2001 birth for nearly 30 hours, her ankles bleeding as the shackles on both...
Tennessee high court rules for reporter in defamation suit
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Supreme Court on Wednesday expanded protections for reporters by ruling they can only be held libel for defamation if their reporting is not fair and accurate, regardless of their personal feelings toward a subject. Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk sued investigative reporter Phil Williams for...
Pentagon warns of cyberattacks from Russia, China, N. Korea, Iran
WASHINGTON — Cyberattacks from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran are increasingly sophisticated and, until recently, were done with little concern for the consequences, the top Pentagon cyber leaders told a congressional committee on Wednesday. Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of U.S. Cyber Command, laid out the escalating threats, following...
School rampage in Brazil leaves 9 dead, many wounded
SUZANO, Brazil — Two masked men armed with guns, knives, axes and crossbows descended on a school in southern Brazil on Wednesday, killing five students and two adults before taking their own lives, authorities said. The men, identified as former students at the school in a suburb of Sao Paulo,...
Dozens trapped in Nigeria school collapse; at least 8 dead
LAGOS, Nigeria — Emergency crews sifted through debris as night fell on frantic efforts to rescue scores of school children and others feared trapped inside a three-story building that collapsed Wednesday in Nigeria’s densely populated commercial capital, Lagos. At least eight people were confirmed dead and 37 others were rescued...
As Brexit day nears, British lawmakers to vote on requesting delay from EU
LONDON — British lawmakers have gone on record saying they don’t want the U.K. to leave the European Union without a divorce agreement in place, increasing the odds that Brexit won’t take place as planned at the end of the month. With an approaching deadline intensifying fears that economic and...
