U.S./World category, Page 1227
Unvaccinated teens are fact-checking their parents and trying to get shots on their own
Ethan Lindenberger, frustrated by years of arguments about his mother’s anti-vaccination stance, staged a quiet defection via Reddit. The Norwalk, Ohio, teenager needed advice, he said, on how to inoculate himself against infectious disease and his family’s dogma. At 18, he was old enough, Lindenberger explained. He wanted to get...
More snow for storm-buried Pacific Northwest
SEATTLE — Pacific Northwest residents who are more accustomed to rain than snow were digging out from a winter storm and bracing for more on Sunday. The sun was out but the National Weather Service said snow would return late in the afternoon into the evening across the Northwest. Snowfall...
In Syria, U.S.-backed forces launch battle for last Islamic State foothold
BEIRUT — U.S.-backed forces in Syria announced the beginning Saturday of the possible final battle for the last village controlled by the Islamic State. In a brief statement posted on its website, the Syrian Democratic Forces said the push began on Saturday night and was focused on the village of...
Ted Bundy’s murderous charm still polarizes, 40 years later
CINCINNATI — She kept her eyes on the dapper, wavy-haired man who smiled, winked and exuded self-confidence as the courtroom proceedings moved along. “I don’t know what it is he has, but he’s fascinating,” the teenage spectator explained to me at the time. “He’s impressive. He just has a kind...
Trump administration waives environmental review to replace more San Diego border fencing
SAN DIEGO — Describing San Diego’s border with Mexico as “an area of high illegal entry,” the Trump administration announced this week it is waiving environmental reviews to speed up replacement of 12.4 miles of the secondary border fence. This project was funded by a 2018 bill that allocated $251...
Video of Broward deputy calling a black father ‘boy’ amid foul language sparks complaint
MIAMI — The actions of a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy with a history of making false arrests drew a complaint from the Broward Public Defender’s Office after bodycam video from a July 2017 incident emerged last month. Deputy James Cady confronts Allen Floyd, a black father calmly holding his infant,...
Pilot had been disciplined for dangerous flying years before Southern California crash
LOS ANGELES — Years before his plane plunged into an Orange County suburb, killing him and four others on the ground, Antonio Pastini was disciplined twice by federal regulators for flying in dangerous conditions and lying about his credentials, records show. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration told the...
Arizona wants care unit where patient was raped to stay open
PHOENIX — The embattled operators of an Arizona long-term care facility agreed Friday to be regulated by the state, effectively nixing a plan to close down the unit where an incapacitated woman gave birth after being raped. The state received written confirmation that Hacienda HealthCare would enter into a voluntary...
Snowbound California guests freed after 5 days at lodge
LOS ANGELES — More than 120 visitors and staff who were snowbound in a Sierra Nevada resort for five days have been freed, authorities said Friday. Up to 7 feet of snow trapped the guests and staff at Montecito Sequoia Lodge in Sequoia National Forest starting Sunday following a storm,...
AP sources: Prosecutors probing National Enquirer after Jeff Bezos report
NEW YORK — The National Enquirer’s alleged attempt to blackmail Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos with intimate photos could get the tabloid’s parent company and top editors in deep legal trouble and reopen them to prosecution for paying hush money to a Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with...
NY gov raps Amazon critics amid report company’s rethinking
NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned Friday about what he called “political pandering” to critics of Amazon’s proposed secondary headquarters amid a report that the company is reconsidering its planned New York City headquarters. But opponents said they’d keep fighting a project they consider corporate welfare. The back-and-forth came...
Virginia Democrats try to thread the needle on crisis
RICHMOND, Va. — Confronted with a triple threat to the party’s top ranks, Virginia Democrats are trying to thread the needle, demanding anew that Gov. Ralph Northam resign but giving the benefit of the doubt — for the time being — to the lieutenant governor and attorney general. Key Democratic...
Police: Staffer shot at Baltimore school; suspect in custody
BALTIMORE — Officials say a staffer has been shot at a Baltimore high school. The Baltimore Police Department tweeted Friday afternoon that a man had been shot at Frederick Douglass High School and a suspect was taken into custody at the scene. Baltimore school officials tweeted that the school is...
Female tiger at London zoo killed by prospective mate
LONDON — London Zoo says one of its female Sumatran tigers has been killed by a potential mate while the two animals were being introduced. The zoo says 10-year-old Melati died Friday during her first encounter with Asim, a 7-year-old male. The two tigers had been kept in adjoining enclosures...
Man charged in $5M gold heist, reward offered for capture
MIAMI — Federal prosecutors have formally charged a fugitive in the 2015 highway robbery of 10 gold bars worth almost $5 million. U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami announced Thursday that Pedro Santamaria, 56, has been indicted on robbery and gun charges. The FBI is offering up to $10,000 for information...
Kellyanne Conway claims woman assaulted her at restaurant
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s White House counselor Kellyanne Conway says she was grabbed and shaken by a woman at a Mexican restaurant in Bethesda, Md., late last year. In a CNN interview broadcast Friday, Conway claimed the woman came up to her from behind, grabbed her arms and shook...
Report: Polar vortex broke U.S. natural gas consumption record
Last week’s polar vortex resulted in record natural gas consumption in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The polar vortex, in which colder-than-normal temperatures blanketed much of the Midwest and Northeast, including Western Pennsylvania, set a single-day record for natural gas demand on Jan. 30, topping...
Fire at Brazilian soccer team complex leaves 10 dead, 3 hurt
RIO DE JANEIRO — A fire tore through the sprawling training complex of one of Brazil’s biggest soccer clubs Friday, killing 10 people and leaving three teenagers injured, firefighters said. Firefighters were called in just after 5 a.m. to battle a blaze at the Ninho de Urubu training ground of...
Veterinarians revive cat that nearly froze in Montana
KALISPELL, Mont. — Veterinarians in Montana revived a cat named Fluffy that nearly froze to death after being found in a snowbank covered from head to tail in ice and snow. Dr. Jevon Clark of the Animal Clinic of Kalispell said Thursday that Fluffy was unresponsive and her body temperature...
American Airlines pilot arrested, suspected of being drunk prior to Philly flight
LONDON — Police say an American Airlines pilot has been arrested at Britain’s Manchester Airport on suspicion of being drunk. The Greater Manchester Police force said Friday that police “received a report that an airline pilot may have been under the influence of alcohol” at the airport in northwestern England...
Lebanese man sets himself on fire over withheld paperwork
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency is reporting that a man has set himself on fire in front of a private school that refused to provide him with transfer documents for his daughter due to unpaid fees. NNA said the man, whose name was not released, succumbed to his...
Supreme Court blocks Louisiana abortion clinic law
WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court stopped Louisiana from enforcing new regulations on abortion clinics in a test of the conservative court’s views on abortion rights. The justices said by a 5-4 vote late Thursday that they will not allow the state to put into effect a law that requires...
Former Rep. John Dingell, U.S.’s longest-serving lawmaker, dies
DETROIT — Former U.S. Rep. John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in American history who mastered legislative deal-making and was fiercely protective of Detroit’s auto industry, has died. The Michigan Democrat was 92. Dingell, who served in the U.S. House for 59 years before retiring in 2014, died Thursday...
Jeff Bezos says National Enquirer threatened to publish revealing photos
LOS ANGELES — Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said Thursday he was the target of “extortion and blackmail” by the publisher of the National Enquirer, which he said threated to publish revealing personal photos of him unless he stopped investigating how other private photos and messages were obtained by the tabloid....
Analysis: Is socialism on the rise in the United States?
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump alleged in his State of the Union that the United States was on a dangerous course to socialism. On Thursday, democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) proposed a “Green New Deal” - which was instantly supported by several Democratic presidential candidates. The package isn’t socialism,...
