U.S./World category, Page 1239
Notre Dame to cover up murals of Columbus in the New World
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame will cover murals in a campus building that depict Christopher Columbus in America, the school’s president said, following criticism that the images depict Native Americans in stereotypical submissive poses before white European explorers. The 12 murals created in the 1880s by...
Russia: 14 sailors killed when ships catch fire in Black Sea
MOSCOW — Two Tanzanian-flagged commercial vessels caught fire in the Black Sea, leaving at least 14 sailors dead, Russian officials said Monday. Five other sailors were missing. The Federal Agency for the Sea and River Transport said the fire erupted while fuel was being pumped from one tanker to another....
TSA checkpoint worker no-shows peak at 10 percent
The number of Transportation Security Administration security airport workers who did not show up for duty Sunday reached a record 10 percent of the checkpoint workforce, leading to growing lines in several places, with the longest in Minneapolis and New Orleans. The union that represents the TSA workers, the American...
Trump visits MLK memorial in Washington
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has paid a visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington on the holiday honoring the civil rights leader. Trump arrived shortly after 11 a.m. to pay his respects on a frigid and windy day. He was joined by Vice President Mike Pence,...
Holy handcuffs! Arrest made in $1.4 million ‘Batman’ comics heist
BOCA RATON, Fla. — A few comic books from a stolen Batman collection worth $1.4 million have been recovered after an arrest in Arizona. News station ABC-15 in Phoenix reports that police charged Phillip Weisbauer of Royal Palm Beach, Florida, with theft and trafficking in stolen property after he tried...
8 Pennsylvania teens arrested for Delaware port car thefts
NEW CASTLE, Del. — Delaware State Police say eight Pennsylvania teenagers have been arrested for stealing cars from two companies at the Port of Wilmington. The News Journal of Wilmington reports that police say the cars were stolen from Trans Cargo and Auto Port Inc. The Port of Wilmington says...
For the poor, the safety net in a shutdown doesn’t feel safe
WASHINGTON — Doris Cochran, a disabled mother of two young boys, is stockpiling canned foods these days, filling her shelves with noodle soup, green beans, peaches and pears — anything that can last for months or even years. Her pantry looks as though she’s preparing for a winter storm. But...
Girl, 12, dies in snow fort collapse outside church
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. — A 12-year-old girl has died after a snow fort collapsed while she was playing outside a church in suburban Chicago. Arlington Heights police are calling the death a “tragic accident.” Police say the girl, Esther Jung, was playing with a 9-year-old girl in the snow outside...
Teen in confrontation with Native American: I didn’t provoke
DETROIT — The student who stared and smiled at an elderly Native American protester drumming in his face outside the Lincoln Memorial as his schoolmates chanted and laughed says he did nothing to provoke the man in the videotaped confrontation and was only trying to calm the situation. The student...
2-for-1: Total lunar eclipse comes with supermoon bonus
The only total lunar eclipse this year and next came with a supermoon bonus. On Sunday night, the moon, Earth and sun lined up to create the eclipse, which was visible throughout North and South America, where skies were clear. There won’t be another until the year 2021. It was...
Shutdown goes on as Trump offer doesn’t budge Democrats
WASHINGTON — Thirty-one days into the partial government shutdown, Democrats and Republicans appeared no closer to ending the impasse than when it began, with President Donald Trump lashing out at his opponents after they dismissed a plan he’d billed as a compromise. Trump on Sunday branded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...
Thief steals $1,000 from Girl Scouts selling cookies at mall
WOODBRIDGE TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Authorities say a thief stole $1,000 from a group of Girl Scouts who were selling cookies at a New Jersey mall. Woodbridge Township police say the theft occurred between 4:20 p.m. and 4:50 p.m. Friday on the upper level of the Woodbridge Center mall. The money...
Deputies shoot Oregon man after he kills 4, including baby daughter
PORTLAND — A rural Oregon man killed four members of his family at the home they shared and was shot by sheriff’s deputies as he tried to kill a girl, authorities said. Mark Leo Gregory Gago, 42, killed his parents, his girlfriend and their infant daughter Saturday night before deputies...
Pence links Trump’s push for border wall to Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy
On the eve of a holiday commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Vice President Mike Pence seemed to liken President Trump’s push for a border wall to the civil rights leader’s legacy. Speaking Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” the vice president quoted from King’s “I Have a Dream”...
L.A. school district, teachers meet all weekend to resolve strike
LOS ANGELES—Teams from the Los Angeles Unified School District and the teachers union worked long hours this weekend to settle a teachers’ strike that has so far cost students five days of normal instruction. The office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, which is mediating the talks, has been sending out the...
America’s original tobacco state considers hiking the smoking and vaping age to 21
RICHMOND, Va. — Some prominent legislators are backing a bill to raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes and vapes from 18 to 21 in Virginia, a state where tobacco once loomed so large that images of the leaves adorn its stately Capitol. Alarmed by rampant vaping by teens, a...
Native American Nathan Phillips says he tried to ease tensions at Mall
DETROIT — A Native American who was seen in online video being taunted outside the Lincoln Memorial said Sunday he felt compelled to get between two groups with his ceremonial drum to defuse a confrontation. Nathan Phillips said in an interview with The Associated Press that he was trying to...
South Florida eateries add marijuana ingredient CBD to menus
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Customers are raving about the new slices at Pizza City in Fort Lauderdale — especially the marinara sauce, which is infused with cannabidiol, aka CBD oil, the trendy but controversial compound commonly found in marijuana. At Foxworth Fountain in Delray Beach you can order ice-cream floats,...
Former CIA officer portrayed in ‘Argo’ film dead at 78
FREDERICK, Md. — A former CIA technical operations officer who helped rescue six U.S. diplomats from Iran in 1980 and was portrayed by Ben Affleck in the film “Argo,” has died. He was 78. A family statement and his literary agent confirmed that Antonio “Tony” Mendez died Saturday at an...
Ice glazes over swath of U.S. as wind chills fall below zero
BOSTON — Bitter cold is setting in after a major winter storm blanketed a wide swath of the country in snow, sleet and rain this weekend, creating dangerously icy conditions that promise to complicate cleanup efforts and make travel challenging on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Some of the coldest...
Unclaimed veterans buried with dignity, thanks to strangers
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When the flags were removed from the caskets and folded with military precision, there were no family members there to receive them. So, the banners were passed, hand-to-hand, through the crowd. Some mourners wept as they clutched the flags briefly. Others kissed them. But the three veterans...
Curtain rising Sunday night on total lunar eclipse
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The celestial curtain will be rising soon on a lunar extravaganza. Sunday night, the Earth will slide directly between the moon and the sun, creating a total lunar eclipse. There won’t be another until 2021. It will also be the year’s first supermoon, when a full...
Students seen mocking Native Americans could face expulsion
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Students at a Kentucky Catholic school who were involved in a video showing them mocking Native Americans outside the Lincoln Memorial after a Washington rally could potentially face expulsion, according to the diocese. In a joint statement , the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic...
Democrats aren’t buying Trump’s shutdown-ending ‘compromise’
WASHINGTON — In a bid to break the shutdown stalemate, President Donald Trump offered to extend temporary protections for young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children and those fleeing disaster zones in exchange for his long-promised border wall. But while Trump cast the move as a “commonsense compromise,”...
Snow, ice blanket Midwest as storm heads to New England
DETROIT — People throughout parts of the Midwest woke Saturday to a heavy and steady snowfall that forced the cancellation of hundreds of airline flights and made driving dangerous. More than 460 flights were canceled Saturday morning at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and about 50 flights were canceled...
