U.S./World category, Page 519
So long, California: Major county votes to study secession
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — The November elections saw Californians continue to embrace progressive leadership, but voters in one of the state’s most populous counties are so frustrated with this political direction that they voted to consider seceding and forming their own state. An advisory ballot proposal approved in San Bernardino...
Report: World’s coal use creeps to new high in 2022
BERLIN — Coal use across the world is set to reach a new record this year amid persistently high demand for the heavily polluting fossil fuel, the International Energy Agency said Friday. The Paris-based agency said in a new report that while coal use grew by only 1.2% in 2022,...
Russia launches another major missile attack on Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s capital came under one of the biggest attacks of the war Friday as Russia’s invading forces fired dozens of missiles across the country, Ukrainian officials said, reporting strikes in at least four cities that triggered widespread emergency power outages. Gunfire from air defense systems and thudding...
Pittsburgh Starbucks stores among those affected by nationwide 3-day worker strike
Starbucks workers around the U.S. are planning a three-day strike starting Friday as part of their effort to unionize the coffee chain’s stores. More than 1,000 baristas at 100 stores are planning to walk out, according to Starbucks Workers United, the labor group organizing the effort. The strike will be...
Huge Berlin aquarium bursts, unleashing flood of devastation
BERLIN — A huge aquarium in Berlin burst, spilling debris, water and more than a thousand tropical fish out of the AquaDom tourist attraction in the heart of the German capital early Friday. Police said parts of the building, which also contains a hotel, cafes and a chocolate store, were...
Satellite launched to map the world’s oceans, lakes, rivers
A U.S.-French satellite that will map almost all of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers rocketed into orbit Friday. The predawn launch aboard a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California capped a highly successful year for NASA. Nicknamed SWOT — short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography...
Easter Island rebounds from wildfire that singed its statues
RAPA NUI, Chile — The hillside of Rano Raraku volcano on Rapa Nui feels like a place that froze in time. Embedded in grass and volcanic rock, almost 400 moai — the monolithic human figures carved centuries ago by this remote Pacific island’s Rapanui people — remained untouched until recently....
Louisiana officers charged in Black motorist’s deadly arrest
FARMERVILLE, La. — Five Louisiana law enforcement officers were charged Thursday with state crimes ranging from negligent homicide to malfeasance in the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, a death authorities initially blamed on a car crash before long suppressed body-camera video showed white officers beating, stunning and dragging the...
Senate passes defense bill rescinding covid vaccine mandate
WASHINGTON — A bill to rescind the covid-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military and provide nearly $858 billion for national defense passed the Senate on Thursday and now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The bill provides for about $45 billion more for...
Prosecutors: Florida family used sham ministry to get covid loans
ORLANDO — Family members who ran a sham ministry have been charged with defrauding the federal government of covid-19 relief funds in a scheme to buy a $3.7 million luxury home in a development at Walt Disney World, authorities said. Evan Edwards, 64, and his 30-year-old son, Joshua Edwards, were...
Texas officer convicted in shooting of Atatiana JeffersonVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — A former Texas police officer was convicted of manslaughter Thursday for fatally shooting a Black woman through a rear window of her home in 2019, a rare conviction of an officer for killing someone also armed with a gun. Jurors were also considering a murder charge...
House approves referendum to ‘decolonize’ Puerto RicoVideo
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday that would allow Puerto Rico to hold the first-ever binding referendum on whether to become a state or gain some sort of independence, in a last-ditch effort that stands little chance of passing the Senate. The bill, which passed 233-191 with...
Lengthy prison terms for 3 who aided Whitmer kidnap plotter
JACKSON, Mich. — A judge on Thursday handed down the longest prison terms so far in the plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor, sentencing three men who forged an early alliance with a leader of the scheme before the FBI broke it up in 2020. Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul...
Jesuit case underscores secrecy, leniency for abuse of women
ROME — Revelations that the Vatican let a famous priest off the hook twice for abusing his authority over adult women has exposed two main weaknesses in the Holy See’s abuse policies: sexual and spiritual misconduct against adult women is rarely if ever punished, and secrecy still reigns supreme, especially...
Russia warns of ‘consequences’ if U.S. missiles go to Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned Thursday that if the United States confirms reports that it plans to deliver sophisticated air defense missiles to Ukraine, it would be “another provocative move by the U.S.” that could prompt a response from Moscow. Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a weekly...
White House reveals winter covid-19 plans, more free tests
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is again making some free covid-19 tests available to all U.S. households as it unveils its contingency plans for potential coronavirus surges this winter. After a three-month hiatus, the administration is making four rapid virus tests available through covidtests.gov starting Thursday, a senior administration official...
Memorial planned for Indiana County man killed volunteering in Ukraine
A memorial gathering will be held Friday for an Indiana County man killed in Ukraine. Trent Braxton Davis, 21, of Indiana, Pa. was a U.S. Army veteran who had volunteered to fight in Ukraine. He was shot and killed Nov. 8 while trying to save civilians, according to Tribune-Review news...
Report: Texas AG sought driver license data on gender change
AUSTIN — The office of Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this summer sought data on how many people had changed the gender information on their driver’s license, according to a newspaper report published Wednesday that civil rights attorneys described as worrying. The Washington Post reported that public records obtained...
Alabama women convicted for feeding, trapping stray cats
WETUMPKA, Ala. — Two Alabama women have been convicted of misdemeanor crimes because of their efforts to feed and trap stray cats. Local news outlets report that Wetumpka Municipal Judge Jeff Courtney on Tuesday found Beverly Roberts, 85, guilty of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct. Mary Alston, 61, was found...
EU lawmaker at heart of corruption case to remain in custody
BRUSSELS — A Greek European lawmaker charged with corruption in an alleged plot by a Gulf country that’s tarnishing EU institutions will stay in detention until at least next week after her hearing by a judge was postponed, judicial officials said on Wednesday. Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili, whose term...
Twitter changes rules over account tracking Elon Musk’s jet
Twitter on Wednesday suspended an account that used publicly available flight data to track Elon Musk’s private jet, despite a pledge by the social media platform’s new owner to keep it up because of his free speech principles. Then, hours later, Musk brought back the jet-tracking account after imposing new...
Police: 2 officers slain in Mississippi; shooter also dead
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. — Two police officers in coastal Mississippi were shot and killed by a woman early Wednesday as they checked on a call at a motel, authorities said. The woman killed herself after shooting the Bay St. Louis police officers at a Motel 6 in the city...
U.S. storm brings tornadoes, blizzard-like conditions; 2 deadVideo
DALLAS — A volatile storm ripping across the United States spawned tornadoes that killed a young boy and his mother in Louisiana, smashed mobile homes and chicken houses in Mississippi and threatened neighboring Southern states with more punishing weather Wednesday. To the north, the huge storm system delivered blizzard-like conditions...
A decade after Sandy Hook, grief remains but hope grows
NEWTOWN, Conn. — They would have been 16 or 17 this year. High school juniors. The children killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012 should have spent this year thinking about college, taking their SATs and getting their driver’s licenses. Maybe attending their first prom. Instead,...
U.S. death toll tied to long covid exceeds 3,500, CDC report says
The health challenges that a bout of covid-19 sometimes leaves in its wake can be troublesome, scary and quite mysterious. New research confirms they can be deadly as well. A study released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that between January 2020 and June 2022, long...
