U.S./World category, Page 573
Southern Baptists say denomination faces DOJ investigation over clergy sex abuse
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention said Friday that several of the denomination’s major entities are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in the wake of its multiple problems related to clergy sex abuse. The SBC’s Executive Committee has received a subpoena, but no individuals...
Salman Rushdie on ventilator after stabbing, may lose an eye
MAYVILLE, N.Y. — Salman Rushdie remained hospitalized Saturday after suffering serious injuries in a stabbing attack as praise poured in for him from the West but he was disparaged in Iran. Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye, and was on a ventilator,...
Kansas to recount abortion vote by hand, despite big margin
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas’ elections director says the state will go along with a request for a hand recount of votes from every county after last week’s decisive statewide vote affirming abortion rights, even though there was a 165,000-vote difference and a recount won’t change the result. Melissa Leavitt of...
Pipeline break spills 45,000 gallons of diesel in Wyoming
BILLINGS, Mont. — A diesel pipeline in Wyoming owned by a company that’s being sued by federal prosecutors over previous spills in two other states cracked open and released more than 45,000 gallons of fuel, state regulators and a company representative disclosed Friday. Cleanup work is ongoing from the spill...
What’s in Biden’s big bill? Climate, health care, deficit reduction
WASHINGTON — The biggest investment ever in the U.S. to fight climate change. A hard-fought cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients. A new corporate minimum tax to ensure big businesses pay their share. And billions left over to pay down federal deficits. All told, the Democrats’ “Inflation...
House Democrats pass sweeping health care, tax and climate bill
WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Friday passed a sweeping health care, tax and climate change bill. Now they have to sell it. The vote was 220-207, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans opposing. With the midterm elections quickly approaching, congressional Democrats have had a series of legislative...
Judds asks court to seal report of death investigation
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The family of country singer Naomi Judd filed a court petition Friday to seal police reports and recordings made during the investigation into her death. The family filed the petition in Williamson County Chancery Court, saying the records contain video and audio interviews with relatives in the...
Judge revives Obama-era ban on coal sales from federal lands
BILLINGS, Mont. — A federal judge on Friday reinstated a moratorium on coal leasing from federal lands that was imposed under former President Barack Obama and then scuttled under former President Donald Trump. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Brian Morris requires government officials to conduct a new environmental review...
Louisiana Supreme Court rejects appeal in abortion ban case
BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana Supreme Court on Friday denied an appeal filed by plaintiffs in the ongoing legal battle over the state’s abortion ban, allowing the ban to stay in effect. The ruling marked a major blow to abortion-rights advocates and providers, who had hoped the ban would...
Respected snake researcher dies from rattlesnake bite
FALLS CHURCH, Va. — A respected snake researcher who had been making significant discoveries about the species since childhood has died after being bitten by a timber rattler. William H. “Marty” Martin died Aug. 3 after being bitten the day before by a captive snake on the property at his...
FBI seized ‘top secret’ documents from Trump home
WASHINGTON — The FBI recovered “top secret” and even more sensitive documents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to court papers released Friday after a federal judge unsealed the warrant that authorized the sudden, unprecedented search this week. A property receipt unsealed by the court shows...
Democrats near congressional passage of climate, health package
Democrats pushed their flagship climate change and health care bill toward House passage Friday, placing President Joe Biden on the brink of a back-from-the-dead triumph on his leading domestic goals that the party hopes will energize voters going into November’s elections. The narrowly divided House was poised to approve the...
Ohio gunman appeared to threaten FBI after Trump search
WILMINGTON, Ohio — A gunman who died in a shootout after trying to get inside the FBI’s Cincinnati office apparently went on social media and called for federal agents to be killed “on sight” following the search at former President Donald Trump’s home, a law enforcement official said. Federal investigators...
Author Salman Rushdie attacked on lecture stage in New York
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Salman Rushdie, whose novel “The Satanic Verses” drew death threats from Iran’s leader in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday by a man who rushed the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York. A bloodied Rushdie,...
European drought dries up rivers, kills fish, shrivels crops
Once, a river ran through it. Now, white dust and thousands of dead fish cover the wide trench that winds amid rows of trees in France’s Burgundy region in what was the Tille River in the village of Lux. From dry and cracked reservoirs in Spain to falling water levels...
At 75, India’s democracy is under pressure like never before
NEW DELHI — The Aug. 5 demonstrations by India’s main opposition Congress party against soaring food prices and unemployment began like any other recent protest — an electorally weak opposition taking to the New Delhi streets against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s massively popular government. The protests, however, quickly took a...
Polio detected in NYC’s sewage, suggesting virus is circulating
The polio virus has been found in New York City’s wastewater in another sign that the disease, which hadn’t been seen in the U.S. in a decade, is quietly spreading among unvaccinated people, health officials said Friday. The presence of the poliovirus in the city’s wastewater suggests likely local circulation...
Afghan girls face uncertain future after 1 year of no school
KABUL, Afghanistan — For most teenage girls in Afghanistan, it’s been a year since they set foot in a classroom. With no sign the ruling Taliban will allow them back to school, some are trying to find ways to keep education from stalling for a generation of young women. At...
Trump won’t object to release of Mar-a-Lago search warrant
WASHINGTON — A federal judge was to decide as soon as Friday whether to grant the Department of Justice’s request to unseal the warrant that authorized the FBI to search former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate. Attorney General Merrick Garland declared there was “substantial public interest in this matter,” and...
Umbrella swept by wind kills woman at South Carolina beach
GARDEN CITY, S.C. — A beachgoer was killed Wednesday when a loose beach umbrella impaled her in the chest, authorities said. The umbrella was blown from its anchoring by the wind around 12:40 p.m. and hit Tammy Perreault while she was at a Garden City beach, Horry County Chief Deputy...
Protester: San Francisco paramedic sedated her involuntarily
SAN FRANCISCO — A protester has filed a federal civil lawsuit against the city of San Francisco claiming that a paramedic, under the direction of a police sergeant, injected her against her will with a sedative while she was handcuffed after being removed from a Golden State Warriors championship game...
Cause sought for Indiana house explosion that killed 3Video
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Authorities worked Thursday to determine the cause of a house explosion in a southern Indiana neighborhood that killed three people and left another person hospitalized. The explosion Wednesday afternoon in Evansville damaged 39 homes. Crews completed a secondary search of buildings that were left unstable by the...
Trump’s ‘planted evidence’ claim unlikely to stand up in court
Donald Trump and his supporters are ratcheting up their baseless claim that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents may have “planted” evidence when they searched his Mar-a-Lago home for missing White House records. But those claims are unlikely to stand up in court. In an effort to calm the outcry from...
Ex-police officer gets 7-plus years in prison in Jan. 6 case
WASHINGTON — An off-duty Virginia police officer who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan, 6, 2021, with a fellow officer was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in prison, matching the longest prison sentence so far among hundreds of Capitol riot cases. Former Rocky Mount Police Sgt. Thomas Robertson...
CDC drops quarantine, screening recommendations for covid-19
NEW YORK — The nation’s top public health agency relaxed its covid-19 guidelines Thursday, dropping the recommendation that Americans quarantine themselves if they come into close contact with an infected person. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said people no longer need to stay at least 6 feet...
