U.S./World category, Page 603
Larry Nassar loses last appeal in sexual assault scandal
DETROIT — The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday rejected a final appeal from sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was sentenced to decades in prison for sexually assaulting gymnasts, including Olympic medalists. Attorneys for Nassar said he was treated unfairly in 2018 and deserved a new hearing, based on vengeful remarks...
Hurricane Blas heads out to sea off southern Mexico
MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Blas was heading out to sea off Mexico’s southern Pacific coast Friday, but a tropical depression has also formed off Central America. The depression is forecast to become a tropical storm while moving closer to El Salvador and Guatemala, before veering away from land over the...
Police: 3rd victim in Alabama church shooting dies
VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. — The third victim of a church shooting in Alabama has died, police said Friday. The 84-year-old woman died at a hospital a day after a gunman opened fire with a handgun Thursday at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills, the police...
5 former fraternity members sentenced in hazing death
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Three former fraternity members were sentenced Thursday to jail terms for their roles in the hazing death of a Bowling Green State University student, while two others were ordered to serve house arrest. Jarrett Prizel, 19, of Olean, New York, Daylen Dunson, 22, of Cleveland, and...
Jan. 6 panel: Plan for Pence to reject electors ‘nuts,’ ‘crazy’
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s closest advisers viewed his last-ditch efforts pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to halt congressional certification of his 2020 election defeat as “nuts,” “crazy” and even likely to incite riots if Pence followed through, witnesses revealed in stark testimony to the Jan. 6 committee on Thursday. Gripping...
Jan. 6 takeaways: ‘Heated’ Trump, Pence’s near miss with mob
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection used its latest public hearing on Thursday to focus on the pressure that then-President Donald Trump put on his vice president, Mike Pence, to delay or reject the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory on Jan. 6, 2021. The committee is...
Shaky oasis for some polar bears found, but not for species
With the polar bear species in a fight for survival because of disappearing Arctic sea ice, a new distinct group of Greenland bears seem to have stumbled on an icy oasis that might allow a small remote population to “hang on.” But it’s far from “a life raft” for the...
Some clinics halting abortions while bracing for Roe’s fall
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Abortion providers in some places where the procedure could be banned if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade are bracing for a ruling by halting scheduling for the procedure, transitioning staff to help patients travel to other states and creating networks of clinics that...
Florida only state not preordering toddler covid-19 vaccines
MIAMI — Florida is the only the state that hasn’t preordered covid-19 vaccines for toddlers in anticipation of their final approval by the federal government, and Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that he won’t facilitate their distribution, though he said they’ll be available to those who want them. White House...
Leaders pledge arms and EU path for Ukraine in Kyiv visit
KYIV, Ukraine — Four European leaders expressed their support for Ukraine on Thursday while meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, vowing to back Kyiv’s candidacy to eventually join the European Union and offering more weapons to fend off Russia’s invasion. French President Emmanuel Macron promised Ukraine six more truck-mounted artillery guns,...
NASA set to finally complete Artemis I wet dress rehearsal
ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA is hoping the fourth time’s the charm for the final big test before it can finally launch its massive new rocket to the moon. The redo of the Artemis I wet dress rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center is slated to begin Saturday evening with staff called...
NYC guitar concert by Hinckley, who shot Reagan, is canceled
NEW YORK — A concert by John Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981, has been canceled even as Hinckley was freed from federal court oversight, the New York City venue that had booked the performance announced. The Market Hotel in Brooklyn cited “very real and...
Watch: 1/6 panel probes Trump pressure on Pence to reject election
WASHINGTON — The 1/6 committee is set to plunge into Donald Trump’s last-ditch effort to salvage the 2020 election by pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to defy historical precedent and reject the electoral count in the run-up to the U.S. Capitol riot. With two witnesses Thursday, the House panel intends...
Jan. 6 panel sends letter asking Ginni Thomas to testify
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol has asked Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for an interview, the panel’s chairman said Thursday afternoon. Thomas, a conservative activist, communicated with people in President Donald Trump’s orbit ahead of the...
Feds taking first steps toward revising race, ethnic terms
The federal government is taking preliminary steps toward revising racial and ethnic classifications that have not been changed in a quarter century following calls for more accurate categories for how people identify themselves in federal data gathering. The revisions could open the door to changes long desired by advocates on...
Confederate flag-toting man, son convicted in Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday convicted a Confederate flag-toting man and his son of charges that they stormed the U.S. Capitol together during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, to obstruct Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden delivered the verdict from the...
FDA advisers endorse 1st covid-19 shots for kids under 5
The first covid-19 shots for U.S. infants, toddlers and preschoolers moved a step closer Wednesday. The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisers gave a thumbs-up to vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer for the littlest kids. The outside experts voted unanimously that the benefits of the shots outweigh any risks for...
2 California officers killed in motel shootout identified
EL MONTE, Calif. — Two Southern California police officers were patrolling their shared hometown — one on the force for more than two decades and the other for just months — when both were slain Tuesday in a shootout while investigating a possible stabbing at a suburban Los Angeles motel....
Lawyers urge leniency at sentencing for Ghislaine Maxwell
NEW YORK — Lawyers for British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell told a judge Wednesday that she should face no more than four to five years in prison for her sex trafficking conviction and role in financier Jeffrey Epstein’s decade-long sex abuse of teenage girls. They said in a Manhattan federal court...
Despite push, states slow to make Juneteenth a paid holiday
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Recognition of Juneteenth, the effective end of slavery in the U.S., gained traction after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. But after an initial burst of action, the movement to have it recognized as an official holiday in the states has largely stalled. Although almost...
Dr. Anthony Fauci tests positive for covid-19, has ‘mild symptoms’
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of America’s pandemic response through two White House administrations, has tested positive for the coronavirus. The 81-year-old Fauci, who is fully vaccinated and has received two booster shots, was experiencing mild covid-19 symptoms, according to a statement Wednesday from the National Institutes of Health. Fauci...
John Hinckley Jr. freed from court oversight after decades
NORFOLK, Va. — John Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was freed from court oversight Wednesday, officially concluding decades of supervision by legal and mental health professionals. “After 41 years 2 months and 15 days, FREEDOM AT LAST!!!,” he wrote on Twitter shortly after 12...
Fed attacks inflation with its largest rate hike since 1994
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday intensified its drive to tame high inflation by raising its key interest rate by three-quarters of a point — its largest hike in nearly three decades — and signaling more large rate increases to come that would raise the risk of another recession....
Russia targets depot in western Ukraine, advances in east
KYIV, Ukraine — The Russian military said it used long-range missiles Wednesday to destroy a depot in the western Lviv region of Ukraine where ammunition for NATO-supplied weapons was being stored, and the governor of a key eastern city acknowledged that Russian forces are advancing amid heavy fighting. Those strikes...
Buffalo supermarket gunman charged with federal hate crimes
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The white gunman who killed 10 Black people in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket has been charged with federal hate crimes, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday. Payton Gendron had already faced a mandatory life sentence without parole if convicted on previously filed state...
