U.S./World category, Page 721
California wildfires threaten famous giant sequoia trees
THREE RIVERS, Calif. — Firefighters wrapped the base of the world’s largest tree in a fire-resistant blanket as they tried to save a famous grove of gigantic old-growth sequoias from wildfires burning Thursday in California’s rugged Sierra Nevada. The colossal General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest, some...
Chauvin pleads not guilty to violating teen’s civil rights
MINNEAPOLIS — The former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd pleaded not guilty Thursday to violating the civil rights of a teenager in a separate case that involved a restraint similar to the one used on Floyd. Derek Chauvin was convicted earlier this year...
As covid-19 vaccine mandates rise, religious exemptions grow
An estimated 2,600 Los Angeles Police Department employees are citing religious objections to try to get out of the required covid-19 vaccination. In Washington state, thousands of state workers are seeking similar exemptions. And in Arkansas, a hospital has been swamped with so many such requests from employees that it...
Search on for Florida woman missing from cross-country trip
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida woman who vanished while on a nomadic cross-country trip in a converted camper van with her boyfriend is the subject of a nationwide search while authorities labeled him Wednesday as a person of interest in her disappearance. Investigators say Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito, 22, was...
Police: Lawyer Murdaugh arranged own death but shot grazed
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A prominent South Carolina lawyer who found the bodies of his wife and son three months ago tried to arrange his own death earlier this month so his son would get a $10 million life insurance payment, but the planned fatal shot only grazed his head, state...
SpaceX launches 4 amateurs on private Earth-circling trip
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX’s first private flight blasted off Wednesday night with two contest winners, a health care worker and their rich sponsor, the most ambitious leap yet in space tourism. It was the first time a rocket streaked toward orbit with an all-amateur crew — no professional astronauts....
Search at Grand Canyon turns up remains of another person
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Crews searching for a missing man at Grand Canyon National Park made an unexpected discovery this summer. They found the remains of another person, believed to be Scott Walsh, who was last seen stepping off a shuttle bus at the park’s South Rim in 2015. The clothing...
Texas abortion law strains clinics: ‘Exactly what we feared’
AUSTIN, Texas — One Texas woman traveled nearly 1,000 miles to Colorado for an abortion. Others are driving four hours to New Mexico. And in Houston, clinics that typically perform more than 100 abortions in a week are are down to a few a day. Two weeks after the nation’s...
Baby girl born to widow of Marine killed in Kabul bombing
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The widow of a U.S. Marine killed in a bombing in Afghanistan in August has given birth to a baby girl. Levi Rylee Rose McCollum was born early Monday at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif., according to a Facebook post by the baby’s grandmother, Jill...
Biles: FBI turned ‘blind eye’ to reports of gymnasts’ abuse
WASHINGTON — Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles told Congress in forceful testimony Wednesday that federal law enforcement and gymnastics officials turned a “blind eye” to USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of her and hundreds of other women. Biles told the Senate Judiciary Committee that “enough is enough”...
Woman tethered to dog is dragged to death by train at San Francisco station
SAN FRANCISCO — A woman who boarded a BART train while tethered to her dog was dragged to her death after she briefly stepped off the train at a platform and the train pulled away with the dog still inside, authorities said. The fatal accident occurred at 3:16 p.m. Monday,...
Pope questions vaccine skeptics, including cardinals
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis said Wednesday he didn’t understand why people refuse to take covid-19 vaccines, saying “humanity has a history of friendship with vaccines,” and that serene discussion about the shots was necessary to help them. “Even in the College of Cardinals, there are some negationists,”...
Surfside land swap for Florida condo collapse site rejected
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Commissioners in Surfside, Fla., have rejected a proposal to trade public beachfront to the eventual buyer of the condominium collapse site so that a memorial to the 98 victims could be built there. The decision followed an emotional meeting Tuesday as family members of those who died...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom beats back GOP-led recall
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday emphatically defeated a recall aimed at kicking him out of office early, a contest the Democrat framed as part of a national battle for his party’s values in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and continued threats from “Trumpism.” Newsom bolted...
Alaska Senate passes dividend bill after House nixes floor
JUNEAU, Alaska — The Alaska Senate approved a roughly $1,100 dividend on the last day of a special session Tuesday, after the House canceled its floor and left the Senate with what amounted to a take-it-or-leave-it decision on the check for residents that the House had previously passed. The Senate...
Judge rejects ballot question to scrap Minneapolis PD
MINNEAPOLIS — A judge on Tuesday rejected an attempt to salvage a proposed charter amendment on the future of policing in Minneapolis, ruling just days before early and absentee voting begins in the city where George Floyd died in police custody that any votes on the question won’t count. Hennepin...
3 former U.S. officials charged in UAE hacking scheme
WASHINGTON — Three former U.S. intelligence and military operatives have admitted providing sophisticated computer hacking technology to the United Arab Emirates and agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to resolve criminal charges in an agreement that the Justice Department described Tuesday as the first of its kind. The defendants —...
Mexico gives drug lord Vicente Carrillo Fuentes 28 years
MEXICO CITY — A judge in Mexico has sentenced drug lord Vicente Carrillo Fuentes to 28 years in prison for organized crime, money laundering and weapons violations, prosecutors announced Tuesday. Carillo Fuentes was a former leader of the Juarez drug cartel, based in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, across...
Feds: Los Angeles bomb technicians caused major explosion
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police bomb technicians made major miscalculations in June when they detonated illegal fireworks improperly and caused a massive explosion that rocked a city neighborhood and injured 27 people in June, according to a report by federal investigators. The 51-page report from the Bureau of Alcohol,...
Problems continue to plague El Savador’s bitcoin rollout
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — One week after El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin legal tender, problems continued to plague the system Tuesday. El Salvador rolled out a digital wallet known as the “Chivo” on Sept. 8, but the system has often been down for maintenance. It...
Ex-cops accused of violating Floyd’s rights plead not guilty
Four former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a federal hearing that included arguments on several pretrial motions, including requests to hold separate trials. A federal grand jury indicted Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao in May for...
Officials: Al-Qaida could threaten in 1-2 years
WASHINGTON — American intelligence officials say al-Qaida could begin to threaten the homeland from Afghanistan within one to two years, echoing warnings that were issued prior to the U.S. withdrawal ending its 20-year war. Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, who leads the Defense Intelligence Agency, gave that estimated timeframe Tuesday while...
Book: Top U.S. officer feared Trump could order China strike
Fearful of Donald Trump’s actions in his final weeks as president, the United States’ top military officer twice assured his Chinese counterpart that the two nations would not go to war, according to a forthcoming book. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told Gen. Li Zuocheng of...
Fires shut Sequoia National Park, could threaten huge trees
Sequoia National Park was shut down and its namesake gigantic trees were potentially threatened Tuesday as two forest fires burned in steep and dangerous terrain in California’s Sierra Nevada. Both fires were projected to advance in the direction of Giant Forest, home to more than 2,000 giant sequoias including the...
Covid-19 cases in U.S. climbing, wiping out months of progress
Covid-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter, wiping out months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Biden’s argument for sweeping new vaccination requirements. The cases — driven by the delta variant combined with resistance among some Americans to getting...
