U.S./World category, Page 776
California and the West are in for another tough fire year, federal officials forecast
WASHINGTON — Following a 2020 fire season that shattered records and killed 33 people in California, federal wildfire experts predict another tough year for the state due to widespread and worsening drought conditions. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told reporters Thursday they had been briefed...
Acting Boston mayor signs ordinance limiting use of tear gas
BOSTON — Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey signed into law a city ordinance Thursday that limits how police use tear gas and other crowd-control techniques. The measure, approved by the Boston City Council last month on a 7-5 vote, restricts the use of chemical crowd control agents and kinetic impact...
For Muslims, joyous celebrations and lavish meals mark the end of Ramadan
Muslims everywhere on Thursday were marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. The holiday - known as Eid al-Fitr - is considered one of the most festive and joyous occasions in the Muslim calendar. Eid is marked with prayer, family gatherings and lavish meals. “This is the...
Missouri passes bill to limit police use of chokeholds
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Legislature on Thursday passed a wide-ranging bill that would, among other things, limit when police can use chokeholds, in an effort to respond to the outcry over police violence. The Republican-led House voted 140-4 to send the bill to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, a former...
‘Amazing’: Pilots, passenger uninjured after midair crash
DENVER — The pilot of an airplane that collided with another midair near Denver requested emergency landing for engine failure, not knowing that his plane was nearly ripped in half, according to air traffic control audio. Miraculously, both planes landed and no one was hurt, officials said. The planes were...
Judge to review Arbery’s mental health records under seal
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A judge said Thursday he will review under seal mental health records of Ahmaud Arbery to decide whether they can be used by defense attorneys to support their case that the slaying of the 25-year-old Black man was an act of self-defense. Superior Court Judge Timothy...
Colonial Pipeline paid hackers nearly $5 million in ransom
Colonial Pipeline Co. paid nearly $5 million to Eastern European hackers on Friday, contradicting reports earlier this week that the company had no intention of paying an extortion fee to help restore the country’s largest fuel pipeline, according to two people familiar with the transaction. The company paid the hefty...
Judge postpones trial for 3 ex-cops charged in Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — The trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting in the death of George Floyd will be pushed back to March 2022, a judge ruled Thursday. Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao were scheduled to face trial Aug. 23 on charges they aided...
Police: Ohio man charged with murder in death of infant son
WILLOUGHBY, Ohio — A grand jury has indicted an Ohio man on murder and other charges in the death of his 3-week-old son last year, according to police officials. Police in Willoughby outside Cleveland issued a statement Wednesday that said 30-year-old William Beasley had been arrested and was being held...
U.S. agents encounter more single adults crossing border
LA JOYA, Texas — Parents emerge from the brush into a baseball field, carrying exhausted children. Border Patrol agents dictate orders: Families with young children in one line and unaccompanied children in another. The smallest of three lines is for single adults. The scene Tuesday night in La Joya, a...
U.S. cities see surge in deadly street racing amid pandemic
Jaye Sanford, a 52-year-old mother of two, was driving home in suburban Atlanta on Nov. 21 when a man in a Dodge Challenger muscle car who was allegedly street racing crashed into her head-on, killing her. Sanford was remembered by friends as kind and thoughtful, but now she will also...
Israel threatens Gaza ground invasion despite truce effortsVideo
JERUSALEM — Israel on Thursday said it was massing troops along the Gaza frontier and calling up 9,000 reservists ahead of a possible ground invasion of the Hamas-ruled territory, as the two bitter enemies plunged closer to all-out war. Egyptian mediators rushed to Israel for cease-fire efforts but showed no...
Drivers scrambling for fuel as hacked pipeline restartsVideo
CLEMMONS, N.C. — Drivers waited in long lines Wednesday at gas stations in the Southeast after a hack of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline led to distribution problems and panic-buying, draining supplies at thousands of gas stations. Although there was no gasoline shortage, there was a problem getting the fuel...
Vermont House passes resolution on racism health emergency
MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont House of Representatives passed a resolution Wednesday declaring that racism is a public health emergency. The House voted 135-8 in favor of the non-binding resolution, which still must be passed by the Senate to be adopted. The resolution says that systemic racism affecting public health...
Police: 2-year-old shoots, wounds parents inside Maine home
WEST BATH, Maine — A 2-year-old boy in Maine shot and wounded his parents Wednesday after discovering a handgun on a nightstand, police said. The 22-year-old mother suffered a leg wound, the 25-year-old father suffered a minor head wound, and the boy was injured by the recoil of the weapon,...
Explainer: With bankruptcy tossed, what’s next for the NRA?
NEW YORK — Now that a judge has rejected the National Rifle Association’s bankruptcy bid, blocking its plan to reincorporate in Texas, the gun rights group is back to fighting New York regulators in a lawsuit that threatens to put it out of business. Harlin Hale, a federal bankruptcy judge...
Times Square shooting suspect arrested in FloridaVideo
NEW YORK — A man suspected of shooting three people in New York’s Times Square, including a 4-year-old girl, was arrested Wednesday in Florida, police said. Farrakhan Muhammad was taken into custody in a McDonald’s parking lot near Jacksonville, the official said, four days after the shooting Saturday that rattled...
Report: Drop in Xinjiang birthrate largest in recent history
BEIJING — Xinjiang in far western China had the sharpest known decline in birthrates between 2017 and 2019 of any territory in recent history, according to a new analysis by an Australian think tank. The report from the Australian Strategy Policy Institute, obtained exclusively ahead of publication by The Associated...
Police: California Tesla driver riding in backseat arrested
OAKLAND, Calif. — A motorist was arrested after an officer observed him in the backseat of a Tesla traveling on a San Francisco Bay Area freeway, the California Highway Patrol said. Param Sharma, 25, was arrested for alleged reckless driving and disobeying a peace officer, the highway patrol said in...
2 charged in North Carolina after gas station line fight amid panic-buying
KNIGHTDALE, N.C. — Two people are charged with assault after a fight in a line at a North Carolina gas station as a fuel pipeline shutdown sparks panic-buying, authorities said. Knightdale police officers were called to a Marathon gas station in the town on Tuesday afternoon for a report of...
List of candidates for next Columbus police chief down to 9
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s capital city has narrowed the list of candidates for the job of police chief to nine, all of them from outside the agency as promised by the Columbus mayor. City officials, including Public Safety Director Ned Pettus Jr., were interviewing candidates this week with the goal...
Judge backs aggravating factors in Chauvin trial, clears way for longer prison term
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota judge has ruled that there were aggravating factors in the death of George Floyd, paving the way for the possibility of a longer sentence for Derek Chauvin, according to an order made public Wednesday. In his ruling dated Tuesday, Judge Peter Cahill found Chauvin abused his...
Israel steps up Gaza offensive, kills senior Hamas figuresVideo
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel on Wednesday pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 10 senior Hamas military figures and toppling a pair of high-rise towers housing Hamas facilities in a series of airstrikes. The Islamic militant group showed no signs...
House GOP ousts Trump critic Liz Cheney from top post
WASHINGTON — House Republicans ousted Rep. Liz Cheney from her post as the chamber’s No. 3 GOP leader on Wednesday, punishing her after she repeatedly rebuked former President Donald Trump for his false claims of election fraud and his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Meeting behind closed...
Public service in the U.S.: Increasingly thankless, exhausting
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — He scurries through his apartment, downing a quick mug of coffee, brushing his teeth, feeding his pet rabbit, Auggie, before leaving. Not so long ago, Bill Mathis would have headed to his high school classroom to discuss great literature like “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The...
