U.S./World category, Page 802
Colorado shooting suspect passed check in legal gun purchase
BOULDER, Colo. — The suspect in the Colorado supermarket shootings bought a firearm at a local gun store after passing a background check, and he also had a second weapon with him that he didn’t use in the attack that killed 10 people this week, authorities and the gun store...
NASA gives all clear: Earth safe from asteroid for 100 years
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Whew, now here’s some good cosmic news: NASA has given Earth the all clear for the next century from a particularly menacing asteroid. The space agency announced this week that new telescope observations have ruled out any chance of Apophis smacking Earth in 2068. That’s the...
Tornado outbreak rips across Deep South; at least 5 dead
OHATCHEE, Ala. — Tornadoes and severe storms tore through the Deep South, killing at least five people as strong winds splintered trees, wrecked homes and downed power lines. The tornado outbreak rolled into western Georgia early Friday. One large, dangerous tornado moved through Newnan and surrounding communities in the Atlanta...
Is sex addiction really a thing? Science is skeptical
ATLANTA — To join the church Atlanta spa shooting suspect Robert Aaron Long attended, you have to adhere to certain non-negotiable edicts, a terms of agreement of sorts for membership. In a section titled “Diligence of Members,” Crabapple First Baptist Church leaders defined marriage as between a man and a...
Maine legislator being investigated for Harvey Weinstein backdrop on Zoom
AUGUSTA, Maine — A Maine legislator who appeared for Zoom meetings twice with a background that made a joking reference to convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein is being investigated by the Legislature’s human resources department. The investigation will focus on whether state Rep. Bruce Bickford, a Republican from Auburn, violated the...
Officials urge vigilance as Germany sees 3rd infection wave
BERLIN — German health officials warned Friday that the country’s latest eruption of coronavirus cases has the potential to be worse than the previous two last year, and they urged people to stay at home during the upcoming Easter break to help slow the rapidly rising numbers of new infections....
Trains collide in southern Egypt, killing at least 32
CAIRO — Two trains crashed Friday in southern Egypt, killing at least 32 people and injuring 165, authorities said in the latest of a series of deadly accidents on the country’s troubled railways. Someone apparently activated the emergency brakes on the passenger train, and it was rear-ended by another train,...
Dominion Voting sues Fox for $1.6B over 2020 election claims
WASHINGTON — Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Friday, arguing the cable news giant, in an effort to boost faltering ratings, falsely claimed that the voting company had rigged the 2020 election. The lawsuit is part of a growing body of legal action...
Small Texas border town is route to U.S. for migrant children
ROMA, Texas — As darkness sets on the Rio Grande, U.S. Border Patrol agents hear pumps inflating rafts across the river in Mexico. It is about to get busy. Within an hour, the rafts drop off about 100 people in six trips into the United States, including many families with...
Man with weapons, body armor arrested at University of Kentucky hospital
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Police arrested an armed Kentucky man as he left a hospital after receiving a tip from another police department that he was in the area. A large police presence was at the University of Kentucky’s Chandler Hospital emergency room Thursday and university officials asked students and visitors...
Texas death toll from February storm, outages surpasses 100
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas officials on Thursday raised the death toll from February’s winter storm and blackouts to at least 111 people — nearly doubling the state’s initial tally following one of the worst power outages in U.S. history. The majority of the deaths are associated with hypothermia, according to...
USC agrees to $852 million payout in sex abuse lawsuit
LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California has agreed to an $852 million settlement with more than 700 women who have accused the college’s longtime campus gynecologist of sexual abuse, the victims’ lawyers and USC announced Thursday. It’s believed to be a record amount for such a lawsuit. When...
Mass shooters exploited gun laws, loopholes before carnage
The suspect in the shooting at a Boulder, Colo., supermarket was convicted of assaulting a high school classmate but still got a gun. The man accused of opening fire on three massage businesses in the Atlanta area bought his gun just hours before the attack — no waiting required. They...
Tornadoes pummel Alabama, killing at least 5Video
Deadly tornadoes roared through Alabama on Thursday, toppling trees, demolishing homes and knocking out power to thousands, part of a broad swath of violent weather sweeping across the Deep South. At least five fatalities and an unknown number of injuries were reported. All of the deaths happened in eastern Alabama’s...
West Virginia House passes transgender athlete bill
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Transgender athletes in West Virginia middle and high schools would be banned from competing on teams relating to their preferred sexual identity under a bill passed Thursday by the House of Delegates. The bill passed on a 78-20 vote with two delegates absent. It now goes to...
Ex-NYPD officer in Eric Garner’s death loses appeal to get his job back
NEW YORK — Former police officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was fired from the New York Police Department two years ago over the chokehold death of Eric Garner, has lost his appeal to get his job back. The state appellate panel ruled Thursday that Pantaleo was lawfully fired in August 2019...
Rare Van Gogh masterpiece sells for $15.4 million in Paris
PARIS — A rare painting by Vincent Van Gogh was sold at auction Thursday by Sotheby’s Paris for 13.1 million euros ($15.4 million). The sale of “Street Scene in Montmartre” was highly anticipated as it was one of the few paintings by the Dutch Impressionist master to still have been...
Biden leaves door open for U.S. to stay longer in AfghanistanVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday left the door open for U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan through the end of the year, and one of his top generals told Congress that Afghanistan’s military forces need American assistance to successfully counter the Taliban. Biden, at his first news conference...
Lawyer: Colorado shooting suspect needs mental health review
BOULDER, Colo. — The suspect in the Colorado supermarket shooting appeared in court for the first time Thursday, and a defense attorney immediately asked that he receive a mental health evaluation before the case against him proceeds. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21, did not speak during the brief hearing except...
Ga. man receives final paycheck in 90,000 pennies
ATLANTA — A Georgia man said his former employer owed him a pretty penny, $915 to be exact, after leaving his job in November. But Andreas Flaten said he was shocked to see his final payment: 90,000 oil or grease covered pennies, at the end of his driveway earlier this...
Ruling upholds Hawaii limits on carrying guns in public
HONOLULU — Hawaii’s strict limit on openly carrying firearms is lawful, a panel of federal appeals court judges ruled Wednesday in a lawsuit by a man who tried unsuccessfully several times to obtain a license to carry a loaded gun in public. George Young’s lawyer said he will ask the...
Police: Florida mom attacked student while wearing boxing glove
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Florida woman was wearing a boxing glove as she attacked a student on a middle school campus, police said. Edith Riddle, of Jacksonville, was arrested on a child abuse charge on March 18 by Duval County School Police, First Coast News reported. Police said a school...
In what is hailed as a conservation success story, bald eagle numbers have soared
The number of bald eagles — a species that once came dangerously close to extinction — in the United States has more than quadrupled over the last dozen years despite massive declines in overall bird populations, government scientists announced. A new survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found...
White headmaster of N.Y. school who made Black student kneel resigns
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The white headmaster of a New York Catholic school who made a Black student kneel as part of an apology to a teacher has resigned, the school said Wednesday. The St. Martin de Porres Marianist school on Long Island posted a statement on its website saying it...
Oath Keepers militia, far-right Proud Boys coordinated plans for Capitol assault, Justice Department says
WASHINGTON — A leader of the Oath Keepers militia was communicating with members of the far-right Proud Boys in the weeks leading to the U.S. Capitol attack, federal prosecutors allege, suggesting for the first time the extremist groups had formed an alliance for the day of the deadly assault. The...
