U.S./World category, Page 803
Florida woman says she was lost in sewer for weeks; police skeptical
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — A South Florida woman was rescued from a sewer system three weeks after she was reported missing when a passerby heard her cries for help, officials said. The 43-year-old woman, who has a history of mental illness and drug abuse, told Delray Beach officers she went...
A first: U.S. Senate confirms transgender doctor, Rachel Levine, for key postVideo
Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. The final vote was 52-48. Levine had been serving as Pennsylvania’s top health...
U.S. women’s soccer stars join Biden to promote closing pay gap
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is making the case Wednesday that the pay disparity between men and women has hurt the economy, bringing members of the U.S. women’s national soccer team to the White House to help set new goals for equality. Wednesday marked “Equal Pay Day” — which is...
Suez Canal blocked by grounded mega-ship, causing huge traffic jam in the seaVideo
On any given day, more than 50 ships traverse the 120-mile Suez Canal, bearing millions of tons of cargo that make up some 12% of the world’s trade volume. But not since Tuesday, after a mammoth vessel ran aground in the vital waterway. In the more than 24 hours since,...
Ex-U.S. vaccine chief fired over sexual harassment allegations
The former chief science adviser for the U.S. effort to rapidly develop covid-19 vaccines has been fired from the board of directors of a medical research company over sexual harassment allegations, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said Wednesday. The company said it is firing Moncef Slaoui from his position as board chair at...
Mother of man fatally shot by Mesa police files $15M claim
MESA, Ariz. — The mother of a man fatally shot last September by Mesa police has filed a $15 million claim against the city, alleging officers killed her unarmed her son without reason and failed to provide him medical assistance after he was fatally wounded. The Police Department did not...
Virginia abolishes death penalty after executing almost 1,400 people over 400 yearsVideo
NORFOLK, Va. — After more than 400 years and nearly 1,400 lives, the death penalty is dead in Virginia. Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation Wednesday abolishing it in a state that has executed more people than any other. The ceremony was at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, where lethal injections...
West Virginia to target young people for vaccinations
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s coronavirus vaccination campaign will turn to young people to stem transmission rates after giving shots to most senior citizens. The new strategy to focus on shots for residents aged 16 to 29 comes after officials said they are seeing an increase in doses. “When you...
Kenya wants United Nations agency to shut down refugee camps
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya says it has given the United Nations 14 days to come up with a plan to close refugee camps in the country that host hundreds of thousands from war-torn neighboring nations. Internal Security Minister Fred Matiangi said there is no room for further negotiations, in a...
White House officials, lawmakers to tour border facility
WASHINGTON — A delegation of White House officials and members of Congress was traveling to the southern border on Wednesday to tour a facility being used to house migrant children as increasing numbers of unaccompanied young people cross into the United States. The visit to a facility in Carrizo Springs,...
Homeschooling doubled from pandemic’s start to last fall
ORLANDO, Fla. — The rate of households homeschooling their children doubled from the start of the pandemic last spring to the start of the new school year last September, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report released this week. Last spring, about 5.4% of all U.S. households with school-aged...
New doubts over Southern Baptists’ limits on women’s rolesVideo
Emily Snook is the daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor. She met her husband, also a pastor, while they attended a Southern Baptist university Yet the 39-year-old Oklahoma woman now finds herself wondering if it’s time to leave the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, in part because of practices and attitudes...
Atlanta spa killings prompt new proposals from Georgia Democrats
ATLANTA — Georgia Democrats have introduced a slate of legislation in response to the massage business shootings that killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent — though it’s unlikely the bills will see movement in the Republican-controlled legislature. The proposals would require a five-day waiting period for gun...
Lost and found: $1M lottery ticket recovered in parking lot
SPARTA, Tenn. — A Tennessee man was able to turn his luck around after finding his missing $1 million winning lottery ticket in a parking lot — remaining where he dropped it even on a blustery afternoon. Sparta resident Nick Slatten learned on March 11 that he won a drawing...
Official: Colorado supermarket shooting suspect prone to rage, delusions
BOULDER, Colo. — Law enforcement officials and former associates of a 21-year-old accused of killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket described the suspect as someone prone to sudden rage who was suspended from high school for a sudden attack on a classmate that left the student bloodied. Ahmad Al...
‘Virginia Woolf,’ ‘Goldbergs’ star George Segal dies at 87
LOS ANGELES — George Segal, the banjo player turned actor who was nominated for an Oscar for 1966’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” and starred in the ABC sitcom “The Goldbergs,” died Tuesday in Santa Rosa, Calif, his wife said. He was 87. “The family is devastated to announce that...
Nurse, officer dead from inmate attack at Iowa prison
IOWA CITY — A nurse and a correctional officer at a prison housing some of Iowa’s most dangerous offenders died on Tuesday after an inmate carried out an attack on staff members and other inmates, state officials said. The attack happened at around 10:15 a.m. in the prison infirmary at...
White House: North Korea conducted short-range missile testVideo
WASHINGTON — North Korea fired short-range missiles this past weekend, just days after the sister of Kim Jong Un threatened the United States and South Korea for holding joint military exercises. The missile tests were confirmed by two senior Biden administration officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. They...
FBI: Ex-NYPD spokesperson charged in Capitol insurrection
NEW YORK — The FBI arrested a former spokesperson for the New York City Police Department on Tuesday on charges she entered the U.S. Capitol — and shook a tambourine — during the Jan. 6 insurrection. Sara Carpenter, a retired police officer who lives in Queens, drove to Washington the...
Explainer: How states are seeking to loosen controls on guns
Mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado that left at least 18 people dead since last week are reigniting calls from gun control advocates for tighter restrictions on buying firearms and ammunition. But with Democrats in control of the federal government, gun rights advocates have been persuading Republican-run state legislatures to...
Springtime storms cause damage in central Texas cityVideo
BERTRAM, Texas — Springtime storms caused significant damage to buildings in a central Texas city, and forecasters say more stormy weather is expected later in the week for parts of the southern United States. There were no immediate reports of injuries from Monday night’s storms in Bertram, about 45 miles...
Supreme Court leans toward tribal police in traffic stop and search
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to allow tribal police officers to stop and search non-Indians on tribal lands over concerns that drunk drivers or even violent criminals might otherwise elude authorities. The justices heard arguments in the Justice Department’s appeal of a lower court ruling that threw...
Arizona man accused of ambushing National Guard members while transporting covid vaccine
LUBBOCK, Texas — An Arizona man is accused of forcing off the road a National Guard convoy that was transporting covid-19 vaccines in West Texas and then holding 11 guard members at gunpoint. Larry Harris, 66, of Wilcox, Ariz., told police that he stopped three vans because he believed people...
Slower mail, fewer office hours part of Postal Service plans
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Tuesday announced plans to slow mail delivery standards and cut hours at some post offices as part of a 10-year strategy to stabilize the struggling agency. Details of the long-awaited plan come at a time of intense scrutiny on the U.S. Postal Service over persistent...
Asian Americans seek greater political power after Atlanta shootings
WASHINGTON — Speaking on the floor of the Georgia state Senate last week, Michelle Au implored her colleagues to “stand up” to the hatred aimed at Asian Americans that’s increased during the pandemic. A day later, a gunman shook the Atlanta area by killing eight people, including six women of...
