U.S./World category, Page 892
Virus cases rise in U.S. heartland, home to anti-mask feelings
MISSION, Kan. — It began with devastation in the New York City area, followed by a summertime crisis in the Sun Belt. Now the coronavirus outbreak is heating up fast in smaller cities in the heartland, often in conservative corners of America where anti-mask sentiment runs high. Elsewhere around the...
NASA astronaut plans to cast her ballot from space station
ATLANTA — NASA astronaut Kate Rubins told The Associated Press on Friday that she plans to cast her next vote from space — more than 200 miles above Earth. Rubins is just outside Moscow in Star City, Russia, preparing with two cosmonauts for a mid-October launch and a six-month stay...
Virus cases rise in U.S. heartland, home to anti-mask feelings
MISSION, Kan. — It began with devastation in the New York City area, followed by a summertime crisis in the Sun Belt. Now the coronavirus is striking cities with much smaller populations in the heartland, often in conservative corners of America where anti-mask sentiment runs high. The spread has created...
In despair, protesters take to streets for Breonna Taylor
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Some of them raised their fists and called out “Black lives matter!” Others tended to the letters, flowers and signs grouped together in a square in downtown Louisville. All of them said her name: Breonna Taylor. People dismayed that the officers who shot the Black woman in...
Largest California wildfire threatens marijuana-growing area
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s largest wildfire is threatening a marijuana-growing enclave, and authorities said many of the locals have refused to evacuate and abandon their maturing crops even as weather forecasters predict more hot, dry and windy conditions that could fan flames. The wildfire called the August Complex is nearing...
Congressman halts attempt to rename Mount Rushmore
One of the country’s most famous landmarks probably will keep its name, despite a recent attempt to rename it. A California resident in July proposed renaming Mount Rushmore to Igmu Tanka Paha, a Lakota Sioux name that means Cougar Mountain, according to the federal Board on Geographic Names. Anyone can...
Neighbor calls 911 when hockey fans yell ‘Shoot! Shoot!’
TAMPA, Fla. — A neighbor called sheriff’s deputies on some rabid Tampa Bay Lightning fans who were screaming “shoot! shoot!” as they watched Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final on television Wednesday night. The call prompted several Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies to show up at Devon Garnett’s apartment door....
Ginsburg is first woman to lie in state at U.S. CapitolVideo
WASHINGTON — Commemorations are set to begin Friday honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the U.S. Capitol, the first woman in American history to lie in state at the domed building, capping days of commemoration of her extraordinary life. Mourners are paying tribute to Ginsburg, who...
Belarus detains opposition leader’s lawyer amid protestsVideo
KYIV, Ukraine — Authorities in Belarus detained a lawyer representing a top opposition activist who was jailed this month amid mass protests against the country’s authoritarian president, who won a sixth term in a disputed election. Lawyer Lyudmila Kazak went missing Thursday, with police confirming later in the day that...
Mom’s remains go missing after being mailed to wrong address
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Kentucky woman is sending out what she calls an “urgent plea” after a box containing her mother’s cremated remains went missing after she mailed it to her sister in Florida. On Sept. 9., Amy Redford of La Grange, Kentucky, sent the box via the U.S. Postal...
Giant rat wins animal hero award for sniffing out landmines in Cambodia
LONDON — A rat has for the first time won a British charity’s top civilian award for animal bravery, receiving the honor for searching out unexploded landmines in Cambodia. Magawa, a giant African pouched rat, was awarded the PDSA’s Gold Medal for his “lifesaving bravery and devotion” after discovering 39...
Hearing seeks to move protest shooter for trial in Wisconsin
A 17-year-old accused of killing two protesters days after Jacob Blake was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, faces a hearing Friday on whether he should be sent to Wisconsin to stand trial on homicide charges that could put him in prison for life. Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested at his...
At U.N., China, Russia and U.S. clash over pandemic responses
UNITED NATIONS — The United States butted heads Thursday with China and Russia at the United Nations over responsibility for the covid-19 pandemic, trading allegations about who mishandled and politicized the virus in one of the few real-time exchanges among top officials at this year’s covid-distanced General Assembly meeting. The...
Mary Trump files suit saying family cheated her of millions
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s niece followed up her best-selling, tell-all book with a lawsuit Thursday alleging that the president and two of his siblings cheated her out of millions of dollars over several decades while squeezing her out of the family business. Mary L. Trump sought unspecified damages in...
Resource officer uses Taser on woman who refused to wear mask at Ohio football gameVideo
A resource officer in Ohio shocked a woman with a Taser and forcibly removed her from a football game when she refused to wear a face mask in the stands. The officer asked the woman to put on a face covering, but she refused, claiming that she had asthma, according...
AP-NORC poll: Support for racial injustice protests declines
NEW YORK — As the decision in Kentucky to bring charges against only one of three police officers involved in a raid that killed Breonna Taylor sparks renewed protests nationwide, a new survey finds support has fallen for demonstrations against systemic racism. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for...
Officials plead for calm amid anger over Breonna Taylor case
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Authorities pleaded for calm while activists vowed to fight on Thursday in Kentucky’s largest city, where a gunman wounded two police officers during anguished protests following the decision not to charge officers for killing Breonna Taylor. Outrage over a grand jury’s failure to bring homicide charges against...
Post office defends on claims that cuts threaten election
PHILADELPHIA — Lawyers for the U.S. Postal Service were in court Thursday to defend accusations that service cuts are slowing down the mail and threatening the integrity of the presidential election. The latest hearing on the issue took place in federal court in Philadelphia, where the attorneys general from six...
Crash drops Cleveland highway sign onto pickup; 1 person dead
CLEVELAND — A dump truck struck the base of a sign on a Cleveland highway during the morning commute Thursday, causing the sign to fall on a passing pickup truck and kill one person in the pickup, authorities said, The Ohio State Highway Patrol said the crash happened around 8:30...
Court convicts 12 over tennis-playing protest at Swiss bank
GENEVA — A Swiss appeals court on Thursday convicted a dozen environmental activists who took part in a rogue tennis match inside a Lausanne branch of Credit Suisse to protest the Swiss bank’s links to the petrochemicals sector. Overturning a lower court’s acquittal in January, the appeals court in Renens,...
Kenosha shooter’s defense portrays him as ‘American patriot’
The way lawyers for Kyle Rittenhouse tell it, he wasn’t just a scared teenager acting in self-defense when he shot to death two Kenosha, Wisconsin, protesters. He was a courageous defender of liberty, a patriot exercising his right to bear arms amid rioting in the streets. “A 17-year-old citizen is...
Records: Mail delivery lags behind targets as election nears
The slice of Michigan that covers Detroit, its suburbs and towns dependent on the auto industry is coveted political terrain in one of this year’s most important presidential swing states. It also has another distinction as home to one of the worst-performing U.S. Postal Service districts in the country. In...
3 accused of creating ‘man cave’ under Grand Central station
NEW YORK — Three railroad workers have been suspended for turning a storage room under New York’s Grand Central Terminal into an unauthorized “man cave” with a television, a refrigerator, a microwave and a futon couch, officials said Thursday. A Metropolitan Transportation Authority investigation found that managers at Metro-North Railroad...
Earthquake measuring 4.2 shakes Turkish megacity of Istanbul
ISTANBUL — An earthquake measuring magnitude 4.2 hit near Istanbul on Thursday, a Turkish government agency reported. There was no immediate report of damage or casualties. The Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said the quake was centered in the Sea of Marmara, off the town of Marmaraereglisi. It struck at...
In Breonna Taylor case, limits of law overcome calls for justice
“Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor” became a rallying cry this summer, emblazoned on T-shirts worn by celebrities and sports stars while protesters filled the streets demanding police accountability. In the end, none of the officers were charged with Taylor’s killing, although one was indicted for shooting into a...
