Woman pleads guilty to soliciting stepfather’s murder
WILKES-BARRE — A woman has pleaded guilty to soliciting the homicide of her stepfather nearly five years ago in northeastern Pennsylvania. Twenty-five-year-old Kendra Dias entered the plea Monday as her trial was about to open. Under a plea agreement, Luzerne County prosecutors withdrew a conspiracy count and are to recommend...
Tennessee county destroys records sought by reporter
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Officials in a Tennessee county have destroyed public records that were being sought by a newspaper. Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Sarah Grace Taylor was trying to see whether the Hamilton County attorney’s office was denying public records requests without a good reason, she said. To that...
Woman whose newborn died in prison toilet gets $1M from S.C.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A former inmate whose newborn died in a prison toilet in South Carolina will receive more than $1 million from the state and two medical companies. Sinetra Johnson will get $750,000 from the state Department of Corrections and $200,000 each from Medustrial and MedFirst which provide health...
Murrysville woman followed her calling to help others
Becky Snyder had a heart for ministry that was matched only by her boundless energy. She helped found His Hand Extended Ministry (His HEM) and its companion thrift store in Washington Township. She ran the thrift store for 12 years as a way to fund the ministry, her husband, William...
Puerto Ricans thrilled by flag sighting in Super Bowl halftime showVideo
SAN JUAN (AP) — The screams echoed across Puerto Rico when Jennifer Lopez unfurled a feather cape representing the flag of the U.S. territory during the Super Bowl’s halftime show, a moment that many were still replaying and sharing on Monday. The move came at a trying time for those...
Malawi court nullifies presidential vote, orders new one
BLANTYRE, Malawi — The Constitutional Court in the southern African nation of Malawi on Monday nullified the results of last year’s presidential election, citing “widespread, systematic and grave” irregularities including significant use of correction fluid to alter the outcome. A new vote will be held within 150 days, the court...
BP oil spill cash rebuilds eroded Louisiana pelican island
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana island that provides a crucial nesting ground for pelicans and other sea birds is being restored to nearly its former size after decades of coastal erosion and the devastating blow of an offshore oil spill 10 years ago. About 6,500 brown pelicans and 3,000 smaller...
Aspiring Chicago rapper gets 99 years in mom’s murder-for-hire killing
CHICAGO — An aspiring Chicago rapper who posted a video on YouTube of himself throwing thousands of dollars that he inherited from his mother to his “fans” has been sentenced to 99 years in prison for her 2012 murder-for-hire killing. Qaw’mane Wilson, 30, was sentenced Friday by a Cook County...
Dems kick off Iowa caucuses amid worry over beating TrumpVideo
DES MOINES, Iowa — A Democratic campaign that has cost more than $1 billion, dashed the ambitions of veteran politicians, forced conversations about race, gender and identity and prompted fierce debate over health care and taxes crests Monday in the Iowa caucuses. By day’s end, tens of thousands of Democrats...
Annual White House Easter Egg Roll scheduled for April 13
WASHINGTON — The annual White House Easter Egg Roll is set for April 13. First lady Melania Trump announced the date for the time-honored tradition Monday. Tickets are free and are available through an online lottery scheduled to open at 10 a.m. Feb. 18 and close at 10 a.m. Feb....
1 dead, 5 wounded in shooting on California Greyhound bus
LEBEC, Calif. — A gunman killed one passenger and wounded five others on a Greyhound bus traveling from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area early Monday morning, the California Highway Patrol said. The shooting happened at about 1:20 a.m. as the bus was on the Grapevine section of...
Bernie Ebbers, ex-CEO convicted in WorldCom scandal, dies
The former chief of WorldCom, convicted in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in U.S. history, died just over a month after his early release from prison. Bernard Ebbers was 78. The Canadian-born former telecommunications executive died Sunday in Brookhaven, Mississippi, surrounded by his family, according to a family...
Italian-American emerges as new star of Italy’s left-wing
BOLOGNA, Italy — A dual U.S.-Italian citizen who cut her political organizing teeth on two Barack Obama campaigns is emerging as the latest rising star in Italian politics. Inside a week, 34-year-old Elly Schlein, a former European lawmaker who grew up in Switzerland, has gone from relative obscurity as a...
Pregnant woman killed, baby survives in Milwaukee shooting
MILWAUKEE — A gunman in a passing car fired five or six shots outside of a Milwaukee supper club, killing a pregnant mother of five who was on board a party bus that was parked in front of the venue, authorities said. The bus rushed Annie Sandifer to to Ascension...
Al-Qaida in Yemen claims deadly Florida naval base shooting
CAIRO — Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen claimed responsibility Sunday for last year’s deadly shooting at the Naval Air Station Pensacola by an aviation student from Saudi Arabia. The shooter, 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was a member of the Saudi air force in training at the base. He opened fire...
China reports 361 dead from new virus, total of 17,205 cases
BEIJING — China on Monday reported 361 have died on the mainland from the new virus, with an additional 2,829 new cases over the last 24 hours bringing the Chinese total to 17,205. The latest figures Monday come a day after the first death from the illness was recorded outside...
In Iowa, anxiety and unpredictability cloud caucus finishVideo
DES MOINES — On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Democratic presidential candidates hustled across the state on Sunday trying to fire up voters and make one last appeal to those struggling to make a final decision about their choice in the crowded field. Campaigns and voters acknowledged a palpable...
State patrol: Church bus crashes in Ohio; bus driver dies
LEBANON, Ohio — A church bus and an SUV crashed Sunday in Ohio, and the bus driver died, the State Highway Patrol said. The patrol’s Lebanon post reported the crash occurred around 9:30 a.m. on Dixie Highway in Warren County’s Franklin Township. The SUV driver was treated for minor injuries,...
2 men arrested after gas station gunfire exchange kills 2 in ChesterVideo
CHESTER — Police have arrested two suspects after a gas station convenience store robbery and gun battle that left two people dead near Philadelphia. Officers in Chester were called to the Sunoco A-Plus Mini Market shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday and found 29-year-old Tahriq Doward in front of the store...
Privacy law may make students harder to count for census
ORLANDO, Fla. — A student privacy law will complicate the Census Bureau’s ability to get complete information about students living in college-run housing for the nation’s once-a-decade head count, according to a warning the U.S. Department of Education memo has sent to universities. Because of the decades-old federal privacy law,...
Japanese warship heads to Middle East to protect tankers
TOKYO — A Japanese warship departed Sunday for the Middle East to ensure the safety of the country’s oil tankers in waters where tensions between the U.S. and Iran are high. The destroyer Takanami with some 200 sailors left Japan’s main naval base in Yokosuka, near Tokyo. Its main task...
Uneasy quiet in Mideast, month after Iran strike against U.S.
ABOARD THE USS HARRY S TRUMAN — Nearly a month after Iran launched a rare direct military attack against United States forces in Iraq, an uneasy quiet has settled across the Mideast. Watching fighter jets roar off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, the top...
Joe Biden could be impeached by GOP over Ukraine if he wins, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst saysVideo
DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst warned Sunday that Republicans would immediately push to impeach Joe Biden over his work in Ukraine as vice president if he win the White House. “I think this door of impeachable whatever has been opened,” Ernst said in an interview with Bloomberg...
Emails show the fallout from Trump’s claims about Hurricane DorianVideo
WASHINGTON — A flurry of newly released emails from scientists and top officials at the federal agency responsible for weather forecasting clearly illustrates the consternation and outright alarm caused by President Donald Trump’s false claim that Hurricane Dorian could hit Alabama. A top National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official even...
Trump bashes Democratic rivals during pre-Super Bowl show
PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump used a Super Bowl pregame interview to rail against Democrats, accusing them of hatred and offering schoolyard insults about his potential 2020 rivals. “I see the hatred. … They don’t care about fairness, they don’t care about lying,” Trump said in a taped...
