Wildfire prompts Southern California evacuation
SONOMA, Calif. — The Latest on power outages in California (all times local): 12:55 p.m. A fire has erupted in a Southern California city as strong Santa Ana winds buffet the region. The San Bernardino County Fire Department says the fire erupted in Fontana early Thursday afternoon. Officials say one...
Florida men tied to Rudolph Giuliani arrested on campaign charges
WASHINGTON — Two Florida businessmen tied to President Donald Trump’s lawyer and the Ukraine investigation were charged Thursday with federal campaign finance violations. The charges relate to a $325,000 donation to a group supporting Trump’s reelection. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, associates of Rudy Giuliani, were arrested Wednesday night trying...
West Virginia mayor won’t rename Christmas parade
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The mayor of West Virginia’s capital city on Thursday reversed a decision to change the name of the annual holiday parade after intense backlash from church leaders and conservatives. Mayor Amy Goodwin announced on Monday that she planned to rename the “Charleston Christmas Parade” the “Charleston Winter...
ACLU, League of Women Voters challenge Marsy’s Law question
Opponents of the Marsy’s Law amendment filed a last-minute lawsuit in Commonwealth Court on Thursday challenging the constitutionality of the question on the November ballot which asks voters to approve or reject amending the state constitution to include a crime victims rights amendment. The question would establish more than a...
Bernie Sanders says he will resume campaign ‘as soon as possible’Video
WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders said Thursday that he’s getting his endurance back and growing “stronger every day” after suffering a heart attack last week, and he promised to return to the presidential campaign trail “as soon as possible.” In the meantime, he’s batting baseballs around the yard. “I am feeling...
U.S. Navy to build ship named for Harrisburg
HARRISBURG — Trump administration officials say the U.S. Navy will name a ship that has yet to be built after the city of Harrisburg. The naming of the future USS Harrisburg was announced Thursday in the Capitol Rotunda, at an event that included federal, state and local officials. The $800...
2 Florida men tied to Guiliani arrested on campaign charges
WASHINGTON — Two Florida businessmen tied to President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have been arrested on campaign finance violations resulting from a $325,000 donation to a political action committee supporting Trump’s reelection. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested on a four-count indictment that includes charges of conspiracy,...
Police: Drexel student raped in off-campus apartment
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia police are searching for a suspect who they say raped a Drexel University student in an off-campus apartment. Police say the attack took place just before 1 p.m. Wednesday in the apartment on Winter Street. Authorities have not said how the man got into the apartment. Students...
Florida man accused of forcing small alligator to drink beer
PALM CITY, Fla. — Authorities say they’ve arrested a Florida man who provoked a small alligator into biting his arm and poured beer into the animal’s mouth. News outlets report 27-year-old Timothy Kepke and 22-year-old Noah Osborne were charged last week with unlawfully taking an alligator. Florida Fish and Wildlife...
Season greeting: Fall snowstorm pushing through Great Plains
RAPID CITY, S.D. — A powerful winterlike storm moving through the Great Plains was closing schools and causing travel headaches in several states, authorities said Thursday. Winter storm warnings and watches stretched from Wyoming and Montana through western Nebraska and into the Dakotas and Minnesota. Forecasters said the storm packs...
White House aides try disappearing act amid impeachment talk
WASHINGTON — They’ve skipped the high-profile Sunday TV shows and avoided driveway chat sessions with reporters. Few who are typically eager to defend the president have appeared at all on television this month. White House officials close to President Donald Trump are pulling off a disappearing act, remaining largely absent...
Pence aiming to release records of his own Ukraine calls
WAUKEE, Iowa — Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday he is working with the White House counsel’s office to release transcripts of his own calls with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Pence said records of his two phone conversations would help exonerate President Donald Trump of any wrongdoing. Pence was asked...
‘Welcome to Minneapolis’: Trump rally roils liberal bastion
MINNEAPOLIS — The conflict and Twitter battles arrived in Minnesota well ahead of President Donald Trump’s touchdown in the state. Trump traded Twitter insults with the Minneapolis mayor over who should pay more than $500,000 in security costs for Thursday’s rally at a downtown arena. He denounced Jacob Frey as...
Evidence from ex-Dallas cop’s murder trial fuels mistrust
DALLAS — Evidence from the trial of a former Dallas police officer convicted of killing her neighbor has fueled new questions about whether accused officers are treated differently than other suspects, including testimony that a camera in the cruiser where the officer sat after the shooting was flipped off and...
Officials find more fetal remains connected to late doctor
INDIANAPOLIS — Authorities in Illinois discovered additional fetal remains Wednesday stashed in a car that had belonged to a doctor who performed abortions in Indiana, a month after his death led to the discovery of more than 2,200 other sets of remains in his garage. Investigators for the Will County...
Delta all-women crew flew 120 girls to NASA to encourage female aviatorsVideo
Something you don’t see everyday: the entire crew and passengers on a flight’s manifest were the same gender — female. That’s exactly what happened Sunday, when Delta celebrated Girls in Aviation Day. Part of its fifth annual Women Inspiring our Next Generation (WING) Flight, the flight took 120 girls ages...
Goat rams through sliding glass door, naps inside bathroom in OhioVideo
CLEVELAND — An Ohio homeowner never envisioned becoming semi-famous because of a goat butting its way into her home and taking a nap in her bathroom. “This is the most random story in the world,” Jennifer Keathley said Tuesday, breaking out into laughter. The break-in happened Friday when an escaped...
White House and Democrats clash over rules for impeachment
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Constitution gives the House “the sole power of impeachment” — but it confers that authority without an instruction manual. Now comes the battle royal over exactly what it means. In vowing to halt all cooperation with House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, the White House on Tuesday labeled...
Killer Samuel Little’s lifetime of evil backed up by a prodigious memory
Samuel Little’s depravity is matched only by his prodigious memory. Little, a California inmate considered by the FBI to be the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, has confessed to 93 slayings committed across the country between 1970 and 2005, recounting the crimes with astonishing, near-photographic detail. He even...
9 things no one will tell you about being a volunteer firefighter
It’s safe to say that no one plans on forgetting about dinner on the stovetop or crashing his car on the highway. On our very worst days, it’s a relief to know that firefighters have been trained to help. Firemen have been helping Americans since 1678, but most people don’t...
German synagogue is attacked on holy day; 2 dead nearbyVideo
HALLE, Germany — A heavily armed assailant ranting about Jews tried to force his way into a synagogue in Germany on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, then shot two people to death outside the building in an attack Wednesday that was livestreamed on a popular gaming site. The attacker shot...
9-year-old charged with murder in 5 Illinois fire deaths
EUREKA, Ill. — A 9-year-old child accused of causing a mobile home fire that killed three children and two adults in central Illinois has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder. The juvenile also was charged with two counts of arson and one count of aggravated arson, the (Peoria)...
NTSB: Firm tied to collapsed Miami bridge wasn’t qualified
MIAMI — The firm that reviewed the design of a Miami university bridge that collapsed and killed six people last year was mistakenly listed in a Florida state report as qualified for that type of project even when it wasn’t, federal documents show. The National Transportation Safety Board released nearly...
Alabama capital elects first black mayor in 200-year history
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s capital, a city once known as the cradle of the Confederacy and later the birthplace of the civil rights movement, elected its first African American mayor Tuesday. Probate Judge Steven Reed, 45, clasped the history-making victory to be elected the next mayor of Montgomery after defeating...
2 suspects in custody, 1 sought in cop trial witness slaying
DALLAS — Three Louisiana men are suspected in the killing of a witness who testified at the murder trial of a former Dallas police officer, authorities said Tuesday, cautioning that the killing had nothing at all to do with that trial or case. One of the suspects, Michael Mitchell, 32,...
