Maine finds homes for several hundred African asylum seekers
PORTLAND, Maine — Most African asylum seekers who made the perilous journey through Central America to the southern U.S. border and flooded shelters in Maine’s largest city have new homes. Thursday marked the closing of an emergency shelter set up in a basketball arena in Portland after several hundred African...
Tennessee inmate executed in electric chair for killings
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee executed its third inmate in the electric chair since November, killing a man Thursday who maintained that he didn’t stab a mother and her 15-year-old daughter to death in 1986. State officials pronounced 56-year-old Stephen West dead at 7:27 p.m. at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in...
Former Irwin police officer loved hunting, fishing, family
Mark Garbin can remember his father, Alfred, coming home for lunch and dinner, Irwin police car gleaming and his uniform pressed. “He was always working,” Mark said of his father’s 27 years with the borough police force. “He loved being a police officer and doing the right thing.” Alfred A....
Lawsuit challenges California’s assault weapons ban
SAN DIEGO — A gun-rights group sued Thursday to block California from enforcing its assault weapons ban, contending it violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The lawsuit was the latest among gun advocacy and lobbying groups to challenge California’s firearms laws, which are among the strictest in the...
Trump asks aides about U.S. buying Greenland
WASHINGTON — Aiming to put his mark on the world map, President Donald Trump has talked to aides and allies about buying Greenland for the U.S. A Trump ally told The Associated Press on Thursday that the Republican president had discussed the purchase but was not serious about it. And...
House panel subpoenas former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee said Thursday it has subpoenaed President Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and former White House chief of staff Rick Dearborn to publicly testify in its investigation of whether to pursue presidential impeachment. Both men are being called to appear Sept. 17 and discuss...
4 children saved from St. Louis fire; apparently left aloneVideo
ST. LOUIS — Four children under the age of 5 who fire officials believe were left without adult supervision were pulled from a burning home by St. Louis firefighters on Thursday. One child is in critical condition. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer captured an image of a firefighter working to...
Cookie bakers announce sweet tally for Guinness World Record
The bakers contributing cookies to the Monongahela Area Historical Society’s attempt to set a Guinness World Record for largest cookie table only had to exceed 18,000 cookies. Instead, according to the final tally, their wedding cookie spread totaled 88,425. That number was far north of the conservative “at least 50,000”...
Emails show Washington state lawmaker tied to group training for holy war
SPOKANE, Wash. — Newly leaked emails show that conservative state Rep. Matt Shea, a Republican from Spokane Valley, has had close ties with a group that trained children and young men for religious combat. The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported that the emails were first revealed in The Guardian on Wednesday, while...
Panel upholds ruling that kids held at border have adequate food, sanitation
SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of judges on Thursday dismissed an appeal by the U.S. government that contended detained immigrant children might not require soap during shorter stints in custody under a longstanding settlement agreement. A three-judge panel for the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco dismissed...
Virgin Galactic reveals futuristic outpost for space tourism
UPHAM, N.M. — Spaceport America is no longer just a shiny shell of hope that space tourism would one day launch from this remote spot in the New Mexico desert. The once-empty hangar that anchors the taxpayer-financed launch and landing facility has been transformed into a custom-tailored headquarters where Virgin...
Gov’t wants a new 911-like number just for suicide hotline
NEW YORK — With suicides on the rise , the U.S. government wants to make the national crisis hotline easier to reach. Once implemented, people will just need to dial 988 to seek help. Currently, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline uses a 10-digit number, 800-273-TALK (8255). Callers are routed to...
U.K. judge sentences David Schwimmer lookalike to 9 months in jail
LONDON — A British judge has sentenced a lookalike of “Friends” actor David Schwimmer to nine months in prison for theft and fraud. Judge Sara Dodd sentenced Abdulah Husseni on Thursday for using a stolen bank card to make or attempt to make fraudulent purchases at four shops in Blackpool,...
Scientists confirm July was hottest month record
BERLIN — July was the hottest month measured on Earth since records began in 1880, the latest in a long line of peaks that scientists say backs up predictions for man-made climate change. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday that July was 1.71 degrees warmer than the...
Israel bars entry to outspoken U.S. congresswomen
JERUSALEM — Israel said Thursday that it will bar two Democratic congresswomen from entering the country ahead of a planned visit over their support for a Palestinian-led boycott movement, a decision announced shortly after President Donald Trump tweeted that it would “show great weakness” to allow them in. The move...
Gibraltar releases Iran supertanker that US sought to seize
MADRID — Gibraltar on Thursday allowed a detained Iranian supertanker to leave the British overseas territory despite a last-minute U.S. attempt to seize the vessel, potentially defusing tensions between London and Tehran as a British-flagged tanker remains held by the Islamic Republic. The release of the Grace 1 comes amid...
Trump nominates law professor for judicial vacancy
RALEIGH, N.C. — President Donald Trump has nominated a law professor who previously worked as a prosecutor, defense attorney and journalist to fill the nation’s longest federal judiciary vacancy. Trump nominated Richard E. Myers on Wednesday to be a federal judge in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Raleigh lawyer...
Michael Avenatti blames arrest on ‘vindictive’ prosecutors
NEW YORK — Lawyer Michael Avenatti wants a judge to dismiss criminal charges alleging he extorted Nike, and he’s blaming his arrest on what he calls “vindictive” prosecutors. Avenatti’s attorneys filed papers Wednesday in Manhattan federal court. Avenatti has pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to extort up to...
Authorities: Woman pulls gator from pants during stop – Aug. 15, 2019
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Officials say a Florida woman who pulled a small alligator from her yoga pants during a traffic stop and illegally possessed numerous other wild animals has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to four charges. Florida prosecutors say a Charlotte County sheriff’s deputy stopped a...
Pennsylvania car registration stickers could make a comeback
A Pennsylvania state legislator wants to revive the vehicle registration sticker two years after it was discarded as a cost-saving measure. A bill before the House Transportation Committee would not only bring back the tiny sticker but tie it to state vehicle inspections, as well, according to the legislation proposed...
Man who fell 15 feet in Ohio says dog saved him
PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — A man in Ohio is crediting his dog for saving him after the man suffered a bad fall. WSAZ-TV reports Jimmy Hale fell off a flood wall in Portsmouth last week while walking his dog Taco. Hale ended up passing out after falling 15 feet and didn’t...
Report: Levi’s, Wrangler, Lee seamstresses harassed, abused
Women sewing blue jeans for Levi’s, Wrangler, Lee and The Children’s Place faced sexual harassment and gender-based violence and some were coerced into having sex with supervisors to keep their jobs in African factories, labor rights groups say. In response to the revelations, the brands have agreed to bring in...
Coast Guard finds 43 bales of pot floating off California
AVALON, Calif. — Authorities have found 1,300 pounds of plastic-wrapped marijuana floating in the ocean near Santa Catalina Island off the Southern California coast. The Daily News reports Wednesday that the U.S. Coast Guard acting on a tip discovered 43 bales of pot worth about $1 million. The marijuana was...
Judge: Georgia must scrap old voting machines after 2019
ATLANTA — A federal judge on Thursday ordered Georgia to stop using its outdated voting machines after this year and to be ready with hand-marked paper ballots if its new system isn’t in place for the presidential primaries. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg’s 153-page ruling Thursday is not a complete...
Philadelphia gunman identified after hourslong standoff
PHILADELPHIA — An hourslong standoff where a gunman shot at police, wounding six of them, as he was barricaded inside a Philadelphia home somehow ended with no fatalities. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, who spent hours Wednesday negotiating with the gunman through the phone, said the situation that unfolded “could...
