Congressional inaction on vote security puts onus on states
The death of a bill in Congress this week that would have bolstered election security systems puts more pressure on states to prevent cyberattacks from Russia that former special counsel Robert Mueller warned against this week. But many states are paralyzed by their own inaction. State and local election officials...
Environmentalists, tribes blast Utah national monument plan
SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. government has decided to allow off-road vehicles access to archaeologically sensitive land at a Utah national monument that houses sacred tribal sites under a plan announced Friday. The Bureau of Land Management’s plan for the Bears Ears National Monument says that certain historic sites...
Smugglers offer cash to troops, others to drive migrants
SAN DIEGO — On the surface, it seemed like a simple task: Drive to a spot a few miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, pick up people and then drop them off at a McDonald’s or other spot past the city of San Diego, and make anywhere from $500 to...
Texas grand jury indicts Michigan professor on assault claim
HOUSTON — A grand jury in Texas this week indicted a University of Michigan professor who’s also a renowned opera singer on one count of sexual assault for what prosecutors say was the rape of an incapacitated man in 2010. The grand jury in Houston handed up the indictment Thursday...
Official: Arizona to resume executions after 5-year hiatus
PHOENIX — Arizona is poised to resume executions after a five-year hiatus brought on by an execution that critics said was botched, a subsequent lawsuit challenging the way the state carries out the death penalty, and the difficulty of finding lethal injection drugs, Attorney General Mark Brnovich said. Brnovich said...
Strike by Alaska ferry workers snarls travel plans
JUNEAU, Alaska — The first strike by Alaska ferry workers in over 40 years has snarled travel plans for thousands of people during the busy tourist and fishing season, leaving some stranded and catching the attention of a Democratic presidential candidate. Members of the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific went...
Black rag dolls meant to be abused are pulled from stores
NEWARK, N.J. — Black rag dolls that came with instructions to “find a wall” and slam the toy against it have been pulled from three stores after customers and a lawmaker said they were offensive. The “Feel Better Doll” featured instructions to “whack” the doll “whenever things don’t go well...
Tree-eating beetle gains ground in U.S. West, raising concerns
CLARKDALE, Ariz. — Matt Johnson treks along an Arizona riverbank and picks out a patch of yellow-tinged tamarisks. He sweeps a cloth net across the trees, hoping to scoop up beetles that munch on their evergreenlike leaves. He counts spiders, ants and leafhoppers among the catch and few beetles or...
Georgia election officials accused of destroying evidence
ATLANTA — In a federal court filing, lawyers for election integrity advocates accuse Georgia election officials of intentionally destroying evidence that could show unauthorized access to the state election system and potential manipulation of election results. Election integrity advocates and individual Georgia voters sued election officials in 2017 alleging that...
Heat, then hail: Weather and travel woes hit Britain, France
LONDON — The temperature’s dropping but Europe’s troubles aren’t over: A record-busting heat wave gave way Friday to thunderstorms and hailstorms, bringing the Tour de France to a dramatic halt and causing trouble at British airports and beyond on one of the most hectic travel days of the year. In...
Pelosi downplays differences with Ocasio-Cortez after talk
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is downplaying any differences with high-profile progressive lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, saying she had a “nice meeting” Friday with the social media dynamo who’s made some tart observations about the Democratic leadership team. Pelosi told reporters that “I don’t think we have that many differences”...
2 North Carolina bomb squad agents injured in explosion
RALEIGH, N.C. — Two North Carolina bomb squad agents were wounded Friday, one of them critically, when bomb-making materials blew up while they were searching the home of a man stopped with homemade explosives in his car, authorities said. Two State Bureau of Investigation agents were assisting the Sampson County...
As Trump expands deportation powers, immigrants prepare
CHICAGO — A sweeping expansion of deportation powers unveiled this week by the Trump administration has sent chills through immigrant communities and prompted some lawyers to advise migrants to gather up as much documentation as possible — pay stubs, apartment leases or even gym key tags — to prove they’ve...
Trump vows to retaliate against French digital tax
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump promised on Friday to retaliate against France for adopting a pioneering tax on internet giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook. He also managed to get in a shot at French wine. Trump, who doesn’t drink, tweeted: “I’ve always said American wine is better than French...
New documents revisit questions about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s marriage history
MINNEAPOLIS — New investigative documents released by a Minnesota state agency have given fresh life to lingering questions about the marital history of Rep. Ilhan Omar and whether she once married a man — possibly her own brother — to skirt immigration laws. Omar has denied the allegations in the...
Europeans splash, dive, swim to beat record heat
PARIS (AP) — They frolicked in fountains, jumped in lakes and canals, waded in the sea. And no wonder. It was, after all, one of Europe’s hottest-ever days. As the temperature climbed and climbed to record highs in multiple countries Thursday, people converged on any body of water they could...
Pennsylvania’s absentee ballot rules mean many arrive too late to be counted
PHILADELPHIA — Comparatively tight deadlines for absentee ballots mean Pennsylvania’s mail-in votes arrive too late to be counted far more often than the national average, a newspaper reported Friday. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that 4.2% of the state’s absentee ballots got to voting offices after the deadline to be counted...
Chevron is allowed to stay in Venezuela until October
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is allowing Chevron to continue operating in Venezuela at least until October despite U.S. sanctions aimed at ousting President Nicolás Maduro by choking off revenue from the world’s largest crude reserves. Friday’s action gives Chevron until Oct. 25, when the Treasury Department will decide again...
Hundreds of Hells Angels gathering in Carolina college town
CLEMSON, S.C. — Police are preparing for hundreds of Hells Angels to descend on a South Carolina college town next week for an annual gathering. The Greenville News reports an estimated 600 to 700 members of the motorcycle club are expected to ride into Clemson between Monday and Friday. Clemson...
Grasshoppers on the go make migratory stop in Vegas area
LAS VEGAS — A migration of mild-mannered grasshoppers sweeping through the Las Vegas area is being attributed to wet weather several months ago. Nevada state entomologist Jeff Knight told reporters on Thursday the number of adult pallid-winged grasshoppers traveling north to central Nevada is unusual but not unprecedented, and poses...
Girls cyberbullied more than boys amid U.S. harassment rise
SEATTLE — Rachel Whalen remembers feeling gutted in high school when a former friend would mock her online postings, threaten to unfollow or unfriend her on social media and post inside jokes about her to others online. The cyberbullying was so distressing that Whalen said she contemplated suicide. Once she...
University fires 9 officers over social media posts
NORFOLK, Va. — A historically black university in Virginia said Friday that it has fired nine of its police officers for sharing “misogynistic, racist and other offensive remarks via social media.” Hampton University’s statement did not detail the remarks the officers made. But it said they were fired for “egregious...
Bill Cosby appeal to focus on other women’s testimony, quaaludes
Prosecutors set to defend Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction in appeals court next month call the accusations from other women no coincidence, but “the culmination of a decades-long pattern of behavior.” Cosby, a long-beloved actor and comedian, was convicted in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era. He turned...
U.S. economy slowed to 2.1% growth rate in 2nd quarter
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy slowed sharply in the April-June quarter even as consumers stepped up their spending. The gross domestic product, the economy’s total output of goods and services, grew at a 2.1% annual rate last quarter, down from a 3.1% gain in the first quarter, the Commerce Department...
Bernie Sanders calls for shutdown of Michigan oil pipeline
DETROIT — Bernie Sanders has become the second Democratic presidential hopeful to call for shutting down an oil pipeline that crosses a channel linking two of the Great Lakes. The Vermont senator said in a tweet Thursday that Enbridge’s Line 5 should be decommissioned and new fossil fuel infrastructure banned....
