Britain’s Theresa May asks EU for 3-month Brexit delay
LONDON — One thousand days after British voters said they wanted to leave the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May conceded Wednesday that she now must ask EU leaders to delay Brexit for three months — because Parliament has failed to pass her unloved deal for departure. Standing in the...
Medicines for opioid addiction vastly underused, experts say
WASHINGTON — Medicines proven to treat opioid addiction remain vastly underused in the United States, the nation’s top medical advisers said Wednesday. Only a fraction of the estimated 2 million people addicted to opioids are getting the medications, according to a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and...
German shorthaired pointer nips at heels of top dog breeds
NEW YORK — Labrador retrievers aren’t letting go of their hold on dog lovers, but German shorthaired pointers are tugging on the top ranks of doggy popularity, according to new American Kennel Club data. Labs topped the list for the 28th year in a row. Yet there’s been plenty of...
Pennsylvania hunters set 14-year record for deer harvest
Pennsylvania hunters posted their highest overall deer harvest in 14 years in 2018-19, but the buck harvest seemed to take a hit because of bad weather on opening day, the Pennsylvania Game Commission said. The game commission said hunters killed 374,690 white-tailed deer during the 2018-19 hunting season, which closed...
Iowa man charged with murder for allegedly killing girlfriend’s son by sitting on him
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Iowa police say a 2-year-old boy died after a man sat on the child for allegedly taking his cellphone. Pottawattamie County court records show 31-year-old Larry Murphy is charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death. He’s jailed on more than $1 million bail....
Penn State to collect $733K from Jerry Sandusky’s defunct charity
HARRISBURG — Penn State will collect hundreds of thousands of dollars left over from the defunct charity for youth founded by convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky, settling claims from a threatened civil lawsuit. The university and the state attorney general’s office both confirmed this week that an agreement was reached...
Federal Reserve foresees no interest rate hikes in 2019
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday and projected no rate hikes in 2019, dramatically underscoring its plan to be “patient” about any further increases. The Fed said it was keeping its benchmark rate — which can influence everything from mortgages to credit cards to...
Ford shifts gears, boosts new jobs from 850 to 900
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is repackaging a previously announced $900 million manufacturing investment in the Detroit area, boosting the number of jobs added from 850 to 900. Most of the new workers will build a new generation of electric vehicle at Ford’s existing factory in Flat Rock, Mich., south...
Trump says tariffs on China could stay to ensure compliance
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says if the United States gets a trade deal with China, tariffs could stay in place for some time to ensure Beijing “lives by the deal.” Trump said Wednesday the White House was discussing keeping tariffs for a “substantial period of time,” adding that China...
Kansas artist carves out Beto O’Rourke image in Texas field
AUSTIN, Texas — The face of Beto O’Rourke has been temporarily enshrined in a Texas field as the former Democratic congressman runs for president. A 2-acre circle with an image of the El Paso politician’s face has been carved into a field near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The crop art also...
Happy birthday! Trump’s youngest son, Barron, turns 13
WASHINGTON — A teenager is calling the White House home again. President Donald Trump’s youngest child, Barron, turned 13 on Wednesday, the first day of spring break at the Maryland private school where he’s a seventh-grader. Barron and his mother, Melania Trump, are keeping to tradition and spending the break...
GOP senator says he’s fed up with Trump’s attacks on McCain
WASHINGTON — A Republican senator says that he’s had enough of President Donald Trump’s personal attacks on the late John McCain and that “the country deserves better.” Johnny Isakson of Georgia is quoted Wednesday as telling The Bulwark conservative news and opinion website that “nothing is more important than the...
Cops: Arizona woman disciplined her adopted kids with pepper spray
MARICOPA, Ariz. — Arizona authorities say a woman has been arrested on allegations of using pepper spray to discipline her seven adopted children and locking them for days inside a closet. A police report says Machelle Hackney’s adopted children had no food, water or access to a bathroom for days...
Lawsuit: Harvard ‘shamelessly’ profits from photos of slaves
BOSTON — Harvard University has “shamelessly” turned a profit from photos of two 19th-century slaves while ignoring requests to turn the photos over to the slaves’ descendants, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Tamara Lanier, of Norwich, Connecticut, is suing the Ivy League school for “wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation”...
Where are the happiest people? In Finland
HELSINKI — Finland has topped an index of the happiest nations for the second consecutive year, with researchers saying the small Nordic country of 5.5 million has succeeded in generating a happiness recipe for a balanced life not simply dependent on economic and material wealth. The World Happiness Report, produced...
Italy: Driver abducts schoolchildren, sets bus ablaze
MILAN — A bus driver in northern Italy abducted 51 schoolchildren and their chaperones Wednesday and took them on an hour-long drive, then set the vehicle on fire when he was stopped by a Carabinieri blockade, officials said. Officers broke the glass in the back door of the bus and...
Spy cameras secretly live-streamed 1,600 hotel guests for subscribers
Four individuals were booked by authorities in Seoul on Wednesday for live-streaming secretly obtained video feed from dozens of local hotel rooms, South Korean police said. The Korean Herald reported that since launching in November, the site sold monthly subscriptions, raking in more than $6,000. It had more than 4,000...
Labrador retriever most pup-ular U.S. dog breed for 28th year
NEW YORK — Labrador retrievers aren’t letting go of their hold on U.S. dog lovers, but German shorthaired pointers are tugging on the top ranks of doggy popularity, according to new American Kennel Club data. Labs topped the list for the 28th year in a row. Yet there’s been plenty...
Trump escalates feud with Kellyanne Conway’s husband
WASHINGTON — Kellyanne Conway’s husband is a “husband from hell!” President Donald Trump declared Wednesday, escalating his awkward public fight with the spouse of a top aide. Trump’s feud with George Conway has played out with ever more heated rhetoric on social media. Conway, who has questioned Trump’s mental health,...
World’s last Blockbuster
BEND, Ore. (AP) — A Blockbuster Video in Oregon is the last one on the planet after the only other Blockbuster video rental shop, in Australia, announced it is closing on March 31. Employees of the dated franchise in Bend say running the store has its challenges. The computers must...
Report: Worker who died at Epcot fell off cherry picker
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Authorities say a man who died in an industrial accident at Disney World’s Epcot theme park fell from the elevated basket of a cherry picker. The Orlando Sentinel reports witnesses told investigators that 58-year-old George Grimes was in the elevated basket of the small cherry...
Trump keeps a sharp focus on Ohio for 2020 campaign
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is returning to the state that foretold his 2016 victory and serves as the linchpin of his re-election effort. Trump’s visit to Ohio on Wednesday marks his first trip to the state since last year’s midterm election campaign , when the state was a rare...
Shifting hopes as Republicans and Democrats await Mueller
WASHINGTON — It’s a witch hunt, a vendetta, the worst presidential harassment in history. That’s what President Donald Trump has shouted for two years about the special counsel’s Russia probe. Now, barring an eleventh-hour surprise, Trump and his allies are starting to see it as something potentially very different: a...
California man, 96, found in home with hundreds of rats
OJAI, Calif. — A Southern California woman is in custody after deputies discovered her 96-year-old father and multiple pets living in a home stinking of feces and infested with up to 700 rats, authorities said Tuesday. Catherine Ann Vandermaesen, 65, was arrested on suspicion of felony elder abuse and misdemeanor...
School official sorry for calling Hitler a ‘good leader’
MADISON, N.J. — A New Jersey sports official is apologizing for telling student athletes that Adolf Hitler was a “good leader” with “bad moral character and intentions.” Nutley High School athletic director Joe Piro made the remark while addressing Madison High School students Saturday during an assembly aimed at promoting...
