U.S./World category, Page 1039
Lawmakers seek to end Florida’s key role in shark fin trade
TALLAHASSEE — While Florida gains notoriety as the epicenter of the shark trade in the United States, state lawmakers there advanced legislation Monday that would ban the possession of shark fins. The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee endorsed that proposal, as well as another bill that would stiffen penalties...
‘Othered’ in America: An old story, still playing out
CHICAGO — Activist Hoda Katebi rarely takes a break from organizing. As tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated in recent weeks, she became even busier. On a recent Sunday afternoon, the 25-year-old Iranian American sat in her Chicago apartment shifting between monitoring her Twitter feed, taking phone calls and...
Dog sleuths sniff out crop disease hitting citrus trees
WASHINGTON — Dog detectives might be able to help save ailing citrus groves, research published Monday suggests. Scientists trained dogs to sniff out a crop disease called citrus greening that has hit orange, lemon and grapefruit orchards in Florida, California and Texas. The dogs can detect it weeks to years...
Tennessee man found dead in donation bin
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee man was found dead in a donation bin outside a Walmart. Police responded Sunday afternoon to a report of a man stuck inside the bin in Clarksville. When emergency crews arrived at the scene, they found a 48-year-old man with the lower part of his...
Rush Limbaugh announces he’s been diagnosed with lung cancer
LOS ANGELES — Conservative radio host and Republican kingmaker Rush Limbaugh said he’s been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Addressing listeners on his program Monday, Limbaugh said he will take some days off for further medical tests and to determine treatment. “I have to tell you something today that I...
2 women killed, child hurt in shooting at Texas dormitory
COMMERCE, Texas — Two women were killed and a child was wounded in a shooting Monday morning at a university dormitory in Texas, officials said. A recommendation for students and employees to shelter in place was lifted early Monday afternoon at Texas A&M University-Commerce, and police said there appeared to...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
Philippines reports 1st virus death outside of China
BEIJING — The Philippines on Sunday reported the first death from a new virus outside of China, where authorities delayed the opening of schools in the worst-hit province and tightened quarantine measures in a city that allow only one family member to venture out to buy supplies. The Philippine Department...
Man wearing fake bomb stabs 2 in London and is shot to deathVideo
LONDON — A man with a fake bomb strapped to his body stabbed two people in a “terrorism-related” attack on a London street well removed from the city’s world-famous landmarks Sunday before he was shot to death by police, authorities said. One stabbing victim was hospitalized with life-threatening wounds and...
