U.S./World category, Page 1208
The history and reasoning for hurricane names
Naming hurricanes and big wildfires is now such an ingrained part of our culture that most people don’t think about how and why naming began or how storms or fires acquire their names. Names are the one thing hurricanes and wildfires have in common. Both are named soon after they...
Czech court sentences 3 men for trading in tiger products
PRAGUE — A Czech court has convicted three men of killing critically endangered tigers and illegally trading in tiger products. They were arrested last year after police discovered the body of a recently killed tiger, a large number of skins of big cats and the bodies of 20 other protected...
Indiana teacher awards autistic boy ‘annoying male’ trophy
GARY, Ind. — An Indiana school district has apologized after a teacher awarded an 11-year-old autistic student a trophy naming him the “most annoying male” of the school year. The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports that a special education teacher at Bailly Preparatory Academy in Gary gave the boy the trophy...
Maine legislators OK assisted suicide; bill goes to governor
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Legislature voted Tuesday to legalize assisted suicide, passing a bill that would allow doctors to prescribe terminally ill people a fatal dose of medication. The bill now goes to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who has not indicated whether she will let it become law. Her...
Man charged after wife records fight ending with deadly fall
ST. LOUIS — A newlywed prison guard has been charged with assault after his wife recorded a fight that ended with her being found dead at the bottom of a parking garage near the stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals play. Bradley Jenkins, 30, a lieutenant for the Illinois Department...
Newspaper ad for a hand-carved chair ran for 6 years
Larry Johnson was downsizing his home in British Columbia and decided to sell the enormous, hand-carved wooden throne that occupied most of his living room. On Feb. 8, 2013, he took out a now-famous ad in his local newspaper, offering to sell the grand chair for $5,000 in Canadian dollars....
Pa. woman donates her uterus to help a stranger experience motherhood
As a neonatal intensive care nurse, Heather Bankos has seen up close the heartbreak that comes when babies are born fighting for life, when they don’t make it and — perhaps worst of all — when complications from birth mean women who have lost children will never again be able...
Trump says Mexico tariffs ‘likely,’ Mexico predicts deal
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he expects to begin hitting Mexico with tariffs next week in a long-running dispute over illegal immigration, while Mexican officials predicted an agreement to avoid the penalties would be reached during upcoming negotiations. Trump said Tuesday that the parties would try to work something...
W.Va. judge dismisses lawsuit accusing teacher of sex abuse
WHEELING, W.Va. — A judge has dismissed a civil suit filed against a former teacher accused of sexually abusing a student for years and giving birth to his children. The Intelligencer reports Ohio County Circuit Judge Jason Cuomo wrote in a ruling on Friday that he had to dismiss key...
Family discovers Walmart graduation cake made of plastic foam
PASADENA, Texas — A Texas family could have used a saw instead of a knife to slice a graduation cake from Walmart that was made of plastic foam. Marsy Flores says the retail giant’s store in Pasadena, Texas, had lost her order for a two-tier cake that she wanted for...
Family Dollar adding alcohol to 1,000 stores
In the first quarter, budget store Family Dollar quietly added adult beverages to the shelves at 45 of its stores. Now, it’s planning on expanding that to 1,000 select stores nationwide, the company reports. In a news release, Dollar Tree — the parent company — announced it was executing a...
Casey, Toomey report reveals nearly 400 troubled nursing homes, 5 in Western Pa.
WASHINGTON — The federal government for years has kept under wraps the names of hundreds of nursing homes around the country found by inspectors to have serious ongoing health, safety or sanitary problems. Nearly 400 facilities nationwide had a “persistent record of poor care” as of April, but they were...
Cyprus police find third suitcase with body inside in lake
NICOSIA, Cyprus — A police spokesman on the east Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus says a suitcase containing decomposing human remains has been dragged out of a toxic lake. Andreas Angelides said Tuesday’s discovery is a “major development” in the unfolding investigation of a Cypriot army captain who has confessed...
Disneyland adds another crowd-management fix at Star Wars land
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Anticipating huge crowds for the opening of its newest expansion, Disneyland allowed only park visitors with reservations to enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge during the first three weeks after opening. But the crowds were so overwhelming over the weekend that even with the reservations system, the theme...
Trump baby blimp flies in London as protests greet president
LONDON — Thousands of protesters greeted President Donald Trump’s U.K. visit with anger and British irony Tuesday, crowding London’s government district while the U.S. leader met Prime Minister Theresa May nearby. Feminists, environmentalists, peace activists, trade unionists and others demonstrated against the lavish royal welcome being given to a president...
At least 4 dead in shooting in Australian city of Darwin
MELBOURNE, Australia — A gunman was arrested after killing at least four people and wounding several others Tuesday in the tropical Australian city of Darwin, officials and media said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the incident was not terrorism related. “This is a terrible act of violence that has already,...
N.Y. could become first state to ban cat declawing
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York would be the first state to ban the declawing of cats under legislation heading to a vote in the state Legislature. The Senate and Assembly are both expected to take up the bill on Tuesday. Declawing a cat is already illegal in much of Europe...
Report: Blacks, Latinos at risk of undercount in 2020 census
ORLANDO, Fla. — Emily Bonilla is worried her district in metro Orlando will be undercounted during next spring’s once-in-a-decade head count of everybody in the United States because of who lives there: new arrivals, immigrants, the poor, renters and rural residents who sometimes regard government with suspicion. “We’re growing so...
Suddenly it’s D-Day again; aging veterans recall invasion
ABOARD THE BOUDICCA IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL — The veterans hobble along on canes and lean on walking frames now, slower and weaker than they were on D-Day, when they stormed the Normandy beaches with the fate of the free world resting on their shoulders. It’s hard to imagine them...
Ceremony, political gibes mark Trump’s first day in LondonVideo
LONDON — Mixing pageantry and pugilism, President Trump plunged into his long-delayed state visit to Britain on Monday, welcomed with smiles and a cannon salute by the royals but launching political insults at others in a time of turmoil for both nations in the deep, if recently strained, alliance. It...
California governor won’t free Manson follower Leslie Van Houten
SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom overruled a parole board’s decision to free Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten on Monday, marking the third time a governor has stopped the release of the youngest member of Manson’s murderous cult. Van Houten, 69, is still a threat, Newsom said, though she...
Sheriff says Illinois man died after saving daughter from dog attack
FORT MADISON, Iowa — Authorities say a man died after saving his 5-year-old daughter from a dog attack in southeast Iowa. Lee County Sheriff Stacy Weber says 33-year-old Robert Quick, of Dallas City, Ill., was one of three people attacked Friday by the boxer outside a home in Fort Madison....
Remains found in Arkansas identified as Maleah DavisVideo
HOUSTON — The remains of a child found in Arkansas last week are those of a missing 4-year-old Texas girl, Maleah Davis, a medical examiner said Monday. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said it had positively identified the remains found in a garbage bag near a freeway outside...
Police: Blood found in missing Connecticut mom’s homeVideo
NORWALK, Conn. — The blood of a missing mother of five was found on clothing and other items dumped in several locations where two people matching the description of her estranged husband and his girlfriend were recorded on video disposing of trash bags, according to arrest warrants released Monday. The...
Florida lawmaker Mike Hill denounced for response to kill gays remark
TALLAHASSEE — A Republican Florida lawmaker is being admonished by his own party for his response to a suggestion that gay people be put to death. Rep. Mike Hill had an exchange with constituents during a meeting at Pensacola City Hall last month in which one man said the Bible’s...
