U.S./World category, Page 1272
Arizona Sen. Martha McSally, ex-Air Force pilot, says officer raped her
WASHINGTON — Sen. Martha McSally, the first female Air Force fighter pilot to fly in combat, said Wednesday that she was sexually assaulted by a superior officer, and later, when she tried to talk about it to military officials, she “felt like the system was raping me all over again.”...
Homeless man charged in $400,000 GoFundMe scheme pleads guilty
CAMDEN, N.J. — Johnny Bobbitt, the homeless vet who conspired with a Burlington County couple to spin a feel-good story that captured hearts across the country and raised $400,000 in a GoFundMe campaign, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering Wednesday in federal court in Camden. Bobbitt, 36, could...
Democrats say no upcoming presidential debates on Fox News
NEW YORK — The Democratic National Committee says it won’t pick Fox News to televise one of the upcoming debates being held for its 2020 presidential contenders. The party chairman, Tom Perez, says he’s concluded that the network isn’t in a position to host a fair and neutral debate. He’s...
Recent humongous gators: One 700-pounder dies while another has its own Facebook page
Cell phone footage captured Larry the Alligator lumbering across the road this weekend in a retirement community northwest of Orlando, Florida. The image has gone viral. The gator believed to be at least 12 feet long, has a fan following, and even its own Facebook page, according to Fox News....
German police: Dead gardener targeted enemies with bombs
BERLIN — German police on Wednesday urged anyone who had a conflict with a recently deceased man to be wary, after a doctor was killed and a mother and daughter were injured by bombs apparently planted by him before he died. Westpfalz police spokesman Bernhard Christian Erfort told The Associated...
Kentucky could make it a crime to ‘dox’ minors
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Months after a Kentucky high school student was vilified following his interaction with a Native American protester, the state legislature is advancing a bill that would make it a crime to publish personal information of a child online with the intent to harass or intimidate. A Kentucky...
School bus crash injures 20, 1 student seriously hurt
AURORA, Ind. — A school bus collided with a garbage truck in Indiana on Wednesday, seriously injuring one student and leaving 20 other people hurt, authorities said. Preliminary information indicates that 18 students, the bus driver and the driver of the garbage truck were injured in the crash, said Indiana...
Foreign leaders lavish Trump with diplomatic gifts
WASHINGTON — Foreign leaders showered President Donald Trump and his family with more than $140,000 in gifts during their first year in the White House, with China and Saudi Arabia among the most lavish givers. According to the State Department’s annual accounting of such gifts, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave...
Searches find no more deaths in Alabama; toll stands at 23
BEAUREGARD, Ala. — All those listed as missing have been found and searches ended with no additional bodies discovered among the shattered homes, splintered pines and broken lives devastated by a tornado in rural Alabama, leaving the death toll at 23, authorities said Wednesday. “We are still in standby mode...
Dog-walking can be hazardous for seniors, study suggests
Dogs need to go on walks, and walking is good exercise for older adults. Seniors who combine the two - by walking a dog - are healthier than people who don’t, according to some research. But a new study by University of Pennsylvania researchers offers a cautionary note. Strolling with...
Federal wildlife officials plan to lift protections for gray wolves
BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. wildlife officials plan to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move certain to re-ignite the legal battle over a predator that’s rebounding in some regions and running into conflicts with farmers and ranchers, an official told The Associated Press. Acting Interior...
UK man plans to top cross-country fundraising run with Guinness World Record attempt
Jamie McDonald is already in the middle of a 5,500-mile fundraising trek across the U.S., but he isn’t planning to stop anytime soon. McDonald, 32, born in Gloucester, England, has the finishing line of his latest solo country-spanning run in his sights, a journey that so far has helped raise...
Teacher wins $10K for reading fine print in insurance policy
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida travel insurance company has awarded a Georgia high school teacher $10,000 for reading the fine print in a policy she recently purchased. A Squaremouth statement says Donelan Andrews claimed the prize 23 hours after the contest began. The St. Petersburg-based company says it launched...
Woman films moment an avalanche in central Norway came down
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A Norwegian woman showed her quick wits when filming a “dramatic” avalanche that was cascading down towards her home. Gunn Gravem Isaksen told The Associated Press she was at home in central Norway when the avalanche occurred on Tuesday. On realizing what was going on, she rushed...
Monster twister takes 10 relatives from 1 Alabama family
BEAUREGARD, Ala. — Cousins Cordarrly Jones and Demetria Jones have a hard time counting all the relatives they lost to a monster tornado that wiped out a rural community in Alabama. Their grandparents, 89-year-old Jimmy Jones and 83-year-old Mary Louise Jones, were killed in their home on a two-lane road...
Tensions boil over at City Council meeting over police treatment of Stephon Clark protesters
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At a raucous meeting Tuesday night, the Sacramento City Council heard from residents who were enraged by the police’s reaction to a protest Monday night. Police ended a Stephon Clark march in East Sacramento by arresting protesters on a bridge over Highway 50. Police arrested 84 people...
Homeland Security chief defends Trump’s misstatement on border apprehensions
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen sparred with newly empowered House Democrats over President Trump’s immigration policies Wednesday, defending his recent misstatement that border apprehensions were at an all-time high. Nielsen called on Congress to address what she described as a growing emergency along the southern border even as...
Mexico says at most only 22 vaquita porpoises remain
MEXICO CITY — Experts said Wednesday that, at most, only 22 vaquitas remain in the Gulf of California, where a grim, increasingly violent battle is playing out between emboldened fishermen and the last line of defense for the smallest and most endangered porpoise in the world. Jorge Urban, a biology...
Arizona prosecutor says Uber not criminally liable in crash
PRESCOTT, Ariz. — An Arizona prosecutor has determined that Uber is not criminally liable in a crash last year in which one of its self-driving SUVs fatally struck a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix. But it’s not known whether prosecutors are considering charges against the driver in the March 18 crash...
Colorado plan to focus oil, gas rules on safety creates divide
DENVER — Supporters of a plan to overhaul Colorado’s oil and gas regulations told lawmakers Tuesday that the measure is a flexible, common-sense approach to dealing with frequent conflicts over health and safety. Opponents said it goes too far and could lead to a virtual ban on drilling in some...
Broward School Board votes not to fire embattled superintendent
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Robert Runcie, the embattled superintendent who has come under increasing criticism since the Parkland shooting, survived an attempt to topple him from his post Tuesday. The vote came shortly before 6 p.m. after nearly seven hours of debate. Six of his nine school board bosses voted...
North Korea rebuilds rocket engine test site, in ominous signal about attitude to talks
North Korea has begun rebuilding work on a rocket launch pad and missile engine test site, in an ominous sign about its attitude toward negotiations on denuclearization. The rebuilding work began some time between Feb. 16 and March 2, according to satellite imagery, meaning it began either just before or...
Passengers injured on cruise ship battered by strong wind
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Extreme gusts of wind rocked a Florida-bound cruise ship, causing injuries to several passengers. Norwegian Cruise Lines says the Norwegian Escape ran into wind estimated at 115 mph late Sunday that caused the ship to tilt to its port side. The cruise line said in a...
Ohio teen Ethan Lindenberger tells Senate why he defied his mom to get vaccinatedVideo
WASHINGTON — An Ohio teen defied his mother’s anti-vaccine beliefs and started getting his shots when he turned 18 — and told Congress on Tuesday that it’s crucial to counter fraudulent claims on social media that scare parents. Ethan Lindenberger of Norwalk, Ohio, said his mother’s “love, affection and care...
FDA chief Scott Gottlieb steps down after nearly 2 years
WASHINGTON — Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is stepping down after nearly two years leading the agency’s response to a host of public health challenges, including the opioid epidemic, rising drug prices and underage vaping. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced in a statement Tuesday that...
