U.S./World category, Page 466
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 attack
WASHINGTON — Oath Keepers extremist group founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for orchestrating a weekslong plot that culminated in his followers attacking the U.S. Capitol in a bid to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House after winning the 2020 election. Rhodes,...
Target on the defensive after removing LGBTQ+-themed products
NEW YORK — Target once distinguished itself as being boldly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. Now that status is tarnished after it removed some LGBTQ+-themed products and relocated Pride Month displays to the back of stores in certain Southern locations in response to online complaints and in-store confrontations that it...
Baby boomers push nation’s median age to almost 39 as fewer children are born
The United States grew older, faster, last decade. The share of residents 65 or older grew by more than a third from 2010 to 2020 and at the fastest rate of any decade in 130 years, while the share of children declined, according to new figures from the most recent...
Man shot roommate after accusing him of eating the last Hot Pocket, police say
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A man in Kentucky’s largest city is facing criminal charges after allegedly shooting his roommate during a dispute over a Hot Pocket, authorities say. Clifton Williams, 64, was arrested on assault charges Sunday after he accused his roommate of eating their last Hot Pocket and attacked him,...
Capitol rioter who propped feet on Pelosi’s desk in photo sentenced to over 4 yearsVideo
WASHINGTON — An Arkansas man who propped his feet on a desk in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in a widely circulated photo from the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced Wednesday to more than four years in prison. Richard “Bigo” Barnett became one of the faces of the Jan. 6...
Fuzzy falcon chicks who nest at Michigan State football stadium get tracking bands
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Newly fitted with tracking bands, four peregrine falcon chicks named Pickles, Muhammad, Egbert and Swooper have a nest in one of the best seats — make that perches — at Michigan State University’s football stadium. Scientists and college students on Wednesday carefully attached metal tracking bands...
1 year after Uvalde shooting, investigation of police response continues
AUSTIN, Texas — A criminal investigation in Texas over the hesitant police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting is still ongoing as Wednesday marks one year since a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers inside a fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde. The continuing probe underlines the lasting fallout over...
Amanda Gorman’s poem for Biden’s inauguration banned by Florida school
MIAMI — A poem written for President Joe Biden’s inauguration has been placed on a restricted list at a South Florida elementary school after one parent’s complaint. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, poet Amanda Gorman vowed to fight back. Her poem, “The Hill We Climb” was challenged by the...
Yellowstone baby bison put to death after visitor picks it up, leading herd to reject it
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — Yellowstone National Park officials killed a newborn bison because its herd wouldn’t take the animal back after a man picked it up. The calf became separated from its mother when the herd crossed the Lamar River in northeastern Yellowstone on Saturday. The unidentified man pushed...
Debt ceiling explained: Why it’s a struggle in Washington and how the impasse could end
WASHINGTON — Pushing to strike a debt ceiling deal, the Republican negotiating team headed Wednesday to the White House for more discussions with the sides still far apart. Time is short: There are just days left before the government could run out of cash to pay its bills. The White...
1st seditious conspiracy sentences in Jan. 6 attack to be handed down
WASHINGTON — Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and members of his antigovernment group will be the first Jan. 6 defendants sentenced for seditious conspiracy in a series of hearings beginning this week that will set the standard for more punishments of far-right extremists to follow. Prosecutors will urge the judge...
Montana 1st to ban those in drag from reading to children in schools, libraries
HELENA, Mont. — Montana has become the first state to specifically ban people dressed in drag from reading books to children at public schools and libraries, part of a host of legislation aimed at the rights the LGBTQ+ community in Montana and other states. Bills in Florida and Tennessee also...
U.S. gay rights group issues Florida travel advisory for anti-LGBTQ+ laws
ORLANDO, Fla. — The largest LGBTQ+ rights organization in the U.S. joined other civil rights organizations Tuesday in issuing a travel advisory for Florida, warning that newly passed laws and policies may pose risks to minorities, immigrants and gay travelers. The Human Rights Campaign joined the NAACP, the League of...
Do not call: States sue telecom company over billions of robocalls
PHOENIX — Attorneys general across the U.S. joined in a lawsuit against a telecommunications company accused of making more than 7.5 billion robocalls to people on the national Do Not Call Registry. The 141-page lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix against Avid Telecom, its owner Michael...
Germany cracks down on climate activists after Scholz calls protest group ‘nutty’
BERLIN — German police raided 15 properties linked to the Last Generation climate activist group Wednesday, seizing assets as part of an investigation into its finances in a sign of growing impatience with disruptive protest tactics also seen in other European countries. Members of the group have repeatedly blocked roads...
Debt ceiling talks stuck on classic problem: Republicans demand spending cuts and Democrats resist
WASHINGTON — Debt ceiling negotiations are locked on a classic problem that has vexed, divided and disrupted Washington before: Republicans led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy want to roll back federal government spending, while President Joe Biden and other Democrats do not. Time is short to strike a deal before...
Just in case: Anxious retirees, social service groups among those making default contingency plans
WASHINGTON — Phoenix retiree Saundra Cole has been watching the news about the debt limit negotiations in Washington with dismay — and limiting her air conditioning use to save money just in case her monthly Social Security check is delayed due to a default. For her, air conditioning is no...
Super Typhoon Mawar passing over Guam as Category 4 storm with strong winds, rain
HONOLULU — Typhoon Mawar rumbled through Guam as a powerful Category 4 storm on Thursday, relentlessly lashing the U.S. Pacific island territory with heavy rain, powerful winds, and a dangerous storm surge and knocking out power to many communities where frightened residents hunkered down for the night in homes and...
Trump lawyers seek meeting with Garland as Mar-a-Lago investigation shows signs of winding downVideo
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Donald Trump on Tuesday asked for a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland as a Justice Department investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents shows signs of winding down. In the letter, which Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, attorneys John Rowley and...
Former Kansas police officer sentenced for sexual assaults, window peeping
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A former Kansas police officer has been sentenced to 23 1/2 years in prison for a series of sexual assaults committed while he was an officer. Todd W. Allen, 52, pleaded guilty in April to 12 felony sex crime charges and five breach of privacy charges. Prosecutors...
Catholic clergy sexually abused Illinois kids far more often than church acknowledged, state findsVideo
CHICAGO — More than 450 Catholic clergy in Illinois sexually abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950, the state’s attorney general found in an investigation released Tuesday, revealing that the problem was far worse than the church had let on. Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at a news conference that investigators...
‘A sign of his compassion’: Man killed while helping ducklings safely cross busy California street
ROCKLIN, Calif. — His family says it’s no surprise that Casey Rivara’s final act was one of compassion. When he spotted a mama duck trying to guide her ducklings across a busy California intersection, Rivara stopped his car at a red light and got out to help them make it...
Guam residents shelter, military sends away ships as Super Typhoon Mawar closes inVideo
HONOLULU — President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration as an intensifying Super Typhoon Mawar approached Guam, where anyone not living in a concrete house was urged to seek safety elsewhere and emergency shelters began to fill ahead of what could be the most powerful storm to hit the U.S....
Energy Dept. cancels $200M grant to battery maker after GOP criticism over alleged ties to China
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has canceled plans to award a $200 million grant to a U.S. battery manufacturer amid criticism from Republican lawmakers over the company’s alleged ties to China. Texas-based Microvast was one of 20 companies to win preliminary grants totaling $2.8 billion to boost domestic manufacturing of...
‘Mother Nature has no mercy’: Man gets stuck waist-deep in Alaska mud flats, drowns as tide comes in
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A man who was walking on tidal mud flats with friends in an Alaska estuary got stuck up to his waist in the quicksand-like silt and drowned as the tide came in before frantic rescuers could extract him, authorities said. Zachary Porter, 20, of Lake Bluff, Illinois,...
