U.S./World category, Page 581
Alaska braces for huge storm, flooding, power outages
JUNEAU, Alaska — Residents on Alaska’s vast and sparsely populated western coast braced Friday for a powerful storm that forecasters said could be one of the worst in recent history, threatening hurricane-force winds and high surf that could knock out power and cause flooding. The storm is the remnants of...
Defense seeks judge’s removal in Florida school shooter case
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Attorneys for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz asked for the judge in his murder case to remove herself on Friday, two days after she scolded them when they abruptly rested their case after calling only a fraction of their expected witnesses. The Broward Public Defender’s Office...
Surprise is key part of migrant travel from Florida, Texas
EDGARTOWN, Mass. — The chief executive of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services was wrapping up work when she looked outside to see 48 strangers at her office with luggage, backpacks and red folders that included brochures for her organization. The Venezuelan migrants who were flown to the wealthy Massachusetts island from...
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signs abortion ban into law
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Republican Gov. Jim Justice on Friday signed into law a ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy, making West Virginia the second state to enact a law prohibiting the procedure since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling overturning its constitutional protection. The bill will go into...
California taxpayers are set to receive gas refunds beginning next month
After several months of waiting, Californians who qualify for the state’s gas price relief program could begin seeing payments in October. The $9.5 billion tax refund program will provide one-time payments of up to $1,050 for some families, expected to be sent out between next month and January 2023. Gov....
Queue for queen’s coffin ‘paused’ as wait hits 14 hoursVideo
LONDON — The flood of grief from the death of Queen Elizabeth II forced the British government to call a temporary halt to people joining a miles-long line to file past her coffin as it lay in state Friday, hours before King Charles III and his siblings were to stand...
Floods in Italy kill 10; survivors plucked from roofs, trees
CANTIANO, Italy — Flash floods swept through several towns Friday in hilly central Italy after hours of exceptionally heavy rain, leaving 10 people dead and at least four missing. Dozens of survivors scrambled onto rooftops or up into trees to await rescue. Floods invaded garages and basements and knocked down...
Biden, South African leader to discuss Ukraine, trade, climate
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are set to meet Friday at the White House for talks on Russia’s war in Ukraine, climate issues, trade and more. Ramaphosa is among African leaders who have maintained a neutral stance in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion...
Ukraine: Some bodies in mass burial site show torture signs
IZIUM, Ukraine — Investigators searching through a mass burial site in Ukraine have found evidence that some of the dead were tortured, including bodies with broken limbs and ropes around their necks, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said Friday. The site near Izium, recently recaptured from Russian forces, appears to be...
Ex-Gulf Cartel boss gets life sentence for drug conspiracy
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — A Mexican national who headed the Gulf Cartel from 2003 to 2012 was sentenced Thursday to life in prison and ordered to pay a $5 million forfeiture after pleading guilty in a U.S. court to drug smuggling conspiracy. A federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, sentenced Jorge “El...
Veteran New York judge named as arbiter in Trump Mar-a-Lago probe
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday appointed a veteran New York jurist to serve as an independent arbiter and review records, including highly classified documents, that were seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last month. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon empowered the newly...
Woman charged with bomb threat against Boston Children’s HospitalVideo
BOSTON — Federal authorities on Thursday arrested a woman accused of calling in a fake bomb threat at Boston Children’s Hospital, where doctors and staffers have been facing harassment and threats of violence over its surgical program for transgender youths. Catherine Leavy, 37, was arrested at her home in Westfield,...
Mark Meadows complies with Justice Department subpoena
WASHINGTON — Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff under former President Donald Trump, has complied with a Justice Department subpoena and turned over records as part of a federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a...
Rioter who wore ‘Camp Auschwitz’ sweatshirt gets jail term
A Virginia man who stormed the U.S. Capitol while wearing an antisemitic “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt over a Nazi-themed shirt was sentenced on Thursday to 75 days of imprisonment. Robert Keith Packer, 57, declined to address U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols before he sentenced him during hearing held by video conference....
U.S. warns monkeypox could mutate to resist antiviral drug
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials are warning against overuse of the lone drug available to treat monkeypox, saying that even a small mutation in the virus could render the pills ineffective. The Food and Drug Administration updated its guidance this week for Tpoxx, which has been prescribed to tens of...
California wildfire ‘looking a whole heck of a lot better’
FORESTHILL, Calif. — Firefighters again prevented flames from entering a Northern California mountain town and reported major progress Thursday against the week-old blaze that’s become the largest in the state so far this year. Conditions at the Mosquito Fire about 110 miles northeast of San Francisco were “looking a whole...
Infowars rep to return to stand in Sandy Hook hoax trial
WATERBURY, Conn. — A representative for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars brand returned to the witness stand Thursday for questions about how Jones pushed lies that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax as his companies grew more successful. Brittany Paz, a Connecticut lawyer hired by Jones to...
Putin, Zelenskyy court major allies as Ukraine makes gains
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy are each courting major allies on Thursday, seeking to prop up their efforts in a war whose fortunes have tilted toward Ukraine in recent days. In Uzbekistan’s ancient Samarkand, Putin was hoping to break through his international isolation...
Migrants, long used as political props, dumped at the vice president’s residence
WASHINGTON — Politicians have been using migrants as props for decades. Republicans visit the Southwest border and declare that immigration is out of control. During the Trump administration, Democrats made their way to detention centers to decry the treatment of children locked in cages. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas...
Biden: Tentative railway labor deal reached, averting strike
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Thursday a tentative railway labor agreement has been reached, averting a potentially devastating strike before the pivotal midterm elections. He said the tentative deal “will keep our critical rail system working and avoid disruption of our economy.” The Democratic president believes unions built the...
Florida flies ‘illegal immigrants’ to Martha’s Vineyard
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday flew two planes of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, escalating a tactic by Republican governors to draw attention to what they consider to be the Biden administration’s failed border policies. Flights to the upscale island enclave in Massachusetts were part of an...
House panel gets more Secret Service records in Jan. 6 probe
The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol assault has received additional material from the Secret Service in response to a subpoena, but members aren’t saying whether it sheds new light on missing agency text messages. Representative Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat, on Wednesday described some of the records as “relevant” and...
Court revives lawsuits against Ohio State over sex abuse
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal appeals court ruling Wednesday revives unsettled lawsuits against Ohio State University over decades-old sexual abuse by the late team doctor Richard Strauss. A district judge in Columbus had dismissed most of the unsettled cases, acknowledging that hundreds of young men were abused but agreeing with...
PnB Rock’s stolen jewelry could be key to solving his killingVideo
LOS ANGELES — Jewelry and other items stolen from rapper PnB Rock, who was shot and killed Monday at Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles in South L.A., could hold the key to finding the gunman. Los Angeles Police Department detectives have put pawn shops on alert about items stolen...
Infowars lawyer: ‘There were false statements’ on Sandy Hook
WATERBURY, Conn. — A lawyer for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars empire acknowledged on the witness stand Wednesday that the show and website spread falsehoods about the Sandy Hook school shooting. “I don’t think that we disagree that there were false statements made,” Brittany Paz testified at a civil trial...
