U.S./World category, Page 788
Fisher-Price recalls baby soothers after 4 infant deaths
Fisher-Price says it is recalling a model of its baby soothers after the deaths of four infants who were placed on their backs unrestrained in the devices and later found on their stomachs. In a joint statement with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Fisher-Price said Friday it is recalling its...
3,000 eggs abandoned after drone scares birds in California
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Some 3,000 elegant tern eggs were abandoned at a Southern California nesting island after a drone crashed and scared off the birds, a newspaper reported Friday. Two drones were flown illegally over the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach in May and one of them...
2 deputies fired at man killed in Minneapolis arrest attempt
Crowds vandalized buildings and stole from businesses in Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood after law enforcement officers on a U.S. Marshals Service task force fatally shot a man they were trying to arrest for illegally possessing a gun, authorities said Friday. Authorities did not immediately release the name of the man killed...
Senate GOP rejects Biden infrastructure plan, prep new offer
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Friday panned President Joe Biden’s latest infrastructure proposal and are expected to make a new offer as talks grind toward next week’s deadline for progress on a bipartisan deal. Speaking after the release of a modest May jobs report, Biden made the case for his...
Minnesota man charged in 1972 murder of 15-year-old Illinois girl: ‘This brutal crime haunted our community many, many, many years’
NAPERVILLE, Ill. — A former Naperville man has been charged with first-degree murder in the 1972 stabbing death of 15-year-old Julie Ann Hanson, linked to the case through DNA evidence and genealogy, Naperville police Chief Robert Marshall and Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said Friday. Barry Lee Whelpley, 76,...
Belarus opposition slams dissident TV confessions as coerced
WARSAW, Poland — The Belarusian opposition said Friday a dissident journalist was coerced to appear in a video on state TV in which he wept and praised the country’s authoritarian ruler, a broadcast sharply criticized by Western officials. In the 90-minute video broadcast Thursday night, Raman Pratasevich repented for his...
Judge: U.S. can’t delay challenge to public land coal sales
BILLINGS, Mont. — A U.S. judge has rejected the Biden administration’s attempt to delay a lawsuit from several states and environmentalists who are seeking to end lease sales for coal mining on federal lands. The coal leasing program was temporarily shut down under President Barack Obama because of concerns about...
Facebook suspends Trump accounts for 2 years
Facebook said it is suspending former President Donald Trump’s accounts for two years following its finding that he stoked violence ahead of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection. “At the end of this period, we will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded. We will...
U.S. intel report on UFOs: No evidence of aliens, but …
WASHINGTON — Whatever or whoever they are, they’re still out there. U.S. intelligence is after them, but its upcoming report will not deliver the full and final truth about UFOs. The tantalizing prospect of top government intel finally weighing in — after decades of conspiracy theories, TV shows, movies and...
Bargain hunters pounce as Trump condo prices hit decade lows
NEW YORK — The building has stunning Manhattan skyline views, its spa offers deep-tissue massages, and the fancy restaurant off the lobby serves up prime steaks. Best of all, many apartments at the Trump World Tower are selling at a deep discount — assuming the buyer doesn’t mind the name...
Students suspended after schoolyard clash over Pride flags
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A schoolyard clash over gay Pride flags got some students suspended and others expelled from their Florida middle school. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s office is investigating, and a congressman got involved. It happened last Friday at Seminole Middle School, where some students displayed Pride flags at...
Football coaches ousted after player says he was forced to eat pork
CANTON, Ohio — The head football coach at an Ohio high school and six other coaches there have been ousted after a football player said he was forced him to eat pork in violation of his religious beliefs for missing a voluntary workout. The Canton City Board of Education voted...
North Atlantic right whales getting tinier. Scientists say humans are to blame
One of the giants of the deep is shrinking before our eyes, a new study says. The younger generation of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales are on average about three feet shorter than whales were 20 years ago, drone and aircraft data show in a study in Thursday’s journal...
Celebrity attorney F. Lee Bailey dead at 87
WALTHAM, Mass. — F. Lee Bailey, the celebrity attorney who defended O.J. Simpson, Patricia Hearst and the alleged Boston Strangler, but whose legal career halted when he was disbarred in two states, has died, a former colleague said Thursday. He was 87. The death was confirmed Thursday by Peter Horstmann,...
Traffic deaths up 7% last year, highest number since 2007
DETROIT — U.S. traffic deaths rose 7% last year, the biggest increase in 13 years even though people drove fewer miles because of the coronavirus pandemic, the government’s road safety agency reported Thursday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration blamed the increase on drivers taking more risks on less-congested roads...
Feds reportedly investigating whether Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz obstructed justiceVideo
ORLANDO, Fla. — Federal investigators are exploring whether U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz obstructed justice by attempting to influence a witness in the federal sex trafficking probe targeting him, according to a pair of new reports. According to Politico, the obstruction element of the case concerns a phone conversation between the...
SpaceX launches tiny critters, solar panels to space stationVideo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched thousands of tiny sea creatures to the International Space Station on Thursday, along with a plaque-fighting toothpaste experiment and powerful solar panels. The 7,300-pound shipment — which also includes fresh lemons, onions, avocados and cherry tomatoes for the station’s seven astronauts — should arrive...
Justice Department reportedly opens probe into Hunter Biden-linked consulting firm
The U.S. Justice Department has reportedly launched an investigation into Blue Star Strategies, a consulting firm linked to President Joe Biden’s son, for potential illegal lobbying. Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company that was one of Blue Star’s clients. According to Politico, the Delaware...
Georgia school officials condemn some teaching about race
ATLANTA — Georgia’s education board on Thursday approved a resolution that says the U.S. and Georgia are not racist and students should not be taught that racism or slavery are anything but deviations from the country’s “authentic founding principles.” The measure — approved by an 11-2 vote — was introduced...
FBI investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over campaign donations
WASHINGTON — U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is under investigation by the FBI over campaign contributions made by his employees before he took the federal job last year, his spokesman said. DeJoy, a donor to former President Donald Trump, “has always been scrupulous in his adherence to the campaign contribution...
Crews remove barriers, memorials at George Floyd Square
MINNEAPOLIS — Crews have removed concrete barriers, artwork, flowers and other items from a Minneapolis intersection that became a sprawling memorial to George Floyd, whose death last year at the hands of police galvanized the racial justice movement. It took the city crews less than four hours Thursday morning to...
EU plans digital ID wallet for bloc’s post-pandemic life
LONDON — The European Union unveiled plans Thursday for a digital ID wallet that residents could use to access services across the 27-nation bloc, part of a post-pandemic recovery strategy that involves accelerating the shift to an online world. The European Digital Identity Wallet proposed by the EU’s executive commission...
Danish military to lease electric training planes as a trialVideo
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The Danish defense ministry said Thursday that it will lease two electric trainer airplanes as a test, adding that it is the first country in the world to do so. The single-engine, two-seater Pipistrel Velis Electro is an electric-powered Slovenian light aircraft intended primarily for training use....
Report: Inmate’s death at Ohio prison ruled a homicide
ORIENT, Ohio — The death of an inmate who died in his cell at an Ohio prison earlier this year has been ruled a homicide. Michael McDaniel, 55, died Feb. 6 after he became combative and injured two guards who had tried to remove him from his cell at the...
‘Stand your ground’ defense rejected in iguana killing by Florida man
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A judge has rejected the “stand your ground” defense of a Florida man who said he beat an iguana to death only after it attacked him, biting him on the arm. PJ Nilaja Patterson, 43, must stand trial on a felony animal cruelty charge, Palm...
