U.S./World category, Page 800
Vermont House passes resolution on racism health emergency
MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont House of Representatives passed a resolution Wednesday declaring that racism is a public health emergency. The House voted 135-8 in favor of the non-binding resolution, which still must be passed by the Senate to be adopted. The resolution says that systemic racism affecting public health...
Police: 2-year-old shoots, wounds parents inside Maine home
WEST BATH, Maine — A 2-year-old boy in Maine shot and wounded his parents Wednesday after discovering a handgun on a nightstand, police said. The 22-year-old mother suffered a leg wound, the 25-year-old father suffered a minor head wound, and the boy was injured by the recoil of the weapon,...
Explainer: With bankruptcy tossed, what’s next for the NRA?
NEW YORK — Now that a judge has rejected the National Rifle Association’s bankruptcy bid, blocking its plan to reincorporate in Texas, the gun rights group is back to fighting New York regulators in a lawsuit that threatens to put it out of business. Harlin Hale, a federal bankruptcy judge...
Times Square shooting suspect arrested in FloridaVideo
NEW YORK — A man suspected of shooting three people in New York’s Times Square, including a 4-year-old girl, was arrested Wednesday in Florida, police said. Farrakhan Muhammad was taken into custody in a McDonald’s parking lot near Jacksonville, the official said, four days after the shooting Saturday that rattled...
Report: Drop in Xinjiang birthrate largest in recent history
BEIJING — Xinjiang in far western China had the sharpest known decline in birthrates between 2017 and 2019 of any territory in recent history, according to a new analysis by an Australian think tank. The report from the Australian Strategy Policy Institute, obtained exclusively ahead of publication by The Associated...
Police: California Tesla driver riding in backseat arrested
OAKLAND, Calif. — A motorist was arrested after an officer observed him in the backseat of a Tesla traveling on a San Francisco Bay Area freeway, the California Highway Patrol said. Param Sharma, 25, was arrested for alleged reckless driving and disobeying a peace officer, the highway patrol said in...
2 charged in North Carolina after gas station line fight amid panic-buying
KNIGHTDALE, N.C. — Two people are charged with assault after a fight in a line at a North Carolina gas station as a fuel pipeline shutdown sparks panic-buying, authorities said. Knightdale police officers were called to a Marathon gas station in the town on Tuesday afternoon for a report of...
List of candidates for next Columbus police chief down to 9
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s capital city has narrowed the list of candidates for the job of police chief to nine, all of them from outside the agency as promised by the Columbus mayor. City officials, including Public Safety Director Ned Pettus Jr., were interviewing candidates this week with the goal...
Judge backs aggravating factors in Chauvin trial, clears way for longer prison term
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota judge has ruled that there were aggravating factors in the death of George Floyd, paving the way for the possibility of a longer sentence for Derek Chauvin, according to an order made public Wednesday. In his ruling dated Tuesday, Judge Peter Cahill found Chauvin abused his...
Israel steps up Gaza offensive, kills senior Hamas figuresVideo
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel on Wednesday pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 10 senior Hamas military figures and toppling a pair of high-rise towers housing Hamas facilities in a series of airstrikes. The Islamic militant group showed no signs...
House GOP ousts Trump critic Liz Cheney from top post
WASHINGTON — House Republicans ousted Rep. Liz Cheney from her post as the chamber’s No. 3 GOP leader on Wednesday, punishing her after she repeatedly rebuked former President Donald Trump for his false claims of election fraud and his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Meeting behind closed...
Public service in the U.S.: Increasingly thankless, exhausting
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — He scurries through his apartment, downing a quick mug of coffee, brushing his teeth, feeding his pet rabbit, Auggie, before leaving. Not so long ago, Bill Mathis would have headed to his high school classroom to discuss great literature like “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The...
U.K. government’s plan to toughen voter ID rules draws criticism
LONDON — The British government has announced contentious plans to toughen election voting rules by requiring photo identification at polling stations, a move it says will protect the democratic system against electoral fraud. But opponents and civil liberties groups say the law proposed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government...
Police: Dunkin’ employee in Florida fatally punched customer who used racial slur
TAMPA, Fla. — Police said a Dunkin’ store employee fatally punched a 77-year-old customer in Florida after the employee said the man repeatedly used a racial slur against him. The victim, a man who police did not name, was punched May 4 and died Friday. That led to a manslaughter...
Gas stations report shortages as pipeline shutdown continuesVideo
CHAMBLEE, Ga. — More than 1,000 gas stations in the Southeast reported running out of fuel, primarily because of what analysts say is unwarranted panic-buying among drivers, as the shutdown of a major pipeline by a gang of hackers entered its fifth day Tuesday. Government officials acted swiftly to waive...
W.Va., Pa. men charged in police assault on Jan. 6 to remain behind bars
Two men charged in the assault of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, must remain behind bars while they await trial, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan denied pretrial release for George Tanios and Julian Khater, calling...
Lawsuit: New Jersey Hindu temple forced laborers from India to work for $1.20 per hour
FBI agents were at the sprawling site of a Hindu temple Tuesday as a lawsuit filed in federal court alleged workers from marginalized communities in India were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day to help build the temple. The...
Judge dismisses NRA bankruptcy case in blow to gun group
DALLAS — A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the National Rifle Association’s bankruptcy case, leaving the powerful gun-rights group to face a New York state lawsuit that accuses it of financial abuses and aims to put it out of business. The case was over whether the NRA should be allowed...
Pentagon chief during Jan. 6 riot defends military response
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s acting defense secretary during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots plans to tell Congress that he was concerned in the days before the insurrection that sending troops to the building would fan fears of a military coup and could cause a repeat of the deadly Kent...
Prosecutor plans to seek death penalty in Georgia spa shootings
ATLANTA — A man accused of killing eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, in shootings at three Atlanta-area massage businesses was indicted Tuesday on murder charges, and a prosecutor filed notice that she’ll also seek hate crime charges and the death penalty. A Fulton County grand jury...
Ransomware gang threatens release of DC police records
A Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate that stole data from the Washington, D.C., police department says negotiations over payment have broken down, with it rejecting a $100,000 payment, and it will release sensitive information that could put lives at risk if more money is not offered. The extortion threat comes amid a...
Prosecutor plans to seek death penalty in Georgia spa shootings
ATLANTA — A man accused of killing eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, in shootings at three Atlanta-area massage businesses was indicted Tuesday on murder charges, and a prosecutor filed notice that she’ll also seek hate crime charges and the death penalty. A Fulton County grand jury...
New survey of U.S. Jews reveals worries, strengths, divisions
A comprehensive new survey of Jewish Americans finds them increasingly worried about antisemitism, proud of their cultural heritage and sharply divided about the importance of religious observance in their lives. The survey, released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, estimated the total Jewish population in the country at 7.5 million...
Texas House OKs bill to ban plant-based foods from using ‘meat’ and ‘beef’ on labels
AUSTIN, Texas — Plant-based and other meatless products could be accused of misleading consumers under a bill approved in the Texas House on Monday. Texas is the latest state to debate measures that would prohibit foods that don’t contain animal products from using words like “meat” or “beef” in their...
Idaho governor signs bill to halt Biden moves on gun laws
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed legislation aimed at thwarting a half-dozen executive actions by President Joe Biden to combat gun violence. The new law came less than a week after a shooting at an eastern Idaho middle school injured two students and a custodian. The Republican...
