Associated Press stories, Page 2487
32 busted in federal drug crackdown in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they charged nearly three dozen people, mostly Honduran nationals, after investigators uncovered twin international trafficking operations that poured heroin, meth and cocaine into a notorious San Francisco neighborhood crawling with rampant drug use. The drug charges are the first step in a...
Fox: Jussie Smollett won’t be on final season on ‘Empire’
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Fox Entertainment chief Charlie Collier says Jussie Smollett won’t be back on “Empire.” Collier, speaking to TV critics Wednesday, affirmed series co-creator Lee Daniels’ decision to drop Smollett from the drama’s upcoming final season. Daniels had initially supported Smollett after the actor claimed he suffered a...
Puerto Rico high court overturns Pedro Pierluisi as governor
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the swearing in of Pedro Pierluisi as the island’s governor less than a week ago, clearing the way for Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez to take up the post after weeks of turmoil. The unanimous ruling said Pierluisi must...
Fox chief says Emmy Awards won’t have a host this year
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The Oscars did it, and now the Emmys will too. There will be no host at the ceremony honoring TV’s best next month. Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier said Wednesday that going hostless allows more time to salute departing shows, including “Game of Thrones.” The HBO...
U.S. hopes for North Korea nuclear talks despite missile tests
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is still hoping to hold another round of nuclear talks with North Korea despite the country’s recent missile tests, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. Those talks could be held within a “a couple of weeks,” Pompeo said, speaking shortly after returning from Asia and...
Florida woman bites intruder who forced his way into home
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A nearly toothless South Florida woman says she bit a man who forced his way into her apartment. Alice Coleman tells WSVN she woke up early Monday morning to a fire alarm going off. The 61-year-old says that when opened the door, a man pushed his...
USA Today HQ search concludes without incident after report of man with weapon
McLEAN, Va. —Police have cleared the northern Virginia office building that houses USA Today without incident after receiving a report of an armed man. Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler said Wednesday afternoon that SWAT teams had concluded their search and found no evidence that any crime had occurred. Police...
Police patrol Rome’s Spanish Steps to enforce sitting ban
ROME — Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn perched there without a care in the 1953 film “Roman Holiday.” But the Spanish Steps in Rome are no longer a place for sitting. Enforcing an ordinance that took effect last month, police officers patrolled the famed stone staircase Wednesday to tell locals...
Ex-dean with oversight of Larry Nassar gets 1 year in jail
LANSING, Mich. — A former Michigan State University dean with oversight of now-imprisoned sports doctor Larry Nassar was ordered Wednesday to serve up to a year in jail after being convicted of neglect of duty and misconduct in office that stemmed from claims he sexually harassed students. William Strampel learned...
Berlin to tighten rules for electric scooter users
BERLIN — Berlin plans to stop electric scooters from being left haphazardly on sidewalks and other anti-social behavior that’s drawn the ire of residents in the German capital since the vehicles were made legal two months ago. City transport officials said Wednesday after a meeting with scooter providers that they’ll...
Germany seizes 1.5 tons of cocaine, 2nd big haul in weeks
BERLIN — Customs officials in Hamburg have found 1.65 tons of cocaine on a container ship that arrived from Brazil, soon after Germany’s biggest-ever single seizure of the drug. The port city’s customs office said Wednesday the new shipment was found last week in a container of tobacco cartons loaded...
Trump faces protests as he visits Dayton, El Paso
DAYTON, Ohio — Protesters greeted President Donald Trump’s arrival in Dayton Wednesday, blaming his incendiary rhetoric for inflaming political and racial tensions in the country, as he visited survivors of last weekend’s mass shootings and saluted first responders. The president and first lady Melania Trump began their visit at the...
Immigration raids under way at Mississippi food plants
MORTON, Miss. — U.S. immigration officials have launched raids at several Mississippi food processing plants. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Wednesday that search warrants were executed at seven locations across the state targeting several companies. They include the Morton plant of poultry producer Koch Foods Inc., which...
Cambodian rescued after 4 days wedged in mountain rock
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A Cambodian man who became wedged between rocks while collecting bat droppings for sale has been rescued after being trapped for almost four days. Police said Sum Bora slipped Sunday while trying to retrieve his flashlight, which he had accidentally dropped in the small rocky hollow....
El Paso, with deep Mexican American past, rallies amid painVideo
EL PASO, Texas — The massacre that killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso struck a city that has long been the cradle of Mexican American culture and immigration and suffered through bloody episodes of racial violence in the past. The white gunman apparently wrote an anti-Hispanic rant...
Dayton, site of latest mass shooting, warily awaits Trump
DAYTON, Ohio — Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley’s stricken community will have a visitor Wednesday in President Donald Trump, who in the wake of two mass shootings over the weekend has made calls for unity on the heels of his divisive political talk. White House officials said Trump’s visits to Texas...
Services set for Nick Cumer, grad student killed in Ohio
LORETTO — Services are set for a Pennsylvania graduate student killed in a shooting rampage in an Ohio nightclub district. Nicholas Cumer was a graduate student in the master of cancer care program at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pa. The 25-year-old was in Dayton as part of his internship...
Bipartisan ‘red flag’ gun laws plan has support in Congress
WASHINGTON — Despite frequent mass shootings, Congress has proved to be unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation, largely because of resistance from Republicans. But a bipartisan proposal by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is gaining momentum following weekend mass shootings in Texas and Ohio that left...
Some skeptical as Trump prepares to visit sites of shootings
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is bringing a message aimed at national unity and healing to the sites of the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. But the words he offers for a divided America will be complicated by his own incendiary, anti-immigrant rhetoric that mirrors language linked to...
Browns RB Nick Chubb poised for breakout season
BEREA, Ohio — Nick Chubb skipped the parties in college. Not his style. He was reserved and quiet at Georgia, keeping to himself or working out in the Bulldogs’ weight room. The soft-spoken kid from historic Chubbtown was courteous and driven off the field, tough and powerful on it. Browns...
Walgreens to shut 200 U.S. stores as part of cost-cutting plan
NEW YORK — Pharmacy chain Walgreens plans to close 200 stores in the United States as it seeks to cut costs. The company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday the closings are part of its previously announced plan to trim costs by $1.5 billion in a few years. In May,...
North Korea’s Kim: Missile test ‘adequate warning’
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Wednesday leader Kim Jong Un supervised a live-fire demonstration of newly-developed short-range ballistic missiles he said were intended to send an “adequate warning” to the United States and South Korea over their joint military exercises. The announcement by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News...
Authorities: Montana man assaulted boy who kept hat on during anthem
SUPERIOR, Mont. — A man is facing an assault charge after Montana authorities say someone saw him throw a 13-year-old boy to the ground because the teenager didn’t remove his hat when the national anthem was played at a rodeo. The boy was taken to a hospital in Spokane, Wash.,...
Dartmouth settles sexual misconduct lawsuit for $14M
CONCORD, N.H. — Dartmouth College announced Tuesday that it has settled a contentious federal lawsuit with nine women who sued the school over allegations that it ignored years of harassment and assault by former psychology department professors. In a statement Tuesday, both sides say the settlement includes $14 million for...
As UK-EU relations cool, battle looms to stop no-deal Brexit
LONDON — In Brussels and London, one question is growing louder: Can Boris Johnson be stopped? Britain’s prime minister says the U.K. is leaving the European Union in less than 90 days, either with a divorce deal, or — it seems increasingly likely — without one. With Britain and the...
