Associated Press stories, Page 2599
Nurse indicted on charges of raping incapacitated woman
PHOENIX — A nurse suspected of raping an incapacitated woman who later gave birth at a long-term care facility in Phoenix has been indicted on charges of sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult. The document filed Tuesday mirrors charges that prosecutors filed last week against 36-year-old Nathan Dorceus...
Illinois business groups pitch geography-based minimum wage
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Business advocates now resigned to the likelihood that Illinois will soon adopt a $15-an-hour minimum wage urged legislators Wednesday to make it a tiered approach based on geography, arguing there are vast cost-of-living differences between Chicago and more rural areas downstate. While Illinois’ statewide minimum wage has...
Report: Toddler bruised after fall into rhino exhibit at zoo
MELBOURNE, Fla. — A toddler who fell into a rhinoceros exhibit at a Florida zoo this month suffered bruises to her chest, stomach, back and behind her right ear after being bumped by two rhinos. A report on the incident released Wednesday shows the 21-month-old girl also had a bruised...
New York middle school strip search claims prompt state investigation
ALBANY, N.Y. — Allegations that four 12-year-old girls were strip-searched for drugs in an upstate New York middle school because they were hyper and giddy raised “serious concerns of racial and gender bias,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday, as he directed the state Education Department to investigate the incident. Binghamton...
Dozens of vehicles in pileup after snow squall in central Pa.
READING — More than two dozen vehicles have been involved in a chain-reaction crash on a central Pennsylvania highway after a snow squall caused whiteout conditions. Wyomissing Police Chief Jeffrey Biehl says about 27 vehicles were involved in the crash just after 1 p.m. Wednesday on Route 222, about 60...
Bat infestation forces closure of building at university
MONROE, La. — The University of Louisiana Monroe has closed a building until a colony of bats can be removed. The university’s Public Relations Director, Hope Young, says Sugar Hall will be closed until the bats and that classes and administrative offices have been moved. Young says the bats entered...
Fed keeps key rate unchanged and pledges to be ‘patient’
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is keeping its key interest rate unchanged and signaling it could leave rates alone in the coming months given economic pressures and mild inflation. The Fed also says it’s prepared to slow the reduction of its bond holdings if needed to support the economy. The...
Gov. Wolf renews bid to put Pennsylvania’s minimum wage among highest
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf is rolling out a second-term proposal to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage after similar first-term proposals by the Democrat fell flat in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Wolf said Wednesday he wants to raise Pennsylvania’s hourly minimum to $12 this year, making it one of the highest in...
Prosecutor calls evidence against El Chapo overwhelming
NEW YORK — Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman orchestrated a two-decade campaign to flood the United States with tons of cocaine as a ruthless leader of the Sinaloa cartel, a prosecutor said in closing arguments on Wednesday at Guzman’s U.S. trial. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Goldbarg began her...
Super Bowl ads offer simple escapism with star power
NEW YORK — Sarah Michelle Gellar makes a horror movie parody for Olay. Jeff Bridges and Sarah Jessica Parker tout Stella Artois. Steve Carell hawks Pepsi. Star power abounds in this year’s Super Bowl ads. Advertisers are hoping to provide some welcome distraction and entertainment as economic fears persist and...
Apple busts Facebook for distributing data-sucking app
NEW YORK — Apple says Facebook can no longer distribute an app that paid users, including teenagers, to extensively track their phone and web use. The tech blog TechCrunch reports that Facebook paid about $20 a month. While Facebook says this was done with permission, the company has a history...
Where’s my robot lawn mower? Roomba-maker now has an answer
BEDFORD, Mass. — Robot vacuums have now been around long enough that you might watch one bump around a living room and think, why isn’t there a robot that could mow my lawn? Turns out, it’s not for lack of trying. For more than a decade, iRobot, the company behind...
Trump says ‘wall’ must be part of lawmakers’ border deal
WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill negotiators are hopeful of an agreement as they officially kick off talks Wednesday on a homeland security spending bill stalled over funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. Left on their own, the seasoned House and Senate lawmakers say they could easily reach a border...
Milo Ventimiglia named Hasty Pudding Man of the Year
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Milo Ventimiglia, who stars in NBC’s award-winning hit TV drama “This is Us,” has been named 2019 Man of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals. The oldest theatrical organization in the United States announced Wednesday that Ventimiglia was selected because he has made “significant impressions...
Suspect in Tampa serial killings says jail making him sick
TAMPA, Fla. — The Florida man charged with being the serial killer who terrorized a Tampa neighborhood says jail is making him sick. The Tampa Bay Times reports that 26-year-old Howell Donaldson III asked Judge Mark Wolfe on Tuesday for “some professional help” for unspecified ailments. The former college basketball...
Police: Would-be bank robber gets cold feet, rips up note
FALL RIVER, Mass. — Police in Massachusetts are looking for a woman they say intended to rob a bank but got cold feet and left without a penny. Fall River police tell the Herald News the woman walked into the Fall River Municipal Credit Union on Monday afternoon and approached...
New Mexico school delays classes because of … vegetable oil
EUNICE, N.M. — A New Mexico high school was forced to delay classes after authorities say vandals poured vegetable oil throughout the hallways. The Hobbs News-Sun reports the oil was poured at Eunice High School in the small city of Eunice late Sunday and forced janitors to clean up the...
Trump Organization to use E-Verify for worker status checks
NEW YORK — The Trump Organization, responding to claims that some of its workers were in the United States illegally, said Wednesday that it will use the E-Verify electronic system at all of its properties to check employees’ documentation. A lawyer for a dozen immigrant workers at the Trump National...
Stan Lee to get superhero send-off at Hollywood memorial
LOS ANGELES— Among comics lovers, Stan Lee was as much a superhero as the characters he helped create. Those fans, along with Lee’s friends and colleagues, will get to pay their final respects at a Los Angeles memorial Wednesday night for the Marvel Comics mastermind who helped bring the world...
Brown University criticized for using live pigs in medical training
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A prominent physicians’ group has asked federal regulators to investigate Brown University’s medical school, arguing it is violating the law by using live pigs for training in emergency medicine. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine on Tuesday asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health...
6 deaths linked to blast of arctic cold
CHICAGO — Police say at least two people in the Detroit area have died in the extremely cold weather, including a former member of the City Council in the town of Ecorse, Mich. Ecorse detective Tim Sassak tells TV station WDIV that the man was discovered Wednesday. Sassak says the...
Grenade thrown into Philippine mosque kills 2 Islam teachers
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — A grenade was thrown into a mosque in the southern Philippines where Muslim teachers were sleeping early Wednesday morning, killing two of them and injuring four, authorities said. It was the second explosion at a religious site in the south this week, though authorities didn’t see it...
Trump says ‘wall’ must be part of lawmakers’ border deal
WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill negotiators are hopeful of an agreement as they officially kick off talks on a homeland security spending bill stalled over funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. Left on their own, the seasoned House and Senate lawmakers say they could easily reach a border security...
Texas inmate set to be executed for Houston officer’s death
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A 61-year-old Texas inmate was set to be executed Wednesday for killing a Houston police officer more than three decades ago during a robbery. Robert Jennings was condemned for the July 1988 slaying of Officer Elston Howard during a robbery at an adult bookstore. Jennings would be...
Waste unleashed from Brazil dam on its way to larger river
RIO DE JANEIRO — A torrent of muddy mining waste unleashed by a dam breach that killed at least 84 people in southeastern Brazil is now heading down a small river with high concentrations of iron oxide, threatening to contaminate a much larger river that provides drinking water to communities...
