Grizzly mauling near Yellowstone kills backcountry guide
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — A Montana backcountry guide has died after he was mauled by a large grizzly bear that was probably defending a nearby moose carcass just outside Yellowstone National Park, officials said Monday. Charles “Carl” Mock, 40, who lived in the park gateway community of West Yellowstone, died...
Teen’s death in Chicago puts focus on split-second police decisions
It happened in less than a second. Thirteen-year-old Adam Toledo dropped the gun he’d been holding, turned and began raising his hands just as the officer had commanded. Then the cop fired a single shot, killing the boy in the dark Chicago alley. The graphic video that became the latest...
U.S. takes steps to protect electric system from cyberattacks
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is taking steps to protect the country’s electric system from cyberattacks through a new 100-day initiative combining federal government agencies and private industry. The initiative, announced Tuesday by the Energy Department, encourages owners and operators of power plants and electric utilities to improve their capabilities...
Military: Chadian president killed after 30 years in power
N’DJAMENA, Chad — Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno, who ruled the central African nation for more than three decades, was killed Tuesday on the battlefield in a fight against rebels, the military announced on national television and radio. The military said that a transitional council will be led by Deby’s...
Should states set pot policy by its potency? Some say yes
NEW YORK — As marijuana legalization spreads across U.S. states, so does a debate over whether to set pot policy by potency. Under a law signed last month, New York will tax recreational marijuana based on its amount of THC, the main intoxicating chemical in cannabis. Illinois imposed a potency-related...
Man held for allegedly attacking Asian couple in California
ORANGE, Calif. — A man who said he hates Asians was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an elderly Korean American couple at a Southern California park after allegedly threatening violence against a Japanese American Olympic athlete, police said. Michael Orlando Vivona, 25, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of elder abuse...
Walter Mondale, Jimmy Carter’s vice president, dies at 93Video
MINNEAPOLIS — Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, a liberal icon who lost the most lopsided presidential election after bluntly telling voters to expect a tax increase if he won, died Monday. He was 93. The death of the former senator, ambassador and Minnesota attorney general was announced in a...
Pa. pensions board votes to raise rates for 94K school employees
HARRISBURG — The board of Pennsylvania’s largest public pension system on Monday night voted to raise contribution rates for tens of thousands of public school employees after a mistake in a calculation of the fund’s long-term investment performance was revealed last month. The board of the $64 billion Public School...
Murder case against Derek Chauvin in George Floyd’s death goes to the juryVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — The murder case against former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd went to the jury Monday in a city on edge against another round of unrest like the one that erupted last year over the harrowing video of Chauvin with his knee on the Black...
Mass fossil site may prove tyrannosaurs hunted in packs like wolves
SALT LAKE CITY — Ferocious tyrannosaur dinosaurs may not have been solitary predators as long envisioned, but more like social carnivores such as wolves, new research unveiled Monday found. Paleontologists developed the theory while studying a mass tyrannosaur death site found seven years ago in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument...
Report: Mike Pompeo, wife made more than 100 personal requests of State Department employees
WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife, Susan Pompeo, repeatedly misused State Department resources and staff for personal business, violating the ethical standards of the department, according to a long-awaited inspector general’s report. The report details over 100 instances of misconduct that “had no apparent connection...
Colorado judge resigning after censure for racial slur
DENVER — A Colorado judge will resign after being censured for repeatedly saying a racial slur in a conversation with a Black employee, expressing her views on racial justice while on the bench as well as using court employees to work on personal business. The Colorado Supreme Court issued the...
Medical ruling: Capitol cop Brian Sicknick died of natural causes
WASHINGTON — Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was injured while confronting rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection, suffered a stroke and died from natural causes, the Washington, D.C., medical examiner’s office ruled Monday, a finding that lessens the chances that anyone will be charged in his death. Investigators initially...
Arizona governor orders ‘vaccine passport’ ban for the state
PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey used his executive powers Monday to prohibit local and regional governments from making “vaccine passports” a requirement for people to enter businesses or get services, calling it an encroachment on the private medical information of Arizona residents. The Republican governor signed an executive order that...
New York AG investigating Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s use of aides on book
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s attorney general is investigating whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo broke the law by having members of his staff help write and promote his pandemic leadership book. In a letter dated April 13, but made public Monday, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli authorized State Attorney General Letitia James...
Biden weighing how to respond after verdict in Derek Chauvin trial
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is privately weighing how to handle the upcoming verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, including considering whether President Joe Biden should address the nation and dispatching specially trained community facilitators from the Justice Department, aides and officials told The Associated...
Lou Barletta, eyeing a run for governor, starts raising money
HARRISBURG — Lou Barletta, the Trump-backing former congressman and immigration hawk who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate, has taken a step toward possibly running for governor of Pennsylvania in 2022 and begun a political action committee to raise money. Barletta told The Associated Press a month ago that he was...
Republicans want to reprimand Rep. Maxine Waters for police protest remarks
WASHINGTON — House Republicans are rallying around efforts to try to reprimand Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California for comments she made over the weekend encouraging protesters awaiting a verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. If Chauvin, who is standing trial for the death of...
Suspect in Wisconsin bar shooting that killed 3 identifiedVideo
KENOSHA, Wis. — The man in custody in connection with a shooting at a southeastern Wisconsin tavern that left three men dead and three others injured was involved in a fight at the bar before coming back with a handgun and opening fire, authorities said Monday. Rakayo Alandis Vinson, 24,...
Walgreens pharmacy distributes saline, not vaccine, to 22 in North Carolina
RALEIGH, N.C. — A Walgreens pharmacy in a North Carolina town gave a small number of people an injection of saline instead of a covid-19 vaccine last month, the company said Monday. Erin Loverher, a Walgreens spokesperson, said 22 people at one location were affected by the mix-up on March...
Leaders of Proud Boys ordered jailed on Capitol riot charges
A federal judge on Monday ordered two leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group to be arrested and jailed while awaiting trial on charges they planned and coordinated an attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Joseph Biggs and Ethan Nordean...
Cuba’s Communist Party chooses Miguel Díaz-Canel as leader
HAVANA — In many ways, Cuba’s new maximum leader is nothing like those who have governed the island for the past six decades. Miguel Díaz-Canel was never a guerrilla fighter and was for only a few years, like all Cubans of his generation, a soldier. He rose peacefully and diligently...
Supreme Court rejects lingering Pa. 2020 election challenge case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday said it will not hear a case out of Pennsylvania related to the 2020 election, a dispute that had lingered while similar election challenges had already been rejected by the justices. The high court directed a lower court to dismiss the case as...
EU estimates 150,000 Russian troops near Ukraine’s borders
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s foreign policy chief has estimated that more than 150,000 Russian troops have already amassed for the biggest military buildup ever near Ukraine’s borders and that it will only take “a spark” to set off a confrontation. Josep Borrell also said Monday that the condition of...
Florida Gov. DeSantis signs controversial ‘anti-riot’ bill into law
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s controversial “anti-riot” bill into law on Monday, a measure that vastly increases law enforcement’s powers to crack down on civil unrest. The bill, which passed mostly along partisan lines, has been criticized by Democrats and civil rights groups as unconstitutional for infringing on the First...
