Stolen hearse carrying casket recovered after freeway chase
LOS ANGELES — It has all the hallmarks of an only-in-Los Angeles crime: A thief stole a hearse — with a body inside — that went on a wild ride, ending with a chase and a crash on a busy freeway. Authorities say they found the body undisturbed inside a...
Ocasio-Cortez, Miranda use star power to promote NYC censusVideo
“Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda is joining U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a public service announcement aimed at getting New Yorkers of all backgrounds, including immigrants, to participate in the once-a-decade head count. The PSA unveiled Thursday on social media begins with Ocasio-Cortez speaking in front of a classroom of students...
South Carolina sued over its ban on LBGTQ sex ed discussions
CHARLESTON, S.C. — It is against state law in South Carolina for public school sex education classes to mention anything other than heterosexual relationships, unless the talk involves sexually transmitted diseases. A federal lawsuit now aims to change that. The National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal said their...
Ohio bill would ban competition by transgender females
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Transgender females would be banned from competing in Ohio high school and college girls and women’s sports under a bill introduced Wednesday by House Republicans. The legislation would apply to all public schools and colleges and any private schools or colleges that are members of a state...
White police officers use force more than black cops, study says
White police officers are more likely to use force than their nonwhite counterparts, and especially in minority neighborhoods, according to a new study. “White officers use force 60% more than black officers, and use gun force twice as often,” Mark Hoekstra, an economics professor at Texas A&M University, and CarlyWill...
Seeking cure, U.S. researchers infect thousands of monkeys with coronavirus
The U.S. National Institutes of Health has infected thousands of monkeys with a strain of coronavirus in attempt to find a vaccine cure for the illness. According to United Kingdom newspaper The Daily Star, rhesus macaques have been infected with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS- CoV) and then...
DNA databases are boon to police but menace to privacy, critics say
WASHINGTON — Nearly two years after the arrest of the suspected Golden State Killer revitalized DNA forensics, some state lawmakers around the country are pushing to stop or restrict police searches of genetic code databases. Other lawmakers, meanwhile, want to make it even easier for police to use the technique,...
Woman rejected for transplant because her bladder was brewing alcohol
The patient, a 61-year-old woman, insisted she had not been drinking, even though multiple tests found alcohol in her urine. The stakes were high. She had come to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center seeking a liver transplant. Another hospital’s transplant program had rejected her because of positive urine tests,...
Pentagon adopts new ethical principles for using AI in war
The Pentagon is adopting new ethical principles as it prepares to accelerate its use of artificial intelligence technology on the battlefield. The new principles call for people to “exercise appropriate levels of judgment and care” when deploying and using AI systems, such as those that scan aerial imagery to look...
Original ‘Flash Gordon’ comic strip art headed to auction
LOS ANGELES — The original artwork for the “Flash Gordon” comic strip is headed for a new realm — the auction block. The auction house Profiles in History said Wednesday that it will sell the drawing March 31. The pencil-and-ink drawing by artist Alex Raymond was first published in January...
‘Honor roll’ of historic plantations often ignores slavery
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Antebellum Southern plantations were built on the backs of enslaved people, and many of those plantations hold places of honor on the National Register of Historic Places — but don’t look for many mentions of slavery in the government’s official record of places with historic significance. The...
New U.S. coronavirus case may be 1st from unknown originVideo
NEW YORK — Health officials have confirmed a new case of coronavirus infection in California that could be a sign that the virus is spreading in a U.S. community. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the case Wednesday night. It is a person in California who had no...
Barack Obama asks TV stations to take down anti-Biden ads using his voiceVideo
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former President Barack Obama asked TV stations Wednesday to stop airing ads featuring his voice over on-screen attacks on former Vice President Joe Biden. The ads, which aim to depress African American votes in Saturday’s South Carolina Democratic primary, are funded by the pro-Donald Trump super PAC...
Trump names Pence to lead U.S. response to coronavirus threatVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that the United States is “very, very ready” for whatever the coronavirus threat brings, and he put his vice president in charge of overseeing the nation’s response. Trump sought to minimize fears of the virus spreading widely across the U.S., saying, “I don’t...
Gunman kills 5 at Milwaukee brewery before taking own lifeVideo
MILWAUKEE — An employee opened fire Wednesday at one of the nation’s largest breweries in Milwaukee, killing five fellow workers before taking his own life, police said. The assailant who attacked the Molson Coors complex was identified as a 51-year-old Milwaukee man who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police...
Pa. health department outlines plans for possible virus spread
HARRISBURG — A customized update to pandemic flu plans should be completed in the coming days for the COVID-19 virus, the Pennsylvania health secretary said Wednesday, although the state has yet to identify a case of infection. Dr. Rachel Levine said at a Capitol news conference that monitoring and testing...
Congress warns Pentagon not to move money to fund Trump’s border wall
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from both parties told Pentagon leaders on Wednesday that the Defense Department is undermining its own efforts to get military money by diverting billions of dollars for the construction of President Donald Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the committee’s...
Report: Pa. natural gas production grew in 2019 but at lower rate
Total natural gas production in Pennsylvania grew by 7.6% in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018 — the lowest growth rate in more than two years, a report by the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office said. Pennsylvania remains the second-highest natural gas producing state after...
House makes lynching a federal crime, 65 years after Emmett TillVideo
WASHINGTON — Sixty-five years after 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi, the House has approved legislation designating lynching as a hate crime under federal law. The bill, introduced by Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush and named after Till, comes 120 years after Congress first considered anti-lynching legislation and after dozens...
Brazil confirms 1st coronavirus case in Latin America
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s government confirmed on Wednesday that a 61-year-old Brazilian man who traveled to Italy this month has Latin America’s first confirmed case of the contagious new coronavirus. “We will now see how this virus behaves in a tropical country in the middle of summer, how its...
An increasingly isolated Iran girds for long virus battle
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran girded Wednesday for a long battle against the coronavirus that is spreading rapidly across the country and the wider Middle East, even though officials in the Islamic Republic had earlier minimized the outbreak that has now killed 19 people, the highest toll outside of...
Missing toddler’s mother and grandmother are in same jail
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. — The mother and grandmother of a missing 15-month-old girl are now in the same Tennessee jail after giving conflicting accounts about the toddler’s disappearance. Authorities frustrated by their multiple versions of what happened to Evelyn Mae Boswell announced Wednesday that they’ll hold an afternoon news conference on...
‘No way out’: Demographics drive GOP nosedive on West Coast
BEND, Ore. — In the early 1990s, the population of Bend was around 25,000 and leaned Republican. A lumber mill operated along the banks of the Deschutes River in Oregon’s high-desert country. Today, the lumber mill is an REI outdoor recreation store. The population has quadrupled. And for the first...
Joe Biden nabs Jim Clyburn endorsement before South Carolina primary
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking black member of Congress and the kingmaker of South Carolina’s Democratic political orbit, on Wednesday endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. The backing could provide a much-needed boost for the former vice president heading into South Carolina’s primary. “I can think...
Pennsylvania couple awaiting adopted child get $20,000 gift on ‘Ellen’
A Philadelphia-area couple already expecting one life-changing moment received a second one this week, courtesy of TV talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres. Doug and Nick Roberts, of Media, are in the midst of an adoption process. They are also huge fans of the actress Kristen Bell. Somehow, DeGeneres heard about their...
