Study: Northwest killer whales shrinking in size — and so are their prey, chinook salmon
SEATTLE — Hungry young orcas grow up to be stunted orcas, new research shows, revealing that salmon run downturns can have lifelong effects. The findings, published last month in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Endangered Species Research, were based on aerial photos taken by drone of whales in both the southern...
Texas man to be exonerated after DNA leads to new arrest
HOUSTON — Authorities said they will begin the process to exonerate a Houston man who was convicted in a 2010 fatal stabbing that investigators now believe was committed by someone else. Lydell Grant, 42, was freed on bond last month after a new analysis of DNA found on the victim’s...
White Sands monument re-designated as US national park
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — President Donald Trump’s signature on defense legislation enacted by Congress means White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico is now White Sands National Park. White Sands became the 62nd designated national park Friday with Trump’s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020,...
Second Amendment Sanctuary push aims to defy new gun laws
BUCKINGHAM, Va. — A standing-room only crowd of more than 400 packed the meeting room, filled the lobby and spilled into the parking lot recently in rural Buckingham County, Virginia. They had one thing on their minds: guns. The vast majority favored a proposal to protect their right to carry...
US heads to court to build Trump border wall in Texas
HOUSTON — Three years into Donald Trump’s presidency, the U.S. government is ramping up its efforts to seize private land in Texas to build a border wall. Trump’s signature campaign promise has consistently faced political, legal, and environmental obstacles in Texas, which has the largest section of the U.S.-Mexico border,...
Buttigieg backers defend ‘wine cave’ fundraiser
RUTHERFORD, Calif. — The California winemakers who hosted a dinner at a “wine cave” for Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg are defending the fundraising event. Buttigieg’s political rivals used the recent fundraiser to criticize the South Bend, Indiana, mayor for soliciting campaign contributions from wealthy donors at Thursday’s Democratic presidential...
Carnival cruise ship plows into another in CozumelVideo
Two Carnival cruise ships collided Friday morning while at a port in Cozumel, Mexico, according to a CNN report. One passenger was injured, while six others were reported to have minor injuries. The ships involved were the Carnival Glory and Carnival Legend. CNN reported that Carnival described the wreck as...
Man who kidnapped Wisconsin teen: She was ‘terrified of me’
MINNEAPOLIS — A man convicted of kidnapping a Wisconsin girl and killing her parents told police after his arrest that he never thought Jayme Closs would escape because she was petrified, and that after holding her captive for two weeks, he believed he’d get away with his crimes, according to...
Invasive silver carp confirmed for 1st time in SW Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS — Two invasive silver carp have been caught in southwestern Minnesota after essentially sneaking into the state through the back door, marking the first confirmed discovery of the jumping fish in that area. They were netted only about 120 yards north of the Iowa border on the Ocheyedan River...
Wisconsin governor rejects ‘Making a Murderer’ pardon bid
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said Friday he will not consider a pardon request from a man convicted of rape and murder when he was a teenager whose story was documented in the 2015 Netflix series “Making a Murderer.” The request from Brendan Dassey filed in October does...
Chief: City employee targeted co-worker in deadly N.C. shooting
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A deadly shooting at a city building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina was an act of “workplace violence” by one city employee who targeted a co-worker he’d disliked for a long time, police said Friday. Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson told news reporters the gunman at a city...
Biden: No regrets for talking openly about stuttering
LOS ANGELES — Joe Biden has been fighting a stutter since childhood, and he said Friday he has no regrets about talking openly about it after one of his responses in Thursday’s presidential debate prompted a mocking tweet from former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. “I don’t have any...
Boy kidnapped in 1964 found through ancestry sites
CHICAGO — A Michigan man recently identified as the newborn boy snatched from his mother in 1964 by someone posing as a maternity-ward nurse was found through commercial ancestry websites after the man or a child of his submitted DNA to the sites to learn more about their family tree,...
Georgia bill would make transgender youth compete as gender identified at birth
ATLANTA — A recently-elected Republican lawmaker has filed legislation that would ban teams from using public facilities if transgender children are competing in single-gender sporting events that don’t align with their gender identified at birth. State Rep. Philip Singleton, a Republican who was elected in an October special election, said...
California sheriff fires deputy who choked suspect that died
SAN FRANCISCO — A Northern California sheriff announced Friday he is firing a deputy who used a choke hold on a man, who later died, while officers were investigating a suspected carjacking. Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said in a video that he found footage of the deputy’s actions “extremely...
New Mexico GOP drew heats for ‘complexion’ remark about Dems
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Republican Party of New Mexico is facing criticism from Democrats and at least one Republican for urging supporters to change the “complexion” of the state’s congressional delegation. But state GOP officials say they were referring to changing the state from blue to red, not people of...
Twitter fights interference, deletes 5,929 Saudi accounts
NEW YORK — Twitter has identified and removed nearly 6,000 accounts that it said were part of a coordinated effort by Saudi government agencies and individuals to advance the country’s geopolitical interests. Separately, Facebook said it removed hundreds of Facebook accounts, groups and pages linked to inauthentic behavior from two...
Police surveillance planes to fly above Baltimore in 2020
BALTIMORE — The city of Baltimore will be monitored by surveillance airplanes for up to six months next year under a pilot program announced Friday that is aimed at helping law enforcement investigate violent crime and that will effectively restart a tactic secretively used three years ago. The flights, which...
Murrysville dentist greeted everyone he passed
Dr. Ross Miller truly embodied the notion of a family dental practice. “When he started as a dentist in Murrysville, he asked his sister to be the receptionist,” said his daughter, Cheryl Schoone, of Pine Township. “She quit her job and started there, and then when one of his younger...
Florida boaters killed a record number of manatees in 2019, report says
MIAMI — Despite an ongoing campaign to protect the gentle manatee — which has included a 38-years-long Save the Manatee Club effort from popular singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett — Florida boaters killed a record number of manatees in 2019. According to a preliminary mortality report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife...
MS-13 arrests deal blow to gang leadership on Long Island
NEW YORK — Authorities said Friday they have dealt an unprecedented blow to the violent MS-13 street gang, announcing charges against nearly 100 of the group’s members and associates on Long Island. Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini revealed a sweeping indictment that he said “decimated” the gang’s leadership and...
Whoo’s there? Georgia family discovers owl in Christmas tree
ATLANTA — A Georgia family got a real hoot from its Christmas tree: More than a week after they bought it, they discovered a live owl nestled among its branches. Katie McBride Newman said Friday that she and her daughter spotted the bird on Dec. 12. They had bought the...
Navy, Army probes find no racism intent in hand gestures
WASHINGTON — Hand gestures flashed by West Point cadets and Naval Academy midshipmen during the televised Army-Navy football game were not racist signals, military investigations have concluded. A Navy probe of the event found that the students were participating in a “sophomoric game” on Saturday and had no racist intent....
Black medical students hope slave plantation photo inspires kids
NEW ORLEANS — In the background of a powerful photo of 15 black medical students from Tulane University is a slave cabin. In the foreground stand the students, wearing the white lab coats that tell observers they’re members of a highly trained and prestigious profession. “We are our ancestors’ wildest...
New DNA testing in 1981 murder leads Florida police to coach
LAKELAND, Fla. — Detectives solved the 1981 murder of a Florida woman by using advanced DNA testing to discover the suspect was the football coach of one of her sons, police said. The Lakeland Police Department said Joseph Clinton Mills, 58, has been arrested on charges he raped and killed...
