Crews make progress on large Southern California wildfire
LOS ANGELES — Authorities lifted evacuation orders for a farm community Saturday as firefighters make progress on a large wildfire in Southern California that continues to threaten about 2,500 homes and buildings. Ventura County officials allowed an unknown number of residents in Somis to return home Saturday morning after firefighters...
Tear gas fired in downtown Hong Kong as protesters defy policeVideo
HONG KONG — Hong Kong police fired multiple rounds of tear gas at protesters who rallied for a 22nd consecutive weekend despite authorities denying them a permit to gather. Police arrested dozens, and deployed a water cannon on black-clad demonstrators who had built barricades and threw fire-lit objects in Wan...
Pelosi sets a high bar for impeachment inquiry: ‘ironclad’ proof
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, offering her most expansive view of the impeachment probe to date, said she decided to advance the inquiry into President Donald Trump after his phone call with Ukraine’s leader provided her with the “clarity” that prior allegations against Trump lacked. Pelosi said the partial...
‘Chalkbus’ inspires drawings and connectivity
AMERICAN FORK, Utah — No matter where he parks his VW bus coated in chalkboard paint, Jonathan Sherman comes back to find great new art adorning the sides. Once a week, he washes it and creates a new canvass for the amateur artists of American Fork who are inspired to...
Smugglers using $100 saws to get through Trump’s new border wallVideo
Smugglers in Mexico are sawing through new sections of U.S. border fence using tools commonly available at The Home Depot. Smuggling gangs along the southern U.S. border are repeatedly cutting through the steel-and-concrete posts of President Trump’s new fence using off-the-shelf power tools, reports The Washington Post. Government agents and...
Long-running coal plant on Navajo reservation nears its end
ALONG THE BLACK MESA AND LAKE POWELL RAILROAD, Ariz. — One of the largest coal-fired power plants in the American West will close before the year ends and others in the region are on track to shut down or reduce their output in the next few years. Owners of the...
Space shipment launched with sports car parts, cookie ovenVideo
A supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station on Saturday with sports car parts, an oven for baking cookies and a vest to protect against radiation. Northrop Grumman launched its Cygnus capsule for NASA from Wallops Island, Virginia. The 8,200-pound shipment should reach the orbiting lab Monday. “Good launch...
South Dakota set to execute man who stabbed former co-worker
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Donnivan Schaeffer was delivering supplies to the South Dakota doughnut shop where he worked when a former co-worker who was in the middle of burglarizing the place ambushed the 22-year-old, stabbing him in the stomach. Bleeding from his wound, Schaeffer begged to be taken to a...
Greta Thunberg call to fight global warming cheers LA rally
LOS ANGELES — Greta Thunberg, Sweden’s 16-year-old climate-change activist, joined fellow teenagers from throughout California Friday in telling a cheering crowd of hundreds at a Los Angeles rally that they can and will fight to save their planet from global warming. Thunberg, who has been traveling across the United States...
Felon arrested who allegedly shot 2 men trying to abduct his son
A Louisiana man was arrested after shooting two men attempting to kidnap his son, killing one. Hakim Dumas of Slidell was reportedly at home in the early morning hours of Oct. 24 when two men attempted to take his sleeping child. Dumas pulled a gun and shot at both men,...
Mississippi’s Jim Crow-era election system stands, for now
JACKSON, Miss. — A federal judge ruled Friday that he will not immediately block Mississippi’s unique, multistep process for electing a governor and other statewide officials, which was enacted at a time of Jim Crow segregation to maintain white rule. However, in a ruling handed down days before Tuesday’s election,...
Groups ask California governor to deter parolee deportations
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Immigrant rights groups called Friday for Gov. Gavin Newsom to end policies they say ease the transfer of prison inmates to federal authorities despite California’s efforts to provide a sanctuary to those who are in the country illegally. The groups asked Newsom to stop prison officials from...
Louisiana man gets probation in whooping crane death
A Louisiana man was sentenced to probation Friday for killing one of the state’s oldest whooping cranes . Gilvin P. Aucoin Jr., of Ville Platte, shot the endangered whooping crane in July 2018 in Evangeline Parish. In a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carol B. Whitehurst, Aucoin changed his plea...
New execution order filed for Georgia inmate Ray Cromartie
ATLANTA — A judge has issued a new execution order for Ray “Jeff” Cromartie, whose scheduled death by lethal injection was halted Wednesday by the Georgia Supreme Court. Per the new order by Thomas County Judge Frank Horkan, the execution is scheduled for Nov. 13. Cromartie was sentenced to death...
Greensburg woman had ‘pride and purpose’
Jemima Klingensmith was proud of her family’s legacy. Her great-grandfather, John Stouffer, fought for the Union in then Civil War. Mrs. Klingensmith was a longtime member and onetime state president of the Daughters of Union Veterans, a group of Civil War descendants dedicated to keeping the memory of their ancestors...
Beto O’Rourke announces he’s dropping 2020 presidential bid
Democrat Beto O’Rourke has announced he’s dropping his 2020 presidential bid. O’Rourke tweeted Friday that his campaign “has always been about seeing clearly, speaking honestly, and acting decisively.” He writes, “In that spirit: I am announcing that my service to the country will not be as a candidate or as...
U.K. police say truck victims from Vietnam; 3 suspects held
LONDON — All 39 people found dead in a refrigerated container truck in England last week were Vietnamese nationals, British police said Friday, as three more people were arrested in Ireland and Vietnam in the sprawling international investigation into what appears to be a people-smuggling tragedy. British detectives initially said...
Trump taps cancer specialist from Texas hospital to run FDA
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday picked a cancer specialist and hospital executive to lead the Food and Drug Administration. If confirmed, Dr. Stephen Hahn of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston would inherit a raft of high-profile public health issues, including leading the agency’s response to the...
Daily Download: Hotel parking lot fire, Robert Bowers case, WPIAL football playoffsVideo
In today’s Daily Download, staffer Matt Rosenberg discusses a fire that damaged multiple cars in a hotel parking lot, the capital case against Tree of Life gunman Robert Bowers and the start of WPIAL high school football playoffs. Each day, TribLIVE reporters and editors will break down the biggest news...
Minnesota company snubs time change by removing clocks
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — While most everyone wishes they could turn back time, one of the largest corporations in the country is sick of it. Minnesota-based 3M is taking advantage of the end of daylight saving time and removing about 1,000 wall clocks at its 400-acre Maplewood campus. For decades, nearly...
Trump fires up religious critics with job for televangelist
The ascension of Paula White as an official member of Donald Trump’s White House highlights how closely the president is relying on his inner circle of evangelical Christian supporters as he fights an impeachment probe during his reelection bid — while giving liberal evangelicals a new opening to push back...
Man surrenders after authorities edit photo to add costume
KANKAKEE, Ill. — All it took for one fugitive in Illinois to turn himself in was a little photo manipulation. WBBM-TV in Chicago reports that the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Department posts notices about fugitives on its Facebook page each Wednesday. This week, the department posted a picture of Brandon W....
Officials: Suspected fentanyl bust in Ohio large enough to kill state’s entire population
DAYTON, Ohio — Authorities say a joint task force in Ohio has seized a quantity of suspected fentanyl large enough to kill the state’s population “many times over.” A Montgomery County sheriff’s news release says law enforcement recently confiscated over 20 kilograms, or more than 40 pounds, of suspected fentanyl....
5 things to know about Affordable Care Act’s 2020 enrollment period
Western Pennsylvanians shopping for 2020 insurance coverage through the federal health care marketplace can expect to see a small uptick in prices over last year and more plans to choose from. Costs for 2020 individual plans increased statewide by an average of about 4%, state data show. “It’s a slight...
Report: China has been using pigs as crash test dummies
Researchers in China have apparently been using live pigs as a substitution for crash dummies for testing the potential impact of automobile collisions. According to a report from the Daily Mail, 15 juvenile pigs were buckled into seats for high-speed simulations in testing that resulted in seven immediate deaths. The...
