California relishes role as liberal trendsetter, Trump foe
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Democrats who rule California took on homegrown tech giants Uber and Lyft over their workforces, convinced some of the world’s biggest automakers to buck the president on fuel emissions and passed a law that could change college sports nationwide. On issues big and small — hotels...
Cemetery cancels Halloween movie night after criticism by families
A cemetery in North Carolina has canceled a Halloween-themed movie night after receiving criticism by families of loved buried there. Lafayette Memorial Park in Fayetteville, N.C. planned a free, kid-friendly film night with snacks scheduled for Oct. 26, according to a Facebook event post. The post said that the movie...
Row home explosion in Allentown, Pa. sparks fire that spreads to other homes
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Authorities say an early morning house explosion in Allentown blew off the front of the row home and led to a fire that spread to nine other homes, but no serious injuries were immediately reported. Allentown fire officials said the 3 a.m. Sunday blast and fire displaced...
Killing took place in New York, but Nicaragua hosts trial
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Witnesses have gathered in a small city in upstate New York over the past three weeks to testify in the trial of a man accused of strangling a young nursing student to death. But there is no jury, no American judge and the man accused is seated...
11-month-old shot, wounded inside a car in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — Police in Philadelphia say an 11-month-old boy was shot four times and critically wounded while inside a car. A police release says the baby was shot once in the back of the head, once in the chest, and twice in the buttocks Saturday night. The baby’s stepmother drove...
U.S. troops in Syria going to Iraq, not home as Trump claims
KABUL, Afghanistan — While President Donald Trump insists he’s bringing home Americans from “endless wars” in the Mideast, his Pentagon chief says all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the American military will continue operations against the Islamic State group. They aren’t coming home and the...
Trump says G7 summit won’t be held at his Florida golf resort
WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Saturday that the 2020 G7 summit will not be held at his Doral resort in Miami amid concerns of a conflict of interest. “Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the...
15 dead after Russian dam collapse floods dormitories
MOSCOW — At least 15 people are dead after a dam at a small Siberian gold mine collapsed and water flooded two workers’ dormitories on Saturday. The Emergencies Ministry also said seven people were unaccounted for, Russian news reports said. The regional health ministry said 16 people were injured. The...
Toxic PCBs linger in schools as EPA, lawmakers fail to act
MONROE, Wash. — At first, teachers at Sky Valley Education Center simply had students evacuate and used fans to clear the air when the fluorescent lights caught fire or smoked with noxious fumes. When black oil dripped onto desks and floors, they caught leaks with a bucket and duct-taped oil-stained...
Turkey wants Syrian forces to leave border areas, aide says
ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants Syrian government forces to move out of areas near the Turkish border so he can resettle up to 2 million refugees there, his spokesman told The Associated Press on Saturday. The request will top Erdogan’s talks next week with Syria’s ally, Russian...
Parliament vote forces U.K. to postpone Brexit beyond Oct. 31
LONDON — A defiant Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday that he would resist attempts to delay Britain’s departure from the European Union beyond the end of the month, though he appeared to have no choice but to seek an extension after Parliament postponed a decision on whether to back...
Impeachment inquiry puts spotlight on Rick Perry, who shunned it
WASHINGTON — Long after more flamboyant colleagues flamed out of President Donald Trump’s favor amid ethics scandals, low-profile and folksy Rick Perry survived in the Cabinet in part by steering clear of controversy. Until now. The former Texas governor said Thursday he was quitting as energy secretary by year’s end....
Barcelona mayor pleads for violence in Catalonia to stop
BARCELONA, Spain — The mayor of riot-stricken Barcelona pleaded Saturday for calm after violent protests by Catalan separatists rocked Spain’s second largest city for a fifth consecutive night. “This cannot continue. Barcelona does not deserve it,” Mayor Ada Colau told reporters, adding that Friday’s violence was the worst so far....
Elected officials across U.S. watching Cleveland opioid case
Gene Vittone has seen the toll opioid addiction has exacted on his community up close and personal. The Washington County district attorney, who is also a paramedic, has seen law enforcement, family services and first responders struggle under a tsunami of illicit drug use that once triggered 16 overdoses on...
Exhibit on Jefferson’s architecture weaves in slavery’s role
NORFOLK, Va. — As an architect, Thomas Jefferson envisioned buildings for a new republic — not old-world kings. The domes and columns in his designs recalled ancient Greece and Rome to symbolize liberty and democracy. And yet enslaved Americans were involved in the actual construction. They helped build everything from...
Unlikely alliance fighting pipeline in Texas Hill Country
FREDERICKSBURG, Texas — One of the longest proposed new natural gas pipelines in the U.S. is set to run through Heath Frantzen’s property in the Texas Hill Country, where more than 600 white-tailed and trophy axis deer graze on a hunting ranch his family has owned for three generations. Fearing...
70,000 California wildfire victims may miss out on payments
SAN FRANCISCO — As many as 100,000 Californians are eligible to receive payments for the damages they suffered from a series of devastating wildfires over the last several years. But tens of thousands of them have not sought compensation. They face a Monday deadline to file claims against Pacific Gas...
Nestor downgraded, but tornado damages Florida homes
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Tropical Storm Nestor was downgraded Saturday after it spawned a tornado that damaged homes and a school in central Florida but spared an area of the Florida Panhandle devastated one year ago by Hurricane Michael. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said several homes were damaged and Kathleen...
Service canceled for Texas woman shot at home by officer
DALLAS — A service for a woman shot in her home by a Fort Worth police officer that had been scheduled for Saturday was canceled amid a family dispute over funeral arrangements. Atatiana Jefferson’s funeral had been set to be held at Potter’s House Church in Dallas. Church representative Mara...
Closing arguments up next in deadly N.C. prison breakout trial
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Closing arguments are expected next week in the trial of an inmate accused of murder in a deadly attempted breakout that left four North Carolina prison workers dead. Jurors on Thursday heard grisly details about the disturbance in a video interview, The Virginian-Pilot reported. In the...
Artist uses ‘historic’ markers to raise climate awareness
DURHAM, N.H. — New England is awash in historic markers, but a handful of plaques popping up in a New Hampshire town are different. Rather than commemorating important people or places in history, many of these dinner plate-size signs detail events like rising sea levels and an explosion of ticks...
Indiana woman convicted of reckless homicide in 3 deaths
ROCHESTER, Ind. — An Indiana woman was convicted Friday of reckless homicide for plowing her pickup truck into four children, killing three of them, as they crossed a two-lane highway to board their school bus. The Fulton County jury also found Alyssa Shepherd, 24, guilty of criminal recklessness in the...
Sharpton searches for the words to eulogize — and galvanize
A life taken at the hands of police. A grieving family. A divided nation. A stirring eulogy by the Rev. Al Sharpton. The 65-year-old civil rights activist has become a constant of the Black Lives Matter era with his presence in the pulpit after police shootings of African Americans, showing...
Chicago’s mayor says top cop drinking before incident in car
CHICAGO — Chicago’s mayor said Friday that the city’s top police officer told her he’d had “a couple of drinks with dinner” before he fell asleep at a stop sign while driving home, an incident that the chief contends was related to a change in his blood pressure medication. Superintendent...
Law stopping Florida felons from voting temporarily halted
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A federal judge issued a ruling Friday temporarily blocking a Republican-backed Florida law that barred some felons from voting because of their inability to pay fines and other legal debts. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle means thousands of felons who were denied the right...
