U.S. hotels caught up in fight over housing detained migrants
DETROIT — There’s a new target in the clash over immigration: hotels. Advocacy groups and unions are pressuring Marriott, MGM and others not to house migrants who have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. For decades, the U.S. government has occasionally detained migrants in hotels, and Acting ICE...
Jerry Nadler: Mueller hearing to air evidence of Trump wrongdoingVideo
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee chairman said Sunday that the hearing this week with Robert Mueller will air “very substantial evidence” of wrongdoing by President Trump and make a public case for impeachment. Republicans pledged sharp questioning of the special counsel about what they see as a “one-sided” Russia...
Trump aide: Trump criticism of U.S. different from 4 Democrats
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. — A top White House adviser on Sunday claimed there was a “huge difference” between Donald Trump’s criticisms of America during the 2016 presidential campaign and the critiques by four Democratic congresswomen of color with whom Trump is feuding over the direction of the country. Trump’s words,...
Tennessee banker wins annual Hemingway Look-Alike contest
KEY WEST, Fla.— Persistence paid off for a retired Tennessee banker who won the weekend’s Hemingway Look-Alike Contest on his eighth try. Joe Maxey, 68, of Cedar Hill, triumphed during the three-round contest that concluded Saturday night at Key West’s Sloppy Joe’s Bar, a frequent hangout for Nobel Prize-winning author...
Feeling blue? Oregon students can take ‘mental health days’
SALEM, Oregon — Oregon will allow students to take “mental health days” just as they would sick days, expanding the reasons for excused school absences to include mental or behavioral health under a new law that experts say is one of the first of its kind in the U.S. But...
ESPN reasserts political talk policy after attack on TrumpVideo
NEW YORK — ESPN is making sure that its employees know there is no change in the network’s policy to avoid talking about politics unless it intersects with sports after radio talk show host Dan Le Batard criticized President Donald Trump and his recent racist comments and ESPN itself on...
Hong Kong police launch tear gas in latest mass protest
HONG KONG — Hong Kong police launched tear gas at protesters Sunday after a massive pro-democracy march continued late into the evening. The action was the latest confrontation between police and demonstrators who have taken to the streets for over a month to protest a proposed extradition bill and call...
Miss Michigan stripped of crown over ‘offensive’ tweets
Just four days into her reign as Miss Michigan, Kathy Zhu was stripped of her title over her offensive social media tweets. Zhu, 20, got the crown June 14, but by Thursday she was out. This is insane. @MissWorldLtd Beauty Queen @PoliticalKathy stripped of her Miss Michigan title for...being a...
What consumers can do as regulators weigh compounds’ risks
WASHINGTON — At first, Tomas Monarrez didn’t notice the labels when he went shopping for pots and pans. “Completely toxin free!” said a big green message on a line of nonstick frying pans in the cookware aisle at a store in the nation’s capital. “No PFOA!” boasted the label on...
Florida ‘pill mills’ were ‘gas on the fire’ of opioid crisis
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida survives on tourism, but a decade ago thousands of visitors made frequent trips to the state not to visit its theme parks or beaches. Instead, they came for cheap and easy prescription painkillers sold at unscrupulous walk-in clinics. For a while, few in authority did...
Some asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexico help each other
SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Mexico — A small group of asylum seekers finds space under a canopy on the side of a road leading into the United States, chatting to pass the time as a blazing desert sun pushes the heat into triple digits and fumes roll in from dozens...
Monsoon flooding death toll climbs to 164 in South Asia
GAUHATI, India — The death toll in monsoon flooding in South Asia has climbed past 160 as millions of people and animals continue to face the brunt in three countries, officials said Saturday. At least 90 people have died in Nepal and 62 in northeastern India’s Assam state over the...
American crocodiles thriving outside nuclear plant
MIAMI — American crocodiles, once headed toward extinction, are thriving at an unusual spot — the canals surrounding a South Florida nuclear plant. Last week, 73 crocodile hatchlings were rescued by a team of specialists at Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear plant and dozens more are expected to...
Mt. Pleasant woman, mother of 7, known for ‘can-do’ attitude
When the future Nellie Kalp was first chatting with Donald Kalp, the man who would become her husband, the pair passed a group of children playing baseball. A stray ball landed near her. Having played plenty of ball with her brothers, she didn’t give her response much thought. “She reached...
Space under Vatican college holds bones of dozens, expert says
VATICAN CITY — A genetics expert retained by the family of a girl who went missing in 1983 said Saturday that a cavernous underground space near a Vatican cemetery holds thousands of bones that appear to be from dozens of individuals, both “adult and non-adult.” The expert, Giorgio Portera, said...
‘Got the Spider!’ joke on demolished house goes viral
A spray-painted joke on a demolished house is putting Renner, South Dakota, on the map. Jeff Hopkins, 51, and his girlfriend, Dawn Cronk, 49, decided to have a little fun with their extra house they had just torn down, reports the Argus Leader. The couple agreed that “Got the Spider!”...
War-weakened South Sudan tries to prepare for Ebola
JUBA, South Sudan — With the deadly Ebola outbreak in Congo now an international emergency , neighboring South Sudan and its war-weakened health system is a major concern, especially after one case was confirmed near its border. Health experts say there is an urgent need to increase prevention efforts. The...
Serbia’s president says Kosovo PM’s resignation is a ‘trick’
BELGRADE, Serbia — The surprise decision by Kosovo’s prime minister to step down over a call for questioning from a Hague-based court has been slammed as a “political trick” by Serbia’s president. Aleksandar Vucic said Saturday that Ramush Haradinaj’s resignation the day before was designed to rally popular support and...
Cat filter accidentally added to double murder news conference
Sometimes funny accidents show up at the most inopportune times. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia were live streaming on Facebook with an update and public appeal for help about a double homicide from earlier in the week, Vancouver’s online newspaper The Daily Hive reports. The only problem?...
Elections experts say cybersecurity threats demand federal funding
Unfunded cybersecurity needs are leaving state and local election officials to stand on the front lines of threats from sophisticated international interests, a new report asserts. “Defending Elections,” a report from the Brennan Center for Justice, highlights growing concerns that myriad unmet security needs pose a threat to fair elections....
Teen rapper Tay-K found guilty of murder, faces up to 99 years
A teen rapper who three years ago notoriously made a music video while on the run from police was found guilty of murder Friday. Taymor “Tay-K” McIntyre, 19, faces five to 99 years behind bars after a jury convicted him of murder, but not the more serious crime of capital...
Trump says he will help rapper A$AP Rocky get out of Swedish jail
President Trump on Friday tweeted that he, after conversing with Kanye West, will work toward bringing rapper A$AP Rocky back to the U.S. after he was jailed in Sweden. A$AP has reportedly been jailed without charges following a street fight in June. “Just spoke to @KanyeWest about his friend A$AP...
Giant Hawaii telescope to focus on big unknowns of universe
HONOLULU — Is there life on planets outside our solar system? How did stars and galaxies form in the earliest years of the universe? How do black holes shape galaxies? Scientists are expected to explore those and other fundamental questions about the universe when they peer deep into the night...
1 killed, 4 injured when Alaska flight aborted on takeoff
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Maryland man visiting Alaska with his family was killed and one of his three children was critically injured Friday after their floatplane’s takeoff was aborted. Alaska State Troopers identified the deceased man as Joseph Patenella, 57. No hometown was disclosed. The critically hurt child was flown...
US judge denies bail for ex-Peruvian president Toledo
SAN FRANCISCO — A U.S. judge on Friday denied bail for former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo after prosecutors argued that he was a flight risk and pointed out officials found a suitcase with $40,000 in cash during his arrest. “If the defendant were to flee, this would be a diplomatically...
