Florida city pays $600,000 ransom to save computer records
A Florida city agreed to pay $600,000 in ransom to hackers who took over its computer system, the latest in thousands of attacks worldwide aimed at extorting money from governments and businesses. The Riviera Beach City Council voted unanimously this week to pay the hackers’ demands, believing the Palm Beach...
Alabama man denies feeding meth to ‘attack squirrel’Video
BIRMINGHAM — An Alabama man wanted on drug and weapons charges has posted a video denying he fed methamphetamine to a so-called “attack squirrel” that he considers a pet. Mickey Paulk posted the video on his Facebook page Tuesday night as authorities continued searching for him. It shows him stroking...
Pennsylvania enshrines recognition of Juneteenth into law
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is permanently recognizing Juneteenth, the cultural holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved black people in the United States. Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday signed legislation designating June 19 as Juneteenth National Freedom Day. Most states recognize it, and Pennsylvania lawmakers typically recognize the day by passing non-binding...
St. Louis prosecutor adds 22 cops to list banned from presenting cases
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis’ top prosecutor has added 22 more names to a list of city police officers who are not allowed to bring cases to her office, after a national group accused the officers of posting racist and anti-Muslim comments on social media. The 22 new names brings...
Scientists record singing by 1 of rarest whales
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Federal marine biologists have recorded singing by one of the rarest whales on the planet. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers used moored acoustic recorders to capture repeated patterns of calls made by male North Pacific right whales, the first time any right whale songs in any...
Thief takes Marilyn Monroe statue from Hollywood gazebo
LOS ANGELES — Goodbye, Norma Jean? Officials say someone climbed a more than two-story tall Hollywood public art piece and stole a statue of Marilyn Monroe. The statue depicting Monroe in her iconic pose from the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch” went missing early Monday from the “Four Ladies...
Survey: Owners having problems with driver-assist systems
As auto companies continue to fix buggy touch-screen infotainment systems, a survey of new-vehicle buyers has found there’s a different technology posing problems: driver assist systems such as automatic emergency braking. The annual survey by J.D. Power found that as the electronic safety systems find their way into more mainstream...
Pennsylvania moves to expand limits on opioid prescriptions
Legislation to further clamp down on powerful painkiller prescriptions in Pennsylvania has the state Senate’s approval, although Democrats tried unsuccessfully to put limits on an exception for major surgery. The Senate voted unanimously Wednesday, nearly three years after lawmakers passed a package of legislation to limit opioid prescriptions to fight...
Pa. Senate vote puts victims’ rights amendment before voters
Pennsylvania voters will decide whether to enumerate victims’ rights in the state constitution, a proposal likely to appear on the November ballot. The state Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to give its final approval, putting the state’s version of Marsy’s Law on the ballot as a constitutional amendment referendum. The proposed...
Self-help guru convicted in lurid sex-trafficking case
NEW YORK — The former leader of a purported self-help group was convicted Wednesday of federal charges that centered on lurid details of what prosecutors called a secret society of “sex slaves” within a community of followers in upstate New York. A jury in federal court in Brooklyn took less...
American Airlines deal boosts Airbus’s new long-range jet
PARIS — American Airlines is buying 50 new long-range planes from Airbus, giving a big boost to the just-launched A321XLR model and spurring Boeing to push ahead to develop a rival aircraft. Airbus and the American Airlines — the world’s largest carrier — announced the deal Wednesday at the Paris...
Cracker Barrel bars church event over LGBT execution remarks
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Cracker Barrel says it won’t host an event by a Tennessee church whose pastor was a detective who preached that the government should execute gay people. Cracker Barrel said Tuesday on Twitter that it’s not affiliated with All Scripture Baptist Church or its pastor, ex-Knox County sheriff’s...
10-year-old Colorado girl scales Yosemite’s famed El Capitan
SAN FRANCISCO — A 10-year-old Colorado girl has scaled Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan, taking five days to reach the top of the iconic rock formation. Selah Schneiter of Glenwood Springs completed the challenging 3,000-foot (910 meters) climb last week with the help of her father and a family friend....
Push for marijuana legalization falls flat in New York
ALBANY, N.Y. — A push to legalize recreational marijuana in New York state has fallen flat. The sponsor of the main legalization bill in the state Senate says the bill will not pass before lawmakers adjourn for the year this week. Manhattan Democrat Liz Krueger says supporters came close to...
Man accused of stealing WWII dog tags from National Archives
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — A Virginia National Guard sergeant is accused of stealing World War II-era dog tags from the National Archives and Records Administration research facility in Maryland. A criminal complaint filed in federal court last month says 29-year-old Robert Rumsby of Fredericksburg, Virginia, told investigators he took dog...
Wireless carriers’ 5G legislation stalls in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Wireless carriers including Verizon and AT&T are struggling to get a vote on legislation to make it easier and cheaper for them to attach small-cell antennas to utility poles to carry 4G and next-generation 5G services across Pennsylvania. A House Consumer Affairs Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday was...
Billions of mosquito lookalikes plague New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS — Billions of mosquito lookalikes are showing up in the New Orleans area, blanketing car windshields, littering the ground with little bodies and even scaring some folks. They’re aquatic midges, often called “blind mosquitoes.” They don’t bite, and they’re good for the environment, but they sure can be...
New England newspaper owner fights to save local journalism
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — These days, the news about local news seems relentlessly bad: Newsroom employment, down by nearly half over the past 15 years. Waves of layoffs continuing to hit both traditional newspaper chains and digital news startups. Cities and towns so denuded of coverage that they’re described as “news...
Arctic Norway island wants to be ‘time-free’ during summer
Residents on an Arctic Norwegian island with 69 days of constant light in the summer say they want to go “time-free” and be more flexible with school and working hours to make the most of the long days. Resident Kjell Ove Hveding says people on the island of Sommaroey —...
Polar bear spotted in Russian city, far from normal habitat
An emaciated polar bear has been sighted in a Russian industrial city in Siberia, far south of its normal hunting grounds. Emergency officials in the city of Norilsk in a statement on Tuesday warned local residents about a bear that has been spotted in one city district. Anatoly Nikolaichuk, chief...
Man caught at JFK smuggling 34 finches in hair curlers
In another life, Francis Gurahoo might have pursued a career as a hairstylist. But the three dozen-or-so plastic hair rollers stashed in his carry-on luggage weren’t meant for luscious curls. Instead, authorities found 34 colorful finches inside those rollers - each capable of producing songs worth thousands of dollars. If...
Driver dead after carjacking, being run over by officer
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Police in Alabama say a person is dead after being assaulted during a carjacking and then run over by an off-duty officer. Birmingham police Sgt. Johnny Williams tells news outlets a driver crashed into a motorcycle early Wednesday and was then carjacked by people who stopped at...
Woman trapped in St. Louis jail stairwell for 2.5 days
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Authorities say a woman was trapped in a St. Louis jail stairwell for more than two days after not understanding how to get out of the building. St. Louis Corrections Commissioner Dale Glass said the woman didn’t appear to be suffering when she was found and...
Hicks rebuffs questions on Trump White House in interview
WASHINGTON — Former top White House adviser Hope Hicks on Wednesday refused to answer questions related to her time in the White House in an interview with the House Judiciary Committee, dimming Democrats’ chances of obtaining new or substantive information about President Trump as part of their investigation into obstruction...
Trial over downing of MH17 to start in March; 4 suspects charged
NIEUWEGEIN, Netherlands — The mother of one of the 298 victims of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 says at least four suspects will be tried for murder in a case set to start in March 2020. Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son Bryce was among the dead, expressed relief that...
