Legal experts question deputy’s arrest over Parkland tragedy
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The arrest of a Florida sheriff’s deputy for not confronting the gunman in the Parkland school massacre represents a highly unusual use of the law — and a legally dubious one, in the opinion of some experts. Scot Peterson, 56, appeared in court Wednesday on 11...
Oakland, Calif., decriminalizes ‘magic mushrooms,’ other natural psychedelics
The city council of Oakland, Calif., unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday that decriminalizes the use of entheogenic plants, a category that includes flora such as “magic mushrooms,” cactuses, and iboga, that can induce a psychedelic experience. The resolution states that law enforcement should not prioritize arresting or investigating adults who...
Wisconsin Legislature sends abortion bills to governor
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday sent four abortion bills to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who has promised to veto all of them. One measure addresses the extremely rare occurrence in which a baby is born alive during an abortion attempt. It would impose criminal penalties on doctors...
Amazon says it will be delivering by drones ‘in months’
LAS VEGAS — Amazon says it expects to be delivering orders to shoppers’ homes by drones in the coming months. The online shopping giant did not give exact timing or say which locations the self-driving drones will be making deliveries. Amazon has been working on drone delivery for years. Back...
Trump administration plans to expand hunting, fishing in wildlife refuges
OAK HARBOR, Ohio — The Trump administration is announcing what it calls a major expansion of hunting and fishing in the nation’s protected wildlife refuges. U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Wednesday the plan affects 1.4 million acres of federal public lands, including 74 national wildlife refuges. “President Trump is...
Mexico officials prepare to intercept about 1,000 migrants
METAPA, Mexico — Some 200 military police, immigration agents and federal police were awaiting a group of about 1,000 Central American migrants who were walking north along a southern Mexico highway on Wednesday. The group of migrants, including many women and children, set out early from Ciudad Hidalgo at the...
Readers respond: Dodgeball is not bullying
A story about researchers questioning whether dodgeball is an appropiate game for schoolchildren drew hundreds of responses on social media with most of them decrying the research and saying to leave dodgeball alone. While the Canadian researchers said that dodgeball is not an appropriate game because it often has players...
Trump administration imposes new restrictions on fetal tissue research
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Wednesday ended medical research by government scientists using fetal tissue and also cancelled a multi-million-dollar contract for a nongovernment lab that uses the material to test new HIV treatments. “Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the...
YouTube gets more aggressive in banning supremacist, hoax videos
YouTube said Wednesday it will remove false videos alleging that major events like the Holocaust didn’t happen, as well as a broad array of content by white supremacists and others in a move to more aggressively crack down on hate speech. The Google-owned video site, along with its Silicon Valley...
Panel: New Jersey governor’s staff botched sex assault claim response
TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration botched its handling of a sexual assault claim made by one state worker against another, a state legislative panel found in a report that it published on Wednesday. The Legislative Select Oversight Committee released the 123-page document after nine public hearings and hours...
Americans think fake news is big problem, blame politicians
NEW YORK — Half of U.S. adults consider fake news a major problem, and they mostly blame politicians and activists for it, according to a new survey. A majority also believe journalists have the responsibility for fixing it. Differences in political affiliation are a major factor in how people think...
Powerball winner used numbers from fortune cookieVideo
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina man who says he based his Powerball entry on a fortune cookie he got from his granddaughter now has a fortune to celebrate. WRAL in Raleigh reports retired retailer Charles W. Jackson Jr. stepped forward at North Carolina Education Lottery headquarters on Tuesday to...
Battery-powered glider crashes into Connecticut home
DANBURY, Conn. — A battery-powered glider crashed into the roof of a Connecticut home, injuring the pilot and scaring a mother and her two children who were watching TV. Neighbors described hearing a small explosion when the aircraft hit the home in Danbury Tuesday night and became partially embedded in...
New poll shows Biden, Sanders with sizable leads over Trump in Michigan
A new poll shows both Democratic White House hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders with substantial leads in matchups with President Donald Trump in Michigan, one of the Rust Belt states key to his 2016 electoral college victory. Biden, the former vice president, and Sanders, a senator from Vermont, led...
Indiana officer apologizes for blackface Halloween costume
CLARKSVILLE, Ind. — A southern Indiana police captain has apologized for a blackface Halloween costume and his department plans to update sensitivity training following the disclosure. The News and Tribune reports it was recently made aware of Facebook photos showing Clarksville Capt. Joel DeMoss, a 20-year veteran of the department...
Alabama passes bill requiring chemical castration of child molesters
The Alabama Legislature has passed a bill that would require chemical castration of child molesters over age 21 who have abused a child younger than 13. The bill, known as HB379, would make the measure a condition of parole. Convicted sex offenders would have to undergo chemical castration before leaving...
American, British veterans re-create D-Day parachute drops
CARENTAN, France — Parachutists are jumping over Normandy again, just as soldiers did 75 years ago for D-Day — but this time without being shot at. With the throb of their engines rumbling through cloudy skies, C-47 transport planes in World War II colors dropped jumpers with round canopies reminiscent...
Trump reads from FDR’s prayer to the U.S. on D-Day
PORTSMOUTH, England — President Donald Trump read from a prayer delivered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as he joined other world leaders and veterans Wednesday in marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Roosevelt went on national radio on June 6, 1944, to address the U.S. for the first time about...
Video: Rescue of injured 74-year-old hiker spins out of controlVideo
PHOENIX — Authorities say a 74-year-old hiker whose head and face were injured in a fall on a Phoenix mountain endured a wild ride in a stretcher as she was being hoisted into a helicopter. Phoenix Fire Department officials say the woman was treated for dizziness and nausea but suffered...
Texas teacher trying to privately message Trump about ‘illegal’ students gets fired
An English teacher in Fort Worth, Texas, who thought she was directly messaging President Trump on Twitter about removing undocumented students from her district has been fired. Self-proclaimed whistle-blower Georgia Clark, who has been with the district since 1998, thought she was being discreet with direct messages to the president,...
Pennsylvania moves to take over health insurance exchange
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is moving to take over the online health insurance exchange that’s been operated by the federal government since 2014, saying it can cut health insurance costs for the hundreds of thousands who buy the individual Affordable Care Act policies. New legislation introduced Tuesday has high-level support in...
Trump administration prohibits group travel by Americans to Cuba
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department published new regulations Tuesday, ending group travel to Cuba for “people to people” educational purposes and prohibiting visits to the island via cruise ships, personal aircraft or personal boats. The regulations, part of President Trump’s continuing rollback of the Obama-era thaw with Cuba, implement policies...
Biden’s camp admits lifting passages for policy plans
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign lifted language without credit, at times word for word, when crafting its education and climate plans, incidents the campaign acknowledged and said were inadvertent. The incidents appeared to be staff errors when detailing Biden’s policies, and they underscored how hastily his campaign was attempting to put...
House passes immigration bill that would protect ‘Dreamers’
WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday passed a bill that would offer a path to citizenship to more than 2 million undocumented immigrants, including “Dreamers” who were brought to the United States as children. The vote was 237-to-187 for the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, which would grant...
Duquesne launches center for ethics in science, technology and law
Duquesne University is creating a new interdisciplinary center exploring the “intersection between ethics and science, technology, and law from a Catholic faith-based perspective,” according to a news release. The Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology and Law is scheduled to open this fall with an initial gift...
