Romania ruling party boss gets 3½ years in prison for graft
BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s most powerful politician was sentenced Monday to 3½ years in prison for official misconduct in a graft case. The jail time for Liviu Dragnea, party leader of the ruling Social Democrats, came after a conviction last year for having two party members paid by a public...
HIV cases rising in West Virginia county
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A cluster of HIV cases in Cabell County reflects a shift in how the disease is being transmitted, West Virginia health officials say. The Herald-Dispatch reports Cabell County’s cluster — the only one currently known in West Virginia — is up to 49 confirmed cases, according to...
Knife-wielding man attacks schoolgirls in Japan, killing 2
KAWASAKI, Japan — A man carrying a knife in each hand and screaming “I will kill you!” attacked a group of schoolgirls and adults as he walked toward a school bus parked at a bus stop just outside Tokyo on Tuesday, killing two and injuring 16 before killing himself, officials...
Conservatives helped radicalize Nazi sympathizer, lawyer says
After Nolan Brewer pleaded guilty to charges in connection with painting swastikas on an Indiana synagogue and setting the yard ablaze, his attorney argued in court documents that the 21-year-old man did not deserve prison time. He had been influenced heavily by his wife, Kyomi Brewer, his attorney wrote in...
Austria’s Kurz forced from office, loses no time to prepare comeback
VIENNA — Austria’s conservative leader Sebastian Kurz was ousted as chancellor in a no-confidence vote in parliament Monday, but launched his re-election campaign just hours later. “I am still here,” Kurz told a crowd of fans and cheering People’s Party officials that were bused to Vienna. The far right and...
Colorado climber dies after reaching top of Mount Everest
DENVER — A Colorado climber died shortly after getting to the top of Mount Everest and achieving his dream of scaling the highest peaks on each of the seven continents, his brother said Monday. Christopher Kulish, a 62-year-old Boulder attorney, died Monday at a camp below the summit during his...
Police: Gun accidentally fires, bullet hits girl taking bath
HAZLETON — Police say a bullet from a gun that accidentally discharged in a northeastern Pennsylvania home went through a wall and struck a 13-year-old girl who was taking a bath. Hazleton’s police chief says the bullet went through furniture and a wall before hitting the girl at about 1...
Pa. lawmakers report $83K in travel on annual ethics disclosures
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania state lawmakers’ newly filed ethics forms show they accepted more than $83,000 in free trips last year and collected a variety of gifts, booze and free meals. That’s just the value that lawmakers reported, and they are not required to disclose everything they accept in a state...
Trump in Japan: Pomp and tense circumstance
TOKYO — All the pomp and pageantry in the world couldn’t paper over the tensions between President Donald Trump and Japan’s Shinzo Abe on two of their most pressing issues: North Korea and trade. The president and prime minister tried mightily to minimize their differences during Trump’s four-day state visit...
Preparing to sue, ex-Boy Scouts recall abuse by unit leaders
NEW YORK — Sharing their stories doesn’t come easily for these middle-aged men. At times, their eyes well up or their voices crack as they describe being sexually abused in the Boy Scouts and suffering from emotional damage long afterward. Looking back, they all remember vividly how excited they were...
Democratic-led states divided over approach on abortion
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A bill seeking to preserve abortion protections in state law fails to pass a key committee. Lawmakers cite God, church and faith in proclaiming their opposition to it. Abortion-rights groups protest outside a gathering of lawmakers. What sounds like a legislative fight in a state controlled by...
Sit. Study. Fetch a bachelor’s degree in dog training.
COBLESKILL, N.Y. — Luna the springer spaniel is learning to sniff out a troublesome golf course fungus in return for a tennis ball while helping her handler fetch a new breed of bachelor’s degree. The four-year program in “canine training and management” officially launches this fall at the State University...
Trump is first head of state to meet Japan’s new emperorVideo
TOKYO — President Trump made history Monday under a blazing, hot sun at Japan’s Imperial Palace, becoming the first world leader to meet the new emperor of Japan. Emperor Naruhito ascended to the throne on May 1, opening what is called the era of “Reiwa,” or “beautiful harmony.” Trump’s “state...
Dayton estimates Ohio Klan rally cost $650,000 for securityVideo
DAYTON, Ohio — An Ohio city is estimating it spent about $650,000 on security for a rally attended by a small group of Ku Klux Klan members and hundreds of protesters. Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein says the city spent about $250,000 on personnel and about $400,000 on materials ahead...
ATV hits deer on Pennsylvania road, killing 2 men
WARREN — State police say an all-terrain vehicle hit a deer in northwestern Pennsylvania over the weekend, killing two men. Police say the crash occurred at about 7:20 a.m. Sunday in Triumph Township in southwestern Warren County. Police say the ATV was heading west on Campbell Hill Road when it...
Europe-wide vote fragments center as far right, Greens gainVideo
BRUSSELS — Europe’s longtime political center appeared to shrink Sunday as exit polls and early results from the hardest-fought European Parliament elections in decades showed both the anti-immigrant far right and the pro-environment Greens gaining ground. The four days of balloting across the 28 European Union countries were seen as...
Utah Judge Michael Kwan suspended for bashing Trump online and in court
The Utah Supreme Court suspended a judge for six months without pay this week over disparaging remarks he made about President Trump online and in his courtroom. The court ruling points to several instances in which Judge Michael Kwan, who has sat on the justice court bench for the city...
White House claims without proof that FBI has ‘outrageous’ corruption Barr will uncoverVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House on Sunday brushed aside congressional Democrats’ concerns about Atty. Gen. William Barr being handed extraordinary powers to declassify sensitive intelligence as part of a probe into the origins of the investigation into Russian efforts to sway the 2016 election. Reflecting his anger over unflattering depictions...
Victim killed by shark in Hawaii was California man, 65Video
MAUI, Hawaii — A California man who died after being attacked by a shark while swimming in Hawaii was pulled ashore missing a leg, according to a witness. Shark warning signs were posted Sunday in the Ka’anapali Beach Park area on Maui where the man died a day earlier. Witness...
Republican Will Hurd criticizes Trump for sharing heavily edited video of PelosiVideo
A Republican lawmaker said Sunday that he is concerned about President Trump’s sharing of a heavily edited video that spliced together several verbal pauses by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said that by sharing the video, Trump has escalated the debate over disinformation, which is “something...
Boy, 13, falls from observation level on Gettysburg monument
GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Authorities say a 13-year-old boy from Indiana was flown to a hospital after plummeting about 40 feet from a monument at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. Acting park information officer Jason Martz says the Fort Wayne youth was visiting the park on a school field trip...
137-year-old Winchester rifle found in Nevada has new home
BAKER, Nev. — A 137-year-old rifle found five years ago leaning against a juniper tree in Great Basin National Park in Nevada is now part of an exhibit dedicated to the “Forgotten Winchester” at the park visitor center near the Utah border. The weathered Winchester Model 1873 is in a...
Would overturning abortion rights turn back clock to 1973?
A wave of state abortion bans has set off speculation: What would happen if Roe v. Wade, the ruling establishing abortion rights nationwide, were overturned? Although far from a certainty, even with increased conservative clout on the Supreme Court, a reversal of Roe would mean abortion policy would revert to...
Tornado kills 2 people and injures 29 others in Oklahoma
EL RENO, Okla. — A tornado leveled a motel and tore through a mobile home park near Oklahoma City overnight, killing two people and injuring at least 29 others, authorities said Sunday. The twister touched down in El Reno, about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City, late Saturday night. It...
At the spelling bee, the most common sound is the toughest
The word that knocked runner-up Naysa Modi out of last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee was “Bewusstseinslage” — one of those flashy, impossible-sounding German-derived words that make the audience gasp when they are announced. Naysa believes the seemingly mundane word that knocked her out the year before was just as...
