Americans’ energy use surges despite climate change concern
WASHINGTON — Americans burned a record amount of energy in 2018, with a 10% jump in consumption from booming natural gas helping to lead the way, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says. Overall consumption of all kinds of fuels rose 4% year on year, the largest such increase in eight...
‘Toxic cocktail’ poisoning water in fire-ravaged city
PARADISE, Calif. — The drinking water in Paradise, Calif., where 85 people died in the worst wildfire in state history, is contaminated with the cancer-causing chemical benzene, water officials said. Officials said they believe the contamination happened after the November firestorm created a “toxic cocktail” of gases in burning homes...
Columbine honors 13 lost with community service, ceremony
LITTLETON, Colo. — Community members in suburban Denver marked the 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting Saturday by cleaning neighborhoods, volunteering at shelters, placing flowers at a memorial and attending a remembrance ceremony. The events end a three-day slate of somber gatherings honoring the victims and lending support...
Yellow vest anger burns in France, fueled by Notre Dame fire
PARIS — French yellow vest protesters set fires Saturday along a march through Paris to drive home their message to a government they believe is ignoring the poor: that rebuilding the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral isn’t the only problem France needs to solve. Like the high-visibility vests the protesters wear,...
Climate protesters march in London again; arrests hit 710
LONDON — London police said more than 710 people were arrested and about 28 charged since climate change protests began last week in the British capital. The Extinction Rebellion protests started Monday and have at times paralyzed parts of London, with peaceful demonstrations at Waterloo Bridge, Oxford Circus and other...
British cyber expert pleads guilty to creating malware
MILWAUKEE — A British cybersecurity researcher credited with stopping a worldwide computer virus has pleaded guilty to developing malware to steal banking information. Federal prosecutors in Wisconsin and Marcus Hutchins’ attorneys said in a joint court filing Friday that the 24-year-old agreed to plead guilty to developing malware called Kronos...
5-year-old Michigan boy calls 911 to ask for McDonald’s
WYOMING, Mich. — A 5-year-old Michigan boy had a craving for McDonald’s but his grandmother was sleeping, so he called 911 and made a request. WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids reports Iziah Hall of Wyoming asked the dispatcher: “Can you bring me McDonald’s?” Dispatcher Sara Kuberski said she told him no...
6 explosions hit churches, hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A security official said six near-simultaneous blasts hit three churches and three hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. The official said the explosions caused multiple fatalities among worshippers and hotel guests. The official said the blasts at two churches were suspected to be carried out...
Gunmen storm government building in Kabul; at least 7 dead
KABUL — Suicide bombers and gunmen stormed a high-rise government office building in a busy section of Kabul on Saturday, killing at least four civilians and three members of Afghan security forces in an hours-long battle that ended with all the assailants dead. No group claimed responsibility for the attack...
New attack on Ebola center in Congo; 1 militia member killed
BUTEMBO, Congo — Militia members attacked an Ebola treatment center hours after another attack killed a staffer with the World Health Organization, a Congolese official said Saturday. Butembo city’s deputy mayor, Patrick Kambale Tsiko, told The Associated Press that the attackers armed with machetes tried to burn down the center...
Doctor-services firm says private data of patients exposed
DALLAS — Nationwide physician-staffing company EmCare says a breach exposed personal data for about 31,000 patients, including in some cases their Social Security numbers and clinical information. EmCare Inc. said Saturday that an unauthorized third party gained access to the information through employee email accounts. The company said that it...
Road crew misspells ‘school’ in school crossing
DORAL, Fla. — A road crew in Florida should get an “F” for spelling. A motorist on Thursday spotted the error, realizing that workers in Doral had made a mistake when painting the word “school” at a pedestrian crossing in the road. Instead of S-C-H-O-O-L, it was spelled S-C-O-H-O-L. #UPDATE-...
Tiger attack sends keeper to hospital, zoo pledges ‘nothing will happen to the tiger’
A beautiful spring morning at the Topeka Zoo in Kansas turned tragic Saturday when a male Sumatran tiger attacked a keeper, inflicting wounds that sent her to a hospital. Although keepers are never supposed to be in the same space as the tigers, they found themselves together in the outdoor...
George Zimmerman banned from Tinder dating app
The ex-neighborhood watch volunteer who killed an unarmed black teen in Florida in 2012 has been banned from the dating app Tinder. An emailed statement from Tinder cited users’ safety as a reason for removing George Zimmerman’s profile. An article by Tampa, Florida, weekly Creative Loafing says Zimmerman used a...
Oregon county pays $100K over Blue Lives Matter flag
PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon county has agreed to pay $100,000 to a black employee who sued alleging she was harassed after asking that a Blue Lives Matter flag not be displayed in the office. Karimah Guion-Pledgure said in her January lawsuit against Multnomah County that the flag demeans the...
110 Kosovars, mostly children and women, returned from Syria
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo authorities announced Saturday they have brought back from Syria 110 Kosovar citizens, mostly women and children, with the assistance of the United States. Justice Minister Abelard Tahiri, top policeman Rashit Qalaj and a health official told journalists early Saturday that “a planned operation to bring back...
Boy Scout ranch focuses on wildfire recovery as season nears
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Tucked away in the foothills of the southern Rockies, the Philmont Scout Ranch has become a holy grail, its stretches of untamed wilderness and challenging backcountry treks drawing more than 1 million Boy Scouts and other adventurers from across the United States over the past 80 years....
Northern Irish police arrest 2 over killing of journalist
LONDON — Police in Northern Ireland on Saturday arrested two teenagers in connection with the fatal shooting of a journalist during rioting in the city of Londonderry. The men, aged 18 and 19, were detained under anti-terrorism legislation and taken to Belfast for questioning, the Police Service of Northern Ireland...
Teacher shared love of art wherever she went
Constance “Connie” Vaskov brought her passion for art wherever she went. “She just loved to make every place she went look a little bit more beautiful,” said her daughter, Victoria Sheridan. “She couldn’t help herself.” Mrs. Vaskov would make ceramics and other artsy gifts for her friends. She’d help decorate...
Video shows Charlotte police officer kill suspect following orders to drop gunVideo
A dead man tells no tales, but Danquirs Franklin was able to tell the world what happened right before he was gunned down by a Charlotte police officer. “You told me to put it on the ground.…” were the last words uttered by Franklin, who is black, as he was...
Fake news? Mueller isn’t buying it
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump and his team love to deride unfavorable stories as “fake news,” but it’s clear from Robert Mueller’s report that the special counsel isn’t buying it. While there are a few exceptions, Mueller’s investigation repeatedly supports news reporting that was done on the Russia probe...
Storms in South kill girl in Florida, bring tornado threat
ATLANTA — A strong storm system barreling through the South on Friday killed an 8-year-old girl in Florida and threatened to bring tornadoes to large parts of the Carolinas and southern Virginia. A tree fell onto a house in Woodville, Florida, south of Tallahassee, killing the girl and injuring a...
This 10-year-old Maryland girl who was born without hands just won a national handwriting competition
Sara Hinesley, 10, doesn’t understand why it’s so remarkable that she won a national handwriting competition. She paints and draws and sculpts clay. She can write in English and some Mandarin. When she learned to write in cursive this year, Sara said, she thought it was “kind of easy.” Never...
Parents who starved and shackled children sentenced to life
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The eldest son and daughter of a couple who starved and shackled 12 of their children spoke publicly for the first time Friday, alternately condemning and forgiving their parents before a judge sentenced the pair to up to life in prison. Since being freed from their prison-like...
Officials: South Carolina school girl died of natural causes
WALTERBORO, S.C. — South Carolina authorities said Friday that the death of a fifth grade girl at school last month was due to natural causes and not a fight with another student, which they described as lasting only seconds. But the family of the girl disagreed, saying she was repeatedly...
