A look at the cast of characters in the Jussie Smollett saga
CHICAGO — Jussie Smollett, a successful but not A-list actor, burst into the world’s consciousness in January after he reported being the victim of a racist and anti-gay attack. In the two months since, a number of figures in Chicago and beyond have gained international attention and emerged as supporting...
Catholic church in SC names 42 priests accused of sex abuse
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Catholic diocese in South Carolina on Friday released a list of 42 priests with ties to the state who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children. All but 11 of the priests on the list released by the Charleston Diocese have died. The list doesn’t...
Fossils show world-wide catastrophe on the day the dinosaurs died
Sixty-six million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into a shallow sea near Mexico. The impact carved out a 90-mile-wide crater and flung mountains of earth into space. Earthbound debris fell to the planet in droplets of molten rock and glass. Ancient fish caught glass blobs in their gills as...
Police: Seattle shooting suspect says he was in alcoholic blackout
SEATTLE — A man accused of randomly shooting at cars and a public bus in Seattle, leaving two people dead and two injured, told police afterward that he was in an alcoholic blackout and didn’t remember doing it, authorities said in court documents Friday. Tad-Michael Norman, 33, was charged in...
Judge restricts access to evidence in Minneapolis police shooting case
MINNEAPOLIS — The judge overseeing the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Australian woman has set tight restrictions for how the courtroom will be run and ruled Friday that members of the public and media will not view graphic evidence that is presented...
US judge: School’s rule for girls to wear skirts breaks law
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina charter school promoting traditional values engaged in unconstitutional sex discrimination by requiring girls to wear skirts, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Malcolm Howard ruled that Charter Day School can’t enforce the skirts-only rule as part of its dress code that punishes...
Greensburg woman remembered as ‘great teacher’
Nancy Hogue turned a job teaching for the U.S. Defense Department into an opportunity to travel all over Europe and beyond. Five years into her teaching career, Mrs. Hogue took a position teaching the children of U.S. military personnel at Air Force bases in Puerto Rico; Labrador, Canada; and Zaragoza,...
Poll: Most see women equal to men in politics
WASHINGTON — An all-time high of 84 percent of Americans believe women are just as suited emotionally for politics as men, according to a new survey that comes as the largest-ever field of women are running for president and with a record number serving in Congress. The growing acceptance of...
Georgia House passes ‘heartbeat’ abortion ban
ATLANTA — Bucking intense opposition from abortion rights groups, citizens and doctors, the Georgia House gave final approval Friday to a “fetal heartbeat” abortion ban outlawing almost all abortions in the state. The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who supports it. The ultimate goal, like that of...
Coroner: Slain Pa. family died by suffocation, strangulation
MORRISVILLE, Pa. — Officials say four of five family members killed in a suburban Philadelphia apartment earlier this year were suffocated, and the fifth was strangled. It’s the latest development since authorities charged a mother and her adult daughter with killing their close family members in February. The Bucks County...
U.K. lawmakers reject Brexit deal for a third time
LONDON — U.K. lawmakers on Friday rejected the government’s divorce agreement with the European Union for a third time, leaving Britain just two weeks to decide between a long delay to Brexit and an abrupt no-deal departure from the bloc. The House of Commons voted 286-344 against the withdrawal agreement...
George Clooney calls for boycott of hotels over anti-gay law
LOS ANGELES — George Clooney is calling for the boycott of nine hotels in the U.S. and Europe with ties to the sultan of Brunei, which next month will implement Islamic criminal laws to punish gay sex by stoning offenders to death. The Hollywood actor wrote Thursday in Deadline Hollywood:...
Autopsy: Heart attack killed Nevada brothel owner
LAS VEGAS — Authorities say America’s most famous pimp died of a heart attack in bed at one of his legal brothels in Nevada after a 72nd birthday bash in October. The Nye County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday an autopsy showed Dennis Hof died of natural causes. The autopsy by...
Cow hit 4 times in crash that sends 1 driver to hospital
MARSHFIELD, Mo. — Authorities say a cow that wandered onto a southwest Missouri highway was hit by four different vehicles with one fiery impact sending a driver to the hospital. The Springfield News-Leader reports that the 21-year-old Hannah Maxwell said she didn’t have time to swerve before her sport utility...
California man sentenced to 20 years in fatal ‘swatting’
WICHITA, Kan. — A California man was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for making bogus emergency calls to authorities across the U.S., including one that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between two online players over $1.50 bet in the “Call of Duty:...
Trump threatens to close border with Mexico next week
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to close the nation’s southern border, or large sections of it, next week if Mexico does not halt illegal immigration at once. “If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States through our Southern Border, I will be...
Nearly 50 years later, California woman wins $150K in overdue child support
CARLSBAD, Calif. — It was a long time coming, this child support payment. But nearly 50 years after a judge awarded Toni Anderson child support, the now 73-year-old Carlsbad woman took her ex-husband back to court — and won her bid to force him to pay up. The settlement tally,...
As president retires, 2 Pittsburgh trade schools merge
Rosedale Technical College in Kennedy Township and Dean Institute of Technology in West Liberty have announced they are merging, effective immediately. Rosedale, which made Forbes’ list of Top 25 Two-Year Trade Schools in 2018, will assume Dean’s students at its Kennedy campus, the schools said. The current Dean Tech location...
Donald Trump Jr. points father’s followers to new villain, new rallying cry
At President Donald Trump’s first rally since the end of the 22-month Russia investigation, his supporters shouted about a woman who is guaranteed not to feature opposite him on the ballot in 2020. She’s a Democrat, elected to Congress from New York. It wasn’t only Hillary Clinton - Trump’s adversary...
Libyan official: Migrants used metal tools to threaten crew
VALLETTA, Malta — A Libyan official says the migrants who commandeered an oil tanker that had rescued them in the Mediterranean Sea used metal tools to threaten the crew, forcing them to direct the ship toward Europe. Maltese armed forces stormed the vessel Thursday and detained five men suspected of...
Why were Garfield telephones washing ashore in France?
For more than 30 years, pieces of Garfield telephones kept washing ashore on the beaches of northwestern France, and no one quite knew why. Where was the lasagna-loving cartoon cat coming from? The mystery would puzzle the locals for years. His plastic body parts, first appearing in a crevice of...
Man charged with killing toddler in stroller dead in jail
CINCINNATI — Authorities say a man charged with driving over a curb, killing a toddler in a stroller and fleeing the scene has died of an apparent drug overdose at a county jail in Cincinnati. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office says 31-year-old Satwinder Singh was found unresponsive in his cell...
Doctor: Florida man believed he was ‘half-man, half-dog’
STUART, Fla. — A forensic psychologist says a former college student believed he was “half-dog, half-man” when he fatally attacked a man and woman at their home and was found biting one of their faces. The Palm Beach Post reports Dr. Phillip Resnick made the conclusion in a 38-page mental-health...
U.S. consumer spending edges up weak 0.1 percent in January
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending edged up a tiny 0.1 percent in January, while incomes advanced a modest 0.2 percent in February, further evidence that economic activity may have decelerated after strong growth for most of last year. The Commerce Department said Friday that the weak gain in consumer spending...
Reputed ‘Ripper Crew’ member, killer released from prison
CANTON, Ill. — Authorities say a man convicted of murder as a suspected member of the notorious “Ripper Crew” that killed as many as 20 Chicago-area women in the 1980s has been released from prison. An alert from Illinois’ victim notification system was issued Friday saying 58-year-old Thomas Kokoraleis had...
