Trump orders Treasury, HUD to develop new plan for how home sales are financed
WASHINGTON — President Trump ordered federal regulators on Wednesday to develop plans to change the way the country finances the majority of its home purchases. The plan could upend decades of housing policy while finally reckoning with a major piece of unfinished business from the financial crisis — the fates...
Federal bills would let state prisons jam cellphone signals
Federal legislation proposed Thursday would give state prison officials the ability they have long sought to jam the signals of cellphones smuggled to inmates within their walls. U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and U.S. Rep. David Kustoff of Tennessee introduced companion bills in both chambers, The Associated Press has...
Wisconsin superintendent bans sexist cheerleading awards
MILWAUKEE — The superintendent of a Wisconsin high school district has outlawed cheerleading awards that objectify students’ bodies and ordered mandatory staff training on discrimination and harassment. Dr. Sue Savaglio-Jarvis said in a letter Monday to all principals and administrators in the Kenosha Unified School District that “mock awards of...
Rock On: NASA releases artsy shots of 2 asteroids
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has released a pair of artsy shots of two little asteroids. Thursday’s picture shows an asteroid coming apart at its dusty seams, courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope. Two long comet-like tails are streaming from asteroid Gault, a 2.5-mile-wide world that’s spinning so fast it’s...
Man allegedly steals Little Debbie snack truck, eats nothing
ELMIRA, N.Y. — It appears an upstate New York man was not hungry when police say he stole a Little Debbie delivery truck. Police say 38-year-old Joseph Tocco of Elmira swiped the truck Monday from a loading dock. Police stopped it a short time later. Police say Tocco told them...
Record 1,100 mutilated dolphins wash up on French shores this year
PARIS — The dolphins’ bodies were horribly mutilated, the fins cut off. But what shocked French marine researchers wasn’t just the brutality of the deaths of these highly intelligent mammals, but also the numbers involved — a record 1,100 have washed up on France’s Atlantic coast since January. The mass...
Philly landlord charged with stealing from murdered tenant’s home
Authorities say a landlord was charged with stealing from his tenant’s home in Philadelphia the day after he was murdered. Police say 38-year-old Dan Charyna was arrested early Thursday morning and charged with burglary, criminal trespass and theft. Officers responded to the home Wednesday evening, the same location the tenant...
Seattle bus driver shot in torso drives passengers to safety
SEATTLE — A Seattle bus driver hailed as a hero for steering the bus away from a gunman who opened fire on him and his passengers says he’s “glad to be alive.” Eric Stark was hit in the torso Wednesday afternoon by a bullet but authorities say he still managed...
Motorist hit in face by frozen turkey dies years later at 59
LAKE RONKONKOMA, N.Y. — A New Yorker who urged leniency for the teenager who nearly killed her in 2004 by throwing a frozen turkey through her car windshield has died. Victoria Ruvolo was 59. Anthony Ruvolo says his aunt died Monday. The cause is not known, and it’s unclear whether...
Mueller report is more than 300 pages, AG tells top Democrat
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election spans more than 300 pages, a Justice Department official said Thursday. Attorney General William Barr confirmed the report’s length during a Wednesday phone call with Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. During...
ACLU: Meijer to change policies on filling prescriptions
PETOSKEY, Mich. — The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan says it has reached an agreement with Meijer on policy changes and training after a pharmacist at one of the retailer’s stores refused to fill a prescription to help a woman complete a miscarriage. The ACLU said in a news...
Pa. man gets death for teen’s rape, murder, dismemberment
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — A man who killed and dismembered his girlfriend’s 14-year-old daughter as part of a rape-murder fantasy he shared with the teenager’s mother was sentenced to death Thursday. Jacob Sullivan, 46, had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and related charges for killing Grace Packer in 2016. After deliberating...
Police: Standoff ‘resolved’ at hotel hours after man killed
MANCHESTER, N.H. — At least one man was killed in a 15-hour standoff at a New Hampshire hotel that ended Thursday, police said. The standoff ended around 10:30 a.m. with authorities bringing out a stretcher with someone on it at the Quality Inn in Manchester, New Hampshire, near Interstate 293...
Smollett saga shook public trust, heightened racial tensions
In the two months since Jussie Smollett reported a late-night attack by assailants shouting racial and anti-gay slurs, the “Empire” actor and activist went from victim to defendant. Police and many in the black community rallied to his defense before condemning his account as a hoax. On Tuesday, Smollett was...
Trump turns to health care with an eye on 2020
WASHINGTON — Buoyed by word that the special counsel didn’t find collusion with Russia, President Donald Trump is voicing new interest in policymaking, including a fresh effort to repeal and replace “Obamacare.” But Trump has few detailed policy proposals to back up his words, suggesting he’s as focused on highlighting...
After Mueller, Trump allies counsel against pardon push
NEW YORK — The end of the special counsel’s investigation sparked fresh speculation that President Donald Trump might pardon some of those charged in the probe. It’s also spawned a don’t-go-there chorus from some of Trump’s closest advisers and GOP allies. They’re warning that pardons could ignite a political firestorm...
Trump visits Michigan as Republicans confront ominous signs
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The 50 or so party faithful gathered at a western Michigan GOP headquarters prayed for President Donald Trump’s re-election and hummed with excitement about his upcoming visit — a meeting-turned-pep rally for the effort they’ll mount on his behalf in 2020. “Are we ready?” former Michigan...
Mueller’s evidence is likely a massive amount of material
WASHINGTON — Democrats say they want “all of the underlying evidence” in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. But what is all of that evidence? Mueller’s team issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants and interviewed more than 500 witnesses. That means the special counsel likely compiled thousands,...
Winning $768M Powerball ticket sold in Wisconsin
NEW BERLIN, Wis. — A single ticket that matched all six Powerball numbers to win the estimated $768.4 million jackpot — the third-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history — was sold in a Milwaukee suburb, Wisconsin Lottery officials said Thursday. The ticket, worth a cash option of $477 million, was...
Alaska white supremacist gang members face federal charges
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Filthy Fuhrer and five other members of a white supremacist gang that was spawned in prisons in Alaska, Arizona and Colorado have been charged in the gruesome beating death of a member whose Nazi tattoo was burned off his rib cage with a hot knife. Fuhrer, who...
Arizona lawmaker resigns amid probe of 1983 sex charges
PHOENIX — Arizona Rep. David Stringer resigned Wednesday amid an ethics investigation of 1983 sex charges and his comments on race and immigration. The Prescott Republican lawmaker stepped down as he faced a 5 p.m. deadline to hand over documents demanded by the House Ethics Committee. Earlier in the day...
Man pleads guilty to kidnapping Jayme Closs, killing parents
BARRON, Wis. — A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty Wednesday to kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killing her parents, in a move that spares the girl held captive in a remote cabin for three months from the possible trauma of having to testify at his trial. Jake Patterson, 21, sniffled and...
Police: 2 killed in ‘random’ shooting, crash in Seattle
SEATTLE — A man opened fire on motorists in a Seattle neighborhood in what authorities are calling a “random” attack that left two dead and two injured Wednesday afternoon. One man was fatally shot and another killed in an automobile crash, authorities said. Two other people were shot but survived,...
Federal judge blocks Medicaid work rules in blow to Trump
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Medicaid work requirements undermine the program’s mission of providing health care for the needy, dealing a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to push the poor toward self-sufficiency. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., blocked work requirements for low-income...
Ancient West Bank site draws Christians, controversy
SHILOH, West Bank — Deep in the West Bank, Israeli settlers have transformed an archaeological site into a biblical tourist attraction that draws tens of thousands of Evangelical Christians each year. Tel Shiloh is believed to have been the site of the biblical tabernacle, but not everyone is pleased at...
