Colorado funeral home owner pleads guilty in body sales case
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in federal court. The Daily Sentinel reports that Megan Hess faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison after entering the plea Tuesday...
Biden awards Medal of Honor to 4 for Vietnam War heroism
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday bestowed the nation’s highest military honor to four Army soldiers for heroism during the Vietnam War, bravery that he said had not diminished even with the passage of time. Biden presented the Medal of Honor to Staff Sgt. Edward N. Kaneshiro, Spc. Five...
Funerals begin for 3 Kentucky officers killed in ambush
Sheriff John Hunt fought back tears while saying goodbye to his longtime friend, William Petry, one of three law enforcement officers killed in an ambush while serving a warrant in eastern Kentucky last week. The small Appalachian county that Hunt is in charge of protecting is reeling from the deaths...
After West Virginia opioid verdict, another case postponed
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A trial in a lawsuit accusing three major U.S. drug distributors of causing a health crisis throughout West Virginia was postponed Tuesday, a day after the companies prevailed in another case in the state. Attorneys who represented Cabell County and the city of Huntington on the losing...
Florida’s 15-week abortion ban reinstated after legal appeal
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban was blocked and then quickly reinstated Tuesday after an appeal from the state attorney general in a lawsuit challenging the restriction. Judge John C. Cooper issued the order temporarily halting the law after reproductive health providers argued that the state constitution guarantees the...
Mexico leader to end daylight saving, keep ‘God’s clock’
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president submitted a bill Tuesday to end daylight saving time, putting an end to the practice of changing clocks twice a year. Health Secretary Jorge Alcocer said Mexico should return to “God’s clock,” or standard time, arguing that setting clocks back or forward damages people’s health....
Police: 3 shot to death at block party in Gary, Indiana
GARY, Ind. — Gunfire during a July Fourth block party in northwestern Indiana left three people dead and seven wounded early Tuesday, police said. The shooting happened in a residential neighborhood of Gary, Indiana, about 12:45 a.m. and officers who responded found three people down and unresponsive, city police Lt....
Giuliani, Graham testimony sought in Trump election probe
ATLANTA — The Georgia prosecutor investigating the conduct of former President Donald Trump and his allies after the 2020 election is trying to compel U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and other members of Trump’s campaign legal team to testify before a special grand jury. Fulton...
Rudy Giuliani, Lindsey Graham testimony sought in Trump election probe
ATLANTA — The Georgia prosecutor investigating the conduct of former President Donald Trump and his allies after the 2020 election is trying to compel U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and other members of Trump’s campaign legal team to testify before a special grand jury. Fulton...
A survivor of the migrant trailer: ‘They couldn’t breathe’
GUATEMALA CITY — Simple advice from a friend to stay near the door may have saved Yenifer Yulisa Cardona Tomás from the deadly fate that befell 53 other migrants when they were abandoned trapped in a sweltering semi-trailer last week on the edge of San Antonio. Speaking by phone from...
Florida teen attacked by shark will have leg amputated, hospital says
ORLANDO, Fla. — A 17-year-old Florida girl who was attacked by a 9-foot shark last week learned she will have her leg amputated Tuesday. Addison Bethea, of Perry, was scalloping Thursday with her brother in Keaton Beach — in Taylor County — when a shark pulled her underwater, according to...
2 key UK Cabinet ministers quit Boris Johnson’s government
LONDON — Two of Britain’s most senior Cabinet ministers have quit, a move that could spell the end of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership after months of scandals. Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned within minutes of each other. Javid said “I can no longer continue...
Small predator, missing from Pa. for more than a century, might be brought back
The return of the American marten, a larger relative of the weasel and mink, will be up for consideration by the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners when it meets this weekend at the agency’s Harrisburg headquarters. The marten, a tree-climbing predator about 24 to 30 inches long, including the tail,...
Parade shooting suspect charged with 7 counts of murderVideo
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — The man charged Tuesday with seven counts of murder for opening fire at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago legally bought five weapons, including two high-powered rifles, despite authorities being called to his home twice in 2019 for threats of violence and suicide, police said....
Covid nursing home deaths claim is mainstay on Pennsylvania governor campaign trail
HARRISBURG — Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for governor, has made a campaign staple out of the allegation that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s policy of readmitting covid-19 patients from hospitals to nursing homes caused thousands of deaths — a baseless claim for which no investigator or researcher has provided any...
Many won’t rely on virtual options after covid, poll says
WASHINGTON — Many Americans don’t expect to rely on the digital services that became commonplace during the pandemic after covid-19 subsides, according to a new poll, even as many think it’s a good thing if those options remain available in the future. Close to half or more of U.S. adults...
Ukrainian governor urges evacuation of 350,000 residents
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — A day after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory in seizing an eastern Ukraine province essential to his wartime aims, his troops escalated their offensive in the neighboring province Tuesday, prompting the governor to urge a mass evacuation of residents. Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said that getting out...
After police are shot, Philly mayor says he’ll ‘be happy’ when he’s not mayor anymoreVideo
PHILADELPHIA — An exasperated Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said early Tuesday morning after two police officers were shot that he is so worried about safety at public events that he will “be happy” when he is no longer mayor, prompting national attention and calls for his resignation. Standing alongside police...
6 dead, 30 hurt in shooting at Chicago-area July 4 parade
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — A gunman on a rooftop opened fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday, killing at least six people, wounding at least 30 and sending hundreds of marchers, parents with strollers and children on bicycles fleeing in terror, police said. Authorities said a...
Motive likely not terror-related in ‘brutal’ Danish shooting
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A gunman who killed three people when he opened fire in a crowded shopping mall acted alone and apparently selected his victims at random, Danish police said Monday, all but ruling out that the attack was related to terrorism. Authorities filed preliminary charges of murder and attempted...
Pope denies resignation rumors, hopes to visit Kyiv, Moscow
ROME — Pope Francis has dismissed rumors he plans to resign anytime soon, and says that he hopes to visit Moscow and Kyiv after traveling to Canada later this month. Francis also told Reuters in an interview published Monday that the idea “never entered my mind” to announce a planned...
U.S.: Shot that killed journalist likely fired from Israelis
WASHINGTON — U.S. officials have concluded that gunfire from Israeli positions likely killed Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh but that there was “no reason to believe” her shooting was intentional, the State Department said Monday. The finding, in a statement from State Department spokesman Ned Price, came after what the...
Ousters, upsets halfway through 2022 primary election season
COLUMBIA, S.C. — More than halfway through a tumultuous primary season, voters have rendered verdicts in a number of contests, many of which featured candidates arguing they best represented a continuation of policies favored by former President Donald Trump. While not on the ballot himself, Trump has played a role...
It’s a new era for funding on both sides of abortion debate
NEW YORK — The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade has ushered in a new era of funding on both sides of the abortion debate. With the legality of abortion now up to individual states to determine, an issue long debated by legislators and philanthropists — when it was...
Uneasy U.S. tries to fete a July 4 marred by parade shooting
A shooting that left at least six people dead at an Independence Day parade in a Chicago suburb rattled Monday’s celebrations across the U.S. and further rocked a country already awash in turmoil over high court rulings on abortion and guns as well as hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection....
