U.S./World category, Page 1069
With governor’s reprieve, man released after murder-for-hire
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A man who was serving a life sentence in a 1994 murder-for-hire plot in Tennessee is out of prison and on parole after the former governor granted him a reprieve. Jeremy Ingram was released from Morgan County Correctional Complex on Friday, according Tennessee Department of Correction records....
Appeals court rules against convict over gender pronouns
NEW ORLEANS — A transgender convict has lost a federal appeal to have her name changed in court records — and to have the appeals court refer to her with feminine pronouns. The case of Norman Varner — now Katherine Nicole Jett — divided a three-judge panel of the 5th...
Virginia’s highest court upholds weapons ban at gun rally
RICHMOND, Va. —Virginia’s highest court on Friday upheld a ban on firearms at an upcoming pro-gun rally in the state’s capital, an event that authorities feared could erupt in violence at the hands of armed extremists. The Virginia Supreme Court’s decision came a day after gun-rights groups sued to overturn...
California teachers sue after jetliner dumps fuel on schools
LOS ANGELES — Four teachers from a Los Angeles-area school sued Delta Air Lines on Friday, saying they were exposed to jet fuel when a plane with engine trouble dumped its fuel over a densely populated area, including several schools, while making an emergency return to the airport. At a...
Avalanche at Lake Tahoe resort kills 1 skier, injures 1
TAHOE CITY, Calif. — A man killed in an avalanche at a Lake Tahoe ski resort on Friday was remembered as an avid skier familiar with the picturesque mountains along the northern California and Nevada border. Cole Comstock, 34, of Blairsden, California, was caught in the avalanche that seriously injured...
Ex-U.S. Rep. Chris Collins gets over 2 years in insider trading case
NEW YORK — A former congressman who was one of President Donald Trump’s first supporters was sentenced Friday to two years and two months in federal prison after admitting he helped his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a drug trial by a...
Truck hauling 1,738 piglets wrecks in Iowa; about 120 of them dieVideo
A livestock truck carrying piglets Thursday flipped onto its side, killing about 120 of the animals. The driver of the rig lost control on a near an on-ramp on Interstate 35 near Des Moines, Iowa, reports the Des Moines register. About 100 of the young pigs were found dead at...
Cruise line: Grandpa leaned out window before girl’s fall
MIAMI — An Indiana man charged with negligent homicide in his young granddaughter’s fatal fall from a cruise ship’s open window in Puerto Rico leaned out of that window for several seconds before he lifted the child up to it and she fell, the cruise operator alleges in a court...
U.S. to screen airline passengers from China for new illness
NEW YORK — Three U.S. airports will screen passengers arriving from central China for a new virus that has sickened dozens, killed two and prompted worries about an international outbreak, health officials said Friday. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials say they will begin taking temperatures and asking about...
Pompeo breaks silence on alleged threats to envoy in Ukraine
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday broke nearly 72 hours of silence over alleged surveillance and threats to the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, saying he believed the allegations would prove to be wrong but that he had an obligation to evaluate and investigate the matter. In...
Jury selected for Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial
NEW YORK — Jury selection in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial concluded Friday after an arduous two-week process, setting the stage for testimony to begin in the next week. The lawyers and judge halted the selection process after 12 jurors and three alternates had been seated. Of the total, eight were...
2 dead, 1 gravely hurt in Mexico fireworks explosion
MEXICO CITY — An explosion of a fireworks cache killed two people and critically injured another in a town on the northern outskirts of Mexico City. The government of Mexico State, which surrounds the capital, reported on its online information portal that a male victim died at the scene of...
South Carolina woman pleads guilty to poisoning husband with eye drops
YORK, S.C. — A South Carolina woman pleaded guilty to fatally poisoning her husband by putting eye drops into his water for days. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Lana Sue Clayton, 53, pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter and tampering with a food or drug, news outlets...
11 U.S. troops flown to medical centers after Iran strikeVideo
WASHINGTON — Eleven U.S. troops were flown out of Iraq for evaluation of concussion-like symptoms in the days following an Iranian missile strike that President Donald Trump had said caused no harm to American forces, officials said Friday. The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said Defense Secretary Mark Esper did...
Denver officials won’t hand over information sought by ICE
WASHINGTON — Denver officials on Thursday said they would not hand over information requested by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement on four men wanted for deportation. ICE, the Homeland Security agency tasked with arresting and deporting people in the U.S. illegally, sent four administrative subpoenas earlier this week to law...
Deaf man sues Pornhub for lack of closed captioning
A deaf man has filed a class-action lawsuit against adult website Pornhub, alleging that the company has violated federal law. According to a TMZ report, Yaroslav Suris claims the company has violated his and others’ rights under the American’s with Disabilities Act by denying the deaf and hearing-impaired access to...
Court documents allege congressional candidate Robert Hyde tracked and stalked woman
A female political consultant was granted a protection order against Robert F. Hyde last year after alleging that he “demonstrated an inveterate pattern of monitoring, tracking, and surveilling” her location, according to court documents obtained by The Hartford Courant. Hyde is tied to a growing controversy over alleged surveillance of...
Judge upholds ban on weapons at gun rally in VirginiaVideo
RICHMOND — A judge on Thursday upheld a ban on firearms at a pro-gun rally scheduled for next week in Virginia, rejecting a request from gun-rights groups who had sued to overturn it. The Virginia Citizens Defense League and Gunowners of America had filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking an injunction...
Vladimir Putin fast-tracks effort to extend his rule in Russia
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Thursday fast-tracked work on constitutional changes that could keep him in power well past the end of his term in 2024 while lawmakers quickly sealed his choice for new prime minister. Speaking to a working group created to draft constitutional changes, Putin cast his...
Trump boosts school prayer, helps faith groups
President Donald Trump took steps Thursday to give religious organizations easier access to federal programs and reaffirmed students’ rights to pray in public schools. Under orders from Trump, nine Cabinet departments proposed rules intended to remove “regulatory burdens” on religious organizations participating in federal programs by eliminating a requirement that...
Alabama man charged with abusing missing woman’s corpse
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A convicted sex offender has been charged in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama woman whose body was found in a shallow grave weeks after she texted a friend she was “in trouble.” The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office charged Fredrick Hampton, 50, on Thursday with abuse...
37 charged in Puerto Rico to Wisconsin drug smuggling case
MILWAUKEE — Federal prosecutors have charged 37 people accused of sending cocaine and other drugs from Puerto Rico to Wisconsin and elsewhere in the country using the U.S. Postal Service, authorities said Thursday. The United States Attorney’s Office in Eastern Wisconsin said the drugs were sold in the state, as...
FBI arrests 3 white supremacists ahead of pro-gun rally in Virginia
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — FBI agents on Thursday arrested a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist and two other men who are linked to a violent white supremacist group and were believed to be heading to a pro-gun rally next week in Virginia’s capital. The three men are members of The...
Group finds aircraft approval process safe, despite Boeing crashes
A government committee asked to review U.S. approval of new passenger planes after two deadly crashes involving the Boeing 737 Max has found that the system is safe and effective but could be improved. The committee differed sharply with legislators who are investigating Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, which...
Russia’s new PM a career bureaucrat with no political aims
MOSCOW — Mikhail Mishustin never had any political ambitions as a career bureaucrat and his name didn’t come up as a top candidate to become Russia’s next prime minister. But the 53-year-old Mishustin, the longtime chief of Russia’s tax service, was tapped for the post by President Vladimir Putin. The...
