U.S./World category, Page 1134
Sikh preaches love 18 years after brother killed over turban
PHOENIX — Indian Sikh immigrant Rana Singh Sodhi still preaches love and tolerance 18 years after his brother was gunned down in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by a man who mistook him for a Muslim because of his turban and beard. “I want there to be...
Collection of premier proverb scholar opens at UVM
BURLINGTON, Vt. — From “Strike while the iron is hot” to “Been there, done that,” proverbs have been developed around the world for centuries, spread by word of mouth, writings, and nowadays social media. University of Vermont Professor Wolfgang Mieder, thought to be the world’s premier paroemiologist, has been studying...
The ‘fool’ that fentanyl made into a millionaire
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. SALT LAKE CITY — The photo that flashed onto the courtroom screen showed a young man dead on his bedroom floor, bare feet poking from the cuffs of his rolled up jeans. Lurking on a...
St. Louis woman makes 100 lunches a day to feed hungry children in her community
A St. Louis woman has been feeding underprivileged children in her neighborhood for the past five years. Champale Anderson, a health care provider who is also a mother of six, says she’s on a mission to feed the kids in her community who are living in poverty. She told St....
Innkeeper told not to use ‘Alienstock’ as name of event
LAS VEGAS — An innkeeper who expects an unknown number of campers to be attracted to her tiny Nevada desert town by a “Storm Area 51” internet hoax has been sent a cease-and-desist order over her use of the name “Alienstock.” Attorneys for Matty Roberts and associates, who broke ties...
Police: Georgia man faked racially motivated burglary
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A man trashed his pizza restaurant and ice cream shop near Atlanta to fake a racially motivated burglary so he could file an insurance claim, police said. Gwinnett County police officers responded just before 9:30 p.m. Wednesday after a 911 call reporting a man damaging the businesses,...
Phoenix to become most populous US city to drop library fees
PHOENIX — Phoenix residents with overdue library books might want to wait a bit before bringing back their borrowed copies of the current best sellers. Starting in November, Phoenix’s public library system will join a growing number of libraries around the United States that have dropped overdue book fees. A...
Illinois man convicted in 2018 booby trap shotgun slaying
JONESBORO, Ill. — An Illinois man who rigged a shotgun to a rope attached to the door of a shed on his property in 2018 has been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of another man who tried to enter. A Union County jury convicted William Wasmund, 48, Thursday...
Taliban visits Moscow days after Trump says talks ‘dead’
MOSCOW — A negotiating team from the Taliban arrived Friday in Russia, a representative told The Associated Press, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump declared dead a deal with the insurgent group in Afghanistan. Russian state news agency Tass cited the Taliban’s Qatar-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as saying the...
Man brings support clown to his layoff meeting
A man working at a New Zealand advertising agency had a funny way of dealing with his own firing. The unidentified adman was permitted to have someone at his side for support in a meeting where his job was being terminated, reports the New Zealand Herald. Rather than choosing a...
Albuquerque police: 5 people dead after multiple shootings
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Authorities in New Mexico’s largest city scrambled Friday to piece together what sparked separate shootings that killed five people and wounded six others as the mayor acknowledged that elected leaders and residents were tired of the violence that has plagued some parts of Albuquerque. There were no...
U.S. couple accused of ditching adopted girl, moving to Canada
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Indiana prosecutors have charged a couple with abandoning their adopted daughter in 2013 and moving to Canada, renting an apartment in Lafayette for the then-11-year-old girl but otherwise leaving her to fend for herself. Prosecutors in Tippecanoe County, where Lafayette is located, filed neglect charges Wednesday against...
Torrential rains pound southeastern Spain, death toll to 4
BARCELONA, Spain — Rescue workers saved thousands of people from rising waters as record rainfall pounded southeastern Spain on Friday, a deluge that authorities said killed at least four people. The storm that slammed into the Mediterranean coastal regions of Valencia, Murcia and eastern Andalusia on Thursday and Friday left...
Reports: U.S. natural gas production, future supply at record levels
Two new reports tout the continued resilience and productivity of the nation’s natural gas industry, bolstered in part by the Marcellus shale play in Pennsylvania. Even at a time of low natural gas prices, which tend to put downward pressure on production, U.S. natural gas production set daily and monthly...
Death toll in Brazil hospital fire rises to 11
RIO DE JANEIRO — A fire raced through a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, forcing staff to wheel patients into the streets on beds or in wheelchairs and leaving at least 11 people dead, Brazilian officials said Friday. Four firefighters were hospitalized after battling the overnight blaze at Badim Hospital...
Civil War cannonball found in Kansas City area tree
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A worker has found what’s believed to be a Civil War cannonball lodged in a Kansas City area tree that he was hired to take down. KMBC-TV reports the small cannonball fell out as the worker was chopping the diseased tree on the grounds of the Overfelt-Johnston...
Mississippi sixth-grader scores 27 on ACTVideo
You might just be on your way to do remarkable things if you start reading books as a toddler. That’s exactly what sixth-grader Kristen Rhodes of Canton, Miss. did. And she’s continuing to show her academic prowess after scoring a 27 on the ACT. According to prepscholar.com, in order to...
HUD watchdog clears Ben Carson in $31,000 dining set order
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s independent watchdog on Thursday cleared Secretary Ben Carson of any misconduct in connection with the order of a $31,000 dining room set for his office suite. HUD’s Office of Inspector General launched a probe last year into allegations that Carson...
El Paso police dispute man’s story of heroism in attack; Trump gives him awardVideo
Surveillance video does not back up the story told by a man who was honored this week at the White House by President Donald Trump for his actions during the Aug. 3 mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart, police said. Christopher Grant has said he threw bottles to try...
Skylar Richardson acquitted of killing newborn baby she buried in Ohio backyardVideo
LEBANON, Ohio — A young Ohio mother who prosecutors said killed and buried her unwanted newborn in her backyard was acquitted by jurors Thursday. The Warren County jury deliberated for four hours before acquitting 20-year-old Brooke Skylar Richardson of aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment charges. She was found...
Former FBI No. 2 Andrew McCabe faces prospect of criminal chargesVideo
WASHINGTON — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s wrath, faces the prospect of an indictment after his attorneys were unable to persuade senior Justice Department officials not to pursue charges that he lied to internal investigators. Two people familiar with the matter said...
Grand jury indicts man on capital murder for El Paso attack
EL PASO, Texas — A man accused of gunning down people at a busy Walmart in El Paso last month was indicted Thursday for capital murder, prosecutors announced. Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas, was indicted on one count in connection with the Aug. 3 mass shooting that left 22...
Judge blocks Tennessee voter signup penalties, citing harm
NASHVILLE — A federal judge has blocked Tennessee’s new restrictions for registering voters from taking effect on Oct. 1, saying Thursday that any benefit of the law won’t likely outweigh its potential harm. The ruling, for now, sets aside a law that goes beyond other states by fining groups that...
Pesticide criticized in bee deaths could also kill birds
PORTLAND, Maine — Scientists studying a widely used pesticide say even small doses of the chemical can have crippling health effects on migrating birds, and it might be contributing to declines in their overall populations. The researchers with the University of Saskatchewan are set to publish their research about the...
NTSB says crew asleep during fatal boat fire
LOS ANGELES — The National Transportation Safety Board says all six crewmembers were asleep when a fire broke out in a scuba diving boat off the coast of California, killing 34 people. The NTSB released a two-page preliminary report Thursday. Authorities have said they were investigating if there was a...
