U.S./World category, Page 1139
Police: Man broke into Taylor Swift’s home, took off shoes to be polite
WESTERLY, R.I. — Police say a man who broke into Taylor Swift’s beachfront mansion in Rhode Island took his shoes off because he wanted to be polite. Westerly police who responded to the home just after 5 p.m. Friday found 26-year-old Richard Joseph McEwan inside. Police Chief Shawn Lacey tells...
Here’s how the Outer Banks wild horses survive hurricanes like Dorian
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The mass evacuation of North Carolina’s Outer Banks for Hurricane Dorian will not include the herds of wild horses roaming freely on the fragile barrier islands. The herds, which include awkward foals born in the spring, are destined to fend for themselves as the Category 2 hurricane...
Pope on critics: It’s ‘an honor if the Americans attack me’
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis has acknowledged his growing opposition within the conservative right-wing of the U.S. Catholic Church and says it is “an honor if the Americans attack me.” Francis made off-hand comments about critics of his papacy as he received a copy of a new book...
Florida man parks Smart car in kitchen so it won’t blow away in DorianVideo
A man in Jacksonville, Florida, is keeping his car safe from the ravages of Hurricane Dorian by parking it in his kitchen. Jessica Eldridge posted on Facebook that her husband, Patrick Eldridge, was “afraid his car might blow away” so he moved it indoors. She explained that there are double...
Moscow protesters sent to prison for using force on police
MOSCOW — A Moscow court has convicted two people of using force on police at a July 27 protest rally and given them multi-year prison sentences. The court ruled on Wednesday that 28-year-old Kirill Zhukov used illegal force by pulling up a riot police officer’s visor. Zhukov received a three-year...
Alabama couple gets prison for producing child porn
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Alabama couple has been sentenced to prison on charges related to producing child porn. A Justice Department statement says 36-year-old Kenneth Earl Hooks got two life sentences and 120 years, to run consecutively. Sarah Pauline Morris, 28, was sentenced to about 16 years. The statement says...
Aerial videos, photos show Hurricane Dorian’s destruction in BahamasVideo
FREEPORT, Bahamas — Bahamians rescued victims of Hurricane Dorian with jet skis and a bulldozer as the U.S. Coast Guard, Britain’s Royal Navy and a handful of aid groups tried to get food and medicine to survivors and take the most desperate people to safety. Airports were flooded and roads...
Michigan moves to be 1st state to ban flavored e-cigarettes
LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is moving to make Michigan the first state to ban flavored e-cigarettes. The Democrat announced Wednesday that she ordered the state health department to issue emergency rules. They will prohibit the sale and misleading marketing of flavored nicotine vaping products. Whitmer says in a...
Judge to discuss unsealing new trove of Jeffrey Epstein court papers
NEW YORK — A federal judge will discuss plans Wednesday for unsealing a new trove of court records involving sexual abuse allegations against Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who took his own life last month while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska scheduled the hearing after...
Hong Kong leader withdraws extradition bill that caused months of protests
HONG KONG — Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced Wednesday the government will formally withdraw an extradition bill that sparked months of demonstrations, bowing to one of the protesters’ demands in the hope of ending the increasingly violent unrest. But a pro-government lawmaker warned that the bill’s withdrawal was...
Family, teenagers among 34 presumed dead in California boat fire
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — High school students, a science teacher and his daughter, an adventurous marine biologist and a family of five celebrating a birthday are among those presumed to have died when fire tore through a scuba diving boat off the Southern California coast, trapping dozens of sleeping people...
‘Total devastation’: Dorian slams parts of the BahamasVideo
FREEPORT, Bahamas — Relief officials reported scenes of utter ruin Tuesday in parts of the Bahamas and rushed to deal with an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, the most powerful storm on record ever to hit the islands. At least seven deaths were reported, with the...
Alabama sheriff: 14-year-old killed his family, later confessedVideo
ELKMONT, Ala. — A 14-year-old boy admitted to killing five members of his family, including his three younger siblings, in a slaying that rattled a small Alabama town, authorities said Tuesday. Limestone County sheriff’s spokesman Stephen Young said the boy called 911 at about 11 p.m. Monday. He met deputies...
Pentagon diverts $3.6 billion in military construction to build border wall
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Tuesday approved the use of $3.6 billion in funding from military construction projects to build 175 miles of President Donald Trump’s wall along the Mexican border. Pentagon officials would not say which 127 projects will be affected, but said details will be available...
Britain’s Boris Johnson suffers defeat in Parliament over Brexit
LONDON — On a day of humiliating setbacks, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a major defeat in Parliament on Tuesday night as rebellious lawmakers voted to seize control of the Brexit agenda, prompting the embattled prime minister to say he would call for a new general election. The 328...
Law enforcement: Texas shooter purchased rifle at private saleVideo
ODESSA, Texas — The gunman in a West Texas rampage that left seven dead obtained his AR-style rifle through a private sale, allowing him to evade a federal background check that previously blocked him from getting a gun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke Tuesday...
People with tattoos more reckless, impulsive, study findsVideo
Tattoos appear to go hand in hand with recklessness and impulsivity. People with visible tattoos are more likely to be reckless and impulsive than those without ink, according to a new study reported by the Daily Mail. The study by economists from McMaster University in Canada of more than 1,000...
Conversion therapy leader McKrae Game is gay, disavows practiceVideo
For 20 years, McKrae Game led Hope for Wholeness, a faith-based conversion therapy program in South Carolina. The discredited practice was intended to suppress or eradicate a person’s LGBTQ identity through counseling or ministry, reports The Post and Courier. Game was fired from the group and in June announced he...
Walmart to stop selling handgun ammunition
NEW YORK — Walmart says it will discontinue the sale of handgun ammunition and also publicly request that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms in stores even where state laws allow it. The announcement comes just days after a mass shooting claimed seven lives in Odessa, Texas and follows two...
Police: Woman claims she’s her daughter to avoid drug charges
Age is just a number, isn’t it? It’s all in how you feel. A 38-year-old woman in Utah felt 21 last week — well, that is after she was pulled over for a traffic violation, KUTV in Salt Lake City reports. According to their report, Heather Garcia was pulled over...
Woman survives 80-foot cliff fall in South Dakota state park
GARRETSON, S.D. — Authorities say a Minnesota woman has escaped with minor injuries after falling more than 80 feet from a cliff at a state park in South Dakota. Minnehaha County sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Dubbe says the fall happened Monday evening at the Palisades State Park, about 20 miles northeast...
Va. school board files appeal to defend transgender policy
RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia school board has filed a federal appeal to defend its transgender bathroom ban. The Gloucester County School Board’s appeal appeared Tuesday on the docket for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. Briefs containing legal arguments will come next. The board has been...
Ohio medical board to review nearly 2,000 ‘sexual boundary’ cases
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The State Medical Board of Ohio plans to review nearly 2,000 closed cases involving alleged “sexual boundary” violations by doctors over the past 25 years to see if any involved evidence of criminal misconduct that was ignored. Gov. Mike DeWine requested such a review after learning credible...
In California, a buzzy campaign idea gets a test run
STOCKTON, Calif. — Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang wants to give cash to every American each month. Susie Garza has never heard of Yang. But since February, she’s been getting $500 a month from a nonprofit in Stockton, California, as part of an experiment that offers something unusual in presidential...
Armed group storms Popeyes demanding chicken sandwiches
Hey, when you need a chicken sandwich … you need a chicken sandwich. But launching an all-out assault on Popeyes is probably not the best way to go about it. Especially when you’re lugging an infant around. According to a report from ABC13 News in Houston, a group of people...
