U.S./World category, Page 1191
Legacy of teacher walkouts could be more political activism
OKLAHOMA CITY — Betty Collins was born and raised in Tulsa, but the eighth grade history teacher hadn’t been to the state Capitol in Oklahoma City until last spring, when she educators throughout the state walked off the job to protest for better wages and public school funding. Since that...
What bats, primates and even zebrafish tell us about human aging
Scientists who want to understand why some of us live longer and healthier have traditionally focused on studying centenarians from the world’s “blue zones,” such as Okinawa, Japan, or Ikaria, Greece, where inhabitants routinely shatter longevity records. Yet Irish bat biologist Emma Teeling thinks the answer can be found among...
‘Like quicksand’: Ohio farmer survives soybean entrapment
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio farmer Jay Butterfield survived a harrowing afternoon recently after being buried up to his neck inside a soybean bin. The 70-year-old was trying to break up wet clumps of the crop inside a 30-foot-tall bin when he sank up to his knees. The material along the...
Man arrested in ’87 cold case slaying of soldier in Colorado
DENVER — A suburban Denver man has been arrested in the unsolved slaying of a soldier in Colorado 32 years ago after DNA evidence was used to create an image of what a suspect might look like, authorities said Friday. Civilian and Army investigators arrested Michael Whyte of Thornton in...
Mexico migration chief offers to resign amid crackdown
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s immigration chief presented his resignation to the president Friday as the country embarks on a crackdown on irregular migration through its territory in response to U.S. pressure. The National Immigration Institute said in a brief statement that Tonatiuh Guillén thanked President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for...
Jurors listen to Illinois suspect say he killed scholar from China
PEORIA, Ill. — Jurors in a federal death-penalty trial heard secretly recorded audio Friday in which a former University of Illinois doctoral student describes to his girlfriend how he killed a visiting scholar from China, calling the 26-year-old woman “valiant” as she tried to fight back. The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports...
U.S. Naval War College names 1st female president
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A helicopter pilot who heads a military command in Guam will be the first female leader of the U.S. Naval War College, the Navy announced Friday, days after removing the college president who came under investigation over questionable behavior. Rear Adm. Shoshana Chatfield will be the new...
Small donors, not French tycoons, help pay Notre Dame works
PARIS — The billionaire French donors who publicly proclaimed they would give hundreds of millions to rebuild Notre Dame have not yet paid a penny toward the restoration of the French national monument, according to church and business officials. Instead, it’s mainly American and French individuals, via Notre Dame charitable...
Alligator with a knife in its head is living in a Texas lake
Residents of a Texas community are concerned after a recent alligator sighting. Not for their own well-being, but that of the reptile. Alligators are common in this part of Fort Bend. County near Houston but this particular one has what appears to be a knife sticking in its head. Orchard...
Police: South Carolina woman stopped for driving drunk on toy truck
WALHALLA, S.C. — A South Carolina woman who police say was driving drunk will not be cited with a DUI because her vehicle of choice was a toy truck. News outlets quote police as saying that instead they charged 25-year-old Megan Holman with public intoxication. They say they spotted her...
Canada to allow the sale of cannabis edibles late this year
OTTAWA, Ontario — The Canadian government says a limited selection of cannabis-laced food products won’t hit retail shelves in the country before mid-December. Last October, Canada became the second and largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace but it has delayed the sale of edibles containing pot. The government...
Florida governor signs bill banning sanctuary policies
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — All law enforcement agencies in Florida will have to cooperate with federal immigration authorities under a bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday during a ceremony that often felt like a campaign rally for him and President Donald Trump. The bill prohibits local governments from enacting...
Transgender track star: I’m the one at a ‘disadvantage’ racing against girls
Since Cece Telfer’s victory in an NCAA track and field race last month, many people have questioned the fairness of a trans woman competing against a field of cis gender women. Telfer agrees it isn’t fair. Although, she claims it’s her that has the disadvantage. ‘If anything, me competing against...
Gorilla back in Cincinnati Zoo after long California stay
CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Zoo on Friday welcomed back a 37-year-old male silverback gorilla after a legal battle and some 28 years after he went to California. The zoo said Ndume arrived Friday morning and was settling in behind the scenes in its Gorilla World area. “We are thrilled that...
California valedictorian burns school in ‘scorched earth’ speech
Tell us how you really feel, Nataly. At California’s San Ysidro High School, valedictorian Nataly Buhr started her graduation speech the way those speeches usually go. She thanked friends, family and teachers at the San Diego school who helped her along her way. Then the speech veered into what the...
Trump: Iran a ‘nation of terror,’ was behind tanker attacks
WASHINGTON — Calling Iran “a nation of terror,” President Donald Trump confirmed the assessment of his top advisers and publicly accused the Persian Gulf nation of responsibility for recent attacks on oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Trump said Friday that Iran’s culpability was “exposed” by the United...
Family: Baby cut from slain Chicago woman’s womb dies
CHICAGO — An infant boy who was cut from a Chicago woman’s womb with a butcher knife died Friday at a hospital where he had been in grave condition since the April attack that killed his mother, family spokeswomen said. Family spokeswoman Cecilia Garcia confirmed a family statement posted on...
Former assistant principal charged with murder of Florida educator
MIAMI — A former assistant principal at Norland High School in Miami Gardens, Fla., has been arrested and charged with murdering educator Kameela Russell, whose body was discovered floating in a Miami Gardens canal. Police detectives took Ernest Joseph Roberts, 39, into custody early Friday morning. Police obtained an arrest...
Tenn. pastor preaches that the government should execute LGBTQ people
Standing at the front of the All Scripture Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, Pastor Grayson Fritts had the rapt attention of his congregation. It was June 2, the first Sunday of Pride Month, and Fritts had planned a timely sermon. For roughly an hour, Fritts, who is also a detective...
Inert grenade in Detroit airport luggage causes brief scare
ROMULUS, Mich. — Authorities say what turned out to be an inert grenade in a piece of luggage caused a brief scare and drew a heavy law enforcement presence at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The airport in the Detroit suburb of Romulus says Transportation Security Administration officers on Thursday evening spotted...
American detained at Cairo airport for carrying Yemen dagger
CAIRO — Egyptian officials say a Yemeni American was detained at the Cairo airport for carrying a traditional Yemeni dagger in his luggage. Customs officials say the man, a dual U.S.-Yemeni national, landed in Cairo on Friday on a flight from the Yemeni port city of Aden. The officials say...
Rescue group: Missing pony named ‘Pikachu’ found dead
FOUNTAIN INN, S.C. — A group dedicated to finding missing horses says a South Carolina pony named Pikachu has been found dead. Stolen Horse International got involved after Hidden Pasture Farm owner Kate Nichols said last week that her miniature palomino filly had vanished overnight. She said she had searched...
German court lifts city’s ban on burkini swimsuits
BERLIN — A German court has lifted a city’s ban on the burkini, an all-encompassing swimsuit used by some Muslim women. Wearing the garments in municipal pools in the western city of Koblenz was forbidden at the beginning of this year after the local council narrowly approved a ban. Officials...
Thai vets nurture lost baby dugong with milk and sea grass
BANGKOK — A baby dugong that has developed an attachment to humans after being separated from its mother and getting lost in the ocean off southern Thailand is being nurtured by marine experts in hopes that it can one day fend for itself. The estimated 5-month-old female dugong named Marium...
U.S. extradition case against Assange set for next year
LONDON — A British court has set a date early next year for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face a U.S. extradition attempt over his role in revealing classified government and military information. Ben Brandon, a British lawyer representing the U.S. government, told a court hearing Friday that the case...
