U.S./World category, Page 1192
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...
Bridge in China collapses, sending vehicles into river
BEIJING — An entire section of a roadway bridge has plunged into a wide river in southern China, sending two vehicles into the water and leaving two people missing. Heyuan city police said the 390-foot section collapsed early Friday morning. China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that two nearby security guards...
Oregon public defenders mobilize for pay, staffing overhaul
SALEM, Ore. — Facing an ever-mounting caseload, dozens of public defenders in Oregon walked out of courthouses and into the Statehouse this week to lobby for a bill that would fix a staffing shortage and an outdated contract payment system that has some attorneys representing more than 200 clients at...
Utah man held without bail in deputy’s killing
LOS ANGELES — A Utah man was held without bail Thursday on charges of murder in the deaths of an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy and another man. Rhett McKenzie Nelson, 30, of St. George, wore a navy blue jail uniform during his initial arraignment in Los Angeles Superior...
Testimony: Suspect bought Drano after Chinese scholar death
PEORIA, Ill. — A former University of Illinois doctoral student on trial in the killing of a visiting scholar from China bought Drano and garbage bags three days after the slaying, according to testimony Thursday. The detail came during the second day of the federal murder trial of Brendt Christensen...
US considers more options for detaining transgender migrants
MILAN, N.M. — Behind a thick metal door and down a sterile hallway at a privately-run detention center in rural New Mexico, voices echo from the confines of a small outdoor recreation yard. It’s a three-on-three volleyball match. The players, all clad in different colored jumpsuits, are transgender women awaiting...
Utah officer who pulled gun on black child sparks protests
WOODS CROSS, Utah — Activists are planning to protest at a police agency in northern Utah after learning an officer who pulled his gun on a 10-year-old child will continue to work. Black Lives Matter in Utah founder Lex Scott said Thursday they will hold a protest Friday night to...
Perfectly preserved head of Ice Age wolf found in Siberia
Russian scientists have found the furry head of an Ice Age wolf perfectly preserved in the Siberian permafrost. The head of a wolf, which died 40,000 years ago, was discovered in the Russian Arctic region of Yakutia. Valery Plotnikov, a top researcher at the local branch of the Russian Academy...
