U.S./World category, Page 1215
Ex-Michigan trooper gets prison for teen’s Taser crash death
DETROIT — A former Michigan state trooper was sentenced to at least five years in prison Monday for causing the death of a Detroit teen who crashed an all-terrain vehicle after he was shot with a Taser. Judge Margaret Van Houten said Mark Bessner, a lawyer and experienced officer, used...
Canada increases protections for Pacific Northwest orcas
SEATTLE — Canada has approved measures designed to protect endangered orcas in the Pacific Northwest, with some policies going further than laws recently enacted by Washington state. The Seattle Times reports Canadian agencies last Friday announced the policies aimed at improving access to food for orcas, including reducing chinook salmon...
Supreme Court says 1 state can’t be sued in another’s courts
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court decided Monday that one state cannot unwillingly be sued in the courts of another, overruling a 40-year precedent and perhaps, foreshadowing an argument over the viability of other high court decisions. The outcome left one dissenting justice wondering “which cases the court will overrule next.”...
Arkansas police K9 Mya smiles wide for high school yearbook photo
That’s a good girl. A police K9 was pictured in the yearbook of the Arkansas high school where she doubles as a school resource officer. And she sure looks happy about it. Mya, a 2-year-old Belgian malinois who works with the Bryant Police Department about 20 miles southwest of Little...
Florida woman missing for 6 years found in warehouse freezer
MARGATE, Fla. — The body of a Florida woman who had been missing for six years was found inside a freezer at a scrap warehouse. The business owner said Friday she opened the freezer and found the body of 35-year-old Heather Lacey last month. Lacey’s father told the Sun Sentinel...
IHOP Mother’s Day tweet of pancakes in a sonogram falls flat
In an effort to celebrate Mother’s Day, IHOP offered its love to mothers everywhere by sharing a photoshopped sonogram of a woman’s womb full of pancakes, jokingly suggesting in a tweet that eating the breakfast favorite might cause a food baby to grow in the uterus. On Sunday morning, right...
Iranian students protest mandatory headscarf rule
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency says university students have held a campus protest against authorities’ increasing pressure on women to wear mandatory headscarves in public. The report says the students — both men and women — briefly scuffled with another group of Tehran University students who support...
Trump says China will be ‘hurt very badly’ if no trade deal
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is warning Chinese President Xi Jinping that China “will be hurt very badly” if they don’t agree to a trade deal. Trump tweeted Monday after the countries failed to reach a deal in recent talks. The Trump administration has raised tariffs on $200 billion of...
Dog disease that can be passed to humans confirmed in Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa — Officials say a dog disease that can be passed to humans has been confirmed in Iowa. The state veterinarian, Dr. Jeff Kaisand, says several cases of canine brucellosis have been confirmed at a commercial breeding facility for small dogs in Marion County. The Iowa Department of...
Felicity Huffman to plead guilty in college admissions scam
BOSTON — Actress Felicity Huffman is scheduled to plead guilty Monday to allegations she paid $15,000 to rig her daughter’s SAT score as part of a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme. The “Desperate Housewives” star is expected to enter her plea in Boston federal court two months after she was...
Sweden to reopen rape case against WikiLeaks’ Assange
STOCKHOLM — Swedish prosecutors said Monday they are reopening a rape case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and seek his extradition after he has served his 50-week prison term in Britain for jumping bail. Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecutions, told a news conference in Stockholm that “there...
Hungary’s strongman, who echoes Trump’s rhetoric, will visit White House
WASHINGTON — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is widely accused of undermining his country’s democratic institutions, is scheduled to meet President Donald Trump on Monday, the latest authoritarian leader to get a White House invitation. Although Hungary is a European Union member and a NATO ally, Orban has become...
Argentine legislator Héctor Olivares dies 3 days from ‘mafia-style’ attack
BUENOS AIRES — Argentine legislator Héctor Olivares died three days after being seriously wounded in a gun attack that killed a provincial official, a Senate official said Sunday. Acting Senate president Federico Pinedo said Olivares died of his wounds earlier in the day. “A great pain the death of Deputy...
Lucha libre wrestler Silver King dies during London matchVideo
LONDON — A well-known Mexican wrestler who co-starred in the film comedy “Nacho Libre” died in London when he collapsed during a match that a witness described as so elaborately staged it wasn’t immediately clear something seriously was wrong. Cesar Cuauhtemoc Gonzalez Barron, who wrestled with the ring name Silver...
Prosecutor: Dogs detected decomposition in Texas missing girl caseVideo
HOUSTON — Trained dogs detected the scent of human decomposition in the vehicle of a man arrested in connection with the disappearance of a 4-year-old Texas girl, according to a prosecutor. Derion Vence, 26, remained jailed Sunday on a $1 million bond after being arrested a day earlier on a...
At least 6 killed in Burkina Faso church attack
DAKAR, Senegal — Gunmen killed at least six people at a Catholic church in the West African nation of Burkina Faso on Sunday and then torched the worship space, town officials told local reporters. The attack during morning Mass occurred in the country’s restive north, where terrorists linked to the...
Heavy rain in South leaves some trapped, others afloatVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Mississippi authorities rescued a man clinging to a tree and another man and his 4-year-old child from the roof of a submerged pickup truck as heavy rain caused flooding in the state and in neighboring Louisiana. New Orleans residents awoke to flooded streets Sunday and the Mississippi...
Washington state to offer first ‘public option’ insurance in U.S.
SEATTLE — Washington is set to become the first state to enter the private health insurance market with a universally available public option. A set of tiered public plans will cover standard services and are expected to be up to 10% cheaper than comparable private insurance, thanks in part to...
Agent transfers raise worries of delays at U.S.-Canada border crossings
DERBY LINE, Vt. — Hundreds of border agents from across the U.S. are being temporarily transferred south ahead of the busy summer tourism season, worrying those along the northern border who rely on cross-border commerce — including U.S. innkeepers, shop owners and restaurateurs who fear their Canadian customers could be...
Chelsea Manning refusing to testify at grand jury probing WikiLeaks
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning says she’ll refuse to testify on Thursday before a second grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. But if a judge finds her in contempt of court again, she could wind up back in jail. Manning spent seven years in prison for leaking hundreds...
Connecticut man accused of threatening to kill Trump
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut man has been indicted on charges that he threatened to kill President Donald Trump and sent letters he claimed contained anthrax. Gary Joseph Gravelle of New Haven faces charges including conveying false information about an explosive and threats against the president. Authorities say 51-year-old...
‘Run, Hide, Fight’ mindset making way into U.S. schools
BALTIMORE — The actions of students who died tackling gunmen at two U.S. campuses a week apart have been hailed as heroic. At a growing number of schools across the country, they also reflect guidance to students, at least in some situations, to do what they can to disrupt shootings....
One by one, D-Day memories fade as war’s witnesses die
PARIS — One more funeral, one less witness to the world’s worst war. Bernard Dargols lived almost long enough to join the celebrations next month marking 75 years since D-Day, 75 years since he waded onto Omaha Beach as an American soldier to help liberate France from the Nazis who...
China names its trade-deal price as Trump sets month deadline
WASHINGTON — China for the first time made clear what it wants to see from the U.S. in talks to end their trade war, laying bare the deep differences that still exist between the two sides. In a wide-ranging interview with Chinese media after talks in Washington ended Friday, Vice...
Trump’s interest stirring Ukraine investigations sows confusion in Kiev
MOSCOW — As President Trump and his inner circle appear increasingly focused on Ukraine as a potential tripwire for Joe Biden and Democrats, officials about to take power in Kiev are pushing their own message: Leave us out of it. Supporters of Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky — who is expected...
