U.S./World category, Page 1287
Analysis: This is what 40 below zero feels like
The fact of the matter is I don’t know exactly how cold it got at my house today. The mercury thermometer on our porch only goes down to minus 30. The digital thermometer in our backyard weather station bottoms out at minus 40. For roughly two hours on Wednesday, this...
Trump says ‘wall’ must be part of lawmakers’ border deal
WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill negotiators are hopeful of an agreement as they officially kick off talks Wednesday on a homeland security spending bill stalled over funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. Left on their own, the seasoned House and Senate lawmakers say they could easily reach a border...
Suspect in Tampa serial killings says jail making him sick
TAMPA, Fla. — The Florida man charged with being the serial killer who terrorized a Tampa neighborhood says jail is making him sick. The Tampa Bay Times reports that 26-year-old Howell Donaldson III asked Judge Mark Wolfe on Tuesday for “some professional help” for unspecified ailments. The former college basketball...
Police: Would-be bank robber gets cold feet, rips up note
FALL RIVER, Mass. — Police in Massachusetts are looking for a woman they say intended to rob a bank but got cold feet and left without a penny. Fall River police tell the Herald News the woman walked into the Fall River Municipal Credit Union on Monday afternoon and approached...
New Mexico school delays classes because of … vegetable oil
EUNICE, N.M. — A New Mexico high school was forced to delay classes after authorities say vandals poured vegetable oil throughout the hallways. The Hobbs News-Sun reports the oil was poured at Eunice High School in the small city of Eunice late Sunday and forced janitors to clean up the...
Report: Half of U.S. coal mines operating in 2008 have closed
More than half of the U.S. coal mines operating in 2008 have since closed, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Most of the mine closures were in the Appalachian states of Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, the EIA said. The closings were driven by the decreasing demand...
Brown University criticized for using live pigs in medical training
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A prominent physicians’ group has asked federal regulators to investigate Brown University’s medical school, arguing it is violating the law by using live pigs for training in emergency medicine. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine on Tuesday asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health...
6 deaths linked to blast of arctic cold
CHICAGO — Police say at least two people in the Detroit area have died in the extremely cold weather, including a former member of the City Council in the town of Ecorse, Mich. Ecorse detective Tim Sassak tells TV station WDIV that the man was discovered Wednesday. Sassak says the...
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin: Closing schools for cold shows ‘we’re getting soft’
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Political rivals and educators took Gov. Matt Bevin to task this week, when he told a talk-radio host that canceling schools for cold weather is an indication that “we’re getting soft.” Bevin followed up the comment by saying that “it’s better to err on the side of...
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam faces fierce conservative backlash over abortion bill
RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam faced intense backlash on Wednesday for comments he made about a fellow Democrat’s abortion-rights bill, whose sponsor said it would allow abortion right up to the final moments of pregnancy. In a radio interview, Northam was asked about the bill brought by Del. Kathy...
Grenade thrown into Philippine mosque kills 2 Islam teachers
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — A grenade was thrown into a mosque in the southern Philippines where Muslim teachers were sleeping early Wednesday morning, killing two of them and injuring four, authorities said. It was the second explosion at a religious site in the south this week, though authorities didn’t see it...
Trump says ‘wall’ must be part of lawmakers’ border deal
WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill negotiators are hopeful of an agreement as they officially kick off talks on a homeland security spending bill stalled over funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. Left on their own, the seasoned House and Senate lawmakers say they could easily reach a border security...
Texas inmate set to be executed for Houston officer’s death
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A 61-year-old Texas inmate was set to be executed Wednesday for killing a Houston police officer more than three decades ago during a robbery. Robert Jennings was condemned for the July 1988 slaying of Officer Elston Howard during a robbery at an adult bookstore. Jennings would be...
Waste unleashed from Brazil dam on its way to larger river
RIO DE JANEIRO — A torrent of muddy mining waste unleashed by a dam breach that killed at least 84 people in southeastern Brazil is now heading down a small river with high concentrations of iron oxide, threatening to contaminate a much larger river that provides drinking water to communities...
Indonesia’s Merapi volcano unleashes river of lava
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s volatile Mount Merapi volcano has unleashed a river of lava that flowed 4,590 feet down its slopes. Kasbani, head of the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center, says Merapi on the island of Java has entered an “effusive eruption phase.” Kasbani, who goes by a single...
GOP leaders signal distaste for renewing shutdown over border wall
WASHINGTON — Wary of reigniting a clash that proved damaging to Republicans, congressional GOP leaders signaled Tuesday that they want to de-escalate the battle over President Trump’s border wall and suggested they could be flexible as bargainers seek a bipartisan agreement. In what seemed a message aimed at the White...
Most Americans see nation on the wrong track, new poll reveals
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — The state of the union is dark. A large majority of Americans say they are pessimistic about the state of the country and few expect things will get better in the year ahead, according to a poll released Tuesday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs...
Woman with baby dies from falling down NYC subway stairs
NEW YORK — A young mother has died after falling down stairs at a Manhattan subway station while holding her 1-year-old daughter in a stroller. Malaysia Goodson, of Stamford, Conn., fell down the stairs at a midtown Manhattan station at around 8 p.m. Monday, police said. Goodson was unconscious when...
British Parliament says Britain shouldn’t leave EU without Brexit deal
LONDON — The British Parliament on Tuesday sought to assert control over Brexit, declaring its opposition to leaving the European Union without a deal and voting to send Prime Minister Theresa May back to Brussels to reopen talks with European leaders. But the measures are nonbinding and aspirational. They do...
Justice Department watchdog wants to investigate Alex Acosta’s plea deal with serial sex abuser
MIAMI — The U.S. Department of Justice’s inspector general urged Congress on Tuesday to allow him to investigate Alex Acosta — the former U.S. attorney in Miami whose controversial 2008 plea deal with a politically connected serial sex abuser has led to calls for Acosta to resign as secretary of...
Chicago police investigating report of assault on ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett
Chicago police said Tuesday they received a report of a “possible racially-charged assault and battery” involving an actor on the television show “Empire.” Police say two people approached a 36-year-old man at about 2 a.m. Tuesday as he was walking and got his attention by yelling racial and homophobic slurs....
Medical helicopter crashes in Ohio remote woods, killing 3
CINCINNATI — A medical helicopter crashed Tuesday in a remote wooded area on its way to pick up a patient, killing all three crew members, authorities said. Survival Flight medical transportation reported around 7:20 a.m. Tuesday losing communication with a helicopter flying from the Mount Carmel Hospital in Grove City...
U.N.: More than 130 migrants appear to be missing off Djibouti
JOHANNESBURG — More than 130 migrants were thought to be missing after two boats capsized Tuesday off the tiny East African nation of Djibouti, the U.N. migration agency said. Local police had found five bodies and search efforts were underway, the U.N. statement said. Witnesses said the boats were overloaded...
Illinois State Police say driver caught going 115 mph in the snow ‘ridiculous’
The Illinois State Police posted a photo of a speeding ticket along with some words of warning to Facebook on Monday. The post starts with the alleged offense: 115 mph in a 35 mph zone. Then goes on to warn other speeders and concerned citizens: “If you think we don’t...
Sheriff: Louisiana suspect confesses to killing 5; used dad’s gun
BATON ROUGE, La. — The 21-year-old man accused of killing five people including his parents in a multi-parish shooting over the weekend before fleeing to his grandmother’s house has confessed, authorities said Tuesday. Dakota Theriot told authorities he used a gun he stole from his father, Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason...
