U.S./World category, Page 1304
Couple killed taking shortcut across train tracks in Germany
BERLIN — German police say a 71-year-old man and his 67-year-old wife were killed by a train late Saturday after trying to take a shortcut across the tracks. Police in the southwestern city of Reutlingen said Sunday that the couple had disembarked from a regional train at a suburban stop...
Alaska Airlines flights back in the air after power outage
SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines flights are back in the air after a nationwide ground stop that was apparently caused by a power outage. The airline says all its flights were grounded between about 4:20 a.m. and 5:15 a.m. after a power outage in the Seattle area, where the airline’s operations...
High avalanche risk in Alps amid heavy snow; 2 dead
BERLIN — Authorities warned Sunday of a high risk of avalanches on the northern side of the Alps, after heavy snowfall in recent days created dangerous conditions across parts of southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A 20-year-old skier died in an avalanche Saturday on Mount Teisen, near the Austrian border,...
Poland shuts down 13 escape game sites due to safety flaws
WARSAW, Poland — Polish officials have shut down 13 escape room entertainment sites for safety flaws and the prime minister asked people Sunday to report such lapses to firefighters and police after five teenage girls were killed in a fire. Firefighter chief Leszek Suski said the escape room at a...
Man charged with murder in Houston girl’s death
HOUSTON — A black man was arrested and charged with murder in the killing of a 7-year-old black girl in a drive-by shooting in Houston that her family believed was racially motivated but that prosecutors said Sunday was a case of mistaken identity. Jazmine Barnes’ family had described the gunman...
Idaho group blasts acquittal in puppy-fed-to-turtle case
BLACKFOOT, Idaho — An Idaho animal welfare group is blasting the acquittal of an eastern Idaho teacher who was accused of feeding a live puppy to a snapping turtle in front of several students. The Idaho Humane Society called the Franklin County jury’s decision on Friday to find Robert Crosland...
Hundreds rally as 7-year-old girl’s killer remains at large
HOUSTON — Hundreds of people who gathered at a rally Saturday for a 7-year-old Houston girl whose killer remains at large were asked to think of the victim as their own child and to be part of an “army” that will help authorities catch the person who fatally shot her....
Wall debate obscures other struggles at the border
SAN DIEGO — In Washington, it’s all about the wall. At the border, it’s only part of the story. Border authorities are struggling with outdated facilities ill-equipped to handle the growing increase in family migrants, resulting in immigrants being released onto the streets every day. The immigration court system is...
Airports seeing rise in security screeners calling off work
NEW YORK — The federal agency tasked with guaranteeing U.S. airport security acknowledged an increase in the number of its employees calling off work during the partial government shutdown . Employees of the Transportation Security Administration are expected to work without pay during the shutdown because their jobs are considered...
3 killed, 4 injured in California bowling alley shooting
TORRANCE, Calif. — Three men were fatally shot late Friday and four injured when a brawl at a popular Los Angeles-area bowling alley and karaoke bar erupted into gunfire that had terrified patrons, some children, running for their lives. Police in the coastal city of Torrance responded shortly after midnight...
Bluefin tuna goes for $3 million at 1st 2019 sale at Tokyo market
TOKYO — A 612-pound bluefin tuna sold for a record 333.6 million yen ($3 million) at the first auction of 2019, after Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji market was moved to a new site on the city’s waterfront. The winning bid for the prized but threatened species at the predawn auction Saturday...
White supremacist says he will plead guilty in sword killing
NEW YORK — An Army veteran accused of killing a black man with a sword as part of a racist plot told a judge that he intended to plead guilty to the crime, but he asked that it be put off because he’d taken pain medication. James Jackson appeared Friday...
Police: Man may have shot self at Mississippi university
JACKSON, Miss. — Police said Friday they’re investigating whether a former student at a Mississippi university shot himself, after a multi-hour campus lockdown earlier in the day and a building-to-building search for what had been described as another gunman. Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton told The Associated Press in a...
Baby sitter accused of killing boy and giving body to mother
WAUSAU, Wis. — A Wisconsin baby sitter who allegedly killed a 2-month-old boy then pretended he was alive when she gave the boy back to his mother has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide. A criminal complaint filed Friday says 28-year-old Marissa Tietsort of Wausau caused the infant’s death in...
Slain officer honored with procession across California town
NEWMAN, Calif. — The flag-draped casket of a California police officer who authorities say was shot to death by a man in the country illegally was carried in a procession Friday through the streets he once patrolled to a public viewing in a community theater. The killing of Cpl. Ronil...
Texas man charged in slayings of 3 kids, wounding of mother
DALLAS — The father of one of three children found stabbed and beaten to death in a Southeast Texas apartment they shared with their mother was charged with capital murder Friday in the attack that left the woman with severe injuries. Texas City police Chief Joe Stanton said Junaid Hashim...
Agency: U.S. gas prices ended 2018 lower than they began
U.S. average retail gasoline prices ended the year lower than they began for the first time since 2015, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. Regular gas prices averaged $2.72 per gallon in 2018 — 30 cents per gallon higher than in 2017 and 57 cents per gallon higher than in...
Scout affiliate accused of secretly filming boys indicted
CLEVELAND — A man accused of secretly recording boys changing clothes at a YMCA, his home bathroom and in teepees at an Ohio scout reservation has been indicted on federal charges including sexual exploitation of children. The four counts against 39-year-old Thomas Close also include having child pornography. An affidavit...
Parkland report cites mistakes by officials, recommends arming teachers
A Florida commission investigating the February shooting deaths of 17 people at a state high school in Parkland said in a starkly worded report that security at public schools must be improved and recommended arming teachers and spending more on mental health programs. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public...
American held in Moscow for spying is also British, Irish
MOSCOW — The American former Marine who is being held in Moscow on spying charges also holds British and Irish citizenship, officials said Friday, and Britain’s foreign secretary charged that Russia is trying to use him as a pawn in its geopolitical games. Paul Whelan, the global security director for...
Man thought nearly brain-dead recovers and leaves hospital
OMAHA, Neb. — A man whose children had decided to remove his breathing tubes has recovered and left an Omaha hospital after weeks of therapy. Now his family members call T. Scott Marr — once nearly brain-dead — the “miracle man.” Marr originally was diagnosed with a stroke on Dec....
5 children heading to Disney killed in fiery Florida crash
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Five children heading to Disney World in a church van from Louisiana died along with two truck drivers in fiery crash on Interstate 75 in north Florida, the Florida Highway Patrol said Friday. The children were traveling in a large passenger van from Avoyelles Parish, Lt....
UK coroner: 102-year-old man got stuck on roof, dies of cold
LONDON — A British coroner has found that the death of a 102-year-old man who got stuck on his roof for three days after falling while adjusting his TV aerial was accidental. Ron Easton died in a hospital on Nov. 2, nine days after he was rescued from his ordeal...
Trump refers to many walls as he fights for border money
WASHINGTON — Everywhere President Donald Trump looks, he sees a wall. As he lobbies for money for his long-promised border wall, Trump keeps talking up other barricades. He’s pointing to walls in Israel, at the Vatican, even at former President Barack Obama’s house — though fact checkers have pushed back...
Homeland Security asks Pentagon to provide more help on border security
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security has asked the military to provide more help securing the U.S.-Mexico border, a defense official said Friday amid a political standoff over President Donald Trump’s demand for more money to build a border wall. The acting secretary of defense, Pat Shanahan, has not...
