U.S./World category, Page 299
Judge tosses some counts in Georgia election case against Trump and others
ATLANTA — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others on Thursday tossed out three counts in the indictment — including two counts brought against the former president — saying that they lie beyond the state’s jurisdiction. The case against Trump and others who are...
Border Patrol response to Uvalde school shooting marred by breakdowns and poor training, report says
UVALDE, Texas — U.S. Border Patrol agents who rushed to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022 failed to establish command at the scene and had insufficient training to deal with what became one of the nation’s deadliest classroom attacks, according to a federal report released Thursday. The...
Money rolls in on U.S. election bets after judge clears way, but appeal looms
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — People began betting Thursday on which political party would win control of Congress in the November elections after a judge’s ruling allowing the wagers — the only ones to be legally approved by a U.S. jurisdiction. New York startup company Kalshi began taking what amounts to...
Ukraine says Russia has started a counteroffensive in its Kursk border region
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia has launched a counter-offensive in its Kursk region to dislodge Ukraine’s forces who stormed across the border five weeks ago and put Russian territory under foreign occupation for the first time since World War II, Ukraine’s president said Thursday. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Moscow’s forces...
USPS’ long-awaited new mail truck makes its debut to rave reviews from carriers
ATHENS, Ga. — The Postal Service’s new delivery vehicles aren’t going to win a beauty contest. They’re tall and ungainly. The windshields are vast. Their hoods resemble a duck bill. Their bumpers are enormous. “You can tell that (the designers) didn’t have appearance in mind,” postal worker Avis Stonum said....
Share of foreign-born in the U.S. at highest rate in over a century, says survey
MIAMI — The percent of U.S. residents who were foreign-born last year grew to its highest level in more than a century, according to figures released Thursday from the most comprehensive survey of American life. The share of people born outside the United States increased in 2023 to 14.3% from...
Tech billionaire pulls off 1st private spacewalk high above Earth
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A tech billionaire performed the first private spacewalk hundreds of miles above Earth on Thursday, a high-risk endeavor reserved for professional astronauts — until now. Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman teamed up with SpaceX to test the company’s brand new spacesuits on his chartered flight. The daring...
U.S. filings for unemployment benefits inch up slightly but remain historically low
Slightly more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain at historically low levels despite two years of elevated interest rates. Jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 230,000 for the week of Sept. 7, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That number matches the number of new filings that...
An Ohio city reshaped by Haitian immigrants lands in an unwelcome spotlight
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Many cities have been reshaped by immigrants in the last few years without attracting much notice. Not Springfield, Ohio. Its story of economic renewal and related growing pains has been thrust into the national conversation in a presidential election year — and maliciously distorted by false rumors...
From Chinese to Italians and beyond, maligning a culture via its foods is a longtime American habit
NEW YORK — It’s a practice that’s about as American as apple pie — accusing immigrant and minority communities of engaging in bizarre or disgusting behaviors when it comes to what and how they eat and drink, a kind of shorthand for saying they don’t belong. The latest iteration came...
Wildfires in Southern California torch dozens of homes, force thousands to evacuateVideo
WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. — Three major wildfires in Southern California’s mountains east of Los Angeles torched dozens of homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate, officials said Wednesday. At least a dozen people, mainly firefighters, were treated for injuries that were mostly heat-related, authorities said. One person from Orange County...
Election officials warn that widespread problems with the mail system could disrupt voting
TOPEKA, Kan. — State and local election officials from across the country on Wednesday warned that problems with the nation’s mail delivery system threaten to disenfranchise voters in the upcoming presidential election, telling the head of the U.S. Postal Service that it hasn’t fixed persistent deficiencies. In an alarming letter,...
Mississippi man found not guilty of threatening Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker
OXFORD, Miss. — A jury has cleared a Mississippi man on a charge of threatening to kill Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker during a confrontation with one of Wicker’s relatives. Six women and six men deliberated about an hour and a half Tuesday before unanimously finding William Carl Sappington not...
Francine weakens moving inland from Gulf Coast after hurricane winds cause power outagesVideo
MORGAN CITY, La. — Francine weakened Thursday after striking Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, sent storm surge rushing into coastal communities and raised flood fears in New Orleans and beyond as drenching rains spread over the northern...
U.S. inflation reaches a 3-year low as Federal Reserve prepares to cut interest ratesVideo
WASHINGTON — The post-pandemic spike in U.S. inflation eased further last month as year-over-year price increases reached a three-year low, clearing the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and likely shaping the economic debate in the final weeks of the presidential race. The report, released Wednesday by...
U.S. commemorates 9/11 attacks with victims in focus and politics in viewVideo
NEW YORK — With presidential candidates looking on, some 9/11 victims’ relatives appealed to them Wednesday for accountability as the U.S. marked an anniversary laced with election-season politics. In a remarkable tableau, President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris stood together at ground zero just...
Personal assistant convicted of dismembering his boss is sentenced to 40 years to life
NEW YORK — A personal assistant convicted of killing and dismembering his former tech entrepreneur boss after stealing about $400,000 from him was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison, Manhattan’s district attorney said. Tyrese Haspil, 25, was found guilty in June of murder, grand larceny and other...
Ohio sending troopers and $2.5 million to city inundated with Haitian migrants
COLUMBUS — The governor of Ohio will send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants that has landed it in the national spotlight. Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday he doesn’t oppose the...
Police are questioning Florida voters about signing an abortion rights ballot petition
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — State police are showing up at Florida voters’ homes to question them about signing a petition to get an abortion rights amendment on the ballot in November, and a state health care agency has launched a website targeting the ballot initiative with politically charged language. Critics say...
Most students in a Georgia district return to class nearly a week after a school shootingVideo
WINDER, Ga. — Many students in Georgia’s Barrow County headed back to class Tuesday, six days after a shooting killed two teachers and two students at the school district’s Apalachee High School northeast of Atlanta. No return date has been set for the 1,900 students at that high school, but...
Americans’ inflation-adjusted incomes rebounded to pre-pandemic levels last year
WASHINGTON — The inflation-adjusted median income of U.S. households rebounded last year to roughly its 2019 level, overcoming the biggest price spike in four decades to restore most Americans’ purchasing power. The proportion of Americans living in poverty also fell slightly last year, to 11.1%, from 11.5% in 2022. But...
2 transgender New Hampshire girls can play on girls sports teams during lawsuit, a judge rules
CONCORD, N.H. — Two transgender girls can try out for and play on girls school sports teams while the teens challenge a New Hampshire ban, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The families of Parker Tirrell, 15, and Iris Turmelle, 14, sued in August seeking to overturn the Fairness in Women’s...
Maryland Supreme Court hears arguments on child sex abuse lawsuits
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Supreme Court of Maryland heard arguments Tuesday about the constitutionality of a 2023 law that ended the state’s statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits following a report that exposed widespread wrongdoing within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The arguments, which lasted several hours and often...
Abortion-rights measure will be on Missouri’s November ballot, court rules
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A measure undoing Missouri’s near-total abortion ban will appear on the ballot in November, the state’s high court ruled Tuesday, marking the latest victory in a nationwide fight to have voters weigh in on abortion laws since federal rights to the procedure ended in 2022. If...
Omaha police arrest suspect after teen critically hurt in shooting at high schoolVideo
OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha police arrested a suspect about half an hour after a shooting Tuesday that critically injured a teenage boy at a high school in Nebraska’s largest city. Families rushed to Omaha Northwest High School after the shooting was reported by the school resource officer during lunch at...
