U.S./World category, Page 478
Tornadoes kill 3 in central U.S.; new storms possibleVideo
DALLAS — Strong storms with tornadoes that plowed across the central U.S. killed at least three people in Oklahoma and left thousands without power Thursday as forecasters warned of potentially more severe weather. Authorities were still unsure of the full scale of injuries and destruction in Oklahoma, the storms produced...
Man accused of shooting girl, parents over stray basketball arrested in Florida
GASTONIA, N.C. — A North Carolina man accused of shooting and wounding a 6-year-old girl and her parents after children went to retrieve a basketball that had rolled into his yard was arrested in Florida Thursday afternoon, authorities said. The violence was the latest in a string of recent shootings...
Part party, part call to action: A look at pot holiday 4/20
SEATTLE — Thursday marks marijuana culture’s high holiday, 4/20, when cannabis fans gather in clouds of smoke at music festivals, celebrate with all-you-can-eat deals on chicken wings and other munchies, and take advantage of pot-shop discounts in legal weed states. This year’s edition provides an occasion for activists to reflect...
Distrust in America: Small mistakes, deep fear — and gunfire
In suburban Detroit, it was a lost 14-year-old looking for directions. In Kansas City, it was a 16-year-old who went to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers. There was the 12-year-old rummaging around in a yard in small-town Alabama, the 20-year-old woman who found herself in the...
NATO chief: Ukraine’s ‘rightful place’ is in the alliance
KYIV, Ukraine — NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg defiantly declared Thursday that Ukraine’s “rightful place” is in the military alliance and pledged more support for the country on his first visit to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion just over a year ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Stoltenberg, who has been instrumental...
SpaceX giant rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas — SpaceX’s giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off Thursday on it first test flight and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Elon Musk’s company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near...
Daffodils bloom as symbol of Warsaw ghetto uprising memory
WARSAW, Poland — Yellow daffodils are everywhere in Warsaw this week, a symbol of remembrance for the 1943 uprising by Jews in the city’s ghetto against Nazi German occupiers. There are the real daffodils that residents and visitors to the Polish capital place on memorials to honor Holocaust victims, and...
K-pop star Moon Bin found dead at homeVideo
SEOUL, South Korea — Moon Bin, a singer from South Korean boyband Astro, was found dead at his home in Seoul, his management agency said Thursday. The 25-year-old was reportedly found by his manager who went to the singer’s home Wednesday evening because he wasn’t responding to contacts. Police are...
An end to the reading wars? More U.S. schools embrace phonics
Move over “Dick and Jane.” A different approach to teaching kids how to read is on the rise. For decades, two schools of thought have clashed on how to best teach children to read, with passionate backers on each side of the so-called reading wars. The battle has reached into...
‘Too much to learn’: Schools race to catch up kids’ reading
ATLANTA — Michael Crowder stands nervously at the front of his third grade classroom, his mustard-yellow polo shirt buttoned to the top. “Give us some vowels,” says his teacher, La’Neeka Gilbert-Jackson. His eyes search a chart that lists vowels, consonant pairs and word endings, but he doesn’t land on an...
$252.6 million winning Powerball ticket sold in Ohio
MACEDONIA, Ohio — Someone in Ohio went to bed $252.6 million richer, before taxes, after hitting the Powerball jackpot. The winning ticket for Wednesday night’s drawing was sold at Get Go #3279 in Macedonia and is Ohio’s fourth Powerball jackpot winner since joining the game in 2010. The retailer will...
Manhunt underway after North Carolina girl, parents injured in neighborhood shooting
Officials are searching for a man who shot at at least four people, wounding a child and two others near Gastonia, Gaston County Police said Wednesday. Police identified Robert Louis Singletary, 24, as the shooter, facing murder charges, officials said in a news release. The shooting happened Tuesday night just...
California boy dies when stabbing suspect’s car hits group of teens
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — The driver of a car that crashed into a group of Southern California high school students, killing one and injuring three, was arrested for investigation of murder and other crimes, including an earlier stabbing, authorities said Wednesday. The students were struck while on a sidewalk Tuesday...
Watchdog warns U.S. money could be flowing to TalibanVideo
WASHINGTON — The watchdog for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan warned lawmakers Wednesday that American aid to the country could be diverted to the Taliban as he accused the Biden administration of stonewalling his efforts to investigate. “Unfortunately, as I sit here today I cannot assure this committee or the American...
New York woman shot after wrong turn had hopes, dreams, father saysVideo
FORT EDWARD, N.Y. — The father whose 20-year-old daughter was fatally shot after she and her friends got lost and drove to the wrong house in rural town upstate New York raged Wednesday at the man who pulled the trigger. “For this man to sit on his porch and fire...
Semi-automatic rifle ban passes Washington state Legislature
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A ban on dozens of semi-automatic rifles cleared the Washington state Legislature on Wednesday and the governor is expected to sign it into law. The high-powered firearms — once banned nationwide — are now the weapon of choice among young men responsible for most of the country’s...
Oklahoma official who discussed killing reporters resigns
OKLAHOMA CITY — A county commissioner in far southeast Oklahoma who was identified by a local newspaper as one of several officials caught on tape discussing killing reporters and lynching Black people has resigned from office, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office confirmed Wednesday. Stitt spokesperson Carly Atchison said the office received...
Texas cheerleaders shot after one says she entered wrong carVideo
ELGIN, Texas — A man shot and wounded two cheerleaders in a Texas supermarket parking lot after one of them said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own — the latest in a string of recent U.S. shootings apparently sparked by someone showing up at the...
Tyre Nichols’ family sues Memphis police over beating, death
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The family of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued the officers and the city of Memphis on Wednesday, blaming them for his death and accusing officials of allowing a special unit’s aggressive tactics to go unchecked despite warning signs....
Sudanese flee their homes as truce fails, fighting rages
KHARTOUM, Sudan — Terrified Sudanese who have been trapped for days in their homes by fighting in the capital of Khartoum fled on Wednesday, hauling out whatever belongings they could carry and trying to get out of the city, after an internationally brokered truce failed. Explosions shook the city as...
U.S.-made Patriot guided missile systems arrive in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure. The U.S. agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles...
Alabama teens charged with murder in Sweet 16 party shootingVideo
DADEVILLE, Ala. — Two teenagers have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with a shooting that killed four young people at a Sweet Sixteen birthday party, Alabama investigators announced Wednesday. Tallapoosa County District Attorney Mike Segrest said the pair — Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16,...
Court hearing delayed for airman accused in documents leak
BOSTON — A hearing to decide whether a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with leaking highly classified military documents should remain jailed while awaiting trial has been delayed to give the defense more time to prepare. Jack Teixeira, 21, was supposed to appear in Boston federal court on Wednesday for...
Iraq’s years of carnage still engrained in Baghdad streets
BAGHDAD — There are places around Baghdad where I’ll sometimes say a silent prayer for the dead when I pass — on certain residential streets, at a particular restaurant, in a square where minibuses gather. Today, people go about their daily business in these places, perhaps no longer thinking of...
Torch-carrying marchers indicted in Charlottesville rally
RICHMOND, Va. — Nearly six years after a large gathering of white nationalists in Charlottesville erupted in violent clashes with counterprotesters, a grand jury in Virginia has indicted multiple people on felony charges for carrying flaming torches with the intent to intimidate. The Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said in...
