U.S./World category, Page 727
Crew member sues Alec Baldwin, others over ‘Rust’ shooting
LOS ANGELES — The head of lighting on the film “Rust” filed a lawsuit Wednesday over Alec Baldwin’s fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of the Western, alleging negligence that caused him “severe emotional distress” that will haunt him forever. Serge Svetnoy said in the...
Judge OKs $626 million settlement in Flint water litigation
DETROIT — A judge on Wednesday approved a $626 million deal to settle lawsuits filed by Flint residents who found their tap water contaminated by lead following disastrous decisions to switch the city’s water source and a failure to swiftly acknowledge the problem. Most of the money — $600 million...
Capitol rioter who hit officer gets over 3 years in prisonVideo
A New Jersey gym owner who punched a police officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison, a likely benchmark for dozens of other rioters who engaged in violence that day. Scott Fairlamb, 44, was the first person...
Rittenhouse murder case thrown into jeopardy by mistrial bidVideo
KENOSHA, Wis. — Kyle Rittenhouse testified Wednesday he was under attack when he killed two men and wounded a third with his rifle during a chaotic night of protests in Kenosha, saying: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself.” In a high-stakes gamble, the 18-year-old took the stand at...
Police suspect Germans were killed for Stradivarius violins
Paraguayan police said Wednesday they have detained two Germans and a Chilean suspected of killing a German man and his daughter while trying to get documents proving the authenticity of valuable violins. Bernard Raymond von Bredow, a museum owner and luthier, was slain along with his 14-year-old daughter Lydia last...
Inmate who sued for gender surgery seeks $2.8M in legal fees
BOISE, Idaho — A former Idaho inmate who became the first person to receive court-ordered gender confirmation surgery after suing the state Department of Correction is asking a judge to order the state to pay more than $2.8 million in attorney fees and other costs associated with the case. The...
Pandemic adds stress to already strained rural fire departments
Over the past 30 years, fire departments in both urban and rural areas have struggled to recruit new firefighters into a profession that’s more than half volunteers. In rural America, the pandemic has brought the crisis to a new apex. Rural firefighters have been on the front lines of the...
U.S. presses Russia over troop buildup along Ukraine border
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is stepping up pressure on Russia over a buildup of troops along its frontier with Ukraine. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to meet his Ukrainian counterpart in Washington on Wednesday, the top U.S. diplomat for Europe said the administration is watching the border...
Taliban urge ex-Afghan military pilots to stay, serve nation
ISLAMABAD — A top Taliban official on Wednesday urged former Afghan military pilots to remain in the country, saying they were protected by a national amnesty and would not face arrest. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid’s assurances came after dozens of U.S.-trained Afghan pilots left Tajikistan in a U.S.-brokered evacuation Tuesday,...
Alabama boy named world’s most premature infant to survive
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Alabama boy who weighed less than a pound at birth after his mother went into labor at only 21 weeks and one day of gestation has been certified as the world’s most premature baby to survive. Guinness World Records and UAB Hospital announced Wednesday that Curtis...
Father gets 28 years for leaving girl to die in burning car
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — A South Carolina man who left his 19-month-old daughter to die in a burning car during a police chase was given 28 years in prison after pleading guilty. Imhotep O. Norman of Spartanburg was sentenced Tuesday, according to the office of 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette. News...
Prince Harry says he warned Twitter CEO of U.S. Capitol riot
LONDON — Britain’s Prince Harry has sharply attacked the failure of social media companies to challenge hate online, revealing that he warned the chief executive of Twitter ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots that the site was being used to stage political unrest. Harry made the comments Tuesday in...
U.S. jobless claims drop to pandemic low of 267,000
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a new pandemic low 267,000 last week, another sign that the job market is recovering from last year’s sharp coronavirus downturn. Jobless claims fell by 4,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The four-week average of claims,...
Judge refuses Trump request to block Jan. 6 records
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to block the release of documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan declined to issue a preliminary injunction sought by Trump’s lawyers. Chutkan said President Joe Biden was...
Wind storm: Thousands without power in Washington stateVideo
SEATTLE — More than 64,000 customers were without power Tuesday morning in Washington state as strong winds and rain blew through the Northwest. The Seattle Times reports the number of customers without power throughout Washington fluctuated Tuesday afternoon because of multiple large outages. As of 5:15 p.m., 12,024 outages were...
Montana soldier is 1st female Army sniper course graduate
FORT HARRISON, Mont. — A Montana soldier is the first woman to graduate from the U.S. Army’s sniper course, the Montana National Guard announced. “We are extremely proud of this soldier’s achievement and recognize that this is a milestone for not only Montana, but the entire National Guard and Army,”...
Oklahoma court overturns $465M opioid ruling against J&J
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a $465 million opioid ruling against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, finding that a lower court wrongly interpreted the state’s public nuisance law in the first case of its kind in the United States to go to trial. The ruling was...
GOP Rep. Fred Upton receives death threats after backing public works billVideo
WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Rep. Fred Upton said he has received well over 1,000 calls including multiple “nasty” death threats since the Michigan congressman voted for a bipartisan infrastructure bill that he helped write with GOP and Democratic colleagues earlier this year. More than 90% of the calls are coming...
House Jan. 6 panel subpoenas 10 former White House aides
WASHINGTON — House investigators have issued subpoenas to 10 more former officials who worked for Donald Trump at the end of his presidency, an effort to find out more about what the president was doing and saying as his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a...
Pfizer asks FDA to OK covid-19 booster shots for all adults
Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Tuesday to allow boosters of its covid-19 vaccine for anyone 18 or older, a step that comes amid concern about increased spread of the coronavirus with holiday travel and gatherings. Older Americans and other groups particularly vulnerable to the virus have had access to a third...
Police: Defendant changed story on why he suspected Arbery
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The man who initiated the chase that ended in Ahmaud Arbery’s death quickly changed his story about why he suspected the 25-year-old Black man running in his neighborhood was a criminal, two police officers testified Tuesday. Glynn County police Officer Jeff Brandeberry told a jury that Greg...
Rittenhouse trial highlights rise of livestreamed video
When Andrew Mercado found himself in the middle of a protest following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis last year, he was just figuring out how to livestream on Facebook. A few months later, though, thousands watched as he streamed footage from the Wisconsin streets where Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people....
Despite reopening, the U.S. is still closed to many in the world
NEW YORK — The U.S. says that it’s inviting the global community to visit now that the government has ended the ban on travelers from 33 countries. In reality, however, it will still be difficult — if not impossible — for much of the globe to enter the country and...
Global pandemic produced tons of plastic waste, study says
BEIJING — The coronavirus pandemic has led to a significant increase in plastic waste worldwide. According to an estimate, around 8.4 million tons of plastic waste in 193 countries have been generated by the pandemic up to August, as researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences write in the Proceedings...
TikTok rescue: Girl got help using silent distress signal
LONDON, Ky. — A 16-year-old girl held captive by a 61-year-old man was rescued on an interstate highway in Kentucky after another driver noticed her using a distress signal with her hand that was made popular on TikTok, law enforcement officials said. The girl’s parents reported their daughter missing from...
