U.S./World category, Page 938
No 7th trial for Mississippi man freed from prison in 2019
JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi man freed last year after 22 years in prison will not be tried a seventh time in a quadruple murder case, a judge ruled Friday after prosecutors told him they no longer had any credible witnesses. Curtis Flowers was convicted multiple times in a bloody...
Car caught on video plowing through Times Square protesters
The New York Police Department says it is trying to find a car that drove through a group of Black Lives Matter protesters blocking a street in Times Square. Video posted on social media shows the car jerking through the crowd Thursday night with its horn blaring as demonstrators scream...
Shooting leaves Cleveland officer dead; suspects sought
CLEVELAND — A Cleveland police officer has died after being shot, a second person had died and authorities on Friday were seeking the person or people responsible, officials said. The shooting happened about 10 p.m. Thursday on the city’s west side. Police Chief Calvin Williams told reporters that the officer...
Rochester, N.Y., mayor suspends officers involved in man’s suffocation deathVideo
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The mayor of New York’s third largest city on Thursday suspended a group of police officers involved in the suffocation death of a Black man in March. Daniel Prude, 41, known to his Chicago-based family as “Rell,” died March 30 when his family took him off life...
Southern California sees summer of mountain lion kittens
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — A mountain lion baby boom has occurred this summer in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills west of Los Angeles. Thirteen kittens were born to five mountain lion mothers between May and August, according to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. It’s the first...
Loners no more: Male elephants stick together, study finds
WASHINGTON — A line of elephants trundles across a dusty landscape in northern Botswana, ears flapping and trunks occasionally brushing the ground. As they pass a motion-activated camera hidden in low shrubbery, photos record the presence of each elephant. What’s special about this group? It’s only males. Female elephants are...
Georgia church splits from Methodists over LGBTQ dispute
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia congregation said Thursday that it has finalized its split from the United Methodist Church after the denomination’s divisive vote last year to strengthen bans on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBTQ pastors. Members of Asbury Memorial Church in Savannah overwhelmingly supported leaving the Methodist...
Tyson Foods to open medical clinics at some meat plants
OMAHA, Neb. — Tyson Foods is planning to open medical clinics at several of its U.S. plants to improve the health of its workers and better protect them from the coronavirus. The Springdale, Arkansas-based company, which processes about 20% of all beef, pork and chicken in the U.S., said its...
Russia: Germany has provided no proof of Navalny poisoningVideo
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman brushed off allegations Thursday that the Kremlin was involved in poisoning Putin’s most determined critic, accusing Germany of not providing Moscow with any evidence about the condition of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator, fell ill on a flight...
Biden meets Jacob Blake’s family to start Wisconsin trip
KENOSHA, Wis. — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden began a visit to the battleground state of Wisconsin on Thursday by meeting with the family of Jacob Blake, the Black man whose shooting by a white police officer sparked days of sometimes violent protests. Biden spent more than an hour in...
Jobless claims fall to 881,000 but layoffs remain elevated
WASHINGTON — The number of laid-off Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a still-elevated 881,000 last week, evidence that the viral pandemic keeps forcing many businesses to slash jobs. The latest figures, released Thursday by the Labor Department, suggest that nearly six months after the eruption of the coronavirus,...
Facebook moves to target misinformation before electionVideo
With just two months left until the U.S. presidential election, Facebook says it is taking more steps to encourage voting, minimize misinformation and reduce the likelihood of post-election “civil unrest.” The company said Thursday it will restrict new political ads in the week before the election and remove posts that...
Study: Electronics could stop 40% of big truck rear crashes
DETROIT — Safety features such as automatic emergency braking and forward collision warnings could prevent more than 40% of crashes in which semis rear-end other vehicles, a new study has found. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group supported by auto insurers, also found that when the rear...
Video: New York police put hood on Black man killed by asphyxiation
A Black man who had run naked through the streets of a western New York city died of asphyxiation after a group of police officers put a hood over his head, then pressed his face into the pavement for two minutes, according to video and records released Wednesday by the...
Germany says Soviet-era nerve agent used on Putin opponent NavalnyVideo
BERLIN — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the same type of Soviet-era nerve agent used in a 2018 attack on a former Russian spy, the German government said Wednesday, provoking outrage from Western leaders who demanded Moscow provide an explanation. The findings — which experts say point...
Old Navy will pay its employees to work polls on Election Day
Old Navy said it will pay its 50,000 workers to not come into the stores this Election Day. That is if they head to the polls instead — as workers. The San Francisco-based retailer announced Tuesday — National Poll Worker Recruitment Day — that it will encourage workers in its...
Cosmic Legos: Black holes merge into never before seen size
Black holes are getting stranger — even to astronomers. They’ve now detected the signal from a long ago violent collision of two black holes that created a new one of a size that had never been seen before. “It’s the biggest bang since the Big Bang observed by humanity,” said...
Mnuchin says Trump still wants coronavirus deal with Democrats
WASHINGTON — Pressed by Democrats to quickly negotiate a new coronavirus relief package, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday the administration remains willing to work on a bipartisan agreement to help small businesses, the unemployed, children and schools. Democratic leaders in Congress are holding it up with hardened positions, he...
CDC directs halt to renter evictions to prevent virus spread
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has issued a directive halting the eviction of certain renters though the end of 2020 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Federal, state and local governments have approved eviction moratoriums during the course of the pandemic for many renters, but those protections are...
Lawyer: Plea deal offer tried to link Breonna Taylor to drug ringVideo
LOUISVILLE — A lawyer for Breonna Taylor’s family said prosecutors offered a plea deal to an accused drug trafficker that would have forced him to implicate Taylor in criminal activity after her killing by police had pushed her name to the forefront of a national reckoning on race. Louisville’s top...
Police: Dallas man killed wife, 2 sons for being too loud while he had headacheVideo
DALLAS — A man who confessed to fatally shooting his wife and two children in their Dallas home told police he killed them because he had a headache and they were being too loud, according to an affidavit. James Webb, 57, was arrested Monday on a capital murder charge after...
Ex-Ohio House speaker will plead not guilty to corruption charge
COLUMBUS — The former speaker of the Ohio House said Tuesday he will plead not guilty to a corruption charge following his arrest in a $60 million federal bribery probe that shook the Statehouse earlier this summer. Rep. Larry Householder returned to the Statehouse for the first time since his...
Suspect in St. Louis officer’s slaying has long crime record
ST. LOUIS — The man charged with first-degree murder Tuesday in the fatal shooting of a St. Louis police officer has a long history of violent crime and missed a court appearance last month in Florida, where he is accused of false imprisonment and sexual battery. St. Louis Circuit Attorney...
Florida announces it will lift ban on nursing home visits
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that he will lift the state’s ban on visiting nursing homes that has cut off vulnerable seniors from family since mid-March over fears of spreading the new coronavirus. With his voice cracking at times, he wondered aloud if his actions might have contributed to...
House panel warns of fraud, abuse in business aid program
WASHINGTON — Congressional investigators say they have identified lapses pointing to possible fraud and abuse in the Trump administration’s coronavirus relief program, including more than $1 billion awarded to small businesses that received multiple loans. A report issued Tuesday by a House subcommittee says a lack of government oversight and...
