Month: October 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected a plea from South Carolina to reimpose the death penalty on a South Carolina inmate whose death sentence stood for two decades until a federal appeals court threw it out in August. Chief Justice John Roberts did not comment Friday in denying the state’s request. The order

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press TAHOE CITY, Calif. (AP) — Drought fueled by climate change has dropped Lake Tahoe below its natural rim and halted flows into the Truckee River. It’s an historically cyclical event but it’s occurring sooner and more often than it used to. Scientists are concerned that the growing frequency of low-water

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge has granted a request from wildlife advocacy groups and blocked Wisconsin’s fall wolf hunt two weeks before hunters were set to take to the woods. Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost issued a temporary injunction Friday halting the season, which was set to begin

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — An attorney for members of the San Carlos Apache tribe has asked the the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to back a nonprofit group’s efforts to keep a copper mining company from gaining federal Arizona land the Apaches consider sacred. The attorney for

SUPERIOR, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an employee who shot and killed a gunman at a Nebraska grain elevator likely prevented further loss of life. Nebraska State Patrol Sgt. Jeff Roby said Friday that the victims killed in Thursday’s shooting at Agrex Elevator in Superior were 60-year-old Sandra Nelson, of Formoso, Kansas, and 53-year-old Darin

CLARE, Mich. (AP) — A woman is charged with killing her father, sister and two handymen in mid-Michigan. The Clare County prosecutor says 54-year-old Judy Boyer had a journal with names of other people whom she wanted to kill. Bond was set at $1 million Friday, and a not-guilty plea was entered on Boyer’s behalf.

By The Associated Press Ride-hailing company Lyft says more than 1,800 sexual assaults were reported by riders in 2019, and the number of incidents has been rising sharply in recent years. Lyft posted the numbers in a new safety report. The San Francisco-based company says more than 99% of rides occur without any safety issues

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Commuters in the Washington area will face longer waits for Metro trains through at least the end of the month and probably longer, as more than half the fleet of train cars will remain out of service over safety issues. Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld told reporters

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A woman who was the victim of a serial killer and for the last 37 years was only known as Horseshoe Harriet has been identified through a DNA match. The Alaska Bureau of Investigations’ cold case unit on Friday said 19-year-old Robin Pelkey was one of

By JOSEPH HAMMOND Religion News Service In Burkina Faso, the crocodile is divine. The cult of the crocodile dates to sometime in the 1500s, when, during a period of severe drought, locals believe, a crocodile appeared in Lake Bazoulé and led women to a source of fresh water. A thanksgiving was held by the grateful

By MICHELLE LIU Associated Press/Report for America COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Authorities have released 911 calls made by prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh and two motorists after a Sept. 4 roadside shooting in which a bullet grazed Murdaugh’s head. A woman passerby says on one call she saw a man bloodied and waving his

PARIS (AP) — France on Friday urged Iran to curb nuclear activities of “unprecedented gravity” as U.S. and European envoys met to discuss efforts to revive the troubled 2015 Iran nuclear deal. U.S. envoy Robert Malley joined counterparts from France, Britain and Germany at Friday’s meetings in Paris. The French Foreign Ministry called it a

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Joe Biden will lay out his thinking in the coming weeks about moving to “fundamentally alter” the filibuster or even eliminate the legislative roadblock that empowers the Senate minority. The filibuster stands in the way as Biden aims to pass sweeping voting

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Now that the decomposed remains of Brian Laundrie have been found, where does the investigation into the strangling of his girlfriend, Gabby Petito, go from here? Petito, 22, was discovered slain last month on the edge of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, one place

Associated Press OVIEDO, Fla. (AP) — Three sisters in a suburb of Orlando, Florida, share the same birthday, but they’re not twins or triplets. Instead, Sophia, Giuliana and Mia Lammert were each born Aug. 25, respectively, in 2015, 2018 and 2021. All were delivered naturally. Explaining the coincidence, their mother Kristin chalks the shared birthdays

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A former Wisconsin high school teacher accused of secretly videotaping undressed students during field trips was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison after reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Thirty-nine-year-old David Kruchten earlier pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to produce child pornography. Prosecutors alleged Kruchten used his

By TOM HAYS and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A New York jury has convicted a former associate of Rudy Giuliani of charges that he made illegal campaign contributions to influence U.S. politicians and advance his business interests. The verdict convicting him on all six counts was returned Friday in Manhattan federal

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials may have solved the mystery of how four people in different states came down with a serious tropical disease, even though none had traveled internationally. The four people may have been infected by an aromatherapy spray imported from India. Two of them

By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional ethics watchdog has concluded there is “substantial reason to believe” that the wife of Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly used nonpublic information gained through her husband’s position in Congress to purchase stock last year. That could violate federal law and House rules. A report issued Thursday

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says the tangled supply chains and shortages that have bedeviled the U.S. economy since this summer have gotten worse and will likely keep inflation elevated well into next year. But he says the Fed is not yet prepared to lift its

By JAMES MacPHERSON Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota is working to extend its contract with Hollywood actor Josh Duhamel to promote tourism in his home state.  North Dakota’s top tourism official said the 48-year-old star of several “Transformers” movies has been effective in attracting visitors to the state better known for its

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado day care owner convicted of keeping 26 children hidden in the basement of her business in 2019 has received a six-year prison sentence. A judge issued the sentence Thursday to Carla Faith after she was convicted by a jury in August. The case unfolded after police went to

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Protests are being held in Warsaw and other Polish cities to mark the one-year anniversary of a constitutional court ruling that severely restricted abortion rights in the country. In last October’s ruling, the court declared that abortion due to fetal abnormalities — even in the case of fetuses so badly damaged

By NICOLAE DUMITRACHE and ANDREEA ALEXANDRU Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Doctor Petruta Filip is working 100-hour weeks at a hospital in Romania’s capital Bucharest which, like hospitals throughout the country, is struggling under an onslaught of coronavirus patients requiring treatment amid worryingly low vaccination rates. In Romania, a European Union country of around