Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 84
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump offered a measured gesture of support for the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, but those words of encouragement for Scott Pruitt also came with a White House warning about the ethical questions surrounding his travel spending and ties to Washington lobbyists. "I hope he's going to be great," Trump told reporters, declining to reiterate publicly his private praise for Pruitt's work. In a phone call Monday, Trump told the EPA chief that "we've got your back" and urged h...
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — As jury selection picked up speed, the judge in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial gave his legal defense a huge lift Tuesday with two rulings that could bolster the 80-year-old comedian's efforts to show his accuser made up the allegations against him in hopes of a big payday. Judge Steven O'Neill said the defense can call a witness who says Cosby's accuser talked about framing a celebrity before she lodged sexual abuse allegations against Cosby in 2005. The judge also helped the defense case by ruling that jurors c...
JERUSALEM (AP) — In an abrupt and startling reversal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nixed his own deal Tuesday with the United Nations to resettle tens of thousands of African migrants in Israel and other Western nations, caving in to nationalist critics who have demonized the migrants for taking over poor neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. The move leaves unresolved one of Israel's most charged and divisive issues — what to do with the Africans who say they fled for their lives in search of sanctuary in the Jewish state. The abo...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his promised border wall is built. Speaking during a visit with Baltic leaders, Trump said he's been discussing the idea with his Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis. "We're going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military," he said, calling the measure a "big step" that had rarely been done before. Federal law prohibits the use of active d...
MOSCOW (AP) — China's new defense minister says his visit to Russia is a signal to the United States about the increasingly close military ties between Moscow and Beijing. The unusually bold statement Tuesday by Gen. Wei Fenghe at the start of his talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reflected the growing military cooperation between the two former Communist rivals. Speaking in Moscow, Wei emphasized that he chose Russia for his first trip abroad since becoming the international face of China's military last month to "show the w...
For the first time, the U.S. government has publicly acknowledged the existence in Washington of what appear to be rogue devices that foreign spies and criminals could be using to track individual cellphones and intercept calls and messages. The use of what are known as cellphone-site simulators by foreign powers has long been a concern, but American intelligence and law enforcement agencies — which use such eavesdropping equipment themselves — have been silent on the issue until now. In a March 26 letter to Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the Dep...
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Hundreds of teachers walked out of classrooms and crammed into the Oklahoma Capitol for a second day on Tuesday, shouting "Where's our money?" to demand more aid for public schools, amid a rebellion of educators in Republican-led states across the country. Rowdy teachers booed lawmakers when the Oklahoma House adjourned. House officials initially called on state troopers to clear the gallery of protesting teachers but later backed off. Education advocates filled the Capitol to capacity, and troopers limited access to the b...
LONDON (AP) — Britain's defense laboratory acknowledged Tuesday it hasn't tracked down the source of the nerve agent that poisoned a Russian ex-spy, a statement the Kremlin said proved that British accusations of Moscow's involvement were baseless. Scientists at the U.K's Porton Down lab previously identified the poison as a Soviet-developed type of nerve agent known as Novichok. The British government has said the only plausible explanation was that it came from Russia and blamed Russia for the attack on the former double agent and his a...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Dutch attorney who lied to federal agents investigating former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in prison in the first punishment handed down in the special counsel's Russia investigation. He was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine. Alex van der Zwaan's sentence could set a guidepost for what other defendants charged with lying in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation may receive when their cases are resolved. Among them are a former White House national security adviser and a Tr...
NEW YORK (AP) — Seventeen states, the District of Columbia and six cities sued the U.S. government Tuesday, saying the addition of a citizenship question to the census form is unconstitutional. The Trump administration's decision to ask people about their citizenship has set off worries among Democrats that immigrants will dodge the survey altogether, diluting political representation for states that tend to vote Democratic and robbing many communities of federal dollars. Supporters of the plan for the 2020 census argue that enforcing voting ri...
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Several lawmakers and the family of a 22-year-old unarmed black man who was fatally shot by police are proposing Tuesday that California become the first state to significantly restrict when officers can open fire. The legislation would change the standard from using "reasonable force" to "necessary force." That means officers would be allowed to shoot only if "there were no other reasonable alternatives to the use of deadly force" to prevent imminent serious injury or death, said Lizzie Buchen, legislative advocate f...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein explicitly authorized the Justice Department's special counsel to investigate allegations that President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman colluded with the Russian government, according to a court filing late Monday night. Special counsel Robert Mueller's team of prosecutors included that detail in a memo defending the scope of their investigation, which so far has resulted in criminal charges against 19 people and three Russian companies. Paul Manafort, who led the Trump c...
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn had his first major encounter with officers as a kid who witnessed a murder in a tough part of California's capital city. His second: as a teenager busted on allegations of assaulting an officer. "Nobody in my neighborhood thought about being a police officer," Hahn said in an interview last week with The Associated Press. The unlikely officer is now Sacramento's first African-American police chief, on the job less than a year and at the center of the nation's latest upheaval over th...
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel's defense minister said Tuesday that the military will not change its tough response to Hamas-led mass protests near Gaza's border with Israel, warning that those who approach the border are putting their lives at risk. Avigdor Lieberman spoke near Gaza, where 18 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire Friday, the first day of what Hamas says will be six weeks of intermittent border protests against a stifling blockade of the territory. On Tuesday, a 25-year-old Gaza man was killed by Israeli fire as he t...
MATIAS ROMERO, Mexico (AP) — The caravan of Central American migrants that angered U.S. President Donald Trump was sidelined at a sports field in southern Mexico with no means of reaching the border even as Trump tweeted another threat to Mexico Tuesday. "The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our "Weak Laws" Border, had better be stopped before it gets there," Trump wrote. "Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen." The caravan that once numbe...
LONDON (AP) — Britain says it will ban the sale of ivory, no matter how old, to help protect the world's elephant population. The government said Tuesday that the ban is the toughest in Europe and will impose a maximum five-year prison sentence for offenders. Environment Secretary Michael Gove says "the abhorrent ivory trade should become a thing of the past." There will be exceptions for some old musical instruments and for works of art, such as portrait miniatures, that are more than a century old. Conservationists say about 20,000 e...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration says it is amenable to a White House meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, raising the prospect of the Russian president's first Washington visit in more than a decade even as relations between the two powers have eroded. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House was among "a number of potential venues" discussed in Trump's telephone call last month with Putin. The Kremlin said earlier Monday that Trump invited Putin during the c...
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — From rodeo announcer to custom-cabinet builder, second jobs have become a necessity for many teachers in Oklahoma, where educators are some of the lowest paid in the nation. Numerous schools will be closed for a second day Tuesday as teachers continue to rally at the Capitol. Demonstrators on Monday voiced their dissatisfaction with salaries, school funding and other issues. Here are some who moonlight to make ends meet, sometimes working more than 40 hours extra per week: DORA BLACKMAN Blackman, 45, teaches fifth grade a...
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An emergency medical care provider in Oklahoma has authorized a $300,000 payment to settle a federal kickback lawsuit. A lawsuit filed in January 2017 alleged that the Emergency Medical Services received $20 million in kickbacks from a former Texas contractor. The EMSA Board of Trustees unanimously approved the settlement during a special meeting Monday, the Tulsa World reported. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said in a news release that the settlement is important to avoid disruption to ambulance services. "...
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A federal judge has denied requests by Tulsa County officials and its former sheriff for a new trial in a case involving a man's 2011 jail death. A federal jury found last year that the Sheriff's Office and former Sheriff Stanley Glanz violated Elliott Williams' civil rights while he was held at Tulsa County jail. The jury awarded his estate a $10.25 million judgment. The Tulsa World reports that the county and Glanz requested both a new trial and that U.S. District Judge John Dowdell consider overturning the jury verdict a...
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) Following the success of the West Virginia teachers strike earlier this year that led to a 5 percent pay raise, teachers throughout the nation are rising to demand better conditions and better pay. The latest example is Oklahoma, where teachers went on strike on April 2. Here are five things to know about the Oklahoma teacher strike: 1. This strike goes beyond issues of pay.The Oklahoma teachers’ strike is not j...
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police are investigating a shooting and car crash that left a man dead and a woman he lived with injured. Officer Charley Davidson says a man reported early Tuesday that a woman who had been shot came to his door asking for help. The 58-year-old woman was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. An overturned car was found nearby and a 27-year-old man was dead at the scene. Police previously said the man was the injured woman's son but Davidson now says she was a longtime family friend who moved into the h...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Kansas advanced rival plans Tuesday that would increase spending on public schools in hopes of satisfying a state Supreme Court mandate with a deadline looming, while also avoiding a tax increase. The House approved a bill that would phase in an education funding increase of roughly $520 million over five years. Its 71-53 vote sent the measure to the Senate. Meanwhile, a Senate committee on school funding approved its own bill that would phase in a $274 million increase over five years, dedicating som...
DALLAS (AP) — One of the designers of a massive Kansas water park slide that decapitated a 10-year-old boy has been arrested in Texas, federal authorities said Tuesday. Trent Touchstone, chief deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in Dallas, said 72-year-old John Timothy Schooley was met by agents at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as he arrived Monday on a flight from China. Schooley was being held without bond at the Dallas County jail after being arraigned on charges that include second-degree murder, according to Dallas County s...
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a three deaths at a Kansas City, Kansas, duplex. Police Officer Patrick McCallop said officers found the bodies Thursday morning. The discovery was made after a woman told police she came to the house and saw someone who appeared to be dead. McCallop says all the victims were black males. The names of the victims and how they died weren't immediately released....
