North Carolina police charge mother in 1999 slaying of baby
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Authorities in North Carolina say they solved a 20-year-old cold case Thursday when they tracked down a woman accused of killing her newborn son and dumping his body along a road in 1999. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office charged Deborah Riddle O’Conner, 54, with first-degree murder, the...
Mother of 2 missing Idaho children arrested in HawaiiVideo
HONOLULU — The mother of two Idaho children missing since September was arrested Thursday in Hawaii. Lori Vallow, also known as Lori Daybell, 47, was arrested on a warrant issued in Madison County, Idaho, and was being held on $5 million bail, Kauai police said. Seven-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and...
Fracking debate causes tremors in battleground Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — The notion of banning fracking is dividing the Democrats running for president and increasingly dividing Democrats in the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania, where fracking has vaulted it to the No. 2 natural gas producer behind Texas. The divide was clear, again, on the debate stage Wednesday night...
Report: Intel officials say Russia boosting Trump candidacy
WASHINGTON — Intelligence officials have warned lawmakers that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election campaign to help President Donald Trump get reelected, two officials said Thursday. The disclosure, in a closed-door briefing last week, raises questions about the integrity of the presidential campaign and whether Trump’s administration is taking...
Snow falls across coastal North Carolina, Virginia; more than 12 million under winter alertVideo
RALEIGH, N.C. — Snow was falling Thursday across North Carolina and Virginia, including in coastal areas that rarely see snow. More than 12 million people were under some form of winter weather alert, including the Charlotte and Raleigh metro areas. Gov. Roy Cooper said parts of northeastern North Carolina will...
Coroner finds evidence Hollywood therapist Amie Harwick was strangledVideo
LOS ANGELES — A prominent family therapist and former fiancee of comedian Drew Carey appears to have been strangled before she was thrown off the third-floor balcony of her Hollywood Hills apartment, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Thursday. An ex-boyfriend is facing charges. Dr. Amie Harwick, 38, died...
Amid ‘Anonymous’ fallout, NSC adviser Victoria Coates reassigned
WASHINGTON — Victoria Coates, a top official on the National Security Council, is being reassigned amid fallout over the identity of the author of the inside-the-White House tell-all book by “Anonymous.” Coates, who serves as national security adviser for the Middle East and North Africa,will be joining the Department of...
New enforcement operation focuses on meth trafficking hubsVideo
ATLANTA — Federal authorities are targeting methamphetamine “transportation hubs” around the country in an effort to block the distribution of the highly addictive drug, officials announced Thursday. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon visited Atlanta to announce the launch of Operation Crystal Shield. Atlanta is one of eight...
College student dies of flu before 911 rescuers can find him
TROY, N.Y. — A college student was found dead in his home of the flu after a garbled 911 call left rescuers with no means of locating him, authorities said. Police and firefighters in Troy, N.Y., spent 45 minutes on Feb. 10 searching the City Station apartment complex where Rensselaer...
Fired Chicago Police superintendent getting $190K pension
CHICAGO — Chicago’s former police chief has been receiving a pension of more than $15,800 a month since the mayor fired him for allegedly lying about a night he was found asleep in his city-issued SUV, according to a newspaper report. Eddie Johnson was awarded the pension by the Policemen’s...
Woman struck and killed by Mardi Gras float during paradeVideo
NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans is mourning the death of a woman who was run over by a parade float as the city celebrates the season leading up to Mardi Gras. Police are still investigating the accident, spokesman Juan Barnes said Thursday. The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office identified her Thursday...
Israel leader vows thousands of new homes in east Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday he was pushing ahead with the construction of 5,000 new Jewish homes in key areas of east Jerusalem, where critics say additional building could cut Palestinian residents off from the rest of the West Bank. On a visit to the Har...
Trump ally Roger Stone sentenced to 40 months in prisonVideo
WASHINGTON — Trump loyalist and ally Roger Stone was sentenced Thursday to 40 months in federal prison, following an extraordinary move by Attorney General William Barr to back off his Justice Department’s original sentencing recommendation. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone’s crimes demanded a significant time behind...
Lyme patient hopes to raise awareness through ‘tickmojis’ tracking appVideo
It may seem a little odd to want emojis on your smartphone that depict 10 of the most common varieties of tick in North America. Then again, if you spot one attached to your leg, it’s nice to know you can actually identify it by using Olivia Goodreau’s “tickmojis,” which...
Trapped paraglider rescued from power lines in California
OLIVEHURST, Calif. — A paraglider spent three hours trapped in power lines before being rescued in northern California. The paraglider, who was not immediately identified, was facing the ground with the wires as his only support when first responders arrived Wednesday night, according to officials with the Olivehurst Fire Department....
South Sudan rival leaders agree to form coalition government
JUBA, South Sudan — South Sudan’s rival leaders on Thursday announced they have agreed to form a coalition government just two days before the deadline, a breakthrough after months of delays and a major step in the emergence from a five-year civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people in the...
Vatican sees intense interest in opening of Pius XII archive
VATICAN CITY — More than 150 historians and researchers have signed up to access the soon-to-open Vatican archives of Pope Pius XII, evidence of the intense scholarly interest into the World War II-era pope and his record during the Holocaust, officials said Thursday. Cardinal José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça, the...
Hair Club for Men founder — and client — Sy Sperling diesVideo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Hair Club for Men founder Sy Sperling, famous for the TV commercials where he proclaimed “I’m not only the Hair Club president but I’m also a client,” died Thursday in Florida. He was 78. Sperling died in Boca Raton after a lengthy illness, spokeswoman Terri Lynn...
‘Leaning Tower of Dallas’ is online star after implosion
DALLAS — A social media sensation dubbed the “Leaning Tower of Dallas” was born when a portion of a building survived an implosion in Dallas. After the implosion Sunday failed to bring down the core of the 11-story former Affiliated Computer Services building, the online jokes and photos began. Many,...
Trump taps loyalist Richard Grenell as nation’s top intel official
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced that Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, will become acting director of national intelligence, a move that puts a staunch Trump ally in charge of the nation’s 17 spy agencies, which the president has only tepidly embraced. “Rick has represented our Country exceedingly...
South Korea reports 1st virus death; 2.5M urged to stay home
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea reported its first death from the new virus on Thursday while the mayor of a southeastern city urged its 2.5 million people to stay inside as infections linked to a church congregation spiked. The death was the ninth confirmed from the virus outside mainland...
9 killed in suspected far-right attack in Germany
HANAU, Germany — A 43-year-old German man shot and killed nine people at several locations in a Frankfurt suburb in attacks that appeared to have been motivated by far-right beliefs, officials said Thursday. The gunman first attacked a hookah bar and a neighboring cafe in central Hanau at about 10...
Census Bureau finds Pa. divorce rates declined over the last decade
Maybe those branding experts had it right when they attempted to adopt the “Pennsylvania is for lovers” slogan a few years back. Or, at least it is a land of lasting love. No less authority than the U.S. Census Bureau — that fountain of all things numerical across America —...
AP fact check: Dems’ debate flubs; Trump untruths at rally
WASHINGTON — The latest Democratic presidential debate was a raucous one, ripe for exaggerations and distortions as Mike Bloomberg made his debut on the debate stage and rivals went after him and each other. President Donald Trump weighed in on the feisty performance at a rally where he mischaracterized what...
Takeaways from the Democratic debate
LAS VEGAS — Six Democratic presidential hopefuls met on the debate stage in Las Vegas, but it was the newcomer, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who received the most attention, and none of it positive. Here are some key takeaways from the debate. THE $60 BILLION PUNCHING BAG Bloomberg...
