A list of the 12 killed in a shooting in Virginia Beach
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Twelve people were killed in a shooting Friday at a Virginia Beach municipal building. On Saturday, city officials named them, showed their photos, and gave details of their lives during a news conference. Eleven of the twelve were city employees; one was a contractor. The victims...
Arrest in 43-year-old murder case stuns Wisconsin town
LAKEWOOD, Wis. — Word of the arrest — via a friend’s text message — hit Wayne Sankey like a thunderbolt. “I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me,’” Sankey recalled. “And then I told the wife and she couldn’t believe it. ‘There’s no way,’ she said. ‘Ray down the road?’” Ray...
Officials ID Virginia Beach gunman as city employee
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The gunman who killed 12 people in a Virginia Beach municipal building was identified by police Saturday as a 15-year city employee who had served in the military and was described by neighbors as quiet and rarely smiling. Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera identified the...
Defense chief calls out China on tech theft, South China Sea
SINGAPORE — U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Saturday denounced China’s efforts to steal technology from other nations and militarize man-made outposts in the South China Sea as a “toolkit of coercion,” saying activities by Beijing the U.S. perceives as hostile must end. In his first major speech on...
Record floods breach Arkansas levee, overtop 2 in Missouri
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Relentless flooding in the central U.S. on Friday inundated communities and damaged or spilled over levees on three major rivers in two states, and authorities discovered the body of a drowning victim at a Missouri lake. The fast-flowing Arkansas River smashed a 40-foot hole in a...
Frank Lucas, druglord portrayed in ‘American Gangster,’ dies
NEW YORK — Frank Lucas, the former Harlem drug kingpin whose life and lore inspired the 2007 movie “American Gangster,” has died, a relative said Friday. Lucas, who was 88, died Thursday in New Jersey, nephew Aldwan Lassiter said. Lucas had been in declining health, according to his former lawyer....
LA Times seeks access to grand jury transcripts in Nipsey Hussle murder case
LOS ANGELES — A public defender representing the man accused of killing rapper Nipsey Hussle is seeking to keep transcripts from his grand jury hearing secret until after his trial. In a motion filed late Thursday, Deputy Public Defender Lowynn Young sought an immediate hearing, arguing that unsealing the transcripts...
Pilgrim shutdown ends nuclear power era in Massachusetts
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth has permanently shut down after 47 years of generating electricity, bring to a close the era of nuclear power in Massachusetts. The final shutdown occurred at 5:28 p.m. Friday. Entergy announced in 2015 it would retire Massachusetts’ only remaining reactor,...
Prosecutor says email tracking harmless in Navy SEAL case
SAN DIEGO — The Navy’s tracking of emails to lawyers defending a SEAL accused of murder may have intruded on attorney-client privilege but wasn’t severe enough to throw out the case, a military prosecutor argued in court Friday. Lt. Scott McDonald said the effort only gathered data, such as internet...
Scientists find flaws in plan to lift US wolf protections
BILLINGS, Mont. — Scientists tasked with reviewing government plans to lift protections for gray wolves across most of the U.S. said in a report released Friday that the proposal has numerous factual errors and other problems. The five-member scientific panel’s conclusions were detailed in a 245-page report delivered to the...
Sanders, Harris seek Hispanic votes at California forum
PASADENA, Calif. — Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris dueled Friday over Hispanic votes in California, a central front in the nation’s immigration battle where Latinos represent the state’s largest ethnic group. As the nation’s most populous state, California holds a trove of 2020 delegates that are being eagerly sought by...
Police: City worker kills 12 in Virginia Beach; suspect dead
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A longtime city employee opened fire in a municipal building in Virginia Beach, killing 12 people on three floors and sending terrified co-workers scrambling for cover before police shot and killed him following a “long gun battle,” authorities said. Four other people were wounded in Friday’s...
15-foot python at large in MorgantownVideo
Morgantown police were looking for a 15-foot python Friday after it apparently escaped from a truck the previous night. According to news partner WPXI, officials warned people to keep an eye on children and small pets — especially when outdoors. The station sent its news chopper to the city to...
Longtime Mt. Pleasant teacher had ‘soothing Italian way’
As a young woman, Clarina DiPietro had two goals in life – to attend Seton Hill University and to work for the CIA. Although she accomplished both, she spent most of her career as a social studies teacher at Mt. Pleasant Area Senior High School. “She was always teaching her...
Bill Cosby drops defamation claims against 7 accusers
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Bill Cosby has dropped his countersuit against seven women who accused him of sexually assaulting them. Court papers filed Friday show the four-year defamation case in Massachusetts is now over. Cosby’s insurer had settled with the women last month for an undisclosed sum. The 81-year-old comedian objected...
Death penalty repeal movement surfaces in Pa. Legislature
In a turnabout that few could have predicted, Pennsylvania appears poised to join at least a half-dozen other states where Republicans and Democrats together are pushing to repeal capital punishment. Four Keystone State lawmakers — three Democrats and a Republican — have launched a drive seeking support to repeal the...
Swimmer is oblivious to shark circling her at Florida beachVideo
A man had been watching a shark swimming along a Florida beach for about two hours when a swimmer entered the scene. Stan Battles told the Panama City News Herald the shark had been doing figure 8s in the muck and sea grass at Panama City Beach Wednesday morning. He...
SAT’s new rating system faces its own adversity
College admissions testing was long viewed as a great equalizer. All students could aim for a maximum 36 on the ACT or 1600 on the SAT, no matter where they grew up or went to school. Their scores functioned as a currency of merit for a nation that aspired to...
IRS proposes update to Form W-4 to increase accuracy
The IRS has proposed an update to the Form W-4 that it says will increase its accuracy and reduce its complexity. But experts caution that it will feel different to employees and may prove a bit more difficult for some. Employees currently fill out a one-page form that asks a...
Union warns Disney World fire department is understaffed
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Firefighters for Walt Disney World’s private government say they’re understaffed and that poses a safety risk as the Florida theme park resort grows even bigger with this year’s openings of a new Star Wars land and air gondolas. “We just don’t have enough firefighters on...
Tornado that ravaged parts of Ohio packed 170 mph winds
DAYTON, Ohio — The National Weather Service says one of the tornadoes that tore through western Ohio this week was the strongest in the state since 2010. Survey teams have confirmed at least 18 tornadoes touched down in the region during storms Memorial Day evening and early Tuesday. The Weather...
Tariffs aimed at Mexico, but U.S. companies in line of fire
The surprise imposition by President Donald Trump of an escalating tariff regime against Mexico sent ripples through almost every economic sector in the U.S. Friday, hammering American companies that sell automobiles or run railroads, grow vegetables or create medical devices. Trump vowed to slap a 5% tariff on all Mexican...
4 million gallons of water to be drained from Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
About 4 million gallons of water will be drained from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool so crews can fix a broken water line that’s caused algae to form in it. “The problem with the water line has compromised the circulation system in the pool, leading to issues with the water...
Police: Suicide car bomb hits Afghan capital, 7 casualties
KABUL, Afghanistan — A car bomb targeting a U.S. convoy exploded early Friday in an eastern Kabul neighborhood leaving seven Afghan casualties, police said. It was the second suicide attack in as many days to rattle the Afghan capital. Bob Purtiman, public affairs officer with the U.S. military in Kabul,...
Aliens, droids and starships: Images from new Star Wars land
ANAHEIM, Calif. — From animatronic aliens to droidprints in the ground, Disneyland’s latest addition immerses visitors in a brand new locale in the “Star Wars” universe. Every detail of the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land is meant to look and feel like it was plucked from a “Star Wars” film,...
