North Carolina officer slain in traffic stop; suspect deadVideo
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — A police officer conducting a weekend traffic stop was fatally shot in North Carolina, authorities said Sunday, adding the suspected gunman was found dead in his nearby apartment from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officer Jordan Harris Sheldon, 32, was shot around 10 p.m. Saturday in the Charlotte...
Muslim society: ‘Disturbing’ video of children wasn’t vettedVideo
A video showing children speaking in Arabic about sacrifice and chopping off heads wasn’t vetted before being posted on the Facebook page for the Muslim American Society’s Philadelphia chapter, and it does not represent their values, the executive director of the national group said Sunday. Executive Director Ayman Hammous said...
Israel steps up strikes as Gaza rocket attacks intensifyVideo
JERUSALEM — Gaza militants fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel on Sunday, killing at least four Israelis and bringing life to a standstill across the region in the bloodiest fighting since a 2014 war. As Israel pounded Gaza with airstrikes, the Palestinian death toll rose to 23, including two...
Trump reverses, now says Robert Mueller should not testify before CongressVideo
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller should not testify before Congress, reversing course from his previous position that the decision is up to Attorney General William Barr. “Bob Mueller should not testify,” Trump said in an afternoon tweet. “No redos for the Dems!” Trump also...
Pressure grows to loosen party grip on Pennsylvania primary
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania: Land of Disenfranchisement? It’s not the state slogan, but Pennsylvania is in the minority of states with closed primary elections as the number of independent voters grows quickly and sparks a debate in Pennsylvania’s Legislature for the first time in memory about opening up party primaries. It...
Longtime McKeesport Daily News sports editor covered kids, pros
For more than three decades, Norman Vargo wrote about everything from high school volleyball to Super Bowls. He was there to chronicle the Pittsburgh Steelers’ dynasty in the 1970s, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ World Series title in 1979 and the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup runs in the early 1990s. As the...
Police find body in Cyprus lake, tie rape to serial killings
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Police in Cyprus recovered a second suitcase containing decomposing human remains Sunday from a contaminated lake where a military officer who confessed to killing seven foreign women and girls told authorities he dumped the bodies of three victims. The lake is part of an abandoned copper pyrite...
Kim Jong Un’s weapon test may have included ballistic missile
Kim Jong Un oversaw a live-fire military exercise Saturday that potentially included North Korea’s first ballistic missile launch since 2017 — challenging President Trump’s bottom line in nuclear talks. Kim watched as “large-caliber, long-range multiple-rocket launchers and tactical guided weapons” were fired off North Korea’s eastern coast Saturday, according to...
At least 40 dead in Russian plane’s fiery emergency landingVideo
MOSCOW — At least 40 people died when an Aeroflot airliner burst into flames while making an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport Sunday evening, officials said. The Sukhoi SSJ100 operated by national airline Aeroflot had 73 passengers and five crew members on board when it touched down and sped...
Passenger video shows people lining up on wing of plane in Florida river
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A passenger shouted “Watch out! Watch out!” as other passengers and crew members cautiously walked out on a wing of the Boeing 737, just moments after it had landed at a Florida military base, crashed through a stone seawall, and ended up in a river. Another passenger...
Trump picks Obama-era Border Patrol chief Mark Morgan to lead ICE
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has selected an Obama-era chief of the U.S. Border Patrol to be the next director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I am pleased to inform all of those that believe in a strong, fair and sound Immigration Policy that Mark Morgan will be...
Latrobe outdoorsman blazed new trails
When Kevin Seremet went into the woods, he went as far off the beaten path as he could go. “He always said he wanted to step on land that no other man had ever stepped on before,” said his brother, Kenneth Seremet. Kevin Seremet was always happiest outside. He gardened,...
Fines, jail time? Trump team resists oversight, Dems dig in
WASHINGTON — They’re talking at the Capitol about jailing people. Imposing steep fines. All sorts of extraordinary, if long-shot, measures to force the White House to comply with Democratic lawmakers’ request for information about President Trump stemming from the special counsel’s Russia investigation. This is the remarkable state of affairs...
Critical injuries avoided as military-chartered jet ends up in river
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A military-chartered jet carrying 143 people landed hard, then bounced and swerved as the pilot struggled to control it amid thunder and lightning, ultimately skidding off the runway and coming to a crashing halt in a river at Naval Air Station Jacksonville. It meant chaos and terror...
Preparation limits toll of cyclone
DHAKA, Bangladesh — A mammoth preparation exercise that included the evacuation of more than 1 million people appears to have spared India a devastating death toll from one of the biggest storms in decades, though the full extent of the damage was yet to be known, officials said Saturday. Cyclone...
Sources: Putin backs U.S. on denuclearization in Kim meeting
SEOUL, South Korea — Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 25 called on North Korea for its final, fully verified denuclearization, which the United States sought, during his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vladivostok, Russia, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The move suggests Putin has shown...
Appeals made to military in Venezuela power struggle
CARACAS, Venezuela — When a protester handed over a written appeal for the military’s support on Saturday, a Venezuelan policeman burned the document and let the ashes fall to the ground. The armed forces “won’t be blackmailed or bought,” said a second officer standing nearby. Benito Rodriguez fumed as he...
Trump critical of social media sites after Facebook bans
STERLING, Va. — President Trump criticized social media companies after Facebook banned a number of extremist figures, declaring he was “monitoring and watching, closely!!” Trump, who tweeted and retweeted complaints Friday and Saturday, said he would “monitor the censorship of AMERICAN CITIZENS on social media platforms.” He has previously asserted...
A pregnant inmate came to term in jail. Lawyers say she was forced to give birth there – alone.
Tammy Jackson was ushered into an empty jail cell by sheriffs. Then one morning, she was there with someone else: her newborn baby. According to a letter dated May 3, written by Broward County public defender Howard Finkelstein, the full-term, mentally ill 34-year-old began complaining to officers about contractions around...
Longtime NYC prosecutor, former judge Richard Brown dies
NEW YORK — A New York City prosecutor and judge whose 40-plus years in criminal justice stretched from the gritty “Mean Streets” era of the 1970s to today’s opioid crisis has died at the age of 86. Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown died Friday, Chief Assistant District Attorney John...
Man reflects on being part of 1st gay prom couple in 1979
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A man who was one half of the first gay couple to attend a high school prom says he didn’t expect to become entrenched in LGBTQ rights history and that he looks back on the event in South Dakota 40 years later as “just a moment.”...
Expelled in 1956, black woman gets doctorate at U of Alabama
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Autherine Lucy Foster, the first African-American student to attend the University of Alabama, received an honorary doctorate degree Friday from the university where her presence brought mobs of protesters in 1956. The Tuscaloosa News reported that Foster, 89 received the degree during graduation ceremonies. She enrolled at...
Adult website offers to double reward for arrest of Texas beehive vandals
Adult video streaming website YouPorn is offering to double the reward for the information that leads to the apprehension of those responsible for killing more than 500,000 bees earlier this week. According to the New York Times, someone torched, toppled and tossed into a nearby pond more than 20 European...
Illinois governor proposes legalizing marijuana
CHICAGO — A proposal to legalize marijuana in Illinois would allow possession of up to 30 grams of the plant for residents 21 and over, a $30 million low-interest loan program to promote “social equity” in business ownership, and expungement of misdemeanor and class 4 felony marijuana convictions. Adults would...
SpaceX launches supplies to space station after power delays
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched a load of supplies to the International Space Station on Saturday following a pair of unusual power delays. A Falcon rocket raced into the pre-dawn darkness, carrying a Dragon capsule with 5,500 pounds (2,500 kilograms) of goods. This recycled Dragon — which is making...
