Designers turn plastic trash into treasures
MILAN (AP) — Scientists and environmentalists have long warned about the dangers of plastic pollution, especially now that plastic trash of all types is choking the world’s rivers and oceans. High-end designers have responded by “upcycling” discarded objects into unique, desirable design pieces. One Milan art expert has launched an...
Aurora warehouse gunman said he would kill workers, ‘blow police up’ if he lost job, report says
CHICAGO — Prosecutors say a man who fatally shot five co-workers at an Illinois warehouse apparently took the gun and ammunition into the plant when he arrived that morning. The Kane County State’s Attorney’s office said in the report released Monday that it found law enforcement officers used justifiable force...
Mueller report details account of Michael Flynn’s lies
WASHINGTON — Somehow, The Washington Post had uncovered Michael Flynn’s secret. Somehow, it had learned that he had spoken with Russia’s ambassador the same day the Obama administration announced hefty sanctions on the country. Now the question was raised: Had the incoming national security adviser undermined the sanctions? Flynn was...
William Barr’s testimony to House on Mueller report in doubt
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has informed the House Judiciary Committee that Attorney General William Barr may not attend a Thursday hearing to review special counsel Robert Mueller’s report due to objections over the panel’s format, according to a Democratic senior committee aide. The department has balked at the panel’s...
Woman dies following fight over parking spot in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — A fight over a parking spot has left a woman dead in Philadelphia. Authorities said Lourdes Estremera, 57, wanted to barbecue and had set up a grill in the parking spot on Friday night. Another woman drove up and wanted to park in the spot, and the two...
Beto O’Rourke’s new climate plan: carbon emissions to net zero in 30 years
Former congressman Beto O’Rourke, Texas, in the first major policy plan of his presidential candidacy, proposed Monday slicing carbon emissions to net zero in 30 years, spending $5 trillion to make the country’s infrastructure more climate-friendly and having the United States rejoin the Paris climate agreement. O’Rourke, part of a...
Man accused of marrying 4 women pleads guilty in New Hampshire
DOVER, N.H. — A man accused of being married to four women pleaded guilty Monday to bigamy in New Hampshire, but he will avoid jail time if he behaves for the next five years. Michael Middleton, 43, married a Georgia woman in 2006, an Alabama woman in 2011 and a...
Felicity Huffman to plead guilty in admissions scam next month
BOSTON — “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman will plead guilty on May 13 to charges that she took part in a sweeping college admissions cheating scam. Huffman had been scheduled to enter her plea in Boston federal court on May 21. A judge on Monday agreed to move up the...
Alzheimer’s care takes toll on patients, families and societyVideo
Alzheimer’s disease is sometimes referred to as a “silent killer,” as it eventually robs patients of the ability to communicate and interact with others and with the outside world. Here are facts for 2019 from the Alzheimer’s Association, about the (sometimes silent) costs of the disease on patients, their loved...
‘Alzheimer’s Stories’ choral work offers hope through music
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, incurable brain disorder that slowly robs the sufferer of memory and cognitive functions, eventually claiming the ability to carry out even simple tasks. Yet, it’s been noted that music can sometimes evoke responses from Alzheimer’s patients when nothing else can. “Musical memories are often preserved...
Ban on banana-eating artwork draws ridicule in Poland
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s artists and opposition politicians are posting photos of themselves eating bananas in protest after the country’s authorities called an artwork featuring the fruit obscene and removed it from a top national gallery. The 1973 video “Consumer Art,” by prominent artist Natalia LL, showing a young woman...
Beluga whale with Russian harness raises alarm in Norway
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A beluga whale found with a tight harness that appeared to be Russian made has raised the alarm of Norwegian officials and prompted speculation that the animal may have escaped from a Russian military facility. Joergen Ree Wiig of the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries says “Equipment St....
Commander of Guantanamo Bay prison is fired
WASHINGTON — Military officials say the commander of the task force that runs the prison at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been fired for a “loss of confidence in his ability to command.” A statement from U.S. Southern Command says Navy Rear Adm. John Ring was...
Authorities look at synagogue suspect’s social media posts
POWAY, Calif. — Eight-year-old Noya Dahan had finished praying and gone to play with other children at her Southern California synagogue when gunshots rang out. Her uncle grabbed her and the other children, leading them outside to safety as her leg bled from a shrapnel wound. “I was scared, really,...
Lawmakers debate future of loan relief for public workers
In 2007, the U.S. government made a promise to public service workers: Make 10 years of payments on their federal student loans and any remaining debt would be erased. But officials have largely failed to deliver. And that’s left lawmakers questioning whether to end the program or try to fix...
Trump did ‘nothing wrong’ to warrant impeachment, Sen. Lindsey Graham contendsVideo
WASHINGTON — The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday that President Trump did “nothing wrong” to warrant impeachment and removal from office, pushing back at Democrats who want the House to consider proceedings. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a stalwart Trump defender, had strongly advocated for...
Police: 8 shot, 1 fatally, in latest Baltimore shootingVideo
BALTIMORE — A gunman fired indiscriminately into a crowd that had gathered for Sunday afternoon cookout along a west Baltimore street, killing a man and wounding seven other people, authorities and reports said. Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said the gunfire erupted after 5 p.m. on a block in the city’s...
Stephen Moore, Trump’s Fed nominee, apologizes for past comments about womenVideo
Stephen Moore, President Trump’s likely nominee for an opening on the Federal Reserve Board, apologized Sunday for his past controversial comments about women that caused a firestorm last week. Moore, a longtime conservative commentator, has come under scrutiny for columns he wrote in the National Review in the early 2000s...
1 of 3 stabbed inside Erie club dies
ERIE — Authorities say one of three men stabbed in a northwestern Pennsylvania club over the weekend has died. The Erie Times-News reports that the county coroner’s office says the 34-year-old man was pronounced dead shortly after 3:30 a.m. Saturday at UPMC Hamot. Deputy Coroner John Maloney says an autopsy...
Trump says ending family separation was ‘disaster’ that led to surge in border crossingsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Trump said in a television interview Sunday that ending the practice of separating children from their families at border crossings has been “a disaster” that has resulted in a surge of people coming into the country illegally, though he overstated the increase as measured by the government....
William Barr may withdraw from Mueller report hearing over terms of testimony, House Democrats sayVideo
WASHINGTON — Democrats and the Justice Department are in a standoff over the terms of Attorney General William Barr’s planned testimony before the House Judiciary Committee this week, raising the prospect that the hearing might not go forward at all. A senior Democratic committee aide said Sunday that Barr risks...
Socialists win Spain’s election but far-right gains strongly
MADRID — Spain’s governing Socialists won the country’s national election Sunday but will need the backing of smaller parties to stay in power, while a far-right party rode a groundswell of support to enter the lower house of parliament for the first time in four decades, provisional results showed. Voters...
States aim to curb festive balloon launches, citing environmental damage
PORTLAND, Maine — The tradition of releasing balloons at weddings, birthdays and memorials may soon get deflated by lawmakers in more than half a dozen states. Critics say the helium-filled balloons pollute the environment, and threaten birds and other wildlife when they fall to earth. “People don’t really realize that...
Trump not expected to attend White House ceremony for National Teacher of the Year
In May, President Trump welcomed the state Teachers of the Year to the White House and gave an award to the National Teacher of the Year, Mandy Manning of Washington state. During the ceremony, Manning made no secret of her opposition to some of Trump’s policies. This year, Trump is...
Seattle college says student was among those killed by craneVideo
SEATTLE — A college freshman was among the four people killed when a construction crane fell from a building and crashed onto one of Seattle’s busiest streets, the university said Sunday. Sarah Wong, who intended to major in nursing, was in a car when the crane fell from a building...
