News you can use
News you can use
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By MARYCLAIRE DALE and MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NORRISTOWN, Pa. - His Hollywood career and good-guy image in ruins, an 81-year-old Bill Cosby was sentenced today to three to 10 years behind bars for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman, becoming the first celebrity of the #MeToo era to be sent to prison. The punishment all but completed the dizzying, late-in-life fall from grace for the comedian, former TV star and breaker of racial barriers. "It is time for...
By ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press WASHINGTON - Twelve Russian military intelligence officers hacked into the Clinton presidential campaign and Democratic Party, releasing tens of thousands of stolen communications, in a sweeping effort by a foreign government to meddle in the 2016 U.S. election, according to a grand jury indictment announced days before President Donald Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The indictment stands as the clearest Justice...
By CATHERINE LUCEY, ZEKE MILLER and MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh, a solidly conservative, politically connected judge, for the Supreme Court, setting up a ferocious confirmation battle with Democrats as he seeks to shift the nation’s highest court ever further to the right. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who was with Trump when he made the announcement, said Monday in a statement that confirming a Supreme Court justice is one of the most consequential votes he wil...
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press WASHINGTON — Congress today expanded private care for veterans as an alternative to the troubled Veterans Affairs health system. The Senate cleared the bill on a 92-5 vote on Wednesday, also averting a disastrous shutdown of its Choice private-sector program. The program is slated to run out of money as early as next week, causing disruptions in care. Sen. Jon Tester, the top Democrat on the veterans panel, said the plan will also boost VA health care by paying off higher amounts of student loan...
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump announced today the U.S. will pull out of the landmark nuclear accord with Iran, declaring he's making the world safer but dealing a profound blow to allies and deepening the president's isolation on the world stage. "The United States does not make empty threats," he said in a televised address from the White House Diplomatic Room. His administration says it will reimpose nuclear sanctions on Iran immediately but allow grace periods...
By MICHAEL R. SISAK and CLAUDIA LAUER Associated Press NORRISTOWN, Pa - Bill Cosby was convicted today of drugging and molesting a woman in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era, completing the spectacular late-life downfall of a comedian who broke racial barriers in Hollywood on his way to TV superstardom as America's Dad. Cosby, 80, could end up spending his final years in prison after a jury concluded he sexually violated Temple University employee Andrea...
By ROBERT BURNS, JILL COLVIN and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON - Allied missiles struck at the heart of Syrian chemical weapons arsenal in a show of force and resolve aimed at punishing the Assad government for a suspected poison gas attack against civilians and deterring the possible future use of such banned weapons. "A perfectly executed strike," President Donald Trump tweeted today in the aftermath of his second decision in two years to fire missiles against...
By ERRIN HAINES WHACK AP National Writer MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fifty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, the civil rights leader’s family and admirers were marking the anniversary of his death with marches, speeches and quiet reflection today. The commemorations stretched from his hometown of Atlanta to Memphis, where he died, and points beyond. Hundreds of people bundled in hats and coats gathered early in Memphis for a march led by the same sanitation workers union whose low pay King had come to pro...
By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Interior Department is backing down from a plan to impose steep fee increases at popular national parks in the face of widespread opposition from elected officials and the public. The plan would nearly triple entrance fees at 17 of the nation’s most popular parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone and Zion, forcing visitors to pay $70 per vehicle during the peak summer season. While plans are still being finalized, a spokeswoman for Interior Secretary Ryan Zink...
By FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - American Indian tribes have taken greater control over prosecuting non-tribal members who commit some violent crimes in Indian Country five years after Congress passed a key law, a new report shows. But gaps remain after the Violence Against Women Act allowed tribes to bring criminal charges against non-Natives in domestic violence cases. For example, it doesn't extend to violence against children or other family members,...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Student survivors of the Florida school massacre anchored a massive rally against gun violence Saturday in Washington, D.C., while throngs of young people took to the streets in sister marches across the U.S. Some students also participated in counter protests in places like Helena, Montana, and Salt Lake City. Here’s a look at what some of the demonstrators had to say: TALIA RUMSKY, 16 SCHOOL: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida MARCHED IN: Washington, D.C. WHY? “Because we keep chant...
By MICHAEL BIESECKER MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON - Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke bristled Tuesday under questioning by Democrats about his travel spending as the Trump administration seeks deep cuts to conservation programs and fee increases at national parks. Zinke testified before a Senate committee about the agency's proposed $11.7 billion budget for 2019. He has proposed doubling entry fees during peak seasons at some of the nation's most popular national park...
By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON — Britain has given Moscow until midnight Tuesday to explain how a Russian-made nerve agent came to poison a former spy in Britain. If no explanation is given, Prime Minister Theresa May says Russia will be hit by "extensive" retaliatory measures. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said U.K. officials are speaking to allies in the European Union and beyond to draw up a "commensurate but robust" response to the attack, which has left Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in critical conditi...
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press BOSTON — A nor'easter that could bring blizzard conditions and nearly 2 feet of snow to some areas of New England quickly intensified this morning, covering highways with snow and knocking out power to tens of thousands. The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the entire coast of Maine, New Hampshire and most of Massachusetts. The rest of New England was under a winter storm warning, and a winter weather advisory blanketed most of New York and portions of New J...
By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have completed a draft report concluding there was no collusion or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia, a finding that pleased the White House but enraged Democrats who were expected to see the document for the first time today. After a yearlong investigation, Texas Rep. Mike Conaway announced Monday that the committee has finished interviewing witnesses and will now share the report with D...
By JOSH LEDERMAN and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today and said he would nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him, putting an ardent foe of the Iran nuclear deal in charge of U.S. diplomacy as Trump also dives into high-stakes talks with North Korea. "We disagreed on things," Trump said of Tillerson just after announcing the firing on Twitter. He mentioned differences over how to handle the Iran-nuclear deal, which Trump wanted to withdraw f...
By SADIE GURMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON — Harshly criticized yet again by his boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has abandoned his usual stony silence and pushed back against President Donald Trump for saying Sessions' response to Republican complaints about the FBI was "disgraceful." Sessions gave no suggestion he would step down in light of Trump's charge Wednesday on Twitter and insisted he would "continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor." Trump's latest tirade stems from a comment Sessions made T...
By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer NEW YORK — The rift between major U.S. companies and the gun lobby is growing. And Americans are taking note, lighting up social media boards with vows to back up the companies with their wallet, or to boycott them. Retail heavyweights Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods have taken steps to restrict gun sales. That follows moves by several other major corporations, including MetLife, Hertz and Delta Air Lines, that have cut ties with National Rifle Association following last month's school...
By ZEKE MILLER and JILL COLVIN Associated Press WASHINGTON — White House communications director Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump's most trusted and longest-serving aides, abruptly announced her resignation, leaving a void around a president who values loyalty and affirmation. The departure of Hicks, who worked as a one-woman communications shop during his campaign, came as a surprise Wednesday to most in the White House — and cast a pall over the West Wing at a trying time for the president. It leaves Trump increasi...
By JEFF MARTIN and ALINA HARTOUNIAN Associated Press ATLANTA — Police say they don't know why a popular teacher allegedly fired a handgun inside his classroom Wednesday, causing a chaotic lockdown and evacuation of his Georgia high school. But it immediately pierced the national debate over whether educators should be armed. As officers arrested Dalton High School social studies teacher Jesse Randal Davidson, his students spoke their minds on social media. "My favorite teacher at Dalton high school just blockaded his door and...
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that if North Korea does not choose to negotiate on giving up its nuclear weapons that pose a growing threat to the United States it could trigger a military response. After a meeting of U.S. allies on how to beef up the sanctions pressure, Tillerson stressed that the Trump administration seeks a diplomatic resolution in the nuclear standoff, but he said the North...
By TOM LoBIANCO Associated Press WASHINGTON - Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has refused to answer a broad array of queries from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for President Donald Trump, leading the committee chairman to authorize a subpoena. The developments Tuesday brought to the forefront questions about White House efforts to control what Bannon tells Congress about his time in Trump's inner circle, and whether Republicans on...
By ALAN FRAM and ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press WASHINGTON — Hard-line conservatives are threatening to scuttle Republican leaders' plans to prevent a weekend government shutdown and saying GOP leaders lack the votes to push their proposal through the House. The setback late Tuesday came as a deal between President Donald Trump and Congress to protect young immigrants from deportation also remained distant. The intransigence by the House Freedom Caucus came as Republican leaders raced against a Friday deadline for pushing a...
By ZEKE MILLER and JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press WASHINGTON- Republicans are struggling to get their stories straight as President Donald Trump's Homeland Security secretary became the latest GOP official to offer an inconclusive version of a meeting in which Trump is said to have used vulgar remarks that have been criticized as racist. Democrats accused Republicans of selective amnesia as Cabinet member Kirstjen Nielsen testified Tuesday under oath that she "did not hear"...
By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press WASHINGTON - Defying dire, worldwide warnings, President Donald Trump todayy broke with decades of U.S. and international policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Despite urgent appeals from Arab and European leaders and the risk of anti-American protests and violence, Trump declared that he was ending an approach that for decades has failed to advance the prospects for peace. He also for the first time personally endorsed the...
