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WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people covered under the Affordable Care Act will see only modest premium increases next year, and some will get a price cut. That's the conclusion from an exclusive analysis of the besieged but resilient program, which still sparks deep divisions heading into this year's midterm elections. The consulting firm Avalere Health and The Associated Press crunched available state data and found that "Obamacare's" health insurance marketplaces seem to be stabilizing after two years of sharp premium hikes. And the e...
HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities in Texas have arrested a former sports medicine trainer charged in connection to Larry Nassar, the former sports doctor who admitted to molesting gymnasts for years. The Walker County district attorney's office says Debra Van Horn was detained Thursday morning by Homeland Security officials at a Houston airport as she exited a flight from China. A grand jury has indicted Van Horn on a single count of second-degree sexual assault of a child. Walker County District Attorney David Weeks previously reported Van Horn, w...
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A U.S. appeals court on Thursday reinstated a lawsuit filed against the NFL by former players who claim the league illegally plied them with powerful prescription painkillers to keep them on the field. The lawsuit is not superseded by labor agreements between players and teams, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously. The NFL had argued that the players failed to exhaust the grievance procedures in those agreements. U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco had dismissed t...
MOSCOW (AP) — GRU isn't as well-known a baleful acronym as KGB or FSB. But Russia's military intelligence service is attracting increasing attention as allegations mount of devious and deadly operations on and off the field of battle. The latest charge came Wednesday, when Britain identified two suspects in this year's nerve-agent poisonings as GRU agents . An overview of the GRU: THE AGENCY Formally named the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the agency is almost universally referred to by its former acronym GRU. It is...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A computer programmer working for the North Korean government was charged with devastating cyberattacks that hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment and unleashed the WannaCry ransomware virus that infected computers in 150 countries and crippled parts of the British health care system, federal prosecutors said Thursday. Park Jin Hyok, who is believed to be in North Korea, conspired to conduct a series of attacks that also stole $81 million from a bank in Bangladesh, according to charges unsealed in Los Angeles federal court f...
BOSTON (AP) — An expert panel of the National Academy of Sciences called for fundamental reforms to ensure the integrity of the U.S. election system, which is handicapped by antiquated technology and under stress from foreign destabilization efforts. The cautiously worded report calls for conducting all federal, state and local elections on paper ballots by 2020. Its other top recommendation would require nationwide use of a specific form of routine post-election audit to ensure votes have been accurately counted. The panel did not offer a p...
DENVER (AP) — Colorado, whose election systems are ranked among the nation's safest, held a cyber-security and disaster exercise Thursday for dozens of state, county and federal elections officials to reinforce the state's preparedness for, and public confidence in, November's midterm elections. Participants included Department of Homeland Security cyber experts working with county elections clerks to confront a rapid-fire sequence of scenarios. In a brief appearance, Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen praised Colorado as a n...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Language detectives say the key clues to who wrote the anonymous New York Times opinion piece slamming President Donald Trump may not be the odd and glimmering "lodestar," but the itty-bitty words that people usually read right over: "I," "of" and "but." And lodestar? That could be a red herring meant to throw sleuths off track, some experts say. Experts use a combination of language use, statistics and computer science to help figure out who wrote documents that are anonymous or possibly plagiarized. They've even solved c...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican and Democratic lawmakers pressed the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday to act faster to bring more of the country's most hazardous industrial chemicals and substances under tighter regulation, saying agency action on the health risks was "bogged down." The hearing by a House environment subcommittee focused on one of the biggest rapidly emerging health threats to public water systems, a family of widely used industrial coatings now linked to some cancers and to development problems in children, among o...
NEW YORK (AP) — Looking for the best place to eat? Ask a local. Now scientists say that same insider knowledge shapes the springtime migrations of moose and bighorn sheep. Animals learn from experienced members of the herd about where to find the best food, building sort of a cultural know-how that's passed through generations and improves over the course of decades, new research indicates. While scientists have speculated before that this happens in hoofed animals, this is the first conclusive test of the idea, said Matthew Kauffman, a U.S. G...
SAPPORO, Japan (AP) — A powerful earthquake Thursday on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido triggered dozens of landslides that crushed houses under torrents of dirt, rocks and timber, prompting frantic efforts to unearth any survivors. At least nine people were killed, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. Officials said at least 366 were injured, five of them seriously, and about 30 people were unaccounted for after the magnitude 6.7 earthquake jolted residents from their beds at 3:08 a.m. Nearly 3 million households were left without p...
HAMPTON, N.H. (AP) — A man accused of kicking a seagull that tried to eat his cheeseburger at a New Hampshire beach has been fined $124. Police investigated the report from a bystander at Hampton Beach earlier this summer. NH1 reports the man Nate Rancloes, said he had just returned from getting a cheeseburger and fries and was sitting on the sand. He said seagulls got to the burger, and he spun around with his leg to shoo one away, but struck the bird. He said it was a simple mistake. A witness said it appeared the bird's leg was injured a...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats mounted a last, ferocious attempt Thursday to paint Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a foe of abortion rights and a likely defender of President Donald Trump if he makes it to the high court. But their chances of blocking Trump's nominee seemed to fade away by the end of a second marathon day of testimony in his confirmation hearing. Questioning of the 53-year-old appellate judge wound down without him revealing much about his judicial stances or making any serious mistakes that might jeopardize his co...
Burt Reynolds, the handsome film and television star known for his acclaimed performances in "Deliverance" and "Boogie Nights," commercial hits such as "Smokey and the Bandit" and for an active off-screen love life which included relationships with Loni Anderson and Sally Field, has died at age 82. His death was confirmed Thursday by his agent Todd Eisner. In a statement, his niece, Nancy Lee Hess, called his death "totally unexpected," although she acknowledged he had health issues. "He was tough. Anyone who breaks their tail bone on a river...
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump will not answer federal investigators' questions, in writing or in person, about whether he tried to block the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, one of the president's attorneys told The Associated Press on Thursday. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said questions about obstruction of justice were a "no-go." Giuliani's statement was the most definitive rejection yet of special counsel Robert Mueller's efforts to interview the president about any efforts to obstruct the investigation into p...
CINCINNATI (AP) — A gunman carrying enough ammunition to cause "a bloodbath beyond imagination" killed three people and wounded two others Thursday morning at a high-rise office building in the heart of Cincinnati before dying in a hail of police gunfire. The shooting at the 30-story Fifth Third Center sent people running for cover across the city's Fountain Square amid cries of "Shooter!" Police responded within seconds, and four officers opened fire, bullets smashing through glass doors and the gunman falling to the floor, authorities said. P...
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Investigators said Thursday they have found 166 skulls in clandestine burial pits in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, one of the biggest mass graves discovered so far in Mexico. Veracruz state prosecutor Jorge Winckler said that for security reasons he would not reveal the location of the site. Mexican drug cartels frequently use clandestine pits to dispose of their victims. Winckler said the bodies were buried at least two years ago and did not rule out finding more remains. He said investigators had found 114 ID cards i...
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York and New Jersey launched new investigations into the Roman Catholic Church's handling of clergy sex abuse allegations Thursday as the number of similar inquiries around the country continues to grow. In New York, the state's attorney general issued subpoenas to all eight of the state's Catholic dioceses seeking any and all documents pertaining to allegations, findings from internal church investigations and payments to victims, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation but not a...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday moved to abandon a longstanding court settlement that limits how long immigrant children can be kept locked up, proposing new regulations that would allow the government to detain families until their immigration cases are decided. Homeland Security officials said that ending the so-called Flores agreement of 1997 will speed up the handling of asylum requests while also deterring people from illegally crossing the Mexican border. The move angered immigrant rights advocates and is all but c...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un still has faith in U.S. President Donald Trump's commitment to ending their nations' hostile relations, but he's frustrated by questions about his willingness to denuclearize and wants his "goodwill measures" to be met in kind, South Korean officials said Thursday. The trove of comments from Kim, including his commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and to the suspension of all future long-range missile tests, were relayed by top South Korean security officials returning from m...
BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene totaled just five shots in a 2-1 loss to Texas Woman's at Wes Harmon Field on Thursday night. The Crimson Storm (1-2) never seemed to get their offense going, as they tallied just three shots on goal for the game. The Pioneers (2-1) were aggressive right out of the gate, firing 13 shots in the first half, and nine in the second. They saw eight shots land on goal for the contest. Although TWU racked up double-digit shots in the first half, the SNU defense was able to hold strong. They recorded a couple of t...
LUBBOCK, Texas – The SWOSU Volleyball team has now won seven straight matches following a Friday sweep at the LCU Chap Classic in Lubbock. The Bulldogs took down St. Mary's and Arkansas-Monticello – both in straight sets – to improve to 3-0 at the event. SWOSU, now 8-1 on the year, will conclude the tournament on Saturday morning at 11:00 am against Washburn, who is currently 9-0 heading into a matchup with Lubbock Christian on Friday evening. SWOSU 3, St. Mary's 0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-23) The Bulldogs opened the day with an efficient victo...
DALLAS, Texas – Southern Arkansas concluded play at the Dallas Baptist Tri-Match on Friday afternoon inside the Burg Center as the Muleriders were upended in three sets by the host Patriots. SAU falls to 3-8 on the season. OF NOTE After dropping the first set 25-14, Southern Arkansas worked a 16-16 tie in set two, a set in which both teams struggled offensively, and climbed back to within four points of the lead down the stretch in the third and final set. DBU hit .273 in the opening set and .324 in the third set. Sophomore Bailey Cagle led S...
FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — A Fort Smith-area man has admitted to the slaying of an Oklahoma sheriff's father, according to authorities. Police arrested Ricky Rainwater on Monday after investigators suspected he robbed and killed Larry Lane Sr. over the weekend in Cherokee County, Oklahoma. Lane is the father of Sheriff Larry Lane Jr. of Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. He has since been charged with first-degree murder, robbery by force and fear, and automobile theft. Rainwater, 44, told authorities Thursday that he killed Lane Sr. without a weapon, C...
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A jury has found a Tulsa man guilty of killing a 19-month-old child and soliciting murder against the baby's mother. Jurors in Oklahoma County District Court convicted Bert Franklin on Thursday of first-degree murder in the death of Lincoln Lewis. Franklin, 37, was in a relationship with Lincoln's mother, Roxanne Randall, at the time. Prosecutors said Franklin caused fatal skull fractures to the toddler inside Randall's Oklahoma City house on July 16, 2016. The toddler died two days later. Home surveillance video showed F...
