Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 61
MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) — Muskogee County's top prosecutor has ruled that an officer was justified when he fatally shot a man at a restaurant last week. District Attorney Orvil Loge said in a letter to Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee on Tuesday that an investigation has cleared officer Ron Yates from wrongdoing in the death of 36-year-old Andrew Kana. The shooting happened Nov. 12 at the I Don't Care Bar and Grill in Muskogee, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa. Authorities received a tip about a suspect who had several f...
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has cleared the way for a grand jury investigation of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's handling of voter registrations before the 2016 election. The Lawrence Journal-World reported the court late Tuesday denied Kobach's second request to review a June ruling of the Kansas Court of Appeals. The lower court had said Douglas County District Court must summon the grand jury to investigate. A Lawrence man, Steven Davis, who gathered enough signatures to force the investigation contends K...
PRATT, Kan. (AP) — A man shot by police earlier this month near the small Kansas town of Pratt has died. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says 38-year-old Rene Prieto died Wednesday in a Wichita hospital, where he had been treated since the shooting on Nov. 13. An autopsy is planned and the bureau says in a brief news release that the investigation continues. The shooting happened after Pratt police officers responded to a report of a man waving a gun on a street outside a home. Authorities say Prieto fired at one of the responding o...
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The chief prosecutor in one of Missouri's largest counties says she wants to be the next chairwoman of the Missouri Democratic Party. The Kansas City Star reports that Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Wednesday that she would stay on as prosecutor if she's picked to lead the Democrats. The election for Democratic chair will be Dec. 1 in Jefferson City. Peters Baker said in a message on Twitter that the party needs to start working on strategy and candidate recruitment for the 2020 elections. Peters B...
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man jailed for more than a year in a murder case now faces charges in another death. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 21-year-old Steven Drake III of Lawrence was charged this week with vehicular homicide in connection with a November 2016 accident that killed 24-year-old Taylor Lister. Drake has been in jail since last year in the fatal September 2017 shooting of 26-year-old Bryce Holladay. The first-degree murder trial is scheduled to start Jan. 14. Drake has claimed he acted in self-defense. The new c...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — As a legislator, Scott Schwab supported Secretary of State Kris Kobach's successful efforts to give Kansas some of the nation's toughest voter identification laws. When Kobach ran for governor this year, he endorsed his fellow conservative Republican as a replacement. Yet as Schwab prepares to take over as state elections chief in January, he promises to be less colorful and more focused on nuts-and-bolts administrative details, such as making sure county officials apply standards consistently when reviewing questionable bal...
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A judge is barring an attorney from representing the man charged with fatally shooting three people and wounding two others in downtown Lawrence. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Douglas County District Court Judge Sally Pokorny says she has "grave concerns" about the competency of Jennifer Chaffee. Pokorny cited a laundry list of missteps that culminated with a mistrial four days into jury selection in the high-profile case. Chaffee declined to comment. She was representing 21-year-old Anthony Roberts Jr., who i...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has found sufficient evidence for three men to stand trial in a double homicide in Topeka. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 19-year-old Matthew Hutto, 31-year-old Richard Showalter and 41-year-old Bradley Sportsman were bound over for trial Tuesday. They're each jailed on $1 million bond on charges that include first-degree murder in the deaths of Sportsman's estranged wife, 28-year-old Lisa Sportsman, and her cousin, 17-year-old Jesse Polinskey. Twenty-year-old Cole Pingel testified at the preliminary h...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A homeless man who robbed a Topeka credit union and then waited nearby until he was arrested has entered a guilty plea. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 63-year-old Robert Charles Frazier pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of robbery. Frazier admitted through the plea that he approached a teller in August at the Azura Credit Union and said, "This is a robbery. Give me your twenties, fifties and hundreds." The U.S. attorney's office says in a news release that he left the building after receiving the money and sat o...
GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas prosecutor is planning to resign, saying the sheriff has been acting like a "bully" since he was acquitted of a misdemeanor for allegedly slapping a handcuffed man. The Wichita Eagle reports that Barton County Attorney Amy Schartz Mellor said in a news release Tuesday that she plans to step down next month. The release cites a letter from Sheriff Brian Bellendir that states his intention to try to have Mellor removed from office. After Bellendir's acquittal last week, he called the case a "politically m...
CAPE GIRARDEUA, Mo. (AP) — Southeast Missouri State University has suspended a fraternity after it violated rules on alcohol. The Southeast Missourian reports that the campus' Pi Kappa Alpha chapter is barred from participating in activities with other fraternities and sororities or initiating new members until Feb. 1, when the suspension expires. The suspension will be followed by a probationary period, during which new infractions could lead to additional sanctions. Pi Kappa Alpha chapter president Sean McDowell says there were multiple a...
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico regulators announced a $2.2 million fine Wednesday against a Texas-based oilfield driller and waste disposal company, though it was unclear whether the company could be compelled to pay. The New Mexico Oil, Minerals and Natural Resources Department announced a state district court order that Midland, Texas-based Siana Operating cease disposal activities and clean up polluted well sites in the southeast of the state. Agency spokeswomen Beth Wojahn said Siana has not fulfilled provisions of the recent court judgme...
HOTAN UNITY NEW VILLAGE, China (AP) — In this corner of China's far west, rows of identical white concrete houses with red metal roofs rise abruptly above the sand dunes of the harsh Taklamakan Desert. A Chinese flag flutters above the settlement, and a billboard at the entrance says, "Welcome to the Hotan Unity New Village." This is a Communist Party showcase for its efforts to tame Xinjiang province, the heartland of China's often restive Uighur Muslim minority and an unforgiving terrain. The free or low-cost houses are assigned a...
DENVER (AP) — An endangered Mexican wolf escaped from a Colorado wildlife center where it had been taken to breed with other captive wolves, authorities said Wednesday. The year-old, captive-born male got out of an enclosure at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center in the town of Divide, 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Denver. It escaped Nov. 11, the same day it arrived in Colorado with two other wolves, all from the California Wolf Center. Trappers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Agriculture Department have set out m...
NEW YORK (AP) — A boost in construction equipment sales drove profit higher for Deere & Co. in the fourth quarter, but the results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The weaker-than-expected results sent shares lower as the market opened, but the stock quickly recovered as the company stated an upbeat outlook for equipment demand. Shares rose $5.14, or 3.7 percent, to $143.82 in midday trading. The maker of agricultural and construction equipment reported a 46 percent boost in profit, to $784.8 million, or $2.42 per share. Earnings, a...
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A southeast Missouri farmer has been indicted on federal charges of illegally applying a weed killer blamed for drifting and damaging crops in neighboring fields. A 53-count federal indictment was announced Tuesday against Bobby David Lowrey, 51, of Parma. He is accused of illegally applying the herbicide dicamba on his cotton and soybean crops outside of Environmental Protection Agency guidelines , and lying to investigators when confronted about it. Lowrey does not have a listed attorney who can speak on his behalf. A p...
DENVER (AP) — Colorado is getting $20.2 million to help prevent flooding and mudslides following this year's wildfires. Sen. Michael Bennet and Gov. John Hickenlooper announced the Emergency Watershed Protection grants for work to protect communities near the 416, Spring Creek and Lake Christine fires on Tuesday. The money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will go to four counties — La Plata, Huerfano, Costilla and Eagle. In a joint announcement, Bennet and Hickenlooper said the funding was awarded after months of coordination bet...
NEW YORK (AP) — Avoid all romaine lettuce, but don't worry about your turkey. With two food poisoning outbreaks making headlines before Thanksgiving, the messages about what's safe to eat can be hard to keep straight. Here's what you should know before you sit down for dinner. WHAT LETTUCE OUTBREAK? On Tuesday, U.S. health officials issued an unusually broad warning against all types of romaine lettuce amid an E. coli outbreak. They asked restaurants and grocers to stop selling it, people to stop eating it and everyone to throw it all out. T...
The photos from doctors came quickly and in succession: blood-stained operating rooms, blood-covered scrubs and shoes, bullets piercing body parts and organs. The pictures on Twitter were an emotional response to a smackdown by the powerful gun industry lobby, which took issue with the American College of Physicians' call late last month for tighter gun control laws. The recommendations included bans on "assault weapons," large capacity magazines and 3D-printed firearms. "Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their...
LONDON (AP) — In the battle for online privacy, Google is a U.S. Goliath facing a handful of European Davids. The backlash over Big Tech's collection of personal data offers new hope to a number of little-known search engines that promise to protect user privacy. Sites like Britain's Mojeek , France's Qwant , Unbubble in Germany and Swisscows don't track user data, filter results or show "behavioral" ads. These sites are growing amid the rollout of new European privacy regulations and numerous corporate data scandals, which have raised p...
COLTS NECK, N.J. (AP) — A family of four whose remains were found at the burned-down ruins of their New Jersey mansion was slain before the home was set ablaze, authorities said Wednesday, hours after the mansion owner's brother was arrested on suspicion of arson at his own house. Prosecutors sought to reassure the public that a random killer was not on the loose in the affluent community of Colts Neck, which is also home to some celebrities. "We believe that this family in some form or fashion was targeted," Monmouth County Prosecutor C...
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Northern California authorities said Wednesday that they have cracked a 45-year-old murder case using the same publicly available DNA database that led to the arrest of alleged serial killer Joseph DeAngelo. Officers arrested John Arthur Getreu, 74, on suspicion of killing a 21-year-old Palo Alto woman in 1973, the Santa Clara County sheriff's department spokesman Richard Glennon said. Investigators were led to Getreu after recently submitting DNA evidence to the Virginia-based DNA technology company Parabon NanoLab, w...
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A rarely seen shark embryo. Corals up to 7 feet (2 meters) high. Sponges with sharp edges. These were among the hundreds of findings reported by U.S. scientists who have wrapped up a 22-day mission exploring waters around Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the deepest dives ever recorded in the region. Guided by other land-based scientists watching live feeds, they collected 89 samples and will now start to analyze them, Daniel Wagner, expedition coordinator with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric A...
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — It all comes down to the final six minutes of a six-month journey to Mars. NASA's InSight spacecraft will enter the Martian atmosphere at supersonic speed, then hit the brakes to get to a soft, safe landing on the alien red plains. After micromanaging every step of the way, flight controllers will be powerless over what happens at the end of the road Monday, nearly 100 million miles (160 million kilometers) away. The communication lag between Mars and Earth is eight minutes. "By the time we hear anything, the w...
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) Since their invention more than 100 years ago, airplanes have been moved through the air by the spinning surfaces of propellers or turbines. But watching science fiction movies like the “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and “Back to the Future” series, I imagined that the propulsion systems of the future would be silent and still – maybe with some kind of blue glow and “whoosh” noise, but no moving parts, and no str...
