WASHINGTON — The U.S. government picked up nearly 19,000 children traveling alone across the Mexican border in March, authorities said Thursday, the largest monthly number ever recorded and a major test for President Joe Biden as he reverses many of his predecessor’s hardline immigration tactics. A complex mix of factors...
Cellmate Accused of Killing ‘I-5 Strangler’ in Prison Won’t Face Death Penalty
The man accused of strangling the California serial killer known as the “I-5 Strangler” won't face the death penalty, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Amador County District Attorney Todd Riebe said he had filed first-degree murder charges against Jason Budrow and will seek a sentence of life in prison without possibility...
Tiger Woods 40 MPH Over the Limit Before Crashing SUV, Sheriff Says
LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods was speeding when he crashed an SUV in Southern California less than two months ago, leaving the golf superstar seriously injured, authorities said Wednesday. Woods was driving 84 to 87 mph on a downhill stretch of road outside Los Angeles that had a speed limit...
San Francisco School Board Suspends Plan to Rename Schools
SAN FRANCISCO — America’s founding fathers got a reprieve Tuesday in San Francisco, when the city’s scandal-plagued school board formally suspended a plan to rename 44 schools as part of a racial reckoning that critics said went too far. The city’s Board of Education, which convened on Zoom, voted unanimously...
Turkey’s Snub of EU’s First Female President Highlights Gender Equality Issue
BRUSSELS — Gender equality issues took center stage Wednesday in Brussels a day after Ursula von der Leyen, one the EU's most powerful executives, was treated like a second-rank official during a visit to Ankara. Von der Leyen — the European Commission president — and European Council chief Charles Michel...
Senate Gives Biden a Big Tool to Work Around GOP Filibuster
WASHINGTON — With a powerful new tool, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has fresh options for potentially advancing President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package and other priorities past Republican obstruction in the 50-50 split Senate. Republicans still pledge to do all they can to halt Biden, but an official parliamentarian’s opinion...
China Warns Washington not to Boycott Winter Olympics
BEIJING — China's government warned Washington on Wednesday not to boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing after the Biden administration said it was talking with allies about a joint approach to complaints of human rights abuses. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected accusations of abuses against ethnic minorities in the...
Viral Thoughts: Why COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Persist
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Daniel Roberts hadn’t had a vaccination since he was 6. No boosters, no tetanus shots. His parents taught him inoculations were dangerous, and when the coronavirus arrived, they called it a hoax. The vaccine, they said, was the real threat. So when the 29-year-old Tennessee man got...
PG&E Faces 33 Criminal Charges in Kincade Fire
SACRAMENTO — A California prosecutor filed 33 criminal charges Tuesday against the troubled Pacific Gas & Electric for a 2019 wildfire that officials blamed on the utility. The Sonoma County district attorney charged the utility with felony and misdemeanor counts in the October 2019 Kincade Fire north of San Francisco....
Doormen Fired for Failing to Intervene in Anti-Asian Attack
NEW YORK — Two New York City apartment building workers have been fired for failing to help an Asian American woman as she was being violently attacked on the sidewalk outside, the building's management company said Tuesday. Surveillance video of the March 29 attack near Times Square showed that the...