Nation

Police driver acquitted of all charges in Freddie Gray death

Published on Thu, 06/23/2016 - 9:43am
Article Image Alt Text

BALTIMORE — A judge acquitted a police driver of all charges on Thursday in the death of 25-year-old arrestee Freddie Gray, whose broken neck on the way to the station set off Baltimore's worst riots in decades.

Six officers were charged in Gray's death, but only Officer Caesar Goodson was accused of "depraved heart" murder. Gray was fatally injured after officers bound his hands and feet and Goodson left him unprotected by a seat belt that prosecutors say would have kept him from slamming into the van's metal walls.

2 Louisiana deputies shot while serving a felony warrant

Published on Thu, 06/23/2016 - 9:40am
Article Image Alt Text

MONROE, La. — Authorities say two sheriff's deputies in northeast Louisiana were shot and wounded while serving a felony warrant.

Ouachita Parish Chief Deputy Mac Mashaw said in a brief news release that the shooting happened just after 6 a.m. Thursday.

The deputies are being treated at a Monroe hospital. Their conditions are unknown.

Additional details about the shooting weren't immediately available.

Arkansas court upholds execution protocol, drug secrecy law

Published on Thu, 06/23/2016 - 9:36am

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas can execute eight death row inmates, a split state Supreme Court ruled Thursday in upholding a state law that keeps information about its lethal injection drugs confidential.

It has only seven days, however, before one of the drugs needed for the three-drug protocol expires, and it wasn't clear when Arkansas will be able to resume its first executions since 2005.

Trump lambastes Clinton: 'She gets rich making you poor'

Published on Wed, 06/22/2016 - 3:32pm
Article Image Alt Text

NEW YORK — Donald Trump launched a blistering attack Wednesday on Hillary Clinton's record and character, slamming his presidential rival as a "world class liar" who raked in personal profits from her tenure at the State Department. The billionaire businessman claimed, "She gets rich making you poor."

Psychologists behind CIA interrogation tactics deny torture

Published on Wed, 06/22/2016 - 3:28pm
Article Image Alt Text

SPOKANE, Wash. — Two former Air Force psychologists who helped design the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects acknowledge using waterboarding and other harsh tactics but deny allegations of torture and war crimes leveled by a civil liberties group, according to new court records.

Many say political opponents frighten them, threaten country

Published on Wed, 06/22/2016 - 3:25pm
Article Image Alt Text

NEW YORK — Democratic and Republican views of the opposing political party have sunk to such lows that many say their rivals make them feel afraid, a major public opinion poll released Wednesday found.

Gallup: 123,000 same-sex marriages since high court ruling

Published on Wed, 06/22/2016 - 3:21pm

NEW YORK (AP) — A new Gallup survey estimates that 123,000 same-sex marriages have taken place across the U.S. in the year since the Supreme Court ruling that legalized such unions nationwide.

Gallup says the proportion of gay and lesbian cohabiting couples who are married has increased from 38 percent to 49 percent during the year.

The results, released Wednesday, are based on tracking interviews conducted throughout 2015 and 2016.

Michigan sues companies that 'botched,' worsened Flint water

Published on Wed, 06/22/2016 - 3:20pm

FLINT, Michigan — Michigan's attorney general filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday against two water engineering companies, saying their negligence caused and exacerbated Flint's lead-tainted water crisis and demanding what could total hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

Veolia and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, also known as LAN, were sued in Genesee County Circuit Court. The firms already are facing suits from Flint residents over the disaster, in which improperly treated water from the Flint River scraped toxic lead from pipes into tap water.

White House clears small, commercial drones for takeoff

Published on Tue, 06/21/2016 - 4:11pm
Article Image Alt Text

WASHINGTON — Routine use of small drones by real estate agents, farmers, filmmakers and countless other commercial operators was cleared for takeoff by the Obama administration Tuesday, after years of struggling to write rules that would both protect public safety and free the benefits of a new technology.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced the creation of a new category of aviation rules designed specifically for drones weighing less than 55 pounds. The long-anticipated rules mean commercial operators can fly drones without special permission.

US-led coalition says only 1/3 of Fallujah cleared of IS

Published on Tue, 06/21/2016 - 4:09pm
Article Image Alt Text

BAGHDAD — Only a third of Fallujah has been "cleared" of Islamic State militants, the U.S.-led coalition said Tuesday, days after the Iraqi government declared victory in the city west of Baghdad, which was held by the extremists for more than two years.