Nation

Native overdose deaths surge since opioid epidemic

Published on Fri, 03/16/2018 - 12:00am

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Overdose deaths in Native American communities have skyrocketed in the time the opioid epidemic has swept the U.S. and federal officials are looking for solutions.

Native Americans and Alaska Natives saw a fivefold increase in overdose deaths between 1999 and 2015, Dr. Michael Toedt told the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Wednesday.

US may want to keep Idaho nuclear waste plant running longer

Published on Fri, 03/16/2018 - 12:00am

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. officials are considering extending the use of an eastern Idaho nuclear waste treatment facility beyond its scheduled closure this year so it can repackage radioactive waste brought in from other states before it’s sent to a permanent disposal site in New Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Plant at a site that includes the Idaho National Laboratory was originally set to stop operating after it finished treating waste from Idaho this year.

New attack sub to join fleet

Published on Fri, 03/16/2018 - 12:00am

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The U.S. Navy’s newest attack submarine, the USS Colorado, will go into service Saturday at the Naval Submarine Base in Connecticut.

Cmdr. Reed Koepp, the Colorado’s commanding officer, says it’s an exciting time for the crew, shipbuilders, the local community in Connecticut and the state of Colorado. The submarine is “ready to protect the homeland and project our power forward,” he added.

“We’re really looking forward to this Saturday when we can introduce the Colorado as an official naval asset,” Koepp said.

Crystal clues to climate change

Published on Fri, 03/16/2018 - 12:00am

HIGHMOUNT, N.Y. (AP) — Capturing snowflakes isn’t as easy as sticking out your tongue.

At least not when you’re trying to capture them for scientific study, which involves isolating the tiniest of crystals on a metal card printed with grid lines and quickly placing them under a microscope to be photographed.

“They are very tiny and they are close to the melting point,” Marco Tedesco of Columbia University said as he set up his microscope beside a snowy field. “So as soon as they fall, they will melt.”

Sen. Jeff Flake eyes 2020 primary challenge to stop Trump

Published on Fri, 03/16/2018 - 12:00am
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MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Jeff Flake has a direct message for the Republicans of New Hampshire: Someone needs to stop Donald Trump. And Flake, a Republican senator from Arizona, may stand up against the Republican president in 2020 — either as a Republican or an independent — if no one else does.

“It has not been in my plans to run for president, but I have not ruled it out,” the 55-year-old Flake said Friday in his first solo political appearance in New Hampshire. The state is expected to host the nation’s first presidential primary election in less than two years.

Fertility clinic failures forge lost legacies, heartbreak

Published on Fri, 03/16/2018 - 12:00am

Many of them had already endured their share of heartache. Some had been trying for years to get pregnant, suffering through multiple miscarriages. Others had undergone cancer treatments that destroyed their fertility.

Now, hundreds of these women and couples have learned that the eggs and embryos they froze for eventual use in starting or expanding a family may have been destroyed by storage tank failures March 4 at two fertility clinics in suburban Cleveland and San Francisco.

Tillerson says he’s praying for America

Published on Fri, 03/16/2018 - 12:00am
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Fired top diplomat Rex Tillerson says he’s praying for America.

Tillerson, in a message sent to U.S. embassies and consulates three days after President Donald Trump ousted him, also told American diplomats he was proud of them and would be cheering for their success.

“Know that I will continue to pray for our country, our leaders, and your efforts to make this world a better place than we found it,” Tillerson said Friday in the message, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Jury awards $33.5M in case of man killed by deputy

Published on Thu, 03/15/2018 - 12:00am

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal court jury awarded $33.5 million in damages to the parents of a man who was fatally shot by a California sheriff’s deputy in a confrontation more than two years ago.

The jury found Wednesday that the San Bernardino County deputy unreasonably detained 29-year-old Nathanael Pickett, delayed medical aid and was negligent in use of deadly force.

The jury award included $15.5 million in compensatory damages and $18 million in punitive damages.

Southwest ‘casta’ paintings spotlight popular culture

Published on Thu, 03/15/2018 - 12:00am
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Masked Mexican rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, wearing a purple threepiece suit, is paired with Britney Spears in a Wonder Woman costume. Their child is a tiny albino Marcos, smoking a pipe and wearing a turban with his own little ski mask, his body the black-suited torso of James Bond.

Echoes of Al Capone in today’s gun debate

Published on Thu, 03/15/2018 - 12:00am

CHICAGO (AP) — It was 1934. Mobsters armed with fully automatic “Tommy guns” had left a trail of bloodstained sidewalks and pockmarked walls across the country, and the new president had narrowly escaped assassination the year before. It was time for action on gun control. And the National Rifle Association seemingly agreed.

“I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns,” then-NRA President Karl T. Frederick told members of the House Ways and Means Committee. “I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.”