Tag: Trending News

Police investigate after Dallas Zoo missing leopard is found

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DALLAS (AP) — Dallas Zoo officials said Friday that a missing clouded leopard was found after a daylong search. Evidence was found that the fence of the small cat’s habitat had been “intentionally” cut, police said.

The zoo tweeted that the cat named Nova, who weighs about 20-25 pounds (9-11 kilograms), did not appear injured and was found near her original habitat. The search had closed Texas’ largest zoo to visitors while staff and police combed the 100-acre (40-hectare) grounds.

The zoo announced that Nova had been found just moments after a news conference in which police said a criminal investigation had been opened. Police and zoo officials said they have reviewed surveillance footage but would not say what it showed or whether there were potential suspects.

“It is our belief that this was an intentional act,” Dallas Police Sgt. Warren Mitchell said.

Mitchell said Dallas police at first dispatched SWAT officers to the zoo, not understanding the size of a clouded leopard. Police drones helped search the zoo grounds, including trees. Harrison Edell, executive vice president of animal care and conservation at the Dallas Zoo, said clouded leopards like to climb.

The zoo tweeted earlier in the day that the missing cat was a “serious situation,” but officials said the animal posed no danger.

Another clouded leopard at the zoo, Nova’s sister, did not leave its habitat.

Animals have escaped enclosures from the Dallas Zoo before. Most notably was in 2004, when a 340-pound (154-kilogram) gorilla named Jabari jumped over a wall and went on a 40-minute rampage that injured three people before police shot and killed the animal.

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January 16, 2023
NTSB: Cloud shot up in front of plane before turbulence

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HONOLULU (AP) — A cloud shot up vertically like a plume of smoke in a matter of seconds before a Hawaiian Airlines flight last month hit severe turbulence and 25 people on board were injured, according to a preliminary report Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The captain of the Dec. 18 flight from Phoenix to Honolulu told investigators that flight conditions were smooth with clear skies when the cloud shot up in front of the plane and there was no time to change course, the report said. He called the lead flight attendant and told her there might be turbulence. Within one to three seconds, the plane “encountered severe turbulence,” the report states.

Shortly afterward, the lead flight attendant told the crew there were multiple injuries in the cabin.

Twenty-five of the 291 passengers and crew members on board were injured, including four passengers and two crew members who were seriously hurt, the report says. The plane sustained minor damage.

Tiffany Reyes, one of the passengers who were taken to hospitals, said the next day that she had just gotten back to her seat from the bathroom and was about to buckle her seatbelt when the flight dipped.

In an instant, Reyes said she found herself on the aisle floor, staring up at caved-in ceiling panels and a cracked bathroom sign that was hanging.

“I asked everyone around me, ’Was that me?” Reyes said. “They said I had apparently flown into the ceiling and slammed into the ground.”

Reyes said she initially thought something had hit the plane and that it was crashing, and that she briefly thought they were going to die because she had never encountered anything so violent on a flight.

“That’s the most terrifying experience I’ve been through in my whole 40 years of life,” Reyes said.

Hawaiian Airlines Chief Operating Officer Jon Snook said at the time that such turbulence is unusual, noting that the airline had not experienced anything like it in recent history. The fasten-seatbelts sign was on at the time, though some of the injured were not wearing them, he said.

It happened about 40 minutes before landing in Honolulu, according to the report.

The report includes factual information but not a probable cause. That is typically included in the final report, which could take a year or two to complete.

An airline spokesperson declined to comment on the report Friday because the NTSB investigation is ongoing.

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January 16, 2023
Officials: Whale found dead in NJ likely struck by vessel

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BRIGANTINE, N.J. (AP) — Marine animal welfare officials say the most recent whale found dead on a New Jersey shoreline had apparently been struck by a vessel.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center said Sunday that preliminary results of a necropsy on the humpback whale that washed up Thursday on the North End Natural Area in Brigantine indicates that the animal had “blunt trauma injuries consistent with those from a vessel strike.”

“Injuries and hemorrhaging were observed on the head and thoracic region, as well as along the right side and the pectoral flipper,” the center said in a statement. “These findings will be confirmed through laboratory analysis in the coming weeks.”

The whale was a 32-foot, 7-inch female estimated to weigh about 12 tons and was apparently in good condition judging by the thickness of its blubber, the center said.

“The whale’s stomach was full of partially digested fish and there was fecal matter in the intestines, indicating the whale had been actively feeding prior to these injuries,” the center said.

“Vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are the largest known human threats to whales of all species,” the center said. “Although there has been speculation about whether these whale deaths are linked to wind energy development, at this point no whale mortality has been attributed to offshore wind activities.”

Brigantine, just north of Atlantic City, has seen two other dead whales on its beaches in recent weeks, among the seven whale deaths in a little over a month in New Jersey and New York.

Some lawmakers have called for a temporary pause in ocean-floor preparation work for offshore wind projects in the two states. New Jersey’s governor said he doesn’t agree with that idea. Most of New Jersey’s environmental groups called an association between the deaths and the offshore wind work “unfounded and premature.”

The center also said there are currently a lot of large whales in waters off New Jersey, likely attracted by small fish they feed on that are also attracting stripers or striped bass. Officials urged boaters to travel slowly (less than 10 knots) and keep an eye out for whales.

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January 16, 2023
Agencies investigate averted plane crash at New York airport

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NEW YORK (AP) — Officials are investigating a close call at a New York airport Friday night between a plane that was crossing a runway and another that was preparing for takeoff.

″(Expletive)! Delta 1943, cancel takeoff clearance! Delta 1943, cancel takeoff clearance!” an air controller said in an audio recording of Air Traffic Control communications when he noticed the other plane, operated by American Airlines, crossing in front. The recording was made by LiveATC, a website that monitors and posts flight communications.

Delta Air Lines’ departing Boeing 737 plane then came to a safe stop on the John F. Kennedy International Airport runway as the other crossed in front around 8:45 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

Brian Healy, a passenger on the Delta flight, said at first he thought the abrupt stop was a mechanical issue.

“There was this abrupt jerk of the plane, and everyone was sort of thrust forward from the waist,” he recalled. “There was an audible reaction when the brakes happened, like a gasp. And then there was a total silence for a couple of seconds.”

Healy, who was traveling with his husband for their winter getaway to the Dominican Republic, said it wasn’t until he was scrolling on Twitter the next day that he realized the gravity of what could have happened on that runway.

“The pilot made the call to only share information on a need-to-know basis, and that was absolutely the right call, because it would’ve been pandemonium,” he said.

John Cox, a retired pilot and professor of aviation safety at the University of Southern California, said he thought the controller “made a good call to reject the takeoff.”

He said the rejected takeoff safety maneuver, which is when pilots stop the aircraft and discontinue the takeoff, is one they are “very, very familiar with.”

“Pilots practice rejected takeoff almost every time they get to the simulator,” he said.

The Delta plane stopped about 1,000 feet (about 0.3 kilometers) from where the American Airlines plane had crossed from an adjacent taxiway, according to the FAA statement.

The plane returned to the gate, where the 145 passengers deplaned and were provided overnight accommodations, a Delta spokesperson said. The flight to Santa Domingo Airport in the Dominican Republic took off Saturday morning.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Saturday that it will investigate.

The National Transportation Safety Board also said it was looking into the case.

“They’ll go back and listen to every transmission between the American jet and air traffic control to see who misunderstood what,” Cox said.

“Delta will work with and assist aviation authorities on a full review of flight 1943 on Jan. 13 regarding a successful aborted takeoff procedure at New York-JFK. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay of their travels,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement.

American Airlines would not comment on the incident and said it would defer all questions to the FAA.

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This story was first published on January 15, 2023. It was updated on January 16, 2023 to correct the misspelling of the last name of one of the passengers. The correct spelling of his full name is Brian Healy, not Brian Heale.

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Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Maysoon Khan on Twitter.

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January 16, 2023
New Jersey home explodes with firefighters inside; 5 injured

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POMPTON LAKES, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey house where smoke had been reported exploded with volunteer firefighters inside, injuring five of them and sending two to a hospital for treatment of burns, authorities said.

The Pompton Lakes Volunteer Fire Department in Passaic County said on its Facebook page that crews were dispatched at about 2:15 a.m. Saturday after a police sergeant reported smelling smoke coming from the home.

Officials said members of the department entered the home to try to find the source of the smoke and were using a thermal imaging camera when “the home literally exploded, injuring some members manning the hose line at the back of the home and partially trapping others in the basement.”

All were able to get out on their own. Two were sent to St. Barnabus Hospital where they were treated for burns and released, officials said. Three others were treated for minor injuries at the scene. Police also evacuated the lone resident who told authorities he didn’t know how the blaze started.

“I thought we were going to have six fatalities, I really did,” Pompton Lakes Fire Chief Jason Ekkers told NorthJersey.com. “They managed to climb out of the basement with compromised stairs. They all helped each other out, they came out one at a time and we were at the back door, just feeding them out.”

Officials said the blast caused part of the house to collapse and a significant fire resulted. Fire crews from several departments got the flames under control by 3:30 a.m. Saturday. A state fire marshal and Public Service Electric & Gas are investigating.

Olivia Alvarez, 17, told NorthJersey.com that she was looking out the window from her second-floor bedroom across the street when she saw smoke coming from the rear of the home and “thought it was a car or something.” A short time later, she “just saw it all explode,” she said.

“The whole house lifted off the ground, then hit the ground again. The entire house, in one piece,” she said.

Another neighbor, Shirley Jobes, told NJ Advance Media for NJ.com that she heard the blast and looked out the window to see “pieces of the roof on fire up in the air and falling back down.”

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January 16, 2023
As tornadoes hit, survivors hid in tubs, shipping container

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MARBURY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama engine mechanic took refuge in a shipping container as a tornado from a violent storm decimated his shop and killed two of his neighbors along its destructive path across Alabama and Georgia.

The harrowing stories of David Hollon and other survivors of Thursday’s storm are emerging as residents comb through the wreckage wrought by tornadoes and blistering winds that have led to the deaths of at least nine people.

In Alabama’s rural Autauga County, where at least seven people have died, Hollon and his workers saw a massive tornado churning toward them. They needed to get to shelter — immediately.

Hollon said they ran into a metal shipping container near the back of his garage because the container had been anchored to the floor with concrete. Once inside, Hollon began frantically dialing his neighbor on the phone. But as they heard the garage being ripped apart by the storm, the call kept going to voicemail.

The storm passed and they emerged, only to find the body of his neighbor in the street, he said. Another neighbor up the road had also died, a family member said.

“I guess we did a lot better than most. We got damage, but we’re still here,” Hollon, 52, said in an interview Saturday as he walked amidst the remains of his garage, stepping through a field littered with battered cars, shattered glass, snapped tree branches, splintered wood and other debris.

Leighea Johnson, a 54-year-old cafeteria worker who also lives in Autauga County, stood among the strewn remains of her trailer home. She pointed to a tall pile of rubble that she identified as her bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.

A swing set she had in her backyard was now across the street, mangled among some trees. Her outdoor trampoline had been wrapped around another set of trees in a neighbor’s front yard.

“The trailer should be here, and now it’s not,” Johnson said, pointing to a slab covered in debris, “And it is all over the place now.”

The storm brought powerful twisters and winds to Alabama and Georgia that uprooted trees, sent mobile homes airborne, derailed a freight train, flipped cars, cracked utility poles and downed power lines, leaving thousands without electricity. Suspected tornado damage was reported in at least 14 counties in Alabama and 14 counties in Georgia, according to the National Weather Service.

Early Sunday, President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Alabama and ordered federal aid to supplement recovery efforts in affected areas.

Autauga County officials said the tornado had winds of at least 136 mph (218 kph) and leveled damage consistent with an EF3, two steps below the most powerful category of twister. County authorities have said at least a dozen people were hospitalized and about 40 homes were destroyed or seriously damaged, including mobile homes that were launched into the air.

Residents described chaotic scenes as the storm spun toward them. People rushed into shelters, bathtubs and sheds as the winds bore down. In one case, a search crew found five people, trapped but unharmed, inside a storm shelter after a wall from a nearby house fell onto it.

Downtown Selma sustained severe damage before the worst of the weather moved across Georgia south of Atlanta. No deaths were reported in Selma.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the damage was felt across his state. Some of the worst reports emerged from Troup County near the Georgia-Alabama line, where more than 100 homes were hit.

Kemp said a state transportation department worker was killed while responding to storm damage. A 5-year-old child who was riding in a vehicle was killed by a falling tree in Georgia’s Butts County, authorities said. At least 12 people were treated at a hospital in Spalding County, south of Atlanta, where the weather service confirmed at least two tornadoes struck.

Johnson, the cafeteria worker in Autauga County, said she was at work when she learned the storm would pass directly over her home. She quickly warned her daughter, who was with her 2-year-old grandson at home.

“I called my daughter and said, ‘You do not have time to get out, you’ve got to get somewhere now,”’ Johnson said, her voice cracking. “And she said, ’I’m getting in the tub. If the house is messed up I’ll be in the tub area.”

The call dropped. Johnson kept calling back. When she finally reconnected with her daughter, Johnson said she told her: “The house is gone, the house is gone.”

Her daughter and grandson had some cuts and bruises but were otherwise fine after a trip to the emergency room, Johnson said.

“I brought her home and tried not to let go of her after that,” Johnson said. “I lost a lot of things materialistically and I don’t have insurance but I don’t even care, because my child is all right.

“That’s really all that matters to me.”

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January 16, 2023
Rights group: Litany of crises in 2022 but also good signs

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Widespread opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrates the strength of a unified response against human rights abuses, and there are signs that power is shifting as people take to the streets to demonstrate their dissatisfaction in Iran, China and elsewhere, a leading rights group said Thursday.

A “litany of human rights crises” emerged in 2022, but the year also presented new opportunities to strengthen protections against violations, Human Rights Watch said in its annual world report on human rights conditions in more than 100 countries and territories.

“After years of piecemeal and often half-hearted efforts on behalf of civilians under threat in places including Yemen, Afghanistan, and South Sudan, the world’s mobilization around Ukraine reminds us of the extraordinary potential when governments realize their human rights responsibilities on a global scale,” the group’s acting executive director, Tirana Hassan, said in the preface to the 712-page report.

“All governments should bring the same spirit of solidarity to the multitude of human rights crises around the globe, and not just when it suits their interests,” she said.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a broad group of nations imposed wide-ranging sanctions while rallying to Kyiv’s support, while the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court both opened investigations into abuses, HRW said.

Countries now need to ask themselves what might have happened if they had taken such measures after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, or applied the lessons elsewhere like Ethiopia, where two years of armed conflict has contributed to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, Hassan said.

“Governments and the U.N. have condemned the summary killings, widespread sexual violence and pillage, but have done little else,” she said of the situation in Ethiopia, where Tigray forces signed an agreement with the government late last year in hope of ending the conflict.

The New York-based organization highlighted the demonstrations in Iran that erupted in mid-September when Mahsa Amini died after being arrested by the country’s morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, as well as protests in Sri Lanka that forced the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, and the democratic election in Brazil of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

“Courageous people time and again still take extraordinary risks to take to the streets, even in places like Afghanistan and China, to stand up for their rights,” HRW’s Asia director Elaine Pearson told reporters at the report’s launch in Jakarta.

In China, Human Rights Watch said the U.N. and others’ increased focus on the treatment of Uyghurs and Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang region has “put Beijing on the defensive” internationally, while domestic protests against the government’s “zero-COVID” strategy also included broader criticism of President Xi Jinping’s rule.

As many Western governments turn away from China on trade toward India, however, Pearson admonished them not to ignore Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own human rights record.

“India, under Prime Minister Modi, has also seen very similar abuses, the systematic discrimination against religious minorities, especially Muslims, the stifling of political dissent, the use of technology to suppress free expression and tighten its grip on power.”

At a later press conference in Beirut, HRW highlighted economic crises in the Middle East and North Africa that have impacted people’s ability to meet their basic needs and have, in turn, triggered social unrest and violence, sometimes followed by government repression.

“Outside of the Gulf, nearly every country in the region is suffering from some kind of major economic challenge,” said Adam Coogle, citing a growing currency crisis in Egypt and fuel and electricity crises in Lebanon and Syria. In Jordan, fuel price hikes have led to protests that turned violent.

One of the greatest humanitarian crises continues to be in Myanmar, where the military seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and since then has brutally cracked down on any dissent. The military leadership has taken more than 17,000 political prisoners since then and killed more than 2,700 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Human Rights Watch said peace attempts by Myanmar’s neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have failed, and that aside from barring the country’s military leaders from its high-level meetings, the bloc has “imposed minimal pressure on Myanmar.”

It urged ASEAN to engage with opposition groups in exile and “intensify pressure on Myanmar by aligning with international efforts to cut off the junta’s foreign currency revenue and weapons purchases.”

In Jakarta, Pearson noted that the only lasting solution to the Rohingya refugee situation would be holding Myanmar’s government accountable for their persecution, and giving the Rohingya the ability to safely return.

“Most Rohingya want to go home, but they want safety, they want equal treatment, they want their land back, and they want the perpetrators of ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide held to account.”

HRW chose Indonesia, the current chair of ASEAN, as the site to launch its report in the hopes that Jakarta would use the opportunity to push the group to hold Myanmar to account for implementing its five-point peace process, Pearson said.

“We urge Indonesia to use the ASEAN chairmanship effectively to resolve the crisis in Myanmar,” she said. “The world’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows what is possible when governments work together.”

Domestically, Pearson said Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s admission on Wednesday to serious human rights violations at home in recent decades and vow to compensate victims was “significant,” but only as a first step.

“What we need now, going forward, is proper accountability for the victims of those abuses and the genuine commitment, going forward, to safeguarding human rights.”

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Rising reported from Bangkok. Abby Sewell contributed to this report from Beirut.

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January 12, 2023
Don’t sweat it; still a chance to win $940M Mega Millions

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lottery players whose numbers didn’t hit or who forgot to even buy a ticket will have another shot at a nearly $1 billion Mega Millions prize when a drawing is held Friday night.

The estimated $940 million jackpot has been growing for more than two months and now ranks as the sixth-largest in U.S history.

Even as the prize grows larger, the odds of winning remain the same at one in 302.6 million.

Elijah Kouza, assistant manager of Buscemis convenience store in the Detroit suburb of Livonia, Michigan, said the Mega Millions jackpot is drawing lots of customers.

“When the big games get this high, that’s when people that never play the lottery got to come in,” he said. “The Mega and Power is more of a fantasy than anything. But all it takes is one.”

At Buscemis, which sells liquor, pizza and, of course, lottery tickets, the $940 million jackpot is prominently displayed both outside and inside the store.

Kouza said the store will sell 20-25 Mega Millions tickets on a normal Friday. Today, he’s anticipating that number to rise to triple digits.

“It’s kind of hilarious to me, because if it’s like $100 million, people are like, ‘Nah.’ They’ll pass,” he said.

The $940 million jackpot is for winners who choose an annuity, paid annually over 29 years. Winners usually want cash, which for Friday night’s drawing would be an estimated $486 million.

If there is no winner, the next drawing will be held Tuesday night.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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Associated Press reporter Mike Householder in Livonia, Michigan, contributed to this report.

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January 7, 2023
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ cast push back against hate, threats

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NEW YORK (AP) — As the cast of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” celebrated the new season, they credited the show’s creator with popularizing drag and expressed concern about the protests and threats to the performance style at the heart of the long-running series.

“RuPaul really brought drag into the mainstream, truly made people aware that it’s an art form more than anything” contestant Marcia Marcia Marcia told The Associated Press at Thursday’s season 15 premiere in New York. The new season starts Friday on MTV.

“I think everyone was like fine with drag for a little bit,” said the drag queen with the “Brady Bunch”-inspired name. “And now history is repeating itself and people are speaking out against it, which I think is so silly.”

With a long and rich history, drag — the art of dressing as another gender, often for performance — has been attacked by right-wing politicians and activists who have falsely associated it with the “sexualization” and “grooming” of children. In recent months, protesters — sometimes bearing guns — have besieged drag story hours, during which performers read books to children. Bans on children at drag events have been floated. In late November, a shooter at a Colorado Springs nightclub turned a drag queen’s birthday party into a massacre and was charged with hate crimes and murder.

Another contestant, Jax, said the threats, protests and hate were “disheartening” but not surprising: “Just like being a person of color, being a minority, growing up in certain communities, it’s something that I’ve had to undergo my entire life.”

“But we always prevail,” Jax added. “We always prevail and we’re always going to come out on top because we’re on the right side of history and we love what we do and we’re not doing anything to harm anybody. We’re just trying to bring love to everything.”

To contestant Loosey LaDuca, as well, this is nothing new: “It is really unfortunate that during this time, drag queens have become the new target. But LGBT people are no stranger to being the, you know, the public enemy.”

Meeting threats with caution is fine, LaDuca said, but “we’ll never be scared.”

Last month, New York City Councilman Erik Bottcher attended a drag story hour in his district. He filmed and posted video of “dozens of homophobic protesters outside with the most disgusting signs verbally attacking the families and the drag queen.” Two days later, he said, anti-drag activists vandalized the hallway outside his office and gained entry to his apartment building.

“Two of them were arrested. A third was arrested for assaulting one of my neighbors,” he told the AP at the premiere. “This is all an attempt to intimidate those of us supporting drag story hour.”

Contestant Irene Dubois has a theory about what’s behind the vitriol aimed at drag performers.

“I think a man in women’s clothing is inherently hilarious just because we’re like, (gasps) ‘That’s not supposed to happen!’” Dubois hypothesized. “And it’s when the men in women’s clothing stop sort of doing the nudge, nudge, wink, wink and start actually enjoying the way they look in the women’s clothing that people start to sort of say, ‘Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. You’re supposed to be laughing at yourself. And if you’re not laughing at yourself, we don’t like it.’”

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” judge Ross Mathews paints the progress and regression as “a pendulum swinging.”

“The further we advance and the more that we are embraced, accepted, celebrated that pendulum — they’re going to try to swing it back, to move our movement back,” he says of anti-drag activists. “But you cannot put this genie back in the bottle. Darling, we are fabulous.”

Marcia Marcia Marcia had a simple message for critics of drag, which she says is “all about fun and expression”: “If you have a problem with those things, I think you need to reevaluate.”

In the end, contestant Princess Poppy hopes that it’s the impact RuPaul has made on culture with “Drag Race” that will prevail.

“I feel like it’s helped a lot of people who don’t really quite understand drag people or gay people or drag queens,” she said. “They don’t really understand because they don’t really understand what we’re doing. But the show, it humanizes us, and it shows that we’re people, too.”

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January 7, 2023
Harry’s claim he killed 25 in Afghanistan draws anger, worry

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LONDON (AP) — In a book full of startling revelations, Prince Harry’s assertion that he killed 25 people in Afghanistan is one of the most striking — and has drawn criticism from both enemies and allies.

In his memoir, “Spare,” Harry says he killed more than two dozen Taliban militants while serving as an Apache helicopter copilot gunner in Afghanistan in 2012-2013. He writes that he feels neither satisfaction nor shame about his actions, and in the heat of battle regarded enemy combatants as pieces being removed from a chessboard, “Baddies eliminated before they could kill Goodies.”

Harry has talked before about his combat experience, saying near the end of his tour in 2013 that “if there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game.”

But his decision to put a number on those he killed, and the comparison to chess pieces, drew outrage from the Taliban, and concern from British veterans.

“Mr. Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who were waiting for their return,” prominent Taliban member Anas Haqqani wrote Friday on Twitter.

The Taliban, who adhere to a strict interpretation of Islam, returned to power when Western troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said Harry’s comments “are a microcosm of the trauma experienced by Afghans at the hands of occupation forces who murdered innocents without any accountability.”

In Britain, some veterans and military leaders said publishing a head count violated an unspoken military code.

Col. Tim Collins, who led a British battalion during the Iraq war, told Forces News that the statement was “not how you behave in the Army; it’s not how we think.” Retired Royal Navy officer Rear Adm. Chris Parry called the claim “distasteful.”

Some questioned whether Harry could be sure of the toll, but Harry said he reviewed video of his missions, and “in the era of Apaches and laptops,” technology let him know exactly how many enemy combatants he had killed.

Others said Harry’s words could increase the security risk for him and for British forces around the world.

“I don’t think it is wise that he said that out loud,” Royal Marines veteran Ben McBean, who knows Harry from their military days, told Sky News. “He’s already got a target on his back, more so than anyone else.”

Retired Army Col. Richard Kemp told the BBC the claim was “an error of judgment” that would be “potentially valuable to those people who wish the British forces and British government harm.”

Harry lost his publicly funded U.K. police protection when he and his wife Meghan quit royal duties in 2020. Harry is suing the British government over its refusal to let him pay personally for police security when he comes to Britain.

Tens of thousands of British troops served in Afghanistan, and more than 450 died, between the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 and the end of U.K. combat operations in 2014.

Harry spent a decade in the British Army, serving twice in Afghanistan. He spent 10 weeks as a forward air controller in 2007-2008 until a media leak cut short his tour.

He retrained as a helicopter pilot with the British Army Air Corps so he could have the chance to return to the front line. He was part of a two-man crew whose duties ranged from supporting ground troops in firefights to accompanying helicopters as they evacuated wounded soldiers.

Harry has described his time in the army as the happiest of his life because it let him be “one of the guys” rather than a prince. After leaving the military in 2015 he founded the Invictus Games, an international sports competition for sick and injured veterans.

Harry’s memoir is due to be published around the world on Tuesday. The Associated Press obtained an early Spanish-language copy.

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Riazat Butt contributed to this story from Kabul, Afghanistan.

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January 7, 2023
UK palace allies push back against Prince Harry’s claims

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LONDON (AP) — Allies of Britain’s royal family pushed back Saturday against claims made by Prince Harry in his new memoir, which paints the monarchy as a cold and callous institution that failed to nurture or support him.

Buckingham Palace hasn’t officially commented on the book. But British newspapers and websites brimmed with quotes from unnamed “royal insiders,” rebutting Harry’s accusations. One said his public attacks on the royal family took a “toll” on the health of Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September.

Veteran journalist Jonathan Dimbleby, a biographer and friend of King Charles III, said Harry’s revelations were the type “that you’d expect … from a sort of B-list celebrity,” and that the king would be pained and frustrated by them.

“His concern … is to act as head of state for a nation which we all know is in pretty troubled condition,” Dimbleby told the BBC. “I think he will think this gets in the way.“

Harry’s book, “Spare,” is the latest in a string of very public pronouncements by the prince and his wife Meghan since they quit royal life and moved to California in 2020, citing what they saw as the media’s racist treatment of Meghan, who is biracial, and a lack of support from the palace. It follows an interview with Oprah Winfrey and a six-part Netflix documentary released last month.

Harry is not the first British royal to air family secrets — both his parents used the media as their marriage fell apart. Charles cooperated on Dimbleby’s 1994 book and accompanying television documentary, which revealed that the then heir to the throne had had an affair during his marriage to Princess Diana.

Diana gave her side of the story in a BBC interview the following year, famously saying “there were three of us in this marriage” in reference to Charles’ relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles.

But “Spare” goes into far more detail about private conversations and personal grievances than any previous royal revelation.

In the ghostwritten memoir, Harry discusses his grief at the death of his mother in 1997 and his long-simmering resentment at the role of royal “spare,” overshadowed by the “heir” — older brother Prince William. He recounts arguments and a physical altercation with William, reveals how he lost his virginity (in a field) and describes using cocaine and cannabis.

He also says he killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving as an Apache helicopter pilot in Afghanistan — a claim criticized by both the Taliban and British military veterans.

“Spare” is due to be published around the world on Tuesday. The Associated Press obtained an early Spanish-language copy.

Harry has said he expects counterattacks from the palace. He has long complained of “leaks” and “plants” of stories to the media by members of the royal household.

In an interview due to be broadcast on ITV on Sunday — one of several he has recorded to promote the book — Harry says people who accuse him of invading his family’s privacy “don’t understand or don’t want to believe that my family have been briefing the press.”

“I don’t know how staying silent is ever going to make things better,” he said.

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January 7, 2023
Multiple wounded near rapper French Montana video shoot

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Gunfire erupted near where rapper French Montana was filming a music video late Thursday, leaving several wounded in a South Florida strip mall parking lot. He was not injured.

Several witnesses told reporters that the music video involved the 38-year-old rapper, and that he was unhurt. His publicist did not respond to emails seeking comment Friday and police did not confirm he was present.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were shot at around 8 p.m. Thursday, but the Miami Herald cited a law enforcement source saying as many as 10 people were wounded. The shooting took place outside The Licking, a soul food restaurant in a Miami Gardens strip mall.

Investigators were looking into reports that a music video was being filmed at the restaurant, Miami Gardens Police Chief Delma Noel-Pratt said.

“We believe it’s an isolated incident,” Noel-Pratt said.

Miami Gardens police spokesperson Diana Gourgue told reporters that she could not confirm reports that as many as 10 people had been wounded, saying “right now it is just multiple victims that were injured.”

She said the condition of those hurt was unknown, but there were not any fatalities.

A large crowd had gathered outside the restaurant at the time of the shooting, she said.

The police department did not return repeated calls Friday seeking an update. A worker at the restaurant Friday said no one was available to discuss the shooting. A sign on the door reads “No firearms or weapons allowed on this property.”

Miami rapper CED Mogul told reporters that the shooting happened after someone had their Rolex watch and car keys stolen. He said the video was supposed to be shot at a nearby KFC restaurant, but was moved after an altercation. The city’s police chief told reporters that the video’s producers had not gotten the necessary permits.

French Montana was shot in the head and seriously wounded in 2003 when two gunmen opened fire outside a New York City recording studio. One of the gunmen accidentally shot the other, killing him.

French Montana, who was born in Morocco and whose real name is Karim Kharbouch, is best known for his 2017 album “Jungle Rules” and its lead single “Unforgettable,” which made the Top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.

The strip mall in Miami Gardens is on a major six-lane highway and is 2 miles south of Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the Miami Dolphins, six Super Bowls, the Miami Grand Prix Formula 1 race and the Miami Open tennis tournament. The city of 115,000 residents has the worst homicide rate in the state, according to FBI statistics, with one violent death for every 4,400 residents in 2019, the last year available.

A shop owner in the strip mall said Friday that he was working late Thursday in a back room when he and his business partner heard loud sounds. He thought it was a car backfiring, but his partner thought it might be gunfire. About five minutes later, police and paramedics started arriving and they looked outside and saw the chaos.

“Most of the shootings around here are personal, not random,” the shop owner said. He asked that his name not be used, fearing retribution. “Most are about greed or money.”

___

Farrington reported from Tallahassee, Florida.

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January 7, 2023
Jen Shah of ‘Real Housewives’ gets 6 1/2-year prison term

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NEW YORK (AP) — Jennifer Shah, a tearful member of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” who insisted she is not the character she plays on the show, was sentenced Friday to 6 1/2 years in prison for defrauding thousands of people, many of them vulnerable or older, in a telemarketing scam that stretched nearly a decade.

Shah, 49, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein as a leader of a nationwide fraud that targeted people who were often unsophisticated electronically and could least afford to lose their money.

Shah pleaded guilty in July to a conspiracy charge. Prosecutors sought a 10-year prison term, which would have been a year under the federal sentencing guidelines’ minimum recommendation but well above the three years in prison that Shah’s lawyer suggested.

At the outset of Friday’s hearing, Stein cautioned a courtroom packed with Shah’s family and friends and members of the media that he was not sentencing the person people see on television.

Stein said that person was “simply a character. It’s acting.” And he added that the housewives program “involves role playing. … It’s a heavily scripted operation.”

His words were echoed by Shah, who told the judge: “Reality TV has nothing to do with reality.”

She apologized to the “innocent people” she said she’d hurt and pledged to pay $6.5 million in restitution and forfeiture when she gets out of prison.

“I struggled to accept responsibility for the longest time because I deluded myself into believing … that I did nothing wrong,” Shah said, calling it her “own fractured reality.”

“For years I blamed other people for putting me in this position,” believing she was duped and manipulated, she said.

“I alone am responsible for my terrible decisions. It was all my fault and all my wrongdoing,” Shah said. “I have no one to blame but myself. … I wish I could have stood outside myself and seen the harm I was causing and changed course. I am profoundly and deeply sorry.”

During the hearing, defense lawyer Priya Chaudhry said her client has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent months.

“Remorse can be genuine even if it shows up late. … Her apology is real,” she said.

After the sentencing, Shah left the courthouse without speaking to reporters. She will report to prison at a later date.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman said Shah was a leader of a “clear and brazen fraud” that stretched from 2012 to March 2021 as bogus services were promoted as enabling people to make substantial amounts of money through online businesses. He called her the most culpable among more than 30 defendants.

“She always knew what she was doing wrong,” he said, noting her efforts to slow the investigation into her misdeeds by lying to investigators and taking evasive actions to obscure her true role in the fraud.

In a presentence submission, prosecutors said she used profits from the fraud to live a life of luxury that included a nearly 10,000-square-foot mansion with eight fireplaces dubbed “Shah Ski Chalet” in the resort haven of Park City, Utah. The home, they said, is now listed for sale for $7.4 million.

They said she also rented an apartment in midtown Manhattan, leased a Porsche Panamera, bought hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of luxury goods and funded various cosmetic procedures while cheating the Internal Revenue Service of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The government said she also seemed to mock the charges against her by claiming that the “only thing I’m guilty of is being Shah-mazing” and then she profited from it by marketing “Justice for Jen” merchandise after her arrest as she directed others to lie while trying to conceal her conduct from investigators.

At sentencing, Shah said proceeds from merchandise sales, which have been shut down, will go to victims.

The judge, though, said victims may be made whole financially, but they “can’t really be made whole emotionally.”

“Their lives have been turned upside down,” Stein said.

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January 7, 2023
Rapper Young Thug to go to trial in gang, racketeering case

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ATLANTA (AP) — Rapper Young Thug, accused by prosecutors of co-founding a criminal street gang responsible for violent crimes and using his songs and social media to promote it, is set to go to trial starting Monday.

The Atlanta-based artist, whose given name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, was charged along with more than two dozen other people in a sprawling indictment last May, with more charges added in a second indictment in August. Fellow rapper Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, was also charged.

Young Thug, 31, began rapping as a teenager and has become tremendously successful — performing around the world and starting his own record label, Young Stoner Life or YSL, where he serves as CEO. Artists on his record label are considered part of the “Slime Family,” and a compilation album, “Slime Language 2,” rose to No. 1 on the charts in April 2021.

He co-wrote the hit “This is America” with Childish Gambino, which became the first hip-hop track to win the song of the year Grammy in 2019. His hits, including “Stoner” and “Best Friend,” feature his squeaky, high-pitched vocals.

But prosecutors say YSL also has a darker connotation — a violent street gang called Young Slime Life founded by Young Thug and two others in 2012 and affiliated with the national Bloods gang. The alleged gang members named in the indictment are accused of committing violent crimes — including murders, shootings and carjackings — to collect money for the gang, burnish its reputation and expand its power and territory.

The indictment includes rap lyrics that prosecutors allege are overt acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy,” including a line from a song they say Young Thug released on YouTube: “I’m in the VIP and I got that pistol on my hip, you prayin that you live I’m prayin that I hit.” Another of his lyrics quoted in the indictment says, “I never killed anybody but I got something to do with that body.”

The original indictment charged 28 people with conspiracy to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law and also included other charges against many of them. Fourteen of them are set to proceed to trial, which starts Monday and is expected to last months.

Eight others, including Gunna, have already taken plea deals in the case, and six — four of whom don’t have lawyers and two who haven’t been arrested — will be tried later, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The August indictment accuses Young Thug of racketeering conspiracy and participation in criminal street gang activity, as well as drug and gun charges.

One of 11 siblings with six children of his own, Young Thug has deep roots in his native Atlanta and works tirelessly at his art and other legitimate, lawful business ventures, his lawyers said in a May court filing that unsuccessfully sought his release on bond.

Attached to that filing were letters from more than a dozen music industry executives who have worked with Young Thug. They describe him as one of the most successful hip-hop artists in the world, a dedicated father and friend, a generous contributor to his community and a nurturing mentor to other artists.

In addition to specific charges, the August indictment includes a wide-ranging list of 191 acts that prosecutors say were committed between 2013 and 2022 as part of the alleged RICO conspiracy to further the gang’s interests.

Included in that list is an allegation that Young Thug threatened in July 2015 to shoot a security guard who was trying to get him to leave an Atlanta-area mall. On numerous occasions, he and others are alleged to have possessed various illegal drugs that they intended to distribute.

The indictment also accuses alleged gang associates of trying to kill rapper YFN Lucci in the Fulton County Jail last February and says that an alleged gang associate shot at a bus in 2015 that was carrying rapper Lil Wayne.

Gunna pleaded guilty last month to one count of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act, entering an Alford plea, which means he maintains his innocence but recognizes that it’s in his best interest to plead guilty.

He said in a statement released by his lawyers that when he became affiliated with YSL in 2016, he did not consider it a “gang,” but rather “a group of people from metro Atlanta who had common interests and artistic aspirations.” Gunna also stressed that he has not cooperated or agreed to testify for or against any party in the case.

In court, before the judge accepted the plea, when a prosecutor said that YSL is a music label and a gang and that Gunna had knowledge that its members or associates had committed crimes in furtherance of the gang, Gunna responded, “Yes, ma’am.”

He was sentenced to five years with one year commuted to time served and the balance suspended. He also must testify truthfully if called by any party in the case and must do 500 hours of community service, including talking to young people about the “hazards and immorality of gangs and gang violence.”

The other two alleged co-founders of the YSL gang — Walter Murphy and Trontavious Stephens — also each pleaded guilty last month to one count of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act. Murphy was sentenced to 10 years, with one year commuted to time served and nine years of probation. Stephens also got 10 years, with two years commuted to time served and eight years of probation.

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January 7, 2023
Bosnian ski resorts suffer as Europe sees record warm winter

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SARAJEVO, Bosnia (AP) — The new year’s festivities are over in Bosnia, and visitors to the country’s winter resorts are packing to go home. Spring-like temperatures have left little or no snow on the mountains, and it’s unclear when the next visitors will arrive.

The small Balkan country of 3.3 million is among several in Europe facing a ski season slump amid balmy climes that have swept much of the continent as 2023 begins. Along the slopes in Bjelasnica near Sarajevo on Wednesday, snow accumulation amounted to little more than several white patches on an otherwise grassy landscape of brown and green.

Record-high daily temperatures for this time of year have been beaten — at times obliterated — in recent days at hundreds of meteorological reading stations in at least 11 countries: Bosnia, Belarus, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.

Belarus, Belgium, Czechia, Latvia, Poland and the Netherlands set national record daily highs for a Dec. 31 or Jan. 1.

The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization has long warned about the ill-effects of climate change, and say the last eight years have been the eight hottest on record. The fallout this winter hasn’t been limited to snowless slopes, where mid-range altitudes have been affected most of all: Weather officials and scientists say flora and fauna are feeling the impact too.

Meteorologist Florian Imbery of Germany’s national weather service, DWD, said the temperature anomaly seen over the new year period could trigger unwanted plant growth — exposing crops to greater risk of frost damage later in the winter.

Biologist Livio Rey, spokesman for the Swiss Ornithological Institute, said many ducks that would normally migrate to Switzerland this time of year from Nordic countries don’t come anymore, like the tufted duck.

Up in countries like Finland, “they find food because the lakes aren’t freezing” — meaning they can continue to feast on mussels that they devour in warmer seasons, and would normally be inaccessible because of ice in wintertime, Rey said by phone.

While the warm spell has been hard on businesses depending on snow sports, higher temperatures have brought some relief in Europe’s struggle with high energy prices. Short term natural gas prices, while still high by historical comparison, are now lower than they were before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s move to cut off most pipeline supplies to Europe sent prices as high as 342 euros per megawatt hour in August. On Wednesday the price was around 69 euros per megawatt hour, down from 88 euros on the eve of the invasion in February.

The warm spell reduces demand for gas heat and gas-generated electricity, easing fears of government-imposed rationing that would further hurt the European economy.

But the record recent warmth has meant cold comfort for medium-altitude ski resorts like those in Bosnia, which have been feeling the pinch while the highest-mountain peaks have still seen snow.

On Vlasic Mountain, near the central town of Zenica, tourists packed up for an early return home amid spring-like temperatures. Hotel owners say bookings are down, and with them both room prices and staffing levels. Tourism officials said vacationers are forced to seek alternatives to skiing, like hiking on grassy mountaintops — or riding ski lifts, just for the views.

“Right now, when we should be welcoming skiers on our mountain, we have no snow so there is no doubt that our business will falter, that is to be expected,” said Dino Korugic, manager of the Sunce hotel in Vlasic. “Our bookings correlate strongly with (the) weather forecast.”

Germany’s DWD said a low pressure front over Britain and Scandinavia carried a “very lively” current of warm, subtropical air to central Europe. Since ocean temperatures are still very warm, this resulted in unprecedented high temperatures around the New Year — and double-digit Celsius daytime temperatures (at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit) across much of the continent.

The German weather service recorded more than 300 new station records for January on New Year’s Day. For December as a whole, temperatures in Germany were 1.8 degrees C higher than the 30-year average from 1961-1990.

David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at Belgium’s Royal Meteorological Institute, said the country had its warmest New Year’s Eve on record, with a minimum of 13.4 degrees Celsius in south Brussels from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — 3 degrees higher than the previous record in 2012.

In Czechia, the eastern city of Javornik tallied a new New Year’s Day record of 19.6 Celsius (67 F) — eclipsing the previous high mark that was set a year ago in northwestern Kopisty by nearly 4 C.

In Bosnia and elsewhere, man-made solutions to fight the heat and keep slopes open weren’t holding up under what some call the “green winter”: Either it’s too warm to make artificial snow, or it melts soon after being spit out onto the slopes.

Srdjan Stevanovic, ski competitions consultant for the Jahorina ski resort near Sarajevo, said its managers started churning out artificial snow at the end of November to prepare for the mid-December opening of the ski season, but the warm weather has thwarted their efforts.

“Despite the most modern snowmaking system, installation of new ski-lifts and gondolas, God and nature proved stronger than us and made it impossible to make snow for our guests,” he said.

___

Keaten reported from Geneva. Vojislav Stjepanovic in Jahorina, Bosnia; Almir Alic in Vlasic, Bosnia; David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany; Frank Jordans in Berlin, Samuel Petrequin in Brussels and AP reporters across Europe contributed to this report.

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January 6, 2023
The white sedan: How police found suspect in Idaho slayings

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MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — The white sedan cruised past the gray, three-story rental home on a dead-end street in Moscow, Idaho. Then again. And again.

It was unusual behavior in the residential, hillside neighborhood in the quiet hours before dawn. And according to a police affidavit released Thursday, surveillance videos showing the vehicle that November night were key to unraveling the gruesome mystery of who killed four University of Idaho students inside the house.

With little else to go on as a panicked community demanded answers, investigators canvassed security footage from the neighborhood — including one recording of the car speeding away after the slayings — to get a sense of the killer’s possible movements, the affidavit said.

Eventually, the document said, police were able to narrow down what was at first known only vaguely as a white sedan to a 2015 Hyundai Elantra registered to Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old doctoral student in criminology at Washington State University, just across the border in Pullman, Washington. Further investigation matched Kohberger to DNA at the crime scene, it said.

Kohberger made an initial appearance in an Idaho courtroom Thursday following his extradition from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last week. His attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, though a public defender who represented him in Pennsylvania, Jason LaBar, has said he is eager to be exonerated and should not be tried “in the court of public opinion.”

“Tracking movements in public is an important technique when you haven’t identified any suspects,” said Mary D. Fan, a criminal law professor at the University of Washington. “You can see movements in public even if you don’t have probable cause to get a warrant. We live in a time of ubiquitous cameras. This is a remarkable account of what piecing together that audiovisual data can do.”

The car’s first pass by the home was recorded at 3:29 a.m. on Nov. 13 — less than an hour before Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in their rooms, Moscow Police Cpl. Brett Payne wrote in the affidavit.

The vehicle drove by twice more and was recorded a fourth time at 4:04 a.m., Payne wrote. It wasn’t seen on the footage again until it sped away 16 minutes later.

“This is a residential neighborhood with a very limited number of vehicles that travel in the area during the early morning hours,” Payne wrote. “Upon review of the video there are only a few cars that enter and exit this area during this time frame.”

A forensic examiner with the FBI determined the car to likely be a 2011-13 Hyundai Elantra, though subsequently said it could be a model as late as 2016, according to the affidavit.

Surveillance footage from the Washington State University campus offered further tantalizing information: A similar vehicle headed out of town just before 3 a.m. on the day of the killings and reappeared on cameras in Pullman just before 5:30 a.m., the affidavit said.

On Nov. 25, the Moscow Police Department asked regional law enforcement to look for a white Elantra. Three nights later, a WSU police officer ran a query for any white Elantras on campus.

One came back as having a Pennsylvania license plate and being registered to Kohberger. Within half an hour, another campus officer located the vehicle parked at Kohberger’s apartment complex. It came back as having Washington state tags. Five days after the killings, Kohberger had switched the registration from Pennsylvania, his home state, to Washington, the affidavit said.

Investigators now had a name to go on, and further investigation yielded more clues. Kohberger’s driver’s license described him as 6 feet tall and 185 pounds, and his license photo showed him to have bushy eyebrows — all details consistent with a description of the attacker given by a surviving roommate, the affidavit said.

More research revealed that Kohberger had been pulled over by a Latah County, Idaho, sheriff’s deputy in August while driving the Elantra. He gave the deputy a cellphone number.

Armed with that number, Payne obtained search warrants for the phone’s historical data. The location data showed the phone was near his home in Pullman until about 2:42 a.m. on the morning of the killings. Five minutes later, the phone started using cellular resources located southeast of the home — consistent with Kohberger traveling south, the affidavit said.

There was no other location data available from the phone until 4:48 a.m., suggesting Kohberger may have turned it off during the attack in an effort to avoid detection, the affidavit said. At that point, the phone began taking a roundabout route back to Pullman, traveling south to Genesee, Idaho, then west to Uniontown, Washington, and north to Pullman just before 5:30 a.m. — around the same time the white sedan showed back up on surveillance cameras in town.

It remains unclear why the victims were targeted.

Kohberger opened the account for the phone on June 23, the affidavit said, and location data showed that he had traveled to the neighborhood where the victims were killed at least a dozen times before the attacks. Those visits all came late in the evening or early in the morning, the affidavit said, and it was on one of those trips that he was pulled over by the sheriff’s deputy on Aug. 21.

The cellphone data also included another chilling detail, the affidavit said: The phone returned to the victims’ neighborhood hours after the attack, around 9 a.m. But even though one of the surviving housemates had seen a strange man inside and heard crying after 4 a.m., the killings were not reported to police until later that day, and there was no police response at the scene by 9.

Though Kohberger, with his 2015 Elantra, had first come to the attention of WSU police by Nov. 29, it’s not clear how soon that information was relayed to the Moscow Police Department, which issued a news release on Dec. 7 asking for the public’s help in finding a white 2011-13 Elantra. The release suggested such a vehicle had been near the home early on Nov. 13 and that any occupants “may have critical information to share regarding this case.”

Law enforcement agencies sometimes use such public statements to throw off suspects and keep them from learning they are under suspicion. Tips poured in and investigators soon announced they were sifting through a pool of around 20,000 potential vehicles.

“I think they got a lot of flack for keeping their cards tight to their chest … so I was pretty elated when they caught this guy and all this evidence was revealed,” said Telisa Swan, a Moscow resident who put a sign thanking the police outside her business.

Kohberger apparently remained at WSU until mid-December, when he drove to his parents’ house in Pennsylvania, accompanied by his father, in the Elantra. While driving through Indiana, Kohberger was pulled over twice on the same day for tailgating.

On Dec. 27, police in Pennsylvania recovered trash from the Kohberger family home and sent DNA evidence to Idaho, the affidavit said. The evidence matched the DNA found on the button snap of a knife sheath recovered at the crime scene, it said.

Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary. A status hearing in the case is set for Jan. 12.

___

Associated Press Correspondent Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.

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January 6, 2023
Trump rings in 2023 facing headwinds in his White House run

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump began 2022 on a high. Primary candidates were flocking to Florida to court the former president for a coveted endorsement. His rallies were drawing thousands. A bevy of investigations remained largely under the radar.

One year later, Trump is facing a very different reality.

He is mired in criminal investigations that could end with indictments. He has been blamed for Republicans’ disappointing performance in the November elections. And while he is now a declared presidential candidate, the six weeks since he announced have been marked by self-inflicted crises. Trump has not held a single campaign event and he barely leaves the confines of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Instead of staving off challengers, his potential 2024 rivals appear ever more emboldened. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, fresh off a resounding reelection victory, increasingly is seen as Trump’s most formidable competition.

Trump’s subdued campaign announcement has left even former stalwarts wondering whether he is serious about another run for the White House.

“There was a movie called ‘Failure to Launch.’ I think that’s what Donald Trump’s process of running has been so far. He had the announcement, and he hasn’t done anything to back it up since then,” said Michael Biundo, a GOP operative who advised Trump’s 2016 campaign but is steering clear this time.

“What campaign?” asked longtime GOP donor Dan Eberhart, who gave $100,000 to Trump’s 2020 reelection effort but is now gravitating to DeSantis. “Trump’s early launch seems more a reaction to DeSantis’ overperformance and a legal strategy against prosecution than a political campaign.”

Trump campaign officials insist they have been spending the weeks since his Nov. 15 announcement methodically building out a political operation. Trump, they note, announced just before the holiday season, when politicians typically lie low, and he did so unusually early, giving him plenty of time to ramp up.

“This is a marathon and our game plan is being implemented by design,” said Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung.

“We’re also assembling top-level teams in early voting states and expanding our massive data operation to ensure we dominate on all fronts,” he said. “We are not going to play the media’s game that tries to dictate how we campaign.”

Trump also defended criticism of his campaign’s slow start. “The Rallies will be bigger and better than ever (because our Country is going to Hell), but it’s a little bit early, don’t you think?” he wrote on his social media site.

While he has eschewed campaign events, the former president has nonetheless courted controversy.

There was his dinner with a white nationalist and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who has been spouting antisemitic tropes and conspiracies; his suggestions that parts of the Constitution be terminated to return him to power; and the “major announcement” that turned out to be the launch of $99 digital trading cards that do not benefit his campaign.

Since his announcement, he has also faced a series of legal losses, including the appointment of a special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into the presence of classified documents at Trump’s Florida estate as well as key aspects of a separate inquiry involving Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump’s namesake company was convicted of tax fraud last month for helping executives dodge taxes on extravagant perks. In Georgia, a special grand jury appears to be wrapping up its work investigating his efforts to remain in power.

Trump’s potential rivals have spent months laying the groundwork for their own campaigns, visiting early-voting states, speaking before conservative groups and building the kinds of relationships that could benefit them down the line.

Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of The Family Leader, an Iowa-based conservative group, pointed to Republicans such as former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who have made repeat visits to the state.

“They’ve done the early work that is needed to be out in front of Iowans and they’re very well received,” he said, noting the period since Trump announced his candidacy has been “unusually quiet. In a lot of ways, it kind of feels like it’s the announcement that didn’t even happen or doesn’t feel like it happened because there was no immediate buzz. … I don’t hear from people on he ground, ‘I can’t wait for Trump to run.’ ‘Did you hear Trump’s announcement?’”

He called the poor performance of some Trump-backed candidates in the 2022 midterms a “caution flag” and said that even Trump supporters are open to backing someone else in the 2024 contest.

“For the president, I think he’s definitely going to have to earn the nomination,” he said.

Despite his vulnerabilities, Trump remains the early GOP front-runner. While he is seen as potentially beatable in a one-on-one matchup, he is likely to benefit from a crowded field that splits the anti-Trump votes, just as he did when he ran and won in 2016.

But Biundo, the former Trump campaign adviser, said that after watching likely candidates such as Pence pay visits to early voting states, he too, believes the field is wide open.

“I don’t think Donald Trump has it locked up. I don’t think Ron DeSantis has it locked up. I don’t think anyone has it locked up,” he said. “At this point, it’s an open primary.”

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January 2, 2023
Democrat wins Arizona attorney general race after recount

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PHOENIX (AP) — A recount of votes has confirmed Democrat Kris Mayes narrowly defeated Republican Abraham Hamadeh in the Arizona attorney general’s race, one of the closest elections in state history.

The highly anticipated results announced Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court are among the last in the country to come out of November’s election and solidified another victory for Democrats who shunned election fraud conspiracies in what used to be a solidly Republican state.

With Hamadeh’s defeat, Republicans running statewide in battleground states who spread former President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen have all lost their races.

Mayes finished 280 votes ahead of Hamadeh, down from a lead of 511 in the original count. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

“I’m excited and ready to get to work as your next attorney general and vow to be your lawyer for the people,” Mayes said in a statement.

Judge Timothy Thomason, who also announced the results of recounts in two other races, said Republican Tom Horne prevailed in the race for state superintendent of public instruction and Republican Liz Harris won a state legislative seat in the Phoenix suburbs.

The automatic recounts were required because the races were so close.

Outside court, Mayes attorney Dan Barr said the results should give the public confidence in elections, despite the adjustments in vote totals as a result of the recount.

“They didn’t just do a rubber stamp of what it was,” Barr said. “They did a careful evaluation of the votes and they came up with a different result. And so I think people should have a lot of confidence in the process.”

In a tweet, Hamadeh said the discrepancies in the latest results from his race were shockingly high. “My legal team will be assessing our options to make sure every vote is counted,” wrote Hamadeh, who hasn’t conceded to Mayes.

Mayes and Hamadeh were not in court during the hearing.

Hamadeh had filed a separate challenge of the results in his race, but a judge dismissed that case last week.

Hamadeh alleged problems with ballot printers in Maricopa County had led to a series of issues that disenfranchised voters and that his race was affected by improper handling of ballots that were duplicated or adjudicated by people because they could not be read by tabulators. In throwing out the lawsuit, a judge concluded Hamadeh didn’t prove the errors in vote counting that he had alleged. Records show there were 623 more votes recorded in the recount than results that were certified across the state about a month ago. About 500 were identified in Pinal County, which attributed the discrepancy between the certified returns and the recount results to human errors. One of the issues, which affected 63 ballots, was tied to voting machine settings and ballots with unclear markings.

In the race for superintendent of public instruction, Horne ended the recount with a 9,188-vote lead. Hoffman had previously conceded to Horne, a former schools chief who served one term as attorney general before losing the 2014 primary. Horne posted a net gain of 221 votes in the recount.

Horne had criticized Hoffman for embracing progressive teaching and promised to shut down any hint of “critical race theory,” which is not taught in state schools but is a hot-button issue for social conservatives. He also had said schools were shut down for far too long during the pandemic at Hoffman’s urging.

Harris won with a 275-vote advantage over Republican Julie Willoughby in the race for a seat in state House District 13, which includes parts of the Phoenix-area suburbs of Chandler, Sun Lakes and Gilbert. Harris had a net gain of five votes in the recount.

Although Republican Kari Lake filed an unsuccessful lawsuit challenging her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs in the Arizona governor’s race by just over 17,000 votes, the governor’s race wasn’t close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

Recounts are required in Arizona in races where the margin between the leading candidates is 0.5% or less. Hobbs defeated Lake by 0.67%.

The judge who dismissed Lake’s case rejected her claim that problems with ballot printers at some polling places on Election Day were the result of intentional misconduct.

Lake, who has not conceded to Lake, is appealing the dismissal of her lawsuit with the Arizona Supreme Court. Hobbs takes office as governor on Monday.

Once a Republican stronghold, Arizona’s top races were won by Democrats in November. Republicans had nominated a slate of candidates backed by Trump who focused on supporting his false claims about the 2020 election. In addition to Hobbs and Mayes, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was reelected and Democrat Adrian Fontes won the race for secretary of state.

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December 30, 2022
Mega Millions jackpot up to $640M after no big winner

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A giant Mega Millions jackpot grew larger Wednesday to an estimated $640 million after another drawing without a winner.

No one won the lottery game’s top prize Tuesday night, making it 21 straight drawings without anyone matching all six numbers. The next drawing will be Friday night.

The huge jackpot comes less than two months after the largest lottery prize ever, a $2.04 billion Powerball prize that was won Nov. 8 in California. So far, that big winner hasn’t stepped forward to claim the prize.

The reason for all the big prizes is simple — long odds ensure there are few winners and the long streaks of lottery futility allow jackpots to grow ever larger week after week.

The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot is one in 302.6 million.

The advertised jackpot of $640 million is for a winner who opts to be paid with an annuity, doled out through annual payments over 29 years. Nearly all winners take the cash option, with for Friday’s drawing will be an estimated $328.3 million.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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December 28, 2022
Actor Orlando Brown pleads not guilty to assault charges

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NEW YORK (AP) — Former child star Orlando Brown has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault charges stemming from an alleged altercation in Lima, Ohio.

According to Allen County Sheriff’s Office records, the 35-year-old Brown was taken into custody Thursday morning and held on a $25,000 bond. He was arraigned Friday in Lima Municipal Court and charged with aggravated menacing, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Police told the Times that they had been summoned to a home and witnessed a verbal argument they feared could turn violent.

The Times said an attorney had not yet been assigned to represent Brown.

Brown, best known for the Disney Channel series “That’s So Raven,” has had numerous legal and other personal troubles, including charges of domestic battery, resisting arrest and drug possession.

He has been in out of medical and rehabilitation facilities. In 2018 he reached out for help to Dr. Phil McGraw, who brought him onto his television show to discuss Brown’s struggles.

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December 28, 2022