National News - The Morning Sun

FILE - A demonstrator carries an image of Elijah McClain during a rally and march, June 27, 2020, in Aurora, Colo. Jurors convicted a Denver-area police officer Thursday, Oct. 14, 2023, and acquitted another of charges in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black man whose name became a rallying cry in protests over racial injustice in policing. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Elijah McClain's final words are synonymous with the tragic case that led to 1 officer's conviction

As the death of Elijah McClain became a rallying point at police reform rallies in Colorado and across the county in 2020, the young man’s final words have become synonymous with the tragic case. … more

By THOMAS PEIPERT | 10/12/23

A building at Vermont State University's Castleton Campus in Castleton, Vt., is shown Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. Police were searching for a suspect who shot and killed a retired dean on a nearby rail trail last week. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

Vermont police get more than 150 tips after sketch of person of interest released in trail killing

Vermont State Police say more than 150 tips have come in since they released a sketch of a person of interest connected to the killing of a retired college dean. Honoree Flemming was shot dead a week … more

10/12/23

FILE - Bees and other insects gather on a sunflower at the Agro Brasilia, an agricultural exhibition on the outskirts of Brasilia, Brazil, May 18, 2012. A new study finds that changes in the climate and land use are combining to dramatically shrink the numbers of insects pollinating key tropical crops and plants. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)

Warming and habitat loss shrink pollinator numbers. That may hit coffee, cocoa crops hard in future

A new study finds that changes in the climate and land use are combining to dramatically shrink the numbers of insects pollinating key tropical crops. Thursday's study says as those problems … more

BY SETH BORENSTEIN | 10/12/23

FILE - This Nov. 10, 2016 photo released by NASA, shows a rift in the Antarctic Peninsula's Larsen C ice shelf. Dozens of Antarctica’s ice shelves, floating extensions of glaciers, showed significant shrinking between 1997 and 2021, a study published Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, found. (John Sonntag/NASA via AP, File)

Scientists count huge melts in many protective Antarctic ice shelves. Trillions of tons of ice lost.

A new study finds that four dozen Antarctic ice shelves have shrunk by at least 30% since 1997 and 28 of those have lost more than half of their ice in that time. These are the crucial … more

By SETH BORENSTEIN | 10/12/23

Joel Bowman appears in Judge Karen Massey's courtroom on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, Memphis. A lawyer says a Tennessee judge has ordered a mental evaluation for Bowman who is charged with trying to enter a Jewish school with a gun and firing it at a contractor there before he was shot by police. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

The case of a Memphis man charged with trying to enter a Jewish school with a gun is moving forward

The case of a Tennessee man charged with trying to enter his former Jewish school with a gun and firing shots at a contractor who was working there can now be presented to a grand jury for a possible … more

By ADRIAN SAINZ | 10/12/23

In this photo provided by the National Park Service is Grazer, the winner of the 2023 Fat Bear Contest, at Katmai National Park, Alaska on Sept. 14, 2023. The park holds an annual contest in which people logging on to live webcams in park pick the fattest bear of the year. Grazer had 108,321 votes to handily beat Chunk, who has 23,134 votes, in the Oct. 10, 2023, finals. (F. Jimenez/National Park Service via AP)

Don't mess with this mama bear: Grazer easily wins popular Fat Bear Contest at Alaska national park

When it comes to packing on the pounds to survive an Alaska winter, this year’s undisputed champ is Grazer. The brown mama bear has won this year's Fat Bear Week at Alaska's Katmai National Park. … more

By MARK THIESSEN | 10/12/23

Police vehicles sit outside a hospital in Robbinsdale, Minn., Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, after five officers were shot near the nearby town of Princeton. The suspect wasn't in custody and the incident was ongoing late Thursday morning. Robbinsdale Police Capt. John Elder said three of the officers were taken to North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale while two were taken to a hospital in St. Cloud, Minn. Elder said none of the wounds appeared to be life-threatening. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

Five officers shot and wounded in Minnesota, authorities say; suspect not in custody

Authorities say five law enforcement officers were shot and wounded in an incident near the east-central Minnesota city of Princeton. The suspect wasn't in custody and the incident was ongoing hours … more

10/12/23

This undated photo provided by Elinor Shahar Personal Management on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023 shows jewelry designer Moran Yanai. Moran Stela Yanai's family is speaking about the Israeli woman who loved making jewelry and protecting animals. Her brother-in-law, Dan Mor, says in an interview that the family was alarmed over the weekend when she disappeared from a desert rave after Hamas' incursion into Israel from the Gaza Strip. T (Elinor Shahar Personal Management via AP)

An Israeli jewelry designer described as 'the softest soul' has been abducted, her family says

Moran Stela Yanai's family is speaking about the Israeli woman who loved making jewelry and protecting animals. Her brother-in-law, Dan Mor, says in an interview that the family was alarmed over the … more

By LAURIE KELLMAN | 10/12/23

This undated photo released Wednesday Oct. 11, 2023 by Nadav Kipnis, shows him, at left, flanked by his family from left, his brother Yotam Kipnis, his mother Lilach Lea Havron 60 and his father Eviatar Moshe Kipnis 65. Eviatar Moshe Kipnis and Lilach Lea Havron are among the estimated 150 people believed held by Hamas in Gaza following the militant group's stunning incursion in Israel on Saturday. The couple and their health care aide were last heard from Saturday morning, sheltering in their safe room, after militants had begun storming Be'eri, where at least 100 people were later found dead. (Kipnis Family via AP)

An Italian couple is unaccounted for in Southern Israel. The husband needs regular medical care

Eviatar Moshe Kipnis and Lilach Lea Havron are among the estimated 150 people believed held by Hamas in Gaza. The couple were with their health care aide. Their son, Nadav Kipnis, told The Associated … more

By NICOLE WINFIELD | 10/12/23

Powerball tickets are shown at a lottery agent, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Haverhill, Mass. After 35 straight drawings without a big winner, Powerball players will have a shot Wednesday at a near-record jackpot worth an estimated $1.73 billion. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

What are the 10 largest US lottery jackpots ever won?

Here is a look at the 10 largest U.S. jackpots that have been won and the states where the winning tickets were sold. more

By The Associated Press | 10/12/23

FILE - Derek Fox on Corach Rambler, right, clears the Chair fence to win the Grand National horse race at Aintree Racecourse Liverpool, England, Saturday, April 15, 2023. The Grand National is implementing a series of significant changes that will take effect from next year in an effort to make the world’s most famous steeplechase safer for horses and jockeys. They include reducing the field from 40 horses to 34, softening the fences by using foam and rubber toe boards, and moving the first fence closer to the start to stop horses building up too much speed. (AP Photo/Jon Super, File)

Grand National to reduce number of horses to 34 and soften fences in bid to make famous race safer

The Grand National is implementing a series of significant changes that will take effect from next year in an effort to make the world’s most famous steeplechase safer for horses and jockeys. They … more

By STEVE DOUGLAS | 10/12/23

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a plenary session at the 2023 Russian Energy Week international forum at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Putin arrives in Kyrgyzstan on a rare trip abroad

President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Kyrgyzstan on a rare trip abroad for the Russian leader who was indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Ukraine. It is the first time … more

By The Associated Press | 10/12/23

Ricky Dority, 65, speaks at the home of his son in Greenwood, Ark.,, Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. Dority was freed in June with the help of a dogged private investigator he hired with COVID-relief funds and students at Oklahoma City University's Innocence Project who found inconsistencies in the state's account of a 1997 cold-case murder.(AP Photo/Sean Murphy)

An Oklahoma man used pandemic relief funds to have his name cleared of murder

An Oklahoma man who was freed after being imprisoned for decades on a murder conviction says there are more cases like his. Ricky Dority used his pandemic relief money to hire a private investigator, … more

By SEAN MURPHY | 10/12/23

This image provided by Eran Shani shows Shlomi Mathias playing the guitar as his wife, Debbie ‘Shahar’ Mathias, laughs and sings next to him at her 50th birthday party on Oct. 1, 2023, in Lehavim, Israel. They both died days later while protecting their 16-year-old son, Rotem Mathias, from Hamas fighters who attacked their kibbutz in Israel near the border with Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. (Eran Shani via AP)

His parents shielded him from gunfire as Hamas attacked. He survived. They did not

An Israeli-American teenager survived a siege by Hamas attackers over the weekend after his parents shielded him from the gunfire but were killed themselves. The family lived on a kibbutz in southern … more

By MICHAEL CASEY and TRISHA AHMED | 10/11/23

Vermont police release sketch of a person of interest in the killing of a retired college dean

Vermont State Police have released a sketch of a person of interest in the killing of a retired college dean who was shot dead last week while walking on her favorite trail near the Vermont State … more

By LISA RATHKE | 10/11/23

Joann Woodson keeps a flower after placing a wreath at the headstone of her husband Cpl. Waverly B. Woodson Jr. during a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2023 in Arlington, Va. During the D-Day invasion, the landing craft Cpl. Waverly B. Woodson Jr. was in took heavy fire and he was wounded before even getting to the beach, but for the next 30 hours he treated 200 wounded men while under intense small arms and artillery fire before collapsing from his injuries and blood loss, according to accounts of his service. With Joann Woodson, are her son, Steve Woodson, center, and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

A Black medic wounded on D-Day honored for treating dozens of troops under enemy fire

An African American combat medic who was wounded while landing on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion of France but went on to tend to dozens of troops has been posthumously honored. Family and … more

By REBECCA SANTANA and KEVIN WOLF | 10/11/23

Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

AP PHOTOS: Rockets sail and tanks roll in Israeli-Palestinian war's 5th day

A Palestinian mother kneels beside the body of her dead son. Israelis crouch beside stone walls to shield themselves from rockets. As Israelis and Palestinians endured a fifth day of bloodshed … more

10/11/23

This screengrab of the Etsy page of a seller going by “LIMMERENTOMOLOGICA” shows four birdwing specimens currently on sale online. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn said Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, that Charles Limmer made tens of thousands of dollars over the past year by illegally trafficking scores of flying insects, including endangered birdwings — whose numbers have fallen because of diminishing habitat and illegal poaching. The six-count indictment against Limmer, 75, accuses him of working with overseas collaborators to smuggle some 1,000 lepidoptera, including some of the rarest and most endangered moths and butterflies in the world. (Etsy via AP)

Rare birdwing butterflies star in federal case against NY man accused of trafficking insects

Federal prosecutors in New York are seeking forfeiture of a collection of 1,000 butterflies, moths and other insects that authorities say were illegally trafficked. Some of the dried specimens … more

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN | 10/11/23

Second biggest US lottery prize ever is up for grabs in Powerball drawing

After 35 straight drawings without a big winner, Powerball players are lining up for a shot at a near-record jackpot worth an estimated $1.73 billion. If winning numbers are drawn on Wednesday, it … more

By JIM SALTER | 10/11/23

Signs and a closed gate stand at an entrance to the Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Castleton, Vt. Police said an autopsy showed that retired dean and professor Honoree Fleming, of Castleton, Vt., died from a gunshot wound to the head on Thursday, Oct. 5. She was found on the Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail about a mile south of the Castleton campus of Vermont State University, which was closed. (Keith Whitcomb, Jr./The Times Argus via AP)

Police search for killer of retired Vermont college dean who was shot on trail near campus

Students and residents in a small Vermont university town are being told to lock their doors and stick together as police search for a killer who shot a retired dean on her favorite walking trail … more

By LISA RATHKE | 10/10/23