A freight train derailed in a Chicago suburb on Thursday, briefly sparking evacuations of nearby homes and businesses. The train derailed at 217th Street and Main in Matteson, NBC Chicago reported. A mandatory evacuation was underway amid a suspected leak from the derailed cars. The evacuation affected people and businesses within a quarter-mile east, 1 mile west … Read more
YA’AN, China — The first new giant pandas to arrive in the U.S. in more than two decades are traveling to San Diego from China as Beijing resumes using the black-and-white bears as a tool of diplomacy. A farewell ceremony Wednesday near the Bifengxia Giant Panda Base in China’s southwestern Sichuan province was attended by … Read more
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas man who admitted he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and fatally shot an 18-year-old woman in 2001 was executed Wednesday evening. Ramiro Gonzales, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. CDT following a chemical injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the January 2001 killing of Bridget Townsend. Ramiro Gonzales.Texas Department of Criminal … Read more
A heartbroken man from New Mexico can’t comprehend why a North Las Vegas, Nevada, man killed three of his family members this week and left his 13-year-old granddaughter in critical condition in a “senseless” shooting spree. Sal Muñoz, 59, of Albuquerque, made the nearly 600-mile drive to the Las Vegas Valley on Tuesday morning after … Read more
A federal judge in California awarded over $1 million to two child siblings who were held by Customs and Border Protection in 2019 even though they are U.S. citizens, court records show. Most of that amount went to the sister, then 9, who was held in custody for around 34 hours after she and her … Read more
Gene Dinah misses his late husband, Robert Malsberry, every day. He misses Malsberry’s cooking, his love for gardening, the way he fixed things around the house and the way he made him feel special and protected. “He was just great,” Dinah said of Malsberry, who died in 2019. “I couldn’t have had a better partner.” … Read more
Felicia Stancil lost her mother at age 3. Exactly one year after her death, Stancil’s father introduced her to BMX racing, a sport that he competed professionally in for years. Stancil, a BMX racing Olympian primed for Paris, said that although her mother’s death deeply impacted her, it affected her father even more. “It changed … Read more
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned home to Australia a free man Wednesday after pleading guilty in a deal that ended his yearslong legal battle over the publication of U.S. military secrets. Assange’s plane, tracked online by thousands, touched down in the Australian capital of Canberra at 7:37 p.m. (5:37 a.m. ET), data from the flight-tracking … Read more
The man accused of fatally shooting seven people during a July 4 parade outside Chicago in 2022 was expected to reconsider his across-the-board not guilty pleas Wednesday. Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a statement last week that the prosecution and the defense have requested a hearing Wednesday morning. “It is expected that … Read more
WASHINGTON — U.S. Olympic athletes have lost faith in the World Anti-Doping Agency to rid their sports of cheaters ahead of next month’s Summer Games in Paris, two former gold medalists said Tuesday in prepared testimony before a House subcommittee. The comments by Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt followed revelations that 23 Chinese swimmers had … Read more