Alexandria

O'Rourke comes out swinging at 'Lyin Ted' Cruz in Texas debate

O'Rourke resurrected the nickname given Cruz by Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. "It’s why the president called him ‘Lyin’ Ted,’and why the nickname stuck.” Cruz took note of the more aggressive posture from O'Rourke, who had been hesitant to attack Cruz while portraying himself as a unifying figure who could bring Texans together, and made reference to O'Rourke's declining standing in the polls. "It's clear Congressman O'Rourke's pollsters have told him to come out on the attack," Cruz said.

Nevada brothel owner, dubbed 'Trump from Pahrump,' dies: sheriff

Dennis Hof, 72, styled himself as America's best-known pimp, a strip-club owner who ran multiple brothels. "This really is the Trump movement," Hof said in a June interview at Moonlite BunnyRanch, his brothel near his home in Pahrump, Nevada. The Nye County Sheriff's Office said on its website that Hof had been found dead at one of his properties in Crystal, Nevada.

Heated U.S. congressional races on pace to break fundraising records

Candidates for the House of Representatives have collectively raised $1.2 billion from January 2017 through the end of September, more than the inflation-adjusted $1 billion record set at this point in the 2010 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission data. Senate candidates - who have six years to raise funds due to their longer terms - have raised more than $950 million, surpassing the $844 million raised during the same period ahead of the 2010 election. Democrats are aiming to pick up 23 seats in the House and two in the Senate in an effort to take control of Congress and block Republican President Donald Trump's agenda.

Death toll from Florida hurricane at least 29, hundreds missing

The death toll from Hurricane Michael rose to at least 29 as crews scoured for hundreds reported missing in Florida.

Minnesota accuses insulin makers of deceptive drug pricing

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson took aim at the companies after the list price for some insulin products more than tripled since 2002. The lawsuit alleged that companies fraudulently set artificially high list price for their products while offering rebates to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in exchange for them covering the drug on behalf of health plans. PBMs negotiate drug prices for employers and health plans and typically demand hefty discounts off list price from drugmakers in exchange including the medicines on their preferred formularies.

'Treason' remark stirs hotly contested Senate race in Arizona

Republican Congresswoman Martha McSally accused her opponent in the hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Arizona, Democratic U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema, of "being OK with treason" as the two faced off in their only debate. McSally has increasingly focused on Sinema's past as an antiwar protester and progressive activist to get an edge ahead of the Nov. 6 elections. Most recent opinion polls have shown the Democrat with a slight edge in the race for the seat held by retiring U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, a prominent Republican critic of President Donald Trump.

Record $667 million U.S. Mega Millions jackpot up for grabs

The new jackpot, which eclipses the previous high of $656 million, follows an 11-week winless streak for the top prize of the Mega Millions lottery. The Mega Millions jackpot has grown with each of the 23 semi-weekly drawings that failed to producer a top winner since July 24, when an 11-member office pool in Santa Clara County, California, hit a $543 million jackpot. The odds of hitting the jackpot by matching all six numbers correctly are an astronomical one in 302.6 million, but the odds of turning a Mega Millions ticket into a winner of any kind, including a $2 prize simply for matching the "Mega ball," are a more down-to-Earth one in 24.

Special Report: The Trump trap - Republicans duck president in key House races

Lance’s campaign website, which outlines his positions on immigration, taxes and other hot issues, offers no statement of support for President Donald Trump. On his Twitter and Facebook accounts, Lance has offered no plaudits this year for the president. When he does reference Trump, he’s more likely to note their differences.

Senate will not vote on new North America trade pact in 2018: McConnell

The U.S. Senate's top Republican said on Tuesday that senators will not vote to approve a revised North American trade pact in 2018, leaving the issue to the next Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Bloomberg Television that the Senate will not have time to take up the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade deal before 2019.

Ex-State Street executive gets prison in U.S. for defrauding clients

A former State Street Corp executive was sentenced on Tuesday to 18 months in prison after being convicted of taking part in a scheme to overcharge customers of the bank by applying secret commissions on billions of dollars' worth of trades. Ross McLellan, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston after a federal jury in June found the one-time State Street executive vice president guilty of charges including conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud.

Harvard accused of bias against Asian-Americans at trial

Harvard University discriminates against Asian-American applicants in order to limit how many it admits, a lawyer for a group suing the school said on Monday at the start of a trial that could have wider implications for the role of race in U.S. college admissions. The case could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, giving the newly cemented five-member conservative majority a chance to bar the use of affirmative action to help minority applicants get into college, legal experts say. In previous rulings on affirmative action, which aims to offset historic patterns of racial discrimination, the Supreme Court has allowed colleges to include race as one factor among others in assessing applicants.

Hurricane strands many in Florida Panhandle's poor, rural backcountry

Bernard Sutton, a 64-year-old cancer patient, and two buddies have been living out of a camping tent and broken-down minivan since his double-wide trailer home in rural Fountain, Florida, was torn apart by Hurricane Michael last week. On Monday, five days after the storm plowed into Florida's Gulf Coast, Sutton was standing over a heap of clothes, books, furniture and other belongings he had salvaged from the wreckage. With his wife having moved in with a sister for the time being, Sutton said he had no means of transportation even if he was willing to leave.

Real estate scion Robert Durst made his wife fear him: witness

Robert Durst, a real estate scion charged with murder who was profiled in the HBO television documentary "The Jinx," struck fear in his wife in the early 1980s before she disappeared, a witness testified in court on Monday in Los Angeles. Durst, a 75-year-old multimillionaire, was arrested in 2015 and charged with murder in the 2000 shooting death of his longtime friend and confidante Susan Berman. Durst was in court on Monday for the first day of what is expected to be a two-week preliminary hearing that is to determine if the prosecution has presented enough evidence to require him to stand trial in Berman's murder.

Trump sees Michael's wrath, rescuers search for bodies

President Trump got a first-hand look at the “total devastation" that Hurricane Michael brought to Florida.

Judge dismisses Stormy Daniels defamation lawsuit against Trump

A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed adult film actress Stormy Daniels's defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump and ordered her to pay his attorney's fees, saying a tweet the president had written referring to her was protected by free-speech laws. Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said they would appeal the decision. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

Senator Warren, mocked by Trump as 'Pocahontas,' says DNA test backs her ancestry

The Massachusetts lawmaker, known as a liberal firebrand in her party, said last month she would take a "hard look" at running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Trump in 2020. "When I decided to run for Senate in 2012, I never thought that my family's Native American heritage would come under attack and my dead parents would be called liars," she said in a statement on Monday. Trump taunted Warren over the issue at a July rally in Montana.

U.S. government, but not Trump, can be sued over climate: judge

The decision by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Oregon, came before the case is scheduled to go to trial in federal court on Oct. 29. Twenty-one children and young adults, who were between 8 and 19 years of age when the lawsuit was filed in 2015 against the Obama administration, accused federal officials and oil industry executives of violating their due process rights by knowing for decades that carbon pollution poisons the environment, but doing nothing about it. Aiken said the case revealed a delicate balance of power between the judicial and other government agencies.

Harvard accused of bias against Asian-Americans at trial

Harvard University discriminates against Asian-American applicants in order to limit how many it admits, a lawyer for a group suing the school said on Monday at the start of a trial that could have wider implications for the role of race in U.S. college admissions. The case could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, giving the newly cemented five-member conservative majority a chance to bar the use of affirmative action to help minority applicants get into college, legal experts say. In previous rulings on affirmative action, which aims to offset historic patterns of racial discrimination, the Supreme Court has allowed colleges to include race as one factor among others in assessing applicants.

Most F-35 jets resume flights after engine inspections: Pentagon

More than 80 percent of Lockheed Martin Co-made F-35 fighter jets in the United States and around the world have cleared engine inspections and are now approved for flights, the Pentagon said on Monday. Last week, all U.S. and international F-35 fighter jets made by Lockheed Martin were grounded so that fuel tubes could be examined. The Pentagon said it is working closely with United Technologies Corp's Pratt & Whitney, the maker of the F-35's engine, to rapidly procure more parts to minimize the time it will take for remaining repairs.

Honduran migrant group grows, heading for United States

A growing group of more than 1,500 Honduran migrants headed for the United States moved toward the Guatemalan border on Sunday, witnesses and organizers said. The migrants, who included families of adults and children, and women carrying babies, began a march on Saturday from the violent northern city of San Pedro Sula, days after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called on Central America to stop mass migration. The U.S. Embassy in Honduras said it was deeply worried about the group and that people were being given "false promises" of being able to enter the United States.

Hopes fade for more survivors of Hurricane Michael

The hunt for missing people in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael early Sunday is turning into a search for the dead, as hope of finding more people alive fades in the Florida Panhandle, U.S. officials said. "We're going into recovery mode, unfortunately," said Fire Chief Alex Baird of Panama City, one of the coastal Florida communities clobbered by the hurricane that made landfall Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, packing more than 140 mph winds and deadly storm surges. "At sunrise, we'll start again on our search," Baird said.

In Tennessee, a Democrat scrambles to turn out voters as polls show slide

Polls showed Bredesen, the state's 74-year-old former governor, in a surprisingly tight race with Republican U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn to replace retiring Republican Senator Bob Corker. The Oct. 6 confirmation of President Donald Trump's polarizing Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh, injected new energy into Republicans, say Republican party leaders.

Trump says family separations deter illegal immigration

Trump also claimed, without providing evidence, that immigrants were "grabbing children and they're using children to come in to our country in many cases." 

Crowbars, cadaver dogs in search for survivors, bodies after Florida hurricane

Search and rescue volunteers have located hundreds of people reported missing in the Southeast after Hurricane Michael tore through their Florida Panhandle.

Honduran migrant group treks north as U.S. calls for tighter borders

Recent attempts at group crossings from Central America to the United States have tested U.S. President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" stance on illegal immigration, as people fleeing violence and poverty defy threats of deportation. "I believe we'll get to the United States. There's no work in Honduras, and you live in fear that they're going to kill you or your children," said Fanny Barahona, 35, an unemployed teacher who walked with her nine-year-old son and carried a two-year-old daughter.

Florida wild cat sanctuary caught in hurricane's path

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (Reuters) - "Saint" the mountain lion was pacing nervously in his pen and crying days before Hurricane Michael cut a path of destruction through the Bear Creek Feline Center, a refuge for 23 wild cats near Florida's Panama City. "They were very agitated," said Bertie Broaddus, who runs the center with her husband Jim Broaddus, as she inspected the damage from the powerful storm that killed at least 17 people and tore up Florida's Panhandle coastline. The endangered animals at the refuge -- rescued African servals, jaguarundi, bobcats, Siberian lynx, mountain lions and panthers -- were unharmed.

Without captions, warnings about Hurricane Michael failed to reach disabled

Matlin drew attention to emergency communication glitches with disabled people earlier in the week, when she tweeted on Tuesday about the Weather Channel’s failure to include closed captioning in reports about the approaching storm. Thank you," Matlin wrote. The Weather Channel did not respond on Twitter and was not immediately available for comment.

Rescuers find first body in town worst hit by hurricane Michael

Searchers on Friday uncovered the first body in the rubble of the Florida town of Mexico Beach, which was nearly obliterated by Hurricane Michael, as the toll from the historic storm rose to at least 18 and was expected to climb further. Rescue teams, hampered by power and telephone outages, used cadaver dogs, drones and heavy equipment to hunt for hundreds of people unaccounted for in devastated communities across the Florida Panhandle. "I've watched on television, thinking of what others have experienced, like in the Carolinas and Texas," Mexico Beach Mayor Al Cathey told reporters referring to earlier hurricanes.

Volunteer search teams born of prior disasters reactivated in Florida

By Friday, two days after Michael plowed into Florida's Panhandle as one of the fiercest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. mainland, there was no official word on the number unaccounted for in beachfront communities affected by the storm. Loved ones reported the majority unaccounted for, while a smaller number found themselves stranded and sought help, group co-founder Matthew Marchetti said. Most of the search effort focused on Bay and Gulf counties, which took the brunt of the storm while Panama City and Mexico Beach, the towns nearest Michael's landfall accounted for the largest numbers reported missing, he added.