Slain Australian’s family demands integrity in US probe

AP Photo/Rick Rycroft SYDNEY (AP) — The family of an Australian woman who was fatally shot by a Minnesota police officer in July demanded a more rigorous probe Thursday after a prosecutor cast doubts on the investigation. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman faulted investigators last week when he complained that he doesn’t have enough evidence to charge Officer Mohamed Noor…

Slain Australian’s family demands integrity in US probe

AP Photo/Rick Rycroft SYDNEY (AP) — The family of an Australian woman who was fatally shot by a Minnesota police officer in July demanded a more rigorous probe Thursday after a prosecutor cast doubts on the investigation. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman faulted investigators last week when he complained that he doesn’t have enough evidence to charge Officer Mohamed Noor…

Hyperactive Missouri Gov. Greitens touts his physical feats

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Rappelling into a bull-riding rodeo event , crawling through dirt in a SWAT obstacle course and entering a burning building with firefighters.These could be action movie stunts by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood star turned California governor. But they were all done by another governor earning a reputation for public displays of physical prowess – Eric…

GOP lawmaker’s ‘I don’t like men’ comment stirs protest

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — An outspoken and conservative Pennsylvania state lawmaker is the target of calls to resign or be demoted after he interrupted a committee meeting to accost his Democratic counterpart for touching his arm and suggest the man might be gay.Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party called on Rep. Daryl Metcalfe to resign, while a gay and transgender rights group and…

Victims of harassment, assault triggered by recent events

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Noelle Rose Andressen was raped by her grandfather as a toddler. As an adult, she thought she’d successfully dealt with the trauma, having gone through years of therapy. A professional dancer, she even choreographed a performance about sexual abuse to process her feelings.But when sexual assault and harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein exploded…

African music star in exile awaits real change for Zimbabwe

AP Photo/Andrew Selsky EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — As Zimbabweans celebrated the ouster of dictator Robert Mugabe, they danced on the streets to previously banned protest songs by one of the country’s most famous musicians – a man jailed by the country’s former white rulers and hounded by the black government that succeeded them. The musician, Thomas Mapfumo, watched the euphoria…

Veterans are key as surge of states OK medical pot for PTSD

AP Photo/John Locher NEW YORK (AP) — It was a telling setting for a decision on whether post-traumatic stress disorder patients could use medical marijuana. Against the backdrop of the nation’s largest Veterans Day parade, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this month he’d sign legislation making New York the latest in a fast-rising tide of states to OK therapeutic pot…

That’s amore: Italian bridal serenades alive in Philadelphia

AP Photo/Mel Evans PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Young couples in south Philadelphia are transforming something old into something new with their take on the Italian wedding serenade. The serenade has been a tradition for hundreds of years, particularly in southern Italian regions like Naples, Puglia and Calabria. There, it takes place the night before the wedding, where the groom and a…

Olympic gymnastics ex-doctor pleads guilty to sex charges

AP Photo/Paul Sancya LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A former doctor accused of molesting girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple charges of sexual assault and will face at least 25 years in prison. Larry Nassar, 54, admitted to abusing seven girls, mostly under the guise of treatment at his Lansing-area home and…

Ex-tennis star Blake testifies about his mistaken arrest

AP Photo/Seth Wenig NEW YORK (AP) — Former pro tennis star James Blake testified on Tuesday that a plainclothes police officer never identified himself before throwing him to the ground and handcuffing him outside in 2015 outside his Manhattan hotel. “He never said ‘NYPD.’ He never said ‘officer,’” Blake said at a disciplinary trial for Officer James Frascatore. “He never…