AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EST
Firearms instructor took out gunman at Texas church service
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (AP) - Alarms went off in Jack Wilson's head the moment a man wearing a fake beard, a wig, a hat and a long coat walked into a Texas church for Sunday services.
By the time the man approached a communion server and pulled out a shotgun, Wilson and another security volunteer were already reaching for their own guns.
The attacker shot the other volunteer, Richard White, and then the server, Anton "Tony" Wallace, sending congregants scrambling for cover. The gunman was heading toward the front of the sanctuary as Wilson searched for a clear line of fire.
"I didn´t have a clear window," he said, referring to church members who "were jumping, going chaotic." Wilson, a 71-year-old firearms instructor who has also been a reserve sheriff's deputy, said: "They were standing up. I had to wait about half a second, or a second, to get my shot. I fired one round. The subject went down."
Wilson´s single shot quickly ended the attack that killed Wallace, 64, and White, 67, at the West Freeway Church of Christ in the Fort Worth-area town of White Settlement. He said the entire confrontation was over in no more than six seconds. More than 240 congregants were in the church at the time.
___
Lawsuit: Famed Jesuit abused boy 1,000 times around world
CHICAGO (AP) - One day in May of 1970, an 11-year-old boy and his disabled sister were sitting on the curb outside a Chicago tavern, waiting for their mother to come out. When a priest with crinkly eyes and a ready smile happened by and offered the family a ride home, they could not have been happier.
The boy, Robert J. Goldberg, now 61, would pay dearly for the favor, enduring what he describes as years of psychological control and sexual abuse he suffered while working as a child valet for the late Rev. Donald J. McGuire. He remained in the Jesuit´s thrall for nearly 40 years, even volunteering to testify on McGuire´s behalf during criminal trials that ultimately resulted in a 25-year prison sentence for the priest.
But today, Goldberg says he has finally broken the hold McGuire once had on him. And he has begun to tell his story, in interviews with The Associated Press and in a lawsuit he filed Monday in California state court in San Francisco.
The lawsuit charges that McGuire, a globe-trotting Jesuit with ties to Saint Teresa of Calcutta, abused Goldberg "more than 1,000 times, in multiple states and countries," during sojourns to spiritual retreats throughout the United States and Europe.
On these trips, the lawsuit says, McGuire referred to Goldberg as his "protégé." All the while, the suit says, the boy carried his briefcase, ran errands and often endured daily abuse that included "sexual touching, oral copulation and anal penetration."
___
Ghosn in Lebanon, says he left Japan because of "injustice"
TOKYO (AP) - Nissan's former Chairman Carlos Ghosn says he is in Lebanon and has left Japan, where he faces a criminal trial.
Ghosn said in a statement through his representatives Tuesday that he was not fleeing justice, but instead seeking to avoid "injustice and political persecution."
He did not provide details on how he got out but promised to talk to reporters soon.
Ghosn was arrested in Japan about a year ago on various financial misconduct allegations and was out on bail, under conditions that did not allow travel abroad.
He has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities had trumped up charges to prevent a planned fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA.
___
Officials: Hanukkah attack suspect researched Hitler online
MONSEY, N.Y. (AP) - A man charged with federal hate crimes Monday in a bloody attack on a Hanukkah celebration had handwritten journals containing anti-Semitic references and had recently used his phone to look up information on Hitler and the location of synagogues, authorities said.
Grafton Thomas, 37, was held without bail after appearing in federal court in White Plains on five counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon. Five people were stabbed and slashed in the Saturday attack north of New York City.
A blood-stained 18-inch (45-centimeter) machete was recovered from his car, along with a knife smeared with dried blood and hair, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.
Thomas, his ankles shackled, shuffled into the courtroom in a prison jumpsuit, telling a judge who asked him if his head was clear that he was "not clear at all" and needed sleep. But he added: "I am coherent."
His court-appointed attorney, Susanne Brody, said Thomas has struggled with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Another attorney retained by his family, Michael Sussman, said Thomas had been hearing voices and may have stopped taking psychiatric medications recently.
___
Bot or not? Mystery over anonymous user retweeted by Trump
CHICAGO (AP) - The Twitter user goes by Gigi, though sometimes Sophia, Emma or Leona. The occupation is listed at various times as teacher, historian, documentary writer and model. There's been speculation about whether this person is really a woman - or even human. But bot or not, the account has gotten the attention of the president and his Twitter followers.
Just before midnight Friday, Trump retweeted a tweet from the user, then going by Surfermom77, that included the alleged name of the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint ultimately led to Trump´s impeachment by the House. Critics worry the move could invite retaliation against the individual.
The account highlights how the internet has given everyday Americans - and those posing as them - a direct line of communication to the president, even if people don't always know who they are.
While anonymity on Twitter allows people in oppressive communities to speak online freely, it can also allow people to harass others or spread bogus claims without accountability. When those tweets get to the president, they can quickly be retweeted to millions.
Twitter's rules permit bots and anonymous users as long as they refrain from online manipulation, racist imagery, violent threats or impersonation.
___
Powerful winter storm lingers in Upper Midwest
FARGO, N.D. (AP) - A fierce winter storm that created blizzard conditions in parts of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota shut down interstates, led to hundreds of vehicle crashes and brought a metropolitan area of more than 200,000 people to a standstill on Monday morning.
Residents in the Fargo and Moorhead, Minnesota area who are used to snowstorms were told to stay home after a foot of heavy, wet snow made that fell on top of a sheet of ice made travel difficult and stoked early fears about spring flooding.
"This is one the worst storms we've had, just because we had ice on the bottom of it and we received several more inches than we expected," Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney said. "We're telling people to be patient. Help your neighbor if you can. If you can make it a little easier for them to get around, please do that."
While the blizzard warnings were allowed to expire in the Dakotas and some portions of the interstate highways were allowed to open, the storm continued to linger in the region. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning in northeastern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where periods of heavy snow and gusty winds were expected to create difficult travel conditions.
Forecasters expected 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) to 14 inches (35.5 centimeters) of snow along Lake Superior's south shore. Wind gusts topping 60 mph whipped up waves that crashed over shoreline barriers in Duluth and Grand Marais, Minnesota, causing localized flooding Sunday.
___
Cliffs, jungle a big hurdle for feds in Hawaii copter crash
HONOLULU (AP) - The remote and rugged terrain on the Hawaiian island of Kauai where a sightseeing helicopter crashed, killing all seven people aboard, could make it difficult or even impossible to piece together what led to the wreck.
Federal investigators who arrived Sunday are calling the inaccessible area of steep cliffs and thick jungle canopies one of the most challenging crash sites they have seen.
Getting a team to the actual site was proving to be one of the initial challenges, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Eric Weiss said Monday.
"The logistics of this particular site are very challenging, even by NTSB standards," Weiss said. "I can't exaggerate the difficulty of the terrain."
Before the helicopter crashed on a mountaintop Thursday, it was set to tour the rugged Na Pali Coast, the picturesque and remote northern shoreline of Kauai that was featured in the film "Jurassic Park."
___
NYPD: Times Square safest place on Earth for New Year's Eve
NEW YORK (AP) - New York City´s counterterrorism czar expects Times Square to be "the safest place on the planet Earth" on New Year´s Eve.
Thousands of police officers will be on duty for Tuesday night's festivities, along with specialized units armed with long guns, bomb-sniffing dogs and other measures.
For the first time, police drones are expected to keep watch over the big, confetti-filled celebration - a year late after rain grounded the department's unmanned eye-in-the-sky last year.
This year's forecast calls for some clouds, but no rain and none of the bitter cold that iced out spectators two years ago.
The NYPD´s Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism, John Miller, said stacking various security tools and techniques gives police "multiple chances to catch something coming through."
___
3 years in, no sign of Trump's replacement for Obamacare
WASHINGTON (AP) - As a candidate for the White House, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that he would "immediately" replace President Barack Obama´s health care law with a plan of his own that would provide "insurance for everybody."
Back then, Trump made it sound that his plan - "much less expensive and much better" than the Affordable Care Act - was imminent. And he put drug companies on notice that their pricing power no longer would be "politically protected."
Nearly three years after taking office, Americans still are waiting for Trump´s big health insurance reveal. Prescription drug prices have edged lower, but with major legislation stuck in Congress it's unclear if that relief is the start of a trend or merely a blip.
Meantime the uninsured rate has gone up on Trump´s watch, rising in 2018 for the first time in nearly a decade to 8.5% of the population, or 27.5 million people, according to the Census Bureau.
"Every time Trump utters the words ACA or Obamacare, he ends up frightening more people," said Andy Slavitt, who served as acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama administration. He's "deepening their fear of what they have to lose."
___
Sharon Stone's dating profile restored after being blocked
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Sharon Stone can now return to mingling on Bumble without being kicked off the dating app.
A Bumble spokesperson said in a statement Monday that Stone´s profile has been restored after it was "mistakenly" blocked. The 61-year-old Golden Globe-winning actress said on Twitter the day before that Bumble closed her account and she asked, "Is being me exclusionary? Don't shut me out the hive."
Bumble apologized for the confusion but thought users could have viewed Stone´s profile as fake because there was no verification.
"Being the icon that she is, we can understand how so many of our users felt it was too good to be true once they noticed her profile wasn´t photo verified," the statement said. "Photo verification is just one of the many ways to connect with confidence on Bumble."
Bumble extended an offer to host Stone for a few hours of profile prep at their headquarters in Austin, Texas.
