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Creepiest doll contest held

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A Minnesota museum has turned its creepiest dolls loose just in time for Halloween. The History Center of Olmsted County in Rochester has posted photos and videos of its miniature terrors on social media, taking votes for the most nightmarish one. Curator Dan Nowakowski said for a lot of the dolls, the freakiness is all in the eyes. Some have movable eyelids that snap open when you lift the dolls up. The paint has chipped off the face of another contender, leaving it looking like a mummy. Nowakowski says the dolls weren’t intended to be frightening when they were made, but damage from play and the passage of time have turned them creepy. Voting continues through Thursday. The winner and runner-up will be displayed over Halloween.

Guitar-shaped hotel opens

HOLLYWOOD, Fla — It looks like a rock ‘n’ roll guitar that Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page would have played. But this one is 450 feet tall and is a light-beam hotel that the Seminole Tribe wants to become South Florida’s latest tourist destination. The Guitar Hotel had its grand opening Thursday on the tribe’s land in Hollywood, once only a trailer park and some smoke shops. It’s the latest step in the Seminole Hard Rock empire, which includes naming rights on the Miami-area stadium where the 2020 Super Bowl will be played. “It really is special,” said Mitchell Cypress, vice chairman of the Seminole tribal council. “The Seminoles now are known throughout the world.” It’s a unique addition to South Florida’s tourist landscape and no hotel is like it in the world. It has more than 600 rooms and at night, beams of light will mimic the strings of the guitar. The $1.5 billion project also has a refurbished venue for concerts and other events, starting with Maroon 5 on Friday and continuing with artists such as Sting and Billy Joel. It has a giant pool and lagoon, retail shops, restaurants, and of course gambling.

Costs soar, Amazon’s profit fall

NEW YORK — Amazon’s push for faster delivery is hurting its profits. The online retailer said its third-quarter net income fell 26% from a year ago, missing Wall Street expectations. Its sales outlook for the holiday shopping season also disappointed analysts, and its stock sank 7% in after-hours trading. Amazon is moving to cut its delivery time in half to one day instead of two. To do that, it’s adding more workers in its warehouses and expanding its shipping network with more trucks, jets and package sorting facilities. The effort is costing the company about $1.5 billion, nearly double what it previously said it would cost. But Amazon said the one-day shipping is attracting more customers and gets shoppers to spend more. “It’s a big investment,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in a statement. “And it’s the right long-term decision for customers.” The Seattle-based company reported net income of $2.1 billion in the three months ending Sept. 30, down from $2.9 billion a year ago. Earnings per share came to $4.23. That’s 36 cents less than what analysts expected.

Fast recovery after big extinction

NEW YORK — A remarkable trove of fossils from Colorado has revealed details of how mammals grew larger and plants evolved after the cataclysm that killed the dinosaurs. The thousands of specimens let scientists trace that history over a span of 1 million years, a mere eyeblink in Earth’s lifespan. Sixty-six million years ago, a large meteorite smashed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula of southeastern Mexico. It unleashed broiling waves of heat and filled the sky with aerosols that blotted out the sun for months, killing off plants and the animals that depended on them. More than three-quarters of species on Earth died out. But life came back, and land mammals began to expand from being small creatures into the wide array of forms we see today — including us. So the new find taps into “the origin of the modern world,” said Tyler Lyson The fossils were recovered from an area of steep bluffs covering about 10 square miles near Colorado Springs, starting three years ago. Lyson, of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, found little in that area when he followed the standard practice of scanning for bits of bone. But that changed when he began looking instead for rocks that can form around bone. When the rocks were broken open, skulls and other fossils within were revealed. Lyson said it’s not clear how wide a geographic region the fossils’ story of recovery applies to, but that he thinks they show what happened over North America. “We just know so little about this everywhere on the globe At least now we have at one spot a fantastic record.”

Smart watch saves hikers

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, N.J. — A man says he and his hiking companion were rescued after they fell off a cliff in New Jersey because the impact spurred his smart watch to call 911. James Prudenciano and Paige Paruso were hiking in Hartshorne Woods Park in Atlantic Highlands last week when they got lost in the woods. They eventually tumbled down a steep cliff as darkness set in. Prudenciano had bought the watch two days earlier and chose to activate the “fall detection” feature, which alerts the owner’s emergency contacts and calls 911 when it detects that its user has fallen. Rescuers were eventually able to reach the couple, who were taken ashore by a boat.

Brad Pitt, others can be sued

NEW ORLEANS — A judge has denied actor Brad Pitt’s request to be taken off a lawsuit that says his Make it Right Foundation built shoddy homes in the New Orleans area that was hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina. Pitt and other foundation directors asked the court to remove them from the lawsuit, saying they weren’t personally responsible for the construction. Judge Rachael Johnson denied the request last week. Two homeowners filed the suit. Their attorney, Ron Austin, says the homes built by the foundation in the Lower Ninth Ward have infrastructural issues and residents have reported being sick. More than 100 green Make It Right houses were built in 2008. The foundation sued the principal architect last year saying his designs were defective.

Man set on fire by cop’s stun gun

WEED, Calif — A suicidal man who had doused himself in a flammable liquid caught fire and was severely burned when a police officer fired a stun gun at him in Northern California. Paul Jason “PJ” Hall, 47, is fighting for his life with burns covering 70% of his body, the Redding Record Searchlight newspaper reported Wednesday. Hall has a history of mental illness, his relatives said. The police officer also suffered burns during the confrontation Oct. 12 in the town of Weed. Hall’s nephew, Spencer Hall, said he witnessed the confrontation and said the officer used the stun gun after his uncle refused to drop the lighter he was holding. “As soon as the Taser was deployed, the fire literally hit the ceiling,” said Spencer Hall, who questioned why the officer didn’t try to de-escalate the situation. “It was force from the get-go. And I don’t know why.”

Ground-up feathers in pet food

ST. LOUIS — The manager of a Texas processing plant has pleaded guilty in a conspiracy to sell adulterated ingredients to pet food manufacturers. Federal prosecutors say 48-year-old William Douglas Haning pleaded guilty to two charges Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. Haning was operations manager of a Wilbur-Ellis Co. processing plant in Rosser, Texas. The company has already paid more than $4.5 million in restitution. Federal authorities say Wilbur-Ellis substituted lower cost ingredients for chicken and turkey meal in shipments from a Texas plant to pet food manufacturers. Some shipments included ground-up feathers. The ingredients posed no health threat to animals that ate the pet food.

Cash deputy photo donated

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A sheriff has presented the Johnny Cash Museum proof that the late musician who famously cultivated an image as an outlaw was in fact granted law enforcement authority decades ago. Nashville Sheriff Daron Hall gave the museum a blown-up image of Cash’s September 1979 deputy sheriff commission card. It was issued by then-Davidson County Sheriff Fate Thomas and features Cash’s headshot, fingerprint and signature. Hall says his photographer found a photo of the card, which has been talked about for years. It’s unclear where the original card is. The card authorized Cash to “… Arrest any and all persons violating the Criminal laws of the State of Tennessee.”

Colleges face medical pot suits

HARTFORD, Conn. — Colleges are becoming a battleground in the conflict between federal and state marijuana laws as students who use medical pot challenge decades-old campus drug policies. In states where medical marijuana is legal, students disciplined for using it are taking their schools to court. College officials argue they could lose federal funding for failing to follow federal law that labels cannabis an illegal drug with no accepted medical use. Sheida Assar said she was expelled from GateWay Community College in Phoenix last month for violating the school’s drug policy after she tested positive for marijuana, which she uses to treat chronic pain from polycystic ovary syndrome. She was studying diagnostic medical sonography, Assar said, and an instructor had told her she wouldn’t have any problems if she presented her Arizona medical marijuana card. She typically uses marijuana to help her sleep and had never been under the influence in class, she said. “They yanked me out of class in the middle of the school day,” said Assar, 31, of Chandler, Arizona. “They escorted me to the administration like I was a … criminal. It’s discrimination, and it also violates my rights under the Arizona medical marijuana law.”

Probe expands in truck deaths

LONDON — All 39 people found dead in a refrigerated container truck near an English port were Chinese citizens, British police confirmed Thursday as they investigated one of the country’s deadliest cases of people smuggling. The Essex Police force said 31 men and eight women were found dead in the truck early Wednesday at an industrial park in Grays, a town 25 miles east of London. A magistrate gave detectives another 24 hours to question the driver, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland who has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He has not been charged, and police have not released his name. Police in Northern Ireland searched three properties there as detectives sought to piece together how the truck’s cab, its container and the victims came together on such a deadly journey. Pippa Mills, deputy chief of Essex Police, said the process of conducting post-mortem examinations and identifying the victims would be “lengthy and complex.”

Son of Christian artist dies

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Christian artist TobyMac has recalled the artistry of his 21-year-old son, who was found dead in Nashville, Tennessee, this week. TobyMac praised Truett Foster Mckeehan as a “magnetic son, brother and friend” in a statement released Thursday, a day after McKeehan was found dead in a Nashville home. A representative for TobyMac said Mckeenhan died sometime “Tuesday night or Wednesday morning” and a cause of death has not been determined. TobyMac has won seven Grammys, both as a solo artist and as a member of the Christian rap/rock group DC Talk.

2 charged with capital murder

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Prosecutors on Thursday charged two people with capital murder for the death of a 3-year-old Alabama girl whose body was found in a dumpster after she disappeared from a birthday party. Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr announced in a press conference that 39-year-old Patrick Devone Stallworth and 29-year-old Derick Irisha Brown, are charged with capital murder of a child under age 14. He said they are being held without bond. Capital murder carries a possible death penalty.

Red-light runner comes close

PHOENIX — A woman and her daughter are thankful to be alive after a crash involving a red-light runner who nearly struck a couple pushing a stroller across a busy west Phoenix intersection. Traffic video released Wednesday by Phoenix police shows a car driven by Shannon Vivar making a right turn and unintentionally knocking a speeding vehicle out of the way just seconds before it likely would have mowed down a man, his wife and their 1-year-old son. The family was crossing the street to get to a grocery store after exiting a bus. They escaped injury. “I don’t really think I’m a hero. I kind of think it was meant to happen,” Vivar, 27, said at a news conference Thursday. Vivar suffered minor injuries in the crash. Her mother, Shirley, also was in the car at the time along with her daughter’s 3-year-old son. “I yelled, ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Shannon!’ And then we collided,” Shirley Vivar said. “It was the wrong time at the wrong place, but then the right time at the right place. We’re all blessed that we’re all alive.” Police said Ernesto Otanez Oveso, 28, was driving impaired when he ran that red light in the late-night hours of Oct. 14 and then drove off after the crash with Vivar’s vehicle. Police say he later pulled a knife on another driver, who was a witness to the crash and followed Oveso from the scene.

Florida may loosen sports reins

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Following California’s lead, Florida lawmakers are tackling NCAA rules that prohibit college athletes from reaping financial benefits from their prowess in the arena of big-money sports. With a bounty of marquee college sports programs, Florida could help student athletes flex their muscles as they take on the NCAA, which governs college athletics and has long resisted calls to allow student athletes to profit from their collegiate sports careers. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave the effort in Florida a political boost Thursday when he appeared with a bipartisan group of lawmakers and two former star football players from Florida State University. “When I look for good policy ideas, California is usually not the first place I look. But I think California is on the right track,” said DeSantis, a Republican. “California did the first step. If Florida then follows suit — it’s not as if Delaware is doing this — these are really big powerhouse states when it comes to college athletics, and I think that’s going to require the NCAA to reevaluate.”

Johnson seeks Dec. 12 election

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has finally abandoned his promise of an October Brexit and pinned his hopes on a December election. Two days after lawmakers stymied Johnson’s latest attempt to pass his European Union divorce deal, he said Thursday that the only way to break Britain’s Brexit impasse was a general election. Johnson said he would ask lawmakers to vote Monday on a motion calling a national poll for Dec. 12. To hold an election Johnson must win a vote — by a two-thirds majority — among lawmakers. That looked like a tough task, with the main opposition Labour Party saying it would only back an election once the risk of Britain crashing out of the EU on Oct. 31 — its scheduled departure date — had been removed. Parliament has already dealt Johnson a series of setbacks and derailed his promise to take Britain out of the EU by the end of the month, “come what may.” The most recent blow came Tuesday, when lawmakers blocked Johnson’s attempt to fast-track an EU divorce bill through Parliament in a matter of days, saying they needed more time to scrutinize the legislation.

Pence takes swipe at NBA, Nike

WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence took a swipe at Nike and the NBA on Thursday in a speech criticizing communist China’s record on trade and human rights, saying American corporations have been too willing to ignore censorship and repression in pursuit of profits. Pence singled out the shoe company for removing Houston Rockets merchandise from stores in China after the team’s general manager angered the Chinese government with a tweet supporting anti-government protesters in Hong Kong. The NBA was acting like a “wholly owned subsidiary” of China’s “authoritarian regime” for failing to stand up to the government’s criticism of Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey, he said. “Nike promotes itself as a so-called ‘social-justice champion,’ but when it comes to Hong Kong, it prefers checking its social conscience at the door,” the vice president said in a speech laying out the Trump administration’s approach to China. The speech was delivered as President Donald Trump seeks to close a new trade deal with China, with Pence cast in a hardline role. He criticized past administrations for tolerating unfair economic and trade practices and repressing Chinese citizens.

Bid farewell to Cummings

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress bid a tearful farewell Thursday to Rep. Elijah Cummings , hailing the son of sharecroppers as a “master of the House” as the Maryland Democrat became the first African American lawmaker to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol. Lawmakers eulogized Cummings as a mentor and close friend, with a voice that could “shake mountains,” in the words of Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, and a passion for justice and his hometown of Baltimore. “He had a smile that would consume his whole face. But he also had eyes that would pierce through anybody that was standing in his way,” said Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, whose bond with the Cummings was among Congress’s most surprising friendships. “Perhaps this place and this country would be better served with a few more unexpected friendships,” Meadows added, growing emotional. “I know I’ve been blessed by one.” Cummings’ death at 68 on Oct. 17 stunned and saddened many on Capitol Hill accustomed to seeing him with the gavel as chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee — or zipping by on his scooter between votes. On Thursday, his casket rested in National Statuary Hall for the service and was later moved to a passage directly in front of the House chamber, where he served for 23 years. The doors were pinned open in his honor as the public filed past.

Syria says Turks attacked troops

BEIRUT — Turkish forces and their allies attacked Syrian government troops in northeastern Syria on Thursday, killing some of them, and they also clashed with Kurdish-led fighters, the state news agency in Damascus and a war monitoring group said. The fighting underscored the risks of violence as multiple and often opposing armed forces jostle for new positions in the tight quarters of the northeastern border zone. Most worrisome has been the prospect of a collision between forces of the Syrian government’ and those backed by Turkey, which include Syrian rebel fighters and Islamic extremists opposed to President Bashar Assad. All sides have said they are abiding by a cease-fire as they implement a Russian-Turkish agreement that divides up the border region. But frictions could undermine the effort for a resolution on the border, which U.S. forces were abruptly ordered to leave earlier this month, allowing Turkey to launch its invasion against Kurdish fighters. Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said Turkish troops and its allied fighters attacked Syrian army positions outside the town of Tal Tamr. The Syrian troops fought back and suffered “martyrs and wounded,” it reported without elaborating. Separately, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said three of its fighters were killed in fighting with Turkish-backed forces.

Sea urchins wreaks destruction

NEWPORT, Ore. — Tens of millions of voracious purple sea urchins that have already chomped their way through towering underwater kelp forests in California are spreading north to Oregon, sending the delicate marine ecosystem off the shore into such disarray that other critical species are starving to death. A recent count found 350 million purple sea urchins on one Oregon reef alone — more than a 10,000% increase since 2014. And in Northern California, 90% of the giant bull kelp forests have been devoured by the urchins, perhaps never to return. Vast “urchin barrens” — stretches of denuded seafloor dotted with nothing but hundreds of the spiny orbs — have spread to coastal Oregon, where kelp forests were once so thick it was impossible to navigate some areas by boat. The underwater annihilation is killing off important fisheries for red abalone and red sea urchins and creating such havoc that scientists in California are partnering with a private business to collect the over-abundant purple urchins and “ranch” them in a controlled environment for ultimate sale to a global seafood market. “We’re in uncharted territory,” said Scott Groth, a shellfish scientist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “You can’t just go out and smash them. There’s too many. I don’t know what we can do.”