Nor'easter hits East Coast, grounds flights and halts trains

BOSTON (AP) — A nor'easter pounded the Atlantic coast with hurricane-force winds and sideways rain and snow Friday, flooding streets, grounding flights, stopping trains and leaving 1.6 million customers without power from North Carolina to Maine. At least five people were killed by falling trees or branches.

The storm submerged cars and toppled tractor-trailers, sent waves higher than a two-story house crashing into the Massachusetts coast, forced schools and businesses to close early and caused a rough ride for passengers aboard a flight that landed at Dulles Airport outside Washington.

"Pretty much everyone on the plane threw up," a pilot wrote in a report to the National Weather Service.

The Eastern Seaboard was hammered by gusts exceeding 50 mph, with winds of 80 to 90 mph on Cape Cod. Ohio and upstate New York got a foot or more of snow. Boston and Rhode Island were expected to get 2 to 5 inches.

The storm killed at least five people, including a 77-year-old woman struck by a branch outside her home near Baltimore. Fallen trees also killed a man and a 6-year-old boy in different parts of Virginia, an 11-year-old boy in New York state and a man in Newport, Rhode Island.

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Police: Parents gunned down by their son on college campus

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — More than 100 police officers, some heavily armed in camouflage uniforms, searched neighbourhoods near Central Michigan University on Friday for a 19-year-old student suspected of killing his parents at a dormitory and then running from campus.

The shooting at Campbell Hall happened on a day when parents were arriving to pick up students for the beginning of a week-long spring break.

Police released a photo of James Eric Davis Jr., urging the public to call 911 if they see him but also warning that he shouldn't be confronted. Hours after a campus lockdown, police started a "slow, methodical removal" of staff and students who were ordered to take shelter in campus buildings, Lt. Larry Klaus said.

"He should be considered armed and dangerous," Klaus said of Davis.

The university identified the two dead as his mother Diva Davis and father James Davis Sr., a part-time police officer in the Chicago suburb of Bellwood. The shooting occurred around 8:30 a.m. at a residence hall at Central Michigan, which is about 70 miles (112.6 kilometres) north of Lansing.

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China: Trump's tariffs to have 'huge impact' on global trade

BEIJING (AP) — China has warned that U.S. President Donald Trump's vow to impose high tariffs on steel and aluminum would have a "huge impact" on the global trading order and said Beijing would work with other nations to protect its interests.

A Commerce Ministry official said late Friday that Trump's plan to levy tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum would "seriously damage multilateral trade mechanisms represented by the World Trade Organization and will surely have huge impact on normal international trade order."

"If the final measures of the United States hurt Chinese interests, China will work with other affected countries in taking measures to safeguard its own rights and interests," Wang Hejun, head of the ministry's trade remedy and investigation bureau, said in a statement on the ministry's website.

Chinese leaders have threatened in the past to retaliate if Trump raises trade barriers, but now need to weigh whether to back up those threats with action and risk jeopardizing U.S. market access for smartphones and other exports that matter more to their economy than metals.

"China will definitely respond. It doesn't want to be seen as weak. But it will be relatively restrained," said economist Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics. "They don't want to be seen as a party that is wrecking the international trading system."

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Roy Moore pleads for money, saying resources 'depleted'

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore is pleading for money to pay for his legal bills as he fights a lawsuit against a woman who says he molested her when she was 14.

Moore said on a campaign Facebook page Thursday that his "resources have been depleted." The link indicated that Moore had raised just $32,000 of a $250,000 fundraising goal.

Leigh Corfman has accused Moore of touching her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. She is suing Moore, saying Moore and his campaign defamed her as he denied the allegations.

Moore has sent multiple emails to supporters seeking donations to the fund since losing the 2017 election to Democratic Sen. Doug Jones.

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Billy Graham funeral: Evangelist's children carry on crusade

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Rev. Billy Graham's children remembered "America's Pastor" on Friday as a man devoted to spreading the Gospel, living his life at home as he preached it in stadiums, with a personable humility and an unwavering focus on the Bible. As his oldest son told the funeral congregation, "There weren't two Billy Grahams."

His adult children — all speakers or preachers in their own right — recalled being taught by their parents how to read Scripture aloud and deliver sermons, but also taking quiet walks with their father and feeling his embrace even when they made mistakes.

Franklin Graham, who delivered the main funeral message, said all of those qualities were part of the whole.

"The Billy Graham that the world saw on television, the Billy Graham that the world saw in the big stadiums, was the same Billy Graham that we saw at home. There weren't two Billy Grahams," he said. "He loved his family. He stood by us. He comforted us."

Franklin Graham's funeral message, which included a Gospel call to repentance and salvation, followed shorter remarks by his siblings in a service that lasted just over an hour before an invitation-only crowd of approximately 2,000.

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Trump leaves lawmakers hanging on gun priorities

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his quest to tackle gun violence, President Donald Trump has ricocheted between calling for tougher laws and declaring his fealty to the Second Amendment's right to bear arms, leaving a trail of befuddled lawmakers and advocates in his wake.

One thing he still has not done: clearly outline his legislative priorities.

Washington's week closed Friday without further explanation from the president, the White House indicating that for now, at least, he is backing an incremental proposal on background checks and a bill that would provide new federal dollars to stem school violence.

Just what Trump would like to see in the "beautiful" and "comprehensive" bill he called for earlier in the week remained unclear. That comment came at a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers Wednesday, which was quickly followed by a private session with the National Rifle Association on Thursday.

"Good (Great) meeting in the Oval Office tonight with the NRA!" Trump tweeted Thursday night.

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Marion Barry statue to pay tribute to a flawed DC icon

WASHINGTON (AP) — For many Americans, Marion Barry was something of a punchline. The late Washington mayor was largely known around the country for having been caught on video smoking crack cocaine in a 1990 FBI sting.

But inside the District of Columbia, Barry's legacy is far more complicated and emotional. The man who dominated a generation of Washington politics is adored by many as a champion of civil rights and advocate for the city's downtrodden.

These complexities will be on display this weekend when a bronze statue of Barry, who died in 2014, will be unveiled outside the Washington City Council building. The 8-foot statue by sculptor Steven Weitzman will loom over Pennsylvania Avenue just blocks from the White House.

The move to honour Barry in such a way may seem mystifying to non-Washingtonians. But among Barry's supporters, the statue is an appropriate tribute to a legitimate DC icon — a man so popular and influential that he walked out of federal prison and immediately began winning elections again with one of the most improbable comebacks in American political history.

"He was a living legend," said City Councilman Trayon White, during an appearance Thursday on an influential local radio show hosted by Kojo Nnamdi. "Marion Barry was an integral part of getting DC where it is today... To honour a man like that who touched so many people — it's right for the city."

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Report: Deputies told to form perimeter at school shooting

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — A sheriff's office captain told deputies to form a perimeter instead of rushing into the Florida high school where 17 people were killed in a mass shooting, according to documents obtained by the Miami Herald.

The newspaper reported late Thursday that it had obtained a partial Broward Sheriff's Office dispatch log, which showed that Capt. Jan Jordan gave the order for deputies to establish a perimeter.

An earlier report on the call logs published by Fox News showed that the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School would have been over by the time Jordan gave her order.

However, the log may raise fresh questions about the department's handling of the mass shooting on Feb. 14, including whether police could have gone in sooner to help the wounded.

"If detectives had answers to all of the questions, then there would be no need for an investigation," sheriff's office spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright wrote in an email to the Herald late Thursday.

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French stars say 'Time's Up,' seek equality at film awards

PARIS (AP) — The French film world may be having its #MeToo moment.

One after another, stars showed up at the industry's top awards show Friday wearing a white ribbon in a protest against sexual misconduct. Throughout the Cesar Awards ceremony, presenters and winners referenced the movement that has campaigned for an end to abuses by powerful men.

And the packed concert hall stood in ovation as the presenter called on everyone to support the #MaintenantOnAgit (Now We Act) campaign launched this week, aimed at raising money to help women pursue legal complaints against abusers.

Anger over sexual violence and demands for gender equality in the cinema industry charged the atmosphere around this year's Cesars — much like around the Oscars coming up Sunday in Hollywood.

Instead of wearing black — as actors in the U.S. and Britain have done at recent awards shows — French stars chose to wear a white ribbon to make their statement.

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$275K going to family of each person slain in Vegas shooting

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A $31.5 million victims' fund that started as a GoFundMe effort announced plans Friday to pay $275,000 to the families of each of the 58 people killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

The Las Vegas Victims Fund said the maximum $275,000 also will be paid to 10 other people who were paralyzed or suffered permanent brain damage in the Oct. 1 shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.

The non-profit posted a chart projecting payments on a scale to a total of 532 people, including more than $10 million divided among 147 people who were hospitalized.

"In no way can it replace someone's life," said Al Etcheber, the brother-in-law of Stacee Etcheber, who died when a gunman fired from a high-rise casino hotel into a country music festival below. "Still, it is a real nice way to help families who lost someone they loved."

Stacee Etcheber was married to Al's brother, San Francisco Police Officer Vincent Etcheber. The 50-year-old mother of two children worked as a hairdresser in Novato, California.

News from © The Associated Press, 2018