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Nation and World

Spud cartel: Grocers allege potato group pumped up prices

A U.S. wholesale grocer says America’s potato farmers have run an illegal price-fixing cartel for a decade, driving up spud prices while spying on farmers with satellites and aircraft fly-overs to enforce strict limits on how many tubers they can grow.

 
Police: Four dead in St. Louis murder-suicide

An argument inside a St. Louis business escalated into gun violence Thursday when a man shot three other people before turning the gun on himself, police said.

THE LATEST
Census: Rural U.S. communities shrink for first time

WASHINGTON — Rural America is losing population for the first time ever, largely because of waning interest among baby boomers in moving to far-flung locations for retirement and recreation, according to new census estimates.

Homeless woman ordered to get help after 396 arrests

A homeless Chicago woman who has been arrested 396 times in the past 35 years has been ordered by a judge to get mental health and substance abuse treatment.

 
1 dead, at least 30 injured in Louisiana plant explosion

GEISMAR, La. — State police say at least one person was killed and at least 30 were injured in an explosion and fire at a chemical plant in Louisiana.

 
Inspector in Philadelphia building collapse commits suicide

PHILADELPHIA — A veteran inspector who surveyed a downtown building weeks before it collapsed, killing six people, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound a week after the accident, authorities said Thursday.

Racial shift seen in youngest group of U.S. population

WASHINGTON — For the first time, America’s racial and ethnic minorities now make up about half of the under-5 age group, the government said Thursday. It’s a historic shift that shows how young people are at the forefront of sweeping changes by race and class.

Jellyfish stings end Australian’s Cuba-to-Florida swim attempt

HAVANA — Australian endurance swimmer Chloe McCardel ended her attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida after 11 hours in the water when she was stung by a jellyfish Wednesday night.

 
Three wildfires burn out of control in Colorado

A wildfire fueled by hot temperatures, gusty winds and thick, bone-dry forests has destroyed 92 homes, damaged five more and prompted more than 7,000 residents northeast of Colorado Springs to flee, sheriff’s official said Wednesday.

Storms pelt Midwest with rain, winds, hail

CHICAGO — An unusually massive line of storms packing hail, lightning and tree-toppling winds was rolling through the Midwest on Wednesday and could affect more than one in five Americans from Iowa to Maryland.

NSA director: Phone surveillance disrupted dozens of attacks

WASHINGTON — The director of the National Security Agency said Wednesday that once-secret surveillance programs disrupted dozens of terrorist attacks, explicitly describing for Congress how the programs worked in collecting Americans’ phone records and tapping into their Internet activity.

NSA leaker mysterious despite hours of interviews

WASHINGTON — The man who told the world about the U.S. government’s gigantic data grab also talks a lot about himself.