In Brief: Nation & World: 11-8-16

Elbowing each other all the way, Trump, Clinton near finish

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Straining toward the finish line of the wildly unpredictable White House race, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump blitzed through battleground states Monday in a final bid to energize supporters. Clinton urged voters to embrace a “hopeful, inclusive, bighearted America,” while Trump called for support to “beat the corrupt system.”

The candidates planned to campaign late into the night, a frenzied end to a bitter election year that has laid bare the nation’s deep economic and cultural divides.

Clinton opened the day Monday buoyed by FBI Director James Comey’s announcement Sunday that he would not recommend criminal charges against her following a new email review. The inquiry had sapped a surging Clinton momentum at a crucial moment in the race, though she still heads into Election Day with multiple paths to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become the nation’s first female president.

“I think I have some work to do to bring the country together,” she acknowledged as she boarded her plane for her last battleground tour. “I really do want to be the president for everybody.”

As Clinton took the stage in Pittsburgh, supporters yelled out, “We love you” — an unusual occurrence for the Democratic presidential candidate who has sometimes struggled to connect with voters.

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FBI’s big test: Clinton email probe raises political doubts

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI’s handling of its Hillary Clinton email probe has undercut the bureau’s carefully crafted image as a respected law enforcement organization unquestionably outside the political fray.

The yearlong investigation thrust the FBI into the thick of an already fractious presidential race, entangled in a way that strained its vaunted independence and cracked its prized reputation for silence about its work.

Even after Tuesday’s election, FBI Director James Comey is sure to face second-guessing over his public statements that opened the curtain on normally secret investigative details.

“This has been a very difficult election process. Unfortunately, the FBI has been drawn into it,” said Leo Taddeo, a retired FBI supervisor.

Although Comey signaled a conclusion to the Clinton email matter with a letter to Congress on Sunday, the discussion continues. Lawmakers demand answers to questions left unresolved by two vague and ambiguous Comey letters. Clinton and her aides feel wronged by the disclosure of “new” emails less than two weeks before Election Day. And ex-prosecutors of both parties are concerned the bureau’s actions strayed from its mandate to steer clear of politics.

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Iraqi Kurdish forces advance as mass grave found near Mosul

NEAR BASHIQA, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi Kurdish fighters exchanged heavy fire with militants on Monday as they entered a town held by the Islamic State group east of Mosul, while troops advancing south of the city discovered a mass grave containing some 100 decapitated bodies.

The offensive to reclaim the town of Bashiqa is part of the broader push to drive IS out of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, relieving those living under its occupation from the type of brutality, such as mass killings, that the group has committed.

IS militants have carried out a series of massacres since seizing large swaths of southern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014, often documenting them with photos and videos circulated online. On Monday, Iraqi soldiers advancing into the town of Hamam al-Alil, south of Mosul, discovered a pit containing dozens of decapitated skeletal remains, the military’s Joint Military Command said.

The offensive to retake Bashiqa began at dawn with a Kurdish barrage of heavy artillery, Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds slamming into IS positions, providing cover for the advance of armored columns.

Smoke rose from the town throughout the day, with large explosions sending dark clouds into the sky.

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American volunteer medics treat casualties of Mosul combat

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — When Iraqi forces pushed into Mosul’s urban center last week, Derek Coleman, an American volunteer medic, was among those treating the wounded at a front-line field clinic.

He said he helped treat 44 casualties before he lost count.

“I think the Iraqi (military) got an awakening when they pushed too far forward,” Coleman said, flipping through a notebook he uses to keep records of his cases. In all, 12 soldiers died at the clinic on Friday, he said. “We had two Humvees just loaded with dead bodies.”

As Iraqi forces struggle to secure the gains they made on Mosul’s eastern edge, the fight against Islamic State militants has quickly transformed into close-quarters urban combat. With it, casualties among Iraq’s troops and civilians are spiking, though Iraq’s military has not released official death tolls.

As Coleman spoke, hundreds of civilians could be seen in the distance pouring out of Mosul on foot, many holding white flags made of scraps of dishtowels, torn clothing and pillowcases. Iraqi soldiers gathered them on street corners and loaded them on trucks to be taken to camps for the displaced.

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Investigators expand search for remains following confession

WOODRUFF, S.C. (AP) — Law enforcement investigators have expanded their search for human remains beyond the South Carolina property where they discovered a woman chained inside a storage container after the landowner confessed to a 13-year-old quadruple slaying and led them to graves where he says two bodies are buried.

Todd Kohlhepp, 45, became a suspect in at least seven deaths in the days after a woman was found Thursday chained by her neck and ankle in a metal storage container on his 95-acre property near rural Woodruff.

The body of her boyfriend was found a day later. Following his arrest, Kohlhepp confessed to a 2003 quadruple slaying at a motorcycle shop in the small town of Chesnee, said Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright. He was denied bond Sunday on four murder charges for gunning down the motorcycle shop’s owner, service manager, mechanic and bookkeeper.

Wright has said Kohlhepp gave details only the killer would know. His confession came a day before the 13th anniversary of the crime, which many feared would never be solved.

Before his confession, authorities granted three requests, WSPA-TV reported (http://bit.ly/2fwxkwb ): One was to transfer money to a girl Kohlhepp says he’s helping raise, to help pay for college. The second was to give his mother a photograph, and the third was to let him talk to his mother.

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Official: 40 to 50 buildings damaged in Oklahoma earthquake

CUSHING, Okla. (AP) — Dozens of buildings sustained “substantial damage” after a 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck an Oklahoma town that’s home to one of the world’s key oil hubs, but officials said Monday that no damage has been reported at the oil terminal.

Cushing City Manager Steve Spears said 40 to 50 buildings were damaged in Sunday’s earthquake, which was the third in Oklahoma this year with a magnitude of 5.0 or greater. No major injuries have been reported, and Spears said the damage included cracks to buildings and fallen bricks and facades.

Oklahoma has had thousands of earthquakes in recent years, with nearly all traced to the underground injection of wastewater left over from oil and gas production. Sunday’s quake was centered 1 mile west of Cushing and about 25 miles south of where a magnitude 4.3 quake forced a shutdown of several wells last week. Some longtime Cushing residents said Monday they’ve become accustomed to the unsettled ground beneath their feet. Others shrugged it off as a cost of doing business living next to an oil hub.

Fearing aftershocks, police cordoned off older parts of the city about 50 miles northeast of Oklahoma City to keep gawkers away late Sunday, and geologists confirmed that several small quakes have rumbled the area. Spears said an assisted living community had been evacuated after damage was reported. The Cushing Public School District canceled Monday classes.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation reported Sunday night that no highway or bridge damage was found within a 15-mile radius of the earthquake’s epicenter.

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Geologists explain Oklahoma earthquakes, ponder ‘unknown’

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Thousands of earthquakes have rattled Oklahoma and neighboring states in recent years, with the most significant portion traced to the underground injection of wastewater left over from oil and gas production. The latest strong temblor — a magnitude 5.0 — damaged dozens of buildings in Cushing, Oklahoma, but spared a major oil terminal and caused no major injuries.

Here’s a look at earthquakes in Oklahoma and what the future may hold:

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WHY DOES OKLAHOMA HAVE SO MANY EARTHQUAKES?

Scientists have linked Oklahoma’s earthquakes to the underground disposal of wastewater during oil and gas production. Virtually every well produces some water along with the oil and gas that is pumped out of the ground. But wells in Oklahoma bring up a lot more — as much as 10 to 50 barrels of water for every barrel of oil produced. That is far more water than is produced from wells in other U.S. energy producing areas like those in North Dakota where wastewater injection has not triggered earthquakes.

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Janet Reno, former US attorney general, dies at age 78

MIAMI (AP) — Janet Reno, who was the first woman to serve as U.S. attorney general but also became the epicenter of multiple political storms during the Clinton administration, died early Monday. She was 78.

Reno died from complications of Parkinson’s disease, her goddaughter Gabrielle D’Alemberte said, adding that Reno spent her final days at home in Miami surrounded by family and friends.

A former Miami prosecutor who famously told reporters “I don’t do spin,” Reno served nearly eight years as attorney general under President Bill Clinton, the longest stint in a century.

Her sister, Maggy Reno Hurchalla, told The Associated Press that Clinton called over the weekend said to “tell Janet I love her” and that many others from her career visited or called, including former Florida governor and Sen. Bob Graham. Bill and Hillary Clinton issued a statement praising Reno’s tenure and President Barack Obama called her “an American original” in his own statement.

“When Janet Reno arrived in Washington in 1993, the city had never seen anyone like her before — and hasn’t since,” Obama said. “Her legacy lives on in a generation of lawyers she inspired, the ordinary lives she touched, and a nation that is more just.”

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Early voting: Record levels in 2016 may give Clinton edge

WASHINGTON (AP) — A record number of Americans have voted ahead of Election Day, driven by soaring turnout from Latino voters. That could be good news for Hillary Clinton.

At least 43.2 million people have cast ballots by early voting — by mail or at polling stations, according to Associated Press data. Record levels have been reported in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Millions more ballots are still coming in.

The AP estimates that early votes could top 50 million. That comes to nearly 40 percent of all ballots in a presidential election expected to have high turnout overall due to intense public interest. In 2012, there were 46 million early votes, or 35 percent.

“Interest in early voting has been unprecedented in many states,” said Michael McDonald, a University of Florida professor and expert on voter turnout who is a consultant to AP.

The latest numbers show declines in voting from blacks in North Carolina — a drop-off after historic levels for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. But higher turnout by Latinos, who often lean Democratic, may be buoying Clinton in Florida. Both are must-win states for Donald Trump.

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In rare step, China bars 2 Hong Kong lawmakers from office

BEIJING (AP) — China’s top legislature took the rare step Monday of intervening directly in a local Hong Kong political dispute by effectively barring two legally elected separatist lawmakers from taking office, setting the stage for further turmoil in the semiautonomous city.

Beijing moved to deny the two a second chance to take their oaths after being disqualified on their initial attempt last month for using anti-China insults and foul language. But the maneuver circumvented Hong Kong’s courts, raising fears that the city’s independent judiciary is being undermined.

The decision was intended to nip in the bud the rise of separatist sentiment, but it has raised the specter of more political unrest in Hong Kong. Major street demonstrations two years ago failed to win greater democracy but spawned an independence movement.

On Sunday, thousands rallied against the anticipated, Chinese government announcement. Police used pepper spray and batons against demonstrators trying to reach Beijing’s liaison office. Four people were arrested and two officers were injured, police said.

The dispute centers on pro-independence lawmakers Sixtus Leung, 30, and Yau Wai-ching, 25, who altered their oaths to insert a disparaging Japanese expression for China. Displaying a flag reading “Hong Kong is not China,” they vowed to defend the “Hong Kong nation.” Their oaths were ruled invalid and subsequent attempts have resulted in mayhem in the Legislative Council’s weekly sessions as the council’s president refused to let them try again until the government’s legal challenge is settled.