COLU @ CONCEPTS

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Law enforcement authorities on Monday made a significant change to the timeline of the Las Vegas mass shooting, saying the gunman shot a hotel security guard before he opened fire on concert-goers. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo had previously said the guard was shot after gunman Stephen Paddock fired at the country music festival and that the guard’s arrival in the hallway of the Mandalay Bay hotel may have caused Paddock to stop firing. It was not immediately clear why the timeline of the shooting changed a week later and what the impact could be on the investigation. On Monday, Lombardo said security guard Jesus Campos was in a hallway of the Mandalay Bay hotel responding to a report of an open door when he heard drilling from Stephen Craig Paddock’s room. Paddock, who had installed three cameras to monitor the approach to his suite, opened fire through the door, spraying 200 shots down the hall and wounding the guard, who alerted other security of...

BOSTON (AP) — The Houston Astros poured back onto the field after advancing to their first AL Championship Series, posing for pictures with the Green Monster as a backdrop before a few players bellyflopped in the puddles in the infield dirt. No matter, they were already soaked from celebratory beer and sparkling wine. “Both teams were throwing their guys, and that’s what you live for,” Houston third baseman Alex Bregman said on Monday after Justin Verlander came out of the bullpen to beat Chris Sale in an aces-turned-relievers role reversal and helped the Astros eliminate the Red Sox in four games with a 5-4 victory. “When we saw Verlander run to the ’pen we said, ’Our horse is on the mound, we need to win this game,’” said Bregman, who homered off Sale to tie it in the eighth before Josh Reddick’s single gave the Astros the lead. “That’s kind of the whole energy that he’s brought since we brought him over here. He’s brought an energy with him that, ‘Hey...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bob Corker is hardly the only Republican lawmaker raising dark concerns about harm President Donald Trump might cause the U.S. and the world. But he’s one of the few willing to air those worries in public. Most GOP senators were silent Monday, a day after Corker charged that the White House was an “adult day care” and Trump could set the nation “on the path to World War III.” The only senator who publicly hinted at similar concerns was Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who said both Trump and Corker should “cool it.” “And I think it would help if the president would be the first to cool it,” he added. Tennessee’s Corker, with his Twitter broadsides and an explosive weekend New York Times interview, gave voice to concerns that circulate widely on Capitol Hill about an unpredictable president whose tendency to personalize every issue creates risks for the GOP agenda. But Trump’s enduring popularity with a segment of the GOP base serves as a political muzzl...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ivanka Trump successfully pushed to get a family-focused tax credit included in the Republican tax overhaul proposal. She’s got no time for a victory lap, though: Now comes the biggest political challenge of her time in Washington. The White House adviser and first daughter is lobbying on Capitol Hill to make sure an expansion of the current $1,000 child tax credit stays in the tax plan and that it’s big enough to matter. Then there’s the added hurdle of getting the overall tax plan over the finish line — anything but a sure bet. Trump has been wooing lawmakers and conservative advocacy groups behind closed doors and is expected to make her case in public as well, as part of a coordinated White House push for the tax overhaul. All this as she tries to steer clear of the West Wing histrionics involving her father that have threatened to engulf her at times. She’s studiously sticking to her policy agenda, promoting issues such as STEM education and workforce de...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — They came quietly, in a steady stream looking for purses, wallets and cellphones. One person searched for a treasured wedding bracelet. After the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, concertgoers and family members of those who attended a country music festival that ended in death for dozens of people sought Monday to recover belongings left behind in panic. Lawn chairs, baby strollers, cowboy hats, boots and thousands of other items were discarded as 22,000 people fled the concert venue while bullets flew from the Mandalay Bay hotel casino across Las Vegas Boulevard. FBI investigators spent a week combing the crime scene, carefully cataloguing evidence and separating personal items before transporting them to an assistance center set up at the convention center. “I can just tell you from taking a look at it, it’s just thousands and thousands of items, many, many truckloads that have been picked up,” Clark County Emergency Manager John Steinbe...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is suggesting the U.S. change its tax laws to punish organizations like the NFL if members are “disrespecting” the national anthem or flag. The NFL gave up its federal tax-exempt status a few years ago and now files tax returns as a taxable entity. So it’s unlikely that Trump’s proposal, tweeted in the early hours Tuesday, would change anything. Trump tweeted : “Why is the NFL getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country? Change tax law!” Trump also tweeted Tuesday that ESPN ratings have “tanked” because of Jemele Hill, the anchor suspended for making political statements on social media. While NFL viewership is down slightly, ESPN remains among the most popular cable networks, averaging 3 million viewers in prime time. The network has suffered subscriber losses over the last few years as some viewers have moved to streaming services from cable television. Hill, an Af...

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Catalonia’s regional leader was addressing parliament Tuesday in a highly anticipated session that could spell the birth of a new republic, marking a critical point in a decade-long standoff between Catalan separatists and Spain’s central authorities. Security was tight in Barcelona and police cordoned a park surrounding the legislative building, where the Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is expected to walk a fine line when he addresses regional lawmakers. The speech will need to appease the most radical separatist-minded supporters of his ruling coalition — but Puigdemont faces shutting down any possibility of negotiating with Spain if he adopts a hard line. The Catalan leader hasn’t revealed the precise message he will deliver in the address at 6 p.m. (1600GMT), but separatist lawmakers and activists have said they won’t be satisfied with anything short of an independence declaration. A full declaration of secession —or an outright proclam...

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Every day before work, Liliane Souza says, she and three dozen fellow workers at a Brazilian picture-framing factory affiliated with the Word of Faith Fellowship church were obligated to pray. When workers made a mistake, such as cutting a frame too short, she says they were screamed at and sometimes even hit to expunge the “devil” behind the error. And when Stylofino stopped paying its workers for months, Souza said the company’s co-owners — members of a Brazilian branch of the U.S.-based church — had a ready explanation. “They said the business was struggling because we were sinners,” she said. The business and its labor practices are under investigation by Brazilian authorities — just one of several inquiries launched into a pair of churches connected to Word of Faith Fellowship, a secretive evangelical sect based in Spindale, North Carolina. The Associated Press has learned that Brazilian prosecutors also are looking into possible improprieties in...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even as President Donald Trump’s advisers encourage him to accept the realities of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, longtime friends and allies are pushing Trump to fight back, citing concerns that his lawyers are naive to the existential threat facing the president. Trump supporters and associates inside and outside the White House see the conciliatory path as risky to the maverick president’s tenure. Instead, they want the street-fighting tweeter to criticize Mueller with abandon. The struggle between supporters of the legal team’s steady, cooperative approach, and the band of Trump loyalists who yearn for a fight, comes as the Mueller probe begins lapping at the door of the Oval Office. Mueller, who is investigating the firing of former FBI director James Comey and other key actions of the Trump administration, has signaled that his team intends to interview multiple current and former White House officials in the coming weeks and has requested l...

NAPA, Calif. (AP) — Workers in Northern California’s renowned wine country picked through charred debris and plotted what to do with pricey grapes after wildfires swept through lush vineyards, destroying at least two wineries and damaging many others. The wind-driven wildfires came as Napa and Sonoma counties were finishing highly anticipated harvests of wine grapes. Monday normally would have found workers picking and processing the ripe grapes to make chardonnay and other wines. Instead, melted and blackened wine bottles decorated the ruined Signorello Estate winery in Napa Valley. People at Paradise Ridge Winery in Sonoma County posted photos of debris and haze, saying they were “heartbroken to share the news” that the winery had burned. A maintenance worker watched and hoped for the best Monday as flames crept down a hillside by the Gundlach Bundschu Winery. “It’s right behind the main office. It’s working its way down the hillside. What can I say? It’s slowly workin...

PHOENIX (AP) — Led by a big Japanese right-hander and a rookie from just down the road, the Los Angeles Dodgers are headed back to the NL Championship Series. Cody Bellinger homered, drove in two runs and flipped over a dugout railing to steal an out for a dominant Yu Darvish, helping the Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 Monday night to finish a three-game sweep in their NL Division Series. “We have a great team,” said Bellinger, a rookie from nearby Chandler, Arizona. “And to come here and sweep them, beat them on their home turf is hard to do and pretty special.” Darvish, acquired from Texas in a trade deadline deal, struck out seven over five innings to outpitch Arizona’s Zack Greinke and earn the righty his first postseason victory in three tries. “Yu’s one of the best pitchers in the world,” said Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes, who also homered. “When he’s on his game, it’s tough for any lineup.” Four Los Angeles relievers combined to preserve a three-hitter...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fashion mogul Donna Karan is apologizing after praising Harvey Weinstein following his firing from his film company amid allegations of sexual harassment lasting decades. The Daily Mail reports Karan told reporters on a red carpet in Los Angeles Sunday night that Weinstein “has done some amazing things” and he and his wife are “wonderful people.” The 69-year-old Karan added that some women are asking for “trouble” by the way they dress and “presenting themselves the way they do.” In a statement Monday, Karan said her remarks were taken out of context and don’t represent her feelings. She says she believes “sexual harassment is NOT acceptable and this is an issue that MUST be addressed once and for all regardless of the individual.” Karan says she’s “truly sorry to anyone that I offended and everyone that has ever been a victim.” Source: www.apnews.com 

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Authorities apprehended a 19-year-old student accused of fatally shooting a Texas Tech University police officer at the campus police station. University officials issued an alert saying the suspect was taken into custody Monday night and that the campus lockdown order had been lifted. In an earlier statement, the university identified the suspect as Hollis Daniels. According to a university statement, campus police made a student welfare check Monday evening and — upon entering the room — found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Officers then brought the suspect to the police station for standard debriefing. “During this time, the suspect pulled a gun and mortally shot an officer,” Texas Tech Police Chief Kyle Bonath said. “The suspect fled on foot and later apprehended by ... (campus police) near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum.” Texas Tech officials initially issued a lockdown alert to students on social media, urging those on campus “to ta...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Warm lighting would enhance the wood floors’ natural glow, the developer promised, so when all the custom lightbulbs burnt out, Anahi Abadia and her husband grudgingly drove to Home Depot to replenish supplies for their chic new flat in southern Mexico City. They had just reached the register when the earthquake hit, shaking the store so fiercely the structure screeched. Minutes later, a text came in from their neighbor: The elegant apartment they had purchased only six months earlier had collapsed, rendering their new home a pile of crushed concrete. They were among the fortunate: Two women working in their building and dozens more perished on Sept. 19 in structure failures that several prominent engineers now say could have been prevented. Nearly two-thirds of the 44 buildings that fell in Mexico City were designed with a construction method called flat slab — in which floors are supported only by concrete columns — now forbidden in parts of the United S...