PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia detective has testified about a foul-mouthed bird that helped lead police to the woman charged with abducting a 5-year-old from school.

The girl said she heard a talking bird during the 19 hours she spent blindfolded in a house where she was sexually assaulted.

She also glimpsed the back of the west Philadelphia house before she was abandoned at a park.

Detective Daniel O’Malley testified Friday that he focused on the bird as he worked the case in January 2013.

He said a tip led him to the house where 19-year-old Christina Regusters lived with a loud macaw who cussed out investigators.

Regusters knew the girl from an after-school program where she worked.

Her lawyer has argued that police have the wrong suspect. Regusters’ trial resumes next week.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — An English-language al-Qaida publication that promotes “lone-wolf” terrorist attacks includes the Air Force Academy in Colorado on a list of possible terrorism targets.

The list in the online magazine al-Malahem also includes casinos and night clubs in Las Vegas, Times Square and Britain’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as well as “tourist resorts where Israelis, Britons or Americans stay.”

Academy officials say they’re aware that the school is mentioned in the magazine and remain vigilant and aware of existing and emerging threats.

(AP)–An experimental Ebola drug healed all 18 monkeys infected with the deadly virus in a study, boosting hopes that the treatment might help fight the outbreak raging through West Africa.

Scientists gave the drug, called ZMapp, three to five days after infecting the monkeys in the lab. Most were showing symptoms by then, and all completely recovered.

Three other infected monkeys not given the drug died.

Seven people were given ZMapp in the current outbreak and two have died, but doctors say there is no way to know if ZMapp helped. The very small supply is now gone and it will take several months to make enough to start studies in people.

The study was published online Friday by the journal Nature.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Decades before the television show, a Marine Corps battalion decorated for extensive combat in World War II and Vietnam earned the nickname the “Walking Dead.”

Now the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, which also served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is being deactivated during a ceremony Friday at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Marine Corps historians say the battalion appears to have gotten the nickname because of its high rate of casualties during the Vietnam War, but the unit also has a reputation for heroism that included four Medal of Honor recipients in World War II and Vietnam.

The battalion, which was formed during World War I, had previously been deactivated in 1994 and reactivated in 2007. Its insignia depicts a cloaked grim reaper carrying a scythe.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — State lawmakers have passed a bill that would make California the first state to define when “yes means yes” while investigating sexual assaults on college campuses.

The Senate unanimously passed SB967 on Thursday as colleges and universities across the U.S. are under pressure to change how they handle rape allegations. The bill now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown.

Democratic Sen. Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles says his bill would begin a paradigm shift in how California campuses prevent and investigate sexual assault.

Rather than using the refrain “no means no,” the definition of consent under the bill requires “an affirmative, unambiguous and conscious decision” by each party to engage in sexual activity.

It applies to all colleges and universities accepting state financial aid.

 

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled against Union Pacific railroad in a case involving cleanup of mining pollution in Idaho’s Silver Valley.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week reversed a lower court decision that had dismissed a lawsuit by Asarco against the railroad, and the case is now headed to trial.

Asarco wants the railroad to pay some of the costs of cleaning up mining pollution in the Superfund site in the Silver Valley. Asarco has already paid $480 million to help clean up a century of mining pollution.

Union Pacific constructed rail lines to haul silver and other metals across the Silver Valley.

The railroad contended that a settlement agreement with Asarco had resolved the issue. But the appeals court found that the agreement was ambiguous.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Police are scratching their heads trying to work out who donated a human skull to a thrift store in Austin, Texas.

Homicide Detective Derek Israel said Wednesday that foul play is not suspected and that he just wants to know how the adult skull came to be left at the Goodwill store.

Goodwill store staff discovered the skull while sifting through donations on July 16. A spokeswoman says it could have been gifted up to a week prior to its discovery.

No other details about it have been released.

This is at least the fourth skull to be donated to the international nonprofit this summer. Three were donated in July to a Goodwill store in Bellevue, Washington.

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple will show off its newest products Sept. 9. The iPhone and iPad maker set the date in invitations mailed Thursday to reporters and others who typically come to see the unveiling of Apple’s latest twists on technology.

These events have become an annual rite since the 2007 release of the iPhone. This year’s gathering may be the most anticipated since Apple Inc. took the wraps off the iPad in 2010.

True to its secretive nature, Apple isn’t giving any clues about what’s on the Sept. 9 agenda.

The Cupertino, California, company is widely expected to release an iPhone with a larger screen than the 4-inch display on the previous two generations of the device. Apple’s first smartwatch also is a possibility.

FARMINGTON, Conn. (AP) — A school bus driver in Connecticut has been charged with driving drunk with 20 students on her bus.

Police in Farmington, Connecticut, say 44-year-old Tammy Costello, of Bristol, was arrested Wednesday morning after an officer saw the school bus swerve partially off a road. Students also told police the bus hit some curbs. No one was hurt.

Authorities say Costello’s blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit for commercial drivers.

Costello was released on bail and is to appear Tuesday in Hartford Superior Court.

Costello didn’t immediately return a phone message Thursday. It’s not clear if she has a lawyer.

M & J Bus Co. says it suspended Costello and all its drivers are subjected to random drug and alcohol testing. School officials notified parents about the incident.

ALIQUIPPA, Pa. (AP) — Police and school officials say a kindergarten student brought a loaded gun to a Pittsburgh-area school.

Aliquippa Police Chief Donald Couch Jr. says the loaded .22-caliber revolver was found Monday morning inside a backpack, but they are sure the student meant no harm.

Police have contacted the child’s mother and her boyfriend to determine whether any criminal charges are warranted. The gun came from the boy’s home and is registered to someone born in 1914 who police think is deceased.

School officials say another student told a teacher about the weapon, which was removed at about 10:30 a.m. without incident.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf visited the school that day at around 2:15 p.m.