Year: 2021

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City lawmakers have voted to bar most new buildings from using natural gas. Wednesday’s vote positions the nation’s most populous city to become a showcase for a climate-change-fighting policy that has been both embraced and blocked around the country. Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio

By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has approved a $2.5 trillion debt limit hike, sending legislation to avert a catastrophic default to President Joe Biden for his signature. The flurry of action, which stretched into Wednesday’s early morning hours, came just shy of a deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer Colleges across the U.S. are starting to require booster shots, extend mask mandates and in some cases revert to online classes as they brace for the new omicron variant. More than 30colleges have said they will require boosters, including Boston University and Notre Dame. Others are extending mask mandates

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, VICTORIA MILKO and LORI HINNANT Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In February, Myanmar’s military took over the country’s government and its bank accounts, including those that receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from a gas field called Yadana. Now there is a groundswell of support in Myanmar for targeted

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Stocks have climbed in Asia, tracking Wall Street’s gains, after the Federal Reserve said it would accelerate its pullback of economic stimulus. The Fed said it would likely raise interest rates three times next year to tackle rising inflation and will shrink its monthly bond purchases at twice the

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — Volunteers along U.S. coasts are raising oysters from tiny translucent spat to hard-shelled bivalves that can help restore depleted reefs. Oyster reefs are a keystone of coastal ecosystems. Each oyster filters 25 to 50 gallons of water a day. Spat glue themselves to larger

By MICHELLE R. SMITH Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine group has thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic. An investigation by The Associated Press finds that Children’s Health Defense has raked in money and followers as Kennedy used his star power as a member of one of America’s most famous families

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A telethon hosted by the University of Kentucky Athletics has raised more than $3 million in donations with matching funds to benefit victims of last weekend’s deadly tornadoes in western Kentucky. Proceeds from the “Kentucky United for Tornado Relief” telethon will go to the American Red Cross. Donations had reached $3,031,241

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The revelation that Fox News Channel personalities sent text messages to the White House during the Jan. 6 insurrection is another example of how the network’s stars sought to influence then-President Donald Trump instead of simply reporting or commenting on him. Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration is weighing tough new sanctions on Myanmar to pressure the country’s military leaders to restore a democratic path interrupted by a February coup. Blinken said the administration is also looking very closely as designating