Month: August 2023

By LAURA UNGAR AP Science Writer Phil Durst recalled clawing at his face after a chemical from a commercial dishwashing machine squirted into his eyes, causing “the most indescribable pain I’ve ever felt — ever, ever, ever.” His left eye bore the brunt of the 2017 work accident, which stole his vision, left him unable

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina was ground zero in the nationwide fight over transgender rights with the passage of its 2016 “bathroom bill.” But the public pushback against three new laws passed this week has been light in comparison. Republicans on Wednesday enacted a law

BERLIN (AP) — The archbishop of Cologne, one of Germany’s most important Catholic dioceses, expressed disappointment Friday that employees used work computers to try to access pornographic websites. The statement from Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki came after the city’s Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper reported that a list from the archdiocese showed more than 1,000 attempts to

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press The new administrator of Walt Disney World’s governing district can’t continue to work in his new job and be chair of Florida’s ethics commission at the same time. That’s according to a legal opinion issued this week. Glen Gilzean can’t continue in both positions because state law prohibits public employees

BEL AIR, Md. (AP) — Authorities say DNA has linked the killing of a Maryland woman found near a hiking trail to a home invasion and assault in Los Angeles earlier this year. Officials announced the connection at a Thursday evening news conference in Harford County. Rachel Morin was a mother of five from suburban

By MARK PRATT and PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press A rare Rhode Island tornado lifted a car off a highway Friday as severe weather swept already storm-weary New England, damaging homes, flooding roads and toppling trees. Tornadoes were reported in several spots in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts. The National Weather Service said there were at

By BASSEM MROUE and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese Shiite cleric who has angered politicians and religious leaders in Lebanon and Iraq says that groups including Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah are trying to silence voices of dissent within the sect — including his own. Sheikh Yasser Auda’s comments on Friday come days

By The Associated Press This week’s new entertainment releases include albums from Irish singer-songwriter Hozier and Idina Menzel, the animated “The Monkey King” from Stephen Chow and Jennifer Lawrence’s R-rated comedy “No Hard Feelings.” The star-studded TV fundraiser for cancer research co-founded by Katie Couric called “Stand Up to Cancer” returns with Elizabeth Banks, Jessica

By KAREL JANICEK Associated Press PRAGUE (AP) — Jiri Cerny, a legendary Czech music critic who introduced Western music to generations of listeners behind the Iron Curtain and became one of the voices of the 1989 anti-communist Velvet Revolution, has died. He was 87. Cerny died on Thursday in a hospital in Prague, his colleague

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The daughter of the 65-year-old woman who was bitten by a shark at a New York City beach says her mother has undergone five surgeries since the attack and will require more. The victim’s daughter, Darya Koltunyuk, says her mother’s recovery from the Aug. 7 shark

By LEA SKENE Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — A second teenager has been arrested in connection with Baltimore mass shooting that left two people dead and 28 others injured during a neighborhood block party earlier this summer. Baltimore police announced the arrest Thursday evening. Eighteen-year-old Tristan Brian Jackson has been charged with multiple counts of

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Donald Trump won’t be on the Republican debate stage Wednesday. But the former president is driving the conversation on and off the debate stage anyway. Trump supporters including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will be in Milwaukee. There are questions about how many of his campaign surrogates

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Authorities are searching for a member of the Proud Boys extremist group who disappeared days before his sentencing in a U.S. Capitol riot case, where prosecutors are seeking more than a decade in prison, according to a warrant made public Friday. Christopher Worrell, 52, of Naples, Florida,

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The ex-wife of a Microsoft executive who was gunned down by a triggerman in front of his young daughter has been charged with first-degree murder, and prosecutors in Florida plan to seek the death penalty. A grand jury indicted Shanna Lee Gardner in the ambush-style death of Jared Bridegan, State Attorney

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — A top global chess official is calling for more research into whether factors like hormone levels and physical endurance might have an impact on players’ abilities at the game, which remains overwhelmingly a preserve of men. The world chess federation FIDE stirred controversy with its decision, announced

By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A team of divers have been trolling the deep, cold waters of Lake Huron off Michigan’s Thumb for several weeks each of the past few years searching for scattered pieces of aviation — and Black military — history. Their target is the wreckage of a World War

By DAVID BAUDER AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Rhiannon Giddens is as much a scholar as a musician. Along with her two Grammy Awards, she’s been the recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant” for her work showing the influence of Black musicians on the history of art forms like folk and country. She

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — WeWork said last week there was “substantial doubt” about its ability to stay in business, prompting speculation around the future of the troubled workspace-sharing company. WeWork pointed to increased member churn, financial losses and the company’s need for cash, among other factors — and said

By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Political Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Miami Mayor Francis Suarez claimed on Friday that he has qualified for next week’s Republican presidential debate and would become the ninth White House hopeful to meet the fundraising and polling thresholds required to participate in the opening face-off of the 2024 campaign. But

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow judge has formally arrested and detained one of the leaders of a prominent independent election monitoring group on charges of being involved with an “undesirable” organization. The case against Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of Russia’s leading election watchdog Golos, is the latest in the monthslong crackdown on Kremlin critics and rights

Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Ukraine and neighboring Romania have signed an agreement to work together to boost Kyiv’s export of grain through Romania borders after Moscow broke off a key wartime shipping agreement that allowed safe passage through the Black Sea. The accord was signed during a trip by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to the