Month: August 2023

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Little Rock School District says it will continue offering an Advanced Placement course on African American studies that Arkansas education officials have said won’t count toward a student’s graduation credit. The district on Wednesday announced the decision days after the Arkansas Department of Education

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota woman has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison for fraudulently applying for roughly $7 million in pandemic aid. U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud sentenced 40-year-old Bloomington resident Tequisha Solomon on Tuesday. She pleaded guilty to wire fraud in December 2022. Solomon’s plea agreement says

By JOHN O’CONNOR and MELISSA PEREZ WINDER Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois will provide for Thursday’s funeral and burial for the migrant toddler who died last week on a bus headed to Chicago from Texas, officials said. Jismary Alejandra Barboza González, who would have turned 4 next week, died Aug. 10 while on

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A central Florida art museum that was raided last year by the FBI over an exhibit of what turned out to be forged Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings has sued its former executive director and others, claiming they were part of a scheme to profit from the sale of the fake artwork. The

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. wildlife managers announced Wednesday that they will investigate whether a bird that is inextricably linked to the piñon and juniper forests that span the Western United States warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act. The pinyon jay’s numbers have declined over the last half-century

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A proposal legalizing recreational adult use of marijuana in Ohio has made the November ballot. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose determined Wednesday that the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has submitted enough signatures to proceed this fall after state lawmakers failed to act

By EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — An ex-police officer considered by many to be Haiti’s most powerful gang leader warned Wednesday that he would fight any international armed force deployed to the Caribbean country if it committed any abuses. Jimmy Chérizier, best known as “Barbecue,” also urged Haitians to mobilize against the

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The most prominent Republican in the race to unseat Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown next year has fired a top aide after social media posts surfaced in which the staffer criticized Donald Trump. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office confirmed press secretary Rob Nichols’ departure

By MARTÍN ADAMES ALCÁNTARA Associated Press SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A prosecutor in the Dominican Republic says the investigation into Tampa Bay Rays All-Star shortstop Wander Franco’s alleged relationship with a minor is being handled by a division specializing in minors and gender violence in the province of Peravia.Ángel Darío Tejeda Fabal, a

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A senior U.N. official says public threats to return to war in Yemen are hindering efforts to start peace talks as the Arab world’s poorest country faces an increasingly dire economic situation. Hans Grundberg, the U.N. special representative for Yemen, addressed the Security Council on

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press has issued guidelines for its journalists on use of artificial intelligence, saying the tool cannot be used to create publishable content and images for the news service. But AP still encouraged its staff members to become familiar with the technology, and has

FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — An off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy has been fatally shot in an encounter with police officers at a Southern California golf course. The shooting by local officers occurred Tuesday at the Sierra Lakes Golf Club in the city of Fontana, about 45 miles east of Los Angeles. The deputy has

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua’s government has confiscated a prestigious Jesuit-run university alleging it was a “center of terrorism,” the college said Wednesday in announcing the latest in a series of actions by authorities against the Catholic Church and opposition figures. The University of Central America in Nicaragua, which was a hub for 2018 protests

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has proposed awarding the largest pay raise in decades to Kentucky’s public school personnel. He upped the ante Wednesday in his competition with Republican challenger Daniel Cameron. Cameron offered his own plan Tuesday to boost salaries and overcome pandemic learning setbacks. The

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Target reported its first quarterly sales drop in six years, dragged down by shoppers’ inflation worries and a negative reaction by some customers, widely publicized on social media, to its Pride merchandise. The Minneapolis retailer expects high interest rates, which makes credit cards more expensive

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City’s casinos, New Jersey horse tracks that take sports bets, and their online partners won over half a billion dollars from gamblers in July, up 5.3% from a year earlier. Figures released Wednesday show the month was particularly good for Atlantic City’s top-performing casino.

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer Jerry Moss, a music industry giant who co-founded A&M Records with Herb Alpert and rose from a Los Angeles garage to the heights of success with hits by Alpert, the Police, the Carpenters and hundreds of other performers, has died at 88. Moss, inducted with Alpert into the Rock

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform is asking the Republican chair in charge to refer former Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder to the Department of Justice for lying under oath. Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin wrote a letter Wednesday to Kentucky

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Plea agreements under consideration may mean that the suspected architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and his fellow defendants never face the death penalty. The Pentagon notified families of 9/11 victims of this in a letter dated Aug. 1. Some families told The

By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is hoping to jump-start the replacement of the two bridges connecting Cape Cod to the rest of the state. The goal is to focus first on federal dollars to replace the Sagamore Bridge before turning to the Bourne Bridge. The renewed effort comes

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The prosecutor in Atlanta who obtained an indictment this week against former President Donald Trump and 18 others wants to take the case to trial in March. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in a proposed scheduling order filed with the court Wednesday that she wants

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Mail-order access to a drug used in the most common form of abortion in the U.S. would end under a federal appeals court ruling issued Wednesday that cannot take effect until the Supreme Court weighs in. The decision by three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit

By TRISHA AHMED Associated Press/Report for America MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Officials have announced that 14 members of Minneapolis-based gangs have been charged with crimes including possession of machine guns, fentanyl trafficking and firearms violations. The arrests are part of a federal initiative to crack down on violent gangs. The Minneapolis police chief said a small