Month: February 2024

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A drug possession charge against South Florida rapper Kodak Black was dismissed Friday, two months after an arrest, though a drug trafficking case from 2022 remains ongoing. Broward County Circuit Judge Barbara Duffy ruled that prosecutors could not refute or negate the fact that the rapper, whose real name is

By ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Robert Badinter, who spearheaded the drive to abolish France’s death penalty, has died. He also fought antisemitism and Holocaust denial and led a European body dealing with the legal fallout of the breakup of Yugoslavia. He was 95. French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Badinter as a ‘’figure

By MARYCLAIRE DALE and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Investigators looking into a fire outside Philadelphia that left family members dead suspect they were killed by a relative who lived with them. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said at a news conference Friday that six sets of remains have been recovered from

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Marine Corps released the names Friday of the five Marines killed when their CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter went down in the mountains outside San Diego during a historic storm. All of them were in their 20s. The decorated Marines were assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361, Marine Aircraft Group

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday slammed the report by a Justice Department special counsel into Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents that raised questions about the president’s memory, calling it “politically motivated” and “gratuitous,” as the White House said the president would take steps to safeguard classified materials during presidential transitions.

JASPER, Ala. (AP) — A radio station manager says the theft of its giant tower has silenced what used to be the voice of a small Alabama town and surrounding county. Authorities say a thief or thieves made off with the 200-foot tower, which was discovered missing Feb. 2. That shut down WJLX Radio in

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The resignation of a Republican lawmaker in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has put the balance of power back to Democrats. Republican Rep. Joe Adams, of Pike County, resigned on Friday, leaving the state House at a 101-100 Democratic majority. A Democratic resignation last year had the House deadlocked at 101-101,

By JON GAMBRELL AND PHIL HOLM Associated Press Israel has identified the southern Gaza city of Rafah as the next target in its military offensive against Hamas. Rafah, which borders Egypt, is normally home to 280,000 people. But its population has swelled to over 1.5 million – roughly three-quarters of Gaza’s population — as Palestinians

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Serbia’s president has accused Kosovo’s government at a heated U.N. meeting of banning the use of the Serbian currency in areas where minority Serbs live in Kosovo with the ultimate goal of making living conditions unbearable for them and expelling them. Kosovo’s prime minister retorted

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities have exhumed the body of the wife of a famed former Tennessee sheriff more than a half-century after she was fatally shot in a still-unsolved killing. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed that it oversaw the exhumation of the body of Pauline Pusser on Thursday at Adamsville Cemetery. She was

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic National Committee has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, accusing presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. of a “ballot access scheme.” It argues that constitutes illegal coordination with a super PAC supporting Kennedy’s independent bid for the White House. In a complaint filed Friday,

By JONEL ALECCIA AP Health Writer More foods are being recalled in the wake of a deadly outbreak of listeria food poisoning. They include things that may be part of Super Bowl Sunday party menus. Seven-layer bean dip, chicken enchiladas, cilantro salad dressing and taco kits that are sold at Costco, Trader Joe’s and Albertson’s

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s part-time Legislature moves at a quick clip. And its lawmakers expect the same from members of the public who want to make their voices heard on any given bill. There’s broad agreement that some kind of time management for public comment is necessary in Virginia’s

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A judge has ruled that jurors in the trial of two men charged with killing Young Dolph will come from outside of Memphis because of intense media coverage of the shooting in the rapper’s hometown. Judge Jennifer J. Mitchell has decided in favor of a change

LONDON (AP) — Police say the suspect in a London chemical attack that left a woman hospitalized with life-changing injuries and injured her two young daughters likely has vanished in the River Thames. Metropolitan Police Commander Jon Savell said Friday that closed-circuit television images showed Abdul Ezedi walking on a bridge over the river, but

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Denis Villeneuve doesn’t feel like he came back to Arrakis for “Dune: Part Two.” In his mind, he never left. The sequel, which opens in theaters on March 1, is the culmination of a six-year filmmaking journey, preceded by 40 years of dreaming about it.

By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Years before Taylor Swift grew into the global superstar who has become the talk of this Super Bowl, she was just a young Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, singer happy to strum her guitar and perform as the opening act for the biggest sporting events in town. The U.S.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German chemical company BASF says it’s speeding up the sale of stakes in two joint ventures in China after its local partner was accused in media reports of human rights abuses. BASF said Friday in a news release that the market for the industrial chemicals made at the production sites in

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former Catholic priest in South Carolina has been sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for trying to sexually assault a boy and showing him pornography. Prosecutors say 69-year-old Jamie Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias was a priest for more than 30 years after being ordained in his

By BRIAN WITTE Associated Press ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Friday that he will run for U.S. Senate, giving Republicans a prominent candidate who is well-positioned to run a competitive campaign for the GOP in a state that hasn’t had a Republican U.S. senator in 37 years. The decision marks

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A second man has pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with threats and vandalism targeting public radio journalists in New Hampshire. Prosecutors allege that four men were involved in a plot to vandalize the homes of New Hampshire Public Radio journalists and one of their parents in retaliation for a

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The flu virus is hanging on in the U.S., intensifying in some areas of the country after weeks of an apparent national decline. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Friday showed a continued national drop in flu hospitalizations, but other indicators were up

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Ed Dwight grew up in segregated 1930s Kansas on a farm on the edge of town. An airfield was within walking distance, and, as a boy, he’d often go to marvel at the planes and gawk at the pilots. Most were flying back from hunting

By MOLLY QUELL Associated Press THE HAGUE (AP) — A former prime minister of the Netherlands has died by euthanasia “hand in hand” together with his wife. That’s according to the human rights organization Dries van Agt founded. The Christian Democrat served as the Dutch prime minister from 1977 until 1982. The Rights Forum said

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press An Ohio city is dropping criminal charges against a pastor over his around-the-clock ministry to the homeless and others in need of help while the two sides work to end the dispute that has landed in federal court. A municipal prosecutor this week moved to dismiss code violation charges against

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The director of the main U.N. aid agency for Palestinians says Israeli restrictions are preventing food for 1.1 million people from reaching war-battered Gaza. Tens of thousands in the war-battered enclave are struggling with starvation. The head of the agency told reporters Friday that its Israeli bank