Month: February 2024

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Some Kentucky lawmakers shared a meal of fried chicken and green beans with people who could be most affected by a bill to make sleeping on a sidewalk or under a bridge illegal. The luncheon held Wednesday in the Capitol Annex gave lawmakers a glimpse into

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man who bills himself as “The Official Pro-Life Spider-Man” scaled the exterior of the massive Sphere venue in Las Vegas on Wednesday to raise funds for a pregnant woman, according to a post on his social media site. He was arrested. Las Vegas police said they began receiving calls about

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The stabbing of a 23-year-old Palestinian American who advocates say was attacked near the University of Texas campus while riding in a truck displaying support for Palestine merits the label of a hate crime, Austin police announced Wednesday. Bert James Baker, 36, was arrested following the Sunday evening attack on Zacharia

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A man can move forward with his lawsuit against police in Buffalo, New York, who ticketed him for shouting at an officer to turn on his headlights. An appeals court last week reversed a ruling by a federal district judge in Buffalo who dismissed the case. The lawsuit was brought by

By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Maura Healey has nominated a former romantic partner to fill an open seat on the state’s highest court. Massachusetts Appeals Court Associate Justice Gabrielle R. Wolohojian would serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court if the nomination is approved. Healey announced the nomination

Minnesota regulators said Wednesday that a historic lodge destroyed in a fire had three unresolved violations from a recent fire code inspection, but it wasn’t clear if those violations played a role in the blaze. A staffer at Lutsen Lodge on Lake Superior spotted smoke coming from electrical outlets in the floor of the lobby

By GONZALO SOLANO and REGINA GARCIA CANO QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador’s high court has decriminalized euthanasia and ordered lawmakers and health officials to draft rules and regulations for the procedure. The decision of Ecuador’s highest court came in response to a lawsuit from a terminally ill woman diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known

By LAURA UNGAR and MATTHEW PERRONE Associated Press A medical journal has retracted two studies claiming to show the harms of the abortion pill mifepristone, citing conflicts of interest by the authors and flaws in their research. Two of the three studies retracted by medical publisher Sage Perspectives were cited in a pivotal Texas court

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Santa Anita has postponed Friday’s nine-race card to give time for horses to return to a normal routine after training was suspended since last weekend. Regular training will resume Friday and racing will be held Saturday. This Friday’s races will be run on Feb. 15. Track officials say Santa Anita was

By GRAHAM BREWER and TRISHA AHMED Associated Press For the second time as governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem has been banished from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Last week, the Oglala Sioux Tribe said the Republican governor was no longer welcome on tribal lands, and its leaders referred to her rhetoric linking immigration and

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, LOLITA C. BALDOR and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — A U.S. drone strike blew up a car in the Iraqi capital Wednesday night, killing a high-ranking commander of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia who is responsible for “directly planning and participating in attacks” on American troops in the region, the

By JOSHUA GOODMAN and JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is allowing one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to stay in business, reversing an earlier order stripping the company of its licenses for its failure to properly monitor the shipment of tens of millions of addictive painkillers blamed for fueling

GREENCASTLE, Ind. (AP) — DePauw University says it has received $200 million in donations, representing the largest gift in the western Indiana school’s history. The private 1,800-student liberal arts college announced Wednesday that it received a $150 million gift from an anonymous donor and $50 million in supporting matches from other donors. President Lori S.

By PATRICIA LUNA Associated Press VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile (AP) — Chilean prosecutors have released more details about the death of former President Sebastian Piñera. They said Wednesday that he drowned after the helicopter he was piloting crashed into a lake on Tuesday. The 74-year-old Piñera after a flight over Lake Ranco which is more

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota has reached a settlement with Eli Lilly and Co. in a price gouging lawsuit against the country’s three biggest insulin manufacturers that guarantees that Minnesotans can now buy Lilly-produced insulin for only $35 a month for the next five years, Attorney General Keith Ellison

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ highest court has closed out a nearly 13-year-old lawsuit that repeatedly forced the Republican-controlled Legislature to boost funding for public schools. A state Supreme Court order on Tuesday said that legislators have fulfilled promises to provide annual increases in aid to the state’s 286

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Congressional Budget Office says it expects the federal budget deficit to drop by $188 billion this fiscal year to $1.5 trillion. But it’s likely to be a short-lived dip as the annual shortfall will likely rise over the next nine years. The nonpartisan

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has voiced skepticism about the possibility of the Republican-controlled Legislature passing new legislative maps that the Democrat proposed. Evers was asked about Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu floating the possibility earlier Wednesday of the Senate voting on the Evers maps. Evers

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Dozens of pieces of gun-related legislation that advocates say will bolster public safety are winding their way through Virginia’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly. That includes a measure to halt the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles and pistols. The question hanging over all the bills is: Just how

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Experts say the number of monarch butterflies at wintering areas in Mexico dropped by 59% this year to the second lowest level since record keeping began. The experts blame pesticide use and climate change. The butterflies’ migration from Canada and the United States to Mexico and

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Jacob Assaraf lost a bet, so he had to go through classes at Hebrew Academy on Wednesday wearing a suit instead of more casual attire. Turns out, that wasn’t the most unusual part of his day. Members of the boys and girls basketball teams

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in more than two decades, Mexico last year surpassed China as the leading source of goods imported by the United States. The shift reflects the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as U.S. efforts to import from countries that are

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — As officers tried to get a would-be bank robber in Florida to surrender, the man decided instead to take two hostages. Then he put one of them in a headlock and held a knife to her throat — and that’s when a sheriff’s sniper ended it. The 36-year-old attempted robber,