Month: February 2024

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon lawmakers are convening for the start of a short legislative session expected to be dominated by homelessness, a housing shortage, and plans to overhaul the state’s pioneering drug decriminalization law. Lawmakers will have just 35 days to pass bills after the session opens Monday. For

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB and OMAR ALBAM Associated Press JINDERIS, Syria (AP) — A year ago, Sido Naji woke to his house shaking in northwest Syria. He was used to the sounds of shelling and airstrikes after more than a decade of war, but this time the assailant was a force of nature: a massive earthquake.

By MEGAN JANETSKY and MARCOS ALEMÁN Associated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Salvadorans are packing the capital’s central square to celebrate the expected reelection of Nayib Bukele as president even before any official results from Sunday’s election have been announced. With soaring approval ratings and virtually no competition, Nayib Bukele is almost certainly

By RIAZAT BUTT Associated Press KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — There’s a scrum of people trying to get photos with the married couple at the Radiance banquet hall, and you can barely hear someone talk above the din of 400 guests tucking into biryani and chicken tikka, music and the drone whirring around the room. The

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Democrats are inching closer to overturning Republican-drawn legislative maps that the GOP have used to grow their majorities and advance their agenda over the past 13 years. Wisconsin is a purple state where Republicans have held a firm grip on control of the Legislature even

By GRAHAM LEE BREWER AP National Writer MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) — The hallways of Bacone College are cold and dark. In the main hall, there are no lectures to be heard, only the steady hum of the space heater keeping the administrative offices warm. Students aren’t attending classes here this semester, but work still needs

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A woman with a lengthy criminal history including theft, assault and prostitution got into a truck with a man who had picked her up for a “date” near downtown Anchorage. When he left her alone in the vehicle, she stole a digital memory card from the

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Taylor Swift won album of the year at the Grammy Awards for “Midnights,” breaking the record for most wins in the category with four. She began her speech by thanking her producer and friend Jack Antonoff and added, “I would love to tell you this

By TRISHA AHMED Associated Press/Report for America A South Dakota tribe has banned Republican Gov. Kristi Noem from the Pine Ridge Reservation after she spoke this week about wanting to send razor wire and security personnel to Texas to help deter immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border and also said cartels are infiltrating the state’s reservations.

By ALMA SOLIS and MANUEL RUEDA Associated Press PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) — A former Panamanian president convicted of money laundering is defiantly proclaiming his intention to run in the upcoming presidential election despite facing a possible ban on seeking office. Ricardo Martinelli was officially presented as the candidate of the Realizing Goals Party at

By ROBERT YOON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden won the South Carolina primary, the contest that revitalized his 2020 campaign and now has given him his first official victory in his bid for a second term. The Associated Press declared Biden the winner at 7:23 p.m. Saturday based on an analysis of

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Another potentially dangerous “Pineapple Express” storm was expected to hit California late Saturday, bringing the threat of flooding and mudslides over the next couple of days. Californians spent Friday and Saturday preparing for what forecasters are saying could be the largest storm of the season, with

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans will move forward with a $17.6 billion package that provides military aid to Israel and replenish U.S. weapons, but leaves out more help for Ukraine, underscoring the challenges facing supporters of a comprehensive national security package that would also include billions of dollars for immigration

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press The Los Angeles Opera opens its 2024-25 season Sept. 21 with Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” reimagined in a film studio and will present the company premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s “Ainadamar” while reducing its offerings from six main-stage productions to five. Mario Gras’s “Butterfly” staging, first seen at Madrid’s Teatro Real in

NEW YORK (AP) — A collection of sneakers that superstar Michael Jordan wore as he and the Chicago Bulls won six NBA championships has fetched $8 million at auction, setting a new record for game-worn sneakers, Sotheby’s said. The six Air Jordan shoes — one apiece from the last games of the 1991, 1992, 1993,

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — The funeral for seven of the eight victims killed in Joliet-area shootings last month was held Saturday. The funeral for Christine and William Esters and Tameaka, Joshua, Alexandria, Alonnah and Angel Nance was held at Victory City Church in Joliet. The seven were all related to shooter Romeo Nance, 23, who

DETROIT (AP) — The wife of a Detroit man mauled by three dogs says he has died. Shauntaye Phillips says Harold Phillips, a father of six, died Friday evening, four days after he was attacked by the dogs as he walked home from a bus stop. She released a statement through her attorneys saying, “It’s

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A medical biller has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after being convicted in a massive insurance fraud scheme. Prosecutors say the scheme involved posing as an NBA player and other patients to harangue the companies for payments that weren’t actually due. Matthew James was convicted in July

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday reaffirmed Christians’ special relationship with Jews amid rising antisemitism since the outbreak of the Gaza war in a letter to the Jews of Israel that he said was prompted by messages from Jewish organizations around the world. The letter served as a belated fence-mending after Francis was

DETROIT (AP) — Prosecutors are appealing the dismissal of a manslaughter charge against a former Detroit police officer accused of causing the death of a 71-year-old man by punching him in the face and causing him to fall to the ground. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office filed a claim of appeal Friday in the case