Month: February 2024

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press A Vermont mother has filed a lawsuit alleging that police used excessive force and discriminated against her unarmed Black son with behavioral and intellectual disabilities. The lawsuit says the then-14-year-old stole electronic cigarettes from a gas station in May 2021. The mother called the Burlington police to help him learn

By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The federal death penalty trial for a white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket likely won’t start for at least 18 months. A federal judge on Friday set a date of Sept. 8, 2025, for the start of Payton Gendron’s trial for

By DORANY PINEDA Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Extreme heat and wildfire smoke on their own are harmful to the human body, but the combination of both increases damage to people’s hearts and respiratory systems, according to a study released Friday. The research, from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and

HOUSTON (AP) — The work to clean up fire-suppression foam accidentally released in a United Airlines hangar at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston continued Friday, according to a United spokesperson. “United Airlines Environmental Team has been working round the clock and made significant progress in cleaning up the biodegradable … fire suppression foam that

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Adrián Beltré will have a Texas Rangers’ logo on his baseball Hall of Fame plaque and Jim Leyland will not have any team emblem. The hall made the announcement Friday, 10 days after Beltré was elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Leyland was elected in December by the contemporary

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Sam Waterston, who has played the spiky, no-nonsense district attorney on “Law & Order” since the mid-1990s, is stepping down from his legal perch. The last episode for Waterston’s Jack McCoy will be Feb. 22, NBC said Friday. He has been in more than 400

By JACK JEFFERY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — The U.N. food agency says it has received reports of people dying from starvation in Sudan, where raging fighting between rival generals is hampering the distribution of aid and food supplies to those most hungry. The 10 months of clashes between the Sudanese military, led by Gen.

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis acknowledged in a court filing on Friday having a “personal relationship” with a special prosecutor she hired for the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump but argued there are no grounds to dismiss the case or to remove

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer Kansas is poised to expand an income tax credit for goods and services purchased from companies and nonprofits employing disabled workers. Legislative action this week came a year after a debate over how much the state should buck a national trend against paying those workers below the minimum wage.

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate negotiators on Friday reached a deal on a proposal to overhaul the asylum system at the U.S. border with Mexico, clearing the way for Democratic and Republican Senate leaders to begin the difficult task of convincing Congress to pass a national security package that will include

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans’ annual Carnival celebration entered its high-intensity home stretch Friday with a beefed-up police presence and a weather forecast that threatened to disrupt the first of two weekends of elaborate parades. Three parades were scheduled to roll Friday night with no weather complications expected. But

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The names of three Idaho men killed when an airport hangar under construction in Boise collapsed were released by the Ada County Coroner on Friday. Mariano Coc Och, 24, and Mario Sontay Tzi, 32, both of Nampa, were pronounced dead at the scene along with Craig Durrant, 59, of Boise. Durrant

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A defense lawyer says a man charged with killing Young Dolph cannot get a fair trial in Memphis due to the intense media attention and outrage over the slaying of the beloved rapper in his hometown. Justin Johnson’s attorney asked a judge to bring in a

By CHINEDU ASADU, CARLOS MUREITHI and MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — From an electrifying and colorful musical performance at the FIFA World Cup to a new Grammy Awards category, African music genres and talents are reaching audiences and dance floors across the globe in a breakthrough for an industry that has long

By ALMA SOLÍS Associated Press PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama’s Supreme Court has denied an appeal from former President Ricardo Martinelli, convicted of money laundering in the case of a media company he purchased. Friday’s ruling will likely keep Panama’s former leader out of this year’s presidential race. The court’s decision was to let stand

By ED WHITE Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Seven days of emotional testimony are over and attorneys have wrapped up their closing arguments in the involuntary manslaughter trial of a school shooter’s mother in Michigan. Closing arguments were presented Friday, after which the judge dismissed jurors for the weekend. The jury is expected to

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A new exhibit at the UK National Archives in London uses the 80th anniversary of the so-called Great Escape by allied airmen from a German prisoner of war camp to explore escapes by captives of all kinds during World War II. The exhibit that opened Friday and

By MIKE CATALINI and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania prosecutor says the man accused of shooting and decapitating his father in their home northeast of Philadelphia and posting a video of the severed head purchased a gun the previous day. Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said Friday that 32-year-old

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities in Minnesota are investigating a suspected arson fire that heavily damaged the offices of three conservative groups. The groups are calling the blaze an act of political terrorism. The fire happened early Sunday in the Minneapolis suburb of Golden Valley at the offices of the

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge in North Dakota has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a county election official challenging the state’s mail ballot counting law. Burleigh County Auditor Mark Splonskowski alleged a conflict between state and federal law in the lawsuit backed by the conservative, Trump-aligned Public Interest

By EDUARDO VERDUGO Associated Press OCUMICHO, Mexico (AP) — Guided by their ancestral lunar calendar, members of Mexico’s Purepecha Indigenous group celebrated their own New Year’s Eve. It was a little different than the West’s traditional New Year. The Purepechas, who live in the western state of Michoacan, preserve the pre-Hispanic belief in the “New

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Victoria Monét and Coco Jones brought smooth R&B and studied choreography, Noah Kahan and Gracie Abrams — friends up for the same Grammy — dueted their introspective folk, and Jelly Roll brought out Lainey Wilson. That was the scene Thursday night at Spotify’s annual pre-Grammy

MIAMI (AP) — Authorities say 3-year-old twins are dead after they were found unresponsive in a car parked along a Miami highway. Miami-Dade County Police say that when they responded to the scene on Interstate 95 early Friday, the female driver jumped off an overpass, suffering critical injuries. The relationship between the woman and the

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has completed a major privatization, selling its 30% stake in the biggest airport operator in the tourism-reliant country during an initial public offering. Athens International Airport says shares are expected to begin trading on the Athens stock exchange starting Wednesday. Greece’s finance minister says the listing of a new blue