Month: February 2024

DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers said Tuesday that a majority of workers at a Mercedes plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have signed cards in support of joining the union. The plant in Vance, Alabama, is the second one to reach more than 50% of workers signing up, according to the union. Earlier in February,

By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man who spent nearly three decades in prison on a murder conviction that was thrown out by the courts is suing the state for $1 million, the maximum allowed by state law. James Lucien was serving a life sentence in connection with the 1994 fatal

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City furniture store that had been illegally converted into sleeping quarters for more than 40 migrants has been shut down by city officials. The city Department of Buildings said Tuesday that it ordered Sarr’s Wholesale Furniture in Queens vacated due to “severe overcrowding and hazardous fire trap conditions.”

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty in the December killing of a Catholic priest inside his home, but are pursuing execution in the brutal killing of a retiree during a break-in that happened in the same tiny town four months earlier. Kierre

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press A Connecticut jury has begun deliberating after hearing closing arguments in the murder conspiracy case against a woman charged in connection with the 2019 disappearance and presumed killing of mother-of-five Jennifer Dulos. Prosecutors told the jury Tuesday that Michelle Troconis helped her boyfriend, Dulos’ estranged husband Fotis Dulos, plan and

By KEVIN McGill Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 99-year-old New Orleans businessman best known in the city as a proprietor of his family’s landmark hat store on St. Charles Avenue has been honored by the French government for his military service during World War II. Samuel Meyer, who still puts in a few

By DIANE JEANTET Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is under investigation for allegedly harassing a humpback whale while riding a personal watercraft off Sao Paulo’s coast last year. Bolsonaro appeared at the federal police in Sao Paulo on Tuesday to meet with officers. The investigation is just one

By GARANCE BURKE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — With presidential primaries underway across the U.S., popular chatbots are generating false and misleading information that threatens to disenfranchise voters, according to a report published Tuesday based on the findings of artificial intelligence experts and a bipartisan group of election officials. Fifteen states and one territory

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says 25 toxic waste sites in 15 states will be cleaned up as part of a $1 billion infusion to the federal Superfund program. The money is the third and last installment in $3.5 billion allocated under the 2021 infrastructure law signed by

By JEFF AMY, ELLIOT SPAGAT and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Laken Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student out on her morning run at the University of Georgia when authorities say a stranger dragged her into a secluded area and killed her, sending shockwaves through campus as police searched for a suspect.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida bill to allow people to file wrongful death lawsuits over the death of a fetus is being shelved because of the political fallout from an Alabama Supreme Court decision that frozen embryos are legally protected children. Republican Sen. Erin Grall decided not to proceed with her bill on Monday

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Norwegian royal officials say that King Harald V of Norway has been hospitalized with an infection while on vacation in Malaysia. The news came in a statement Tuesday from the Norwegian royal house. The 87-year-old monarch has had several illnesses in recent months that have raised concerns about the head of state’s

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A funeral home says Ole Anderson, a professional wrestler whose tough, no-nonsense style led him to become a founding member of the famed collective known as The Four Horsemen, has died at age 81. Anderson’s death also was disclosed Monday on WWE wrestling organization’s website, which

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press A Washington state man accused of helping kill more than 3,000 birds — including eagles on a Montana Indian reservation — then illegally selling their feathers intends to plead guilty to illegal wildlife trafficking and other criminal charges, court documents show. Federal prosecutors say Travis John Branson and others killed

CHICAGO (AP) — Wild fluctuations in temperatures are being recorded in much of the United States this week, with some cities experiencing a winter weather whiplash in which they are going from record highs to severe storms to snow and freezing temperatures in a matter of days. And the whiplash does not end there. The

PERU, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana man convicted in the fatal 2021 shootings of a woman, her young daughter and her fiancé has been sentenced to 195 years in prison. A Miami County judge sentenced 27-year-old Mitchell Page of Brookston last week to the maximum 65 years for each of three murder counts he

DETROIT (AP) — Toyota is recalling about 381,000 Tacoma midsize pickup trucks in the U.S. because a part can separate from the rear axle, increasing the risk of a crash. The recall covers certain trucks from the 2022 and 2023 model years. Toyota said in a statement Tuesday that welding debris left on the ends

By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — School bus service has been snarled in St. Louis for two days because of a work stoppage that’s a show of support for a Black mechanic who says he found a noose at his workstation. The action began Monday and continued Tuesday for drivers employed by

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Syria has issued formal invitations to the Syrian government and opposition to meet in Geneva in late April to resume negotiations on revising the country’s constitution, despite opposition from Damascus’ key ally Russia which insists the Swiss city is not

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Authorities in the eastern Caribbean are scouring waters in the region in hopes of finding a missing U.S. couple who were aboard their catamaran Simplicity more than a week ago when police say it was hijacked by three escaped prisoners from Grenada. Police have

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The family of a slain Black man has filed a federal lawsuit against the Georgia deputy who shot him during a traffic stop that spiraled into violence. Camden County sheriff’s Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge killed Leonard Cure on Oct. 16 during a struggle that began after

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A coal company owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has been found in contempt by a federal judge for not following an order to pay an insurance company to maintain collateral for financial obligations. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that a U.S. district judge found Southern Coal Corp. in civil contempt

By MATT BROWN Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Golden and scarlet balloons adorned an entrance guarded by the Secret Service that led straight to a bar abuzz with excited reunions, a line of attendees waiting to take pictures at a photo wall and a spacious auditorium set to celebrate a unique subset of the

By SAMY MAGDY and TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Israel and Hamas are inching toward a new deal that would free some of the roughly 130 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a weekslong pause in the war, now in its fifth month. U.S. President Joe Biden says a deal

By MAE ANDERSON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — While it seems increasingly unlikely the U.S. economy is headed for recession, small businesses still face headwinds like higher costs and difficulty retaining qualified workers. But owners say they’re optimistic as 2024 gets underway, according to a new survey from American Express. Eighty-five percent of

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The husband of a New York doctor who died shortly after dining at a Disney Springs restaurant last year accused Walt Disney Parks and Resorts of negligence in a 19-page lawsuit filed in Florida. Jeffrey Piccolo is seeking in excess of $50,000 in the wrongful death of Kanokporn Tangsuan, a doctor