Month: February 2024

By ANNIE MA and COLLIN BINKLEY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans who are struggling to repay federal student loans because of financial hardship could get some of their debt canceled under President Joe Biden’s latest attempt at forgiveness. Several categories of borrowers are being targeted for relief under Biden’s second try at widespread cancellation

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff’s deputy mistook the sound of an acorn hitting his patrol vehicle’s roof for a gunshot and fired multiple times at the SUV where a handcuffed Black man was sitting in the backseat. The man was being questioned in November about stealing his girlfriend’s car. He wasn’t

PANAMA CITY (AP) — At least five migrants have died and the search continues for one more who is missing after a boat carrying more than two dozen migrants capsized off Panama’s Caribbean coast in an apparent attempt to avoid the treacherous Darien Gap land route. Panama’s Public Safety Ministry said in a statement Thursday

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose this week to its highest level in 10 weeks, a setback for prospective homebuyers ahead of the spring homebuying season. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to 6.77% from 6.64% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Egyptian soccer club Al Ahly has canceled a trial for South Africa midfielder Teboho Mokoena over his support of a politician. Al Ahly says in a statement Thursday that it is not going ahead with the try out for Mokoena next month after he expressed support for

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Trey Smith shared the WWE title belt to help calm a young boy in the aftermath of the mass shooting at the team’s Super Bowl celebration. Smith, who sported the belt during the celebration, noticed the frightened boy, who was with his father. He told

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Auto workers held waves of walkouts. Hollywood actors and writers picketed for months. And healthcare, education and hospitality employees also withheld their labor while calling for improved pay and job conditions. The number of U.S. workers on strike more than doubled last year. According to

By JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Cleveland-Cliffs is shutting down a northern West Virginia tin production facility indefinitely and plans to lay off 900 workers. The company says it will offer severance packages or opportunities for workers in Weirton to be relocated to its other facilities. The announcement Thursday follows an International

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Multimillionaire Republican businessman Eric Hovde is planning to launch a bid for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Hovde campaign spokesperson Ben Voekel said Thursday that Hovde will be announcing next week. Reelecting Baldwin to a third term is critical for Democratic hopes to

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A watchdog report has found that the kind of systemic failures that enabled the high-profile prison deaths of gangster Whitey Bulger and financier Jeffrey Epstein also contributed to the deaths of hundreds of other federal prisoners over the years. The scathing report found mental health care, emergency

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Kuwait’s emir has dissolved parliament, the latest dissolution to strike the oil-rich nation’s legislature amid years of political gridlock. The state-run KUNA news agency announced the decree from the country’s ruling emir, Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber. It blamed “offensive and uncontrolled” utterances by lawmakers for the decision.

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth and Zendaya will join Vogue’s Anna Wintour as co-chairs of this year’s Met Gala, the magazine and the Metropolitan Museum of Art revealed Thursday. And the dress code? “The Garden of Time,” whatever that means in the imaginations of the star-studded

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s medical board has approved some guidance abortion providers would need to follow if the state’s ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy is upheld by the Iowa Supreme Court. The restrictive abortion law is currently on hold as the court considers

By JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A truck’s fuel tank exploded early Thursday in a neighborhood south of downtown Los Angeles, sending a fireball into the air and injuring nine of the 10 firefighters responding to the blaze, including two critically, fire officials said. All nine Los Angeles firefighters were rushed to

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press ROXBORO, N.C. (AP) — Front-runners for North Carolina’s major-party nominations for governor in next month’s primaries have taken dramatically different paths to prominence. Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein and Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson have been ahead in fundraising and support from key party figures. These and other primary

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Last fall’s contentious United Auto Workers’ strike changed Ford’s relationship with the union to the point where it will “think carefully” about where it builds future vehicles, Ford’s top executive said Thursday. CEO Jim Farley told the Wolfe Research Global Auto Conference in New York that

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Another juror has been dismissed in the murder trial of a former Ohio sheriff’s deputy, forcing the panel to start over its deliberations for the second time in two days. The jury had been deliberating for more than three hours Wednesday when a male juror was dismissed and replaced by an

By JOSHUA GOODMAN and JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Friends and colleagues of Manuel Rocha knew him for an aristocratic, almost regal, bearing that was fitting for an Ivy League-educated career U.S. diplomat who held top posts across Latin America. So former CIA operative Félix Rodríguez was dubious in 2006 when a defected

By JOSHUA GOODMAN and JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Manuel Rocha was well known in Miami’s elite circles for an aristocratic, almost regal, bearing that seemed fitting for an Ivy League-educated career U.S. diplomat who held top posts in Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba and the White House. “Ambassador Rocha,” as he preferred to be

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is stepping up efforts to stop dirty money from flowing through the U.S. financial system by crafting a slew of new rules aimed at increasing corporate transparency and regulating occupations that are exploited for money laundering. A top treasury official will be in Paris

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A constitutional amendment supported by Republicans that attempts to limit diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in Wisconsin was up for its first vote in the Legislature on Thursday. The measure up for Assembly approval is the latest effort targeting DEI efforts nationwide, but it’s a long

By AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration struggled to properly vet and monitor the homes where they placed a surge of migrant children who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021, according to a federal watchdog report released Thursday. The Department of Health and Human Services is required to screen adults

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press A woman who died in the mass shooting after a parade for the Kansas City Chiefs and their Super Bowl victory DJed around the area and was a music lover who hosted an hourlong Tejano music radio show. Friends said Lisa Lopez-Galvan went to the parade with her husband and

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Officials in Trinidad and Tobago say a preliminary investigation into a mushrooming oil spill in waters near Trinidad and Tobago has found that an overturned and abandoned barge blamed for the disaster was being tugged to nearby Guyana. Officials in the eastern Caribbean island nation are trying to determine

By KRYSTA FAURIA Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Throughout her career, Jennifer Lopez has been hailed as an epochal, prolific and hard-working artist. One adjective not often associated with the pop icon-turned-actor and movie producer, however, is self-deprecating. But as she readies to drop her first studio album in a decade, Lopez is performing

BOSTON (AP) — Thousands of commuters were left stranded around Boston Thursday during the morning rush hour, after power outages hit several lines of the beleaguered transit service. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority took to X, formerly known as Twitter, around 7 a.m. Thursday to say they were working to resolve the issue that was

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press SAINT-GILLES, Belgium (AP) — As record amounts of cocaine are seized in Europe, drug-related violence is taking hold of Brussels. Shootings for the control of territory have increased, the population is fed up and police are seizing drugs and arresting traffickers almost daily. Dealers recently fought in the heart of

By LESLIE AMBRIZ Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — One of the first things that struck director S.J. Clarkson about “Madame Web” was that this was a superhero who did not have superhuman strength. And unlike Batman, she couldn’t just buy herself some. No, Cassandra Webb has a different kind of power: Clairvoyance. This, the