Month: April 2024

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs says the creation of a transitional council responsible for choosing Haiti’s next leaders is imminent. Brian A. Nichols spoke Wednesday during a heated forum in New York organized by the Council on Foreign Relations. Officials are

By STEPHANY MATAT Associated Press WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is joining other Republican incumbents scrambling to strike a balance in their abortion rights messaging. He says he opposes his state’s ballot initiative that would protect abortions until viability in the state’s law, but he agrees with former President

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canada’s emergency preparedness minister is warning the country’s wildfire season could be more explosive than last year that unprecedented smoke conditions across much of the country and into the United States. Persistent drought and months of above-average temperatures have raised the risk of a repeat of last year’s record-breaking wildfires, prompting

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is urging lawmakers to pass her $6.3 billion budget proposal that boosts spending on a new school voucher program. But she stopped short of making new policy proposals as she delivered her first state of the state address. The Republican

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Twelve years after a hacker stole personal information from 3.6 million people through South Carolina tax returns, the state’s top police officer says he thinks he knows who did it. But State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel isn’t ready to name a name and has

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Former NFL linebacker Terrell Suggs has been arrested after allegedly threatening another man and showing a handgun during a dispute in a Starbucks drive-thru line. Scottsdale Police arrested Suggs on Tuesday at about 3 p.m. and charged him with threatening and intimidating and disorderly conduct with a weapon. The former Baltimore

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — An Islamic center at New Jersey’s Rutgers University was vandalized on the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr. Authorities say they are investigating it as a hate crime. A building at the Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University had its windows shattered, artwork smashed, TVs and printers broken as well as

By CLAUDIA LAUER Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A joyful celebration of the end of Ramadan devolved into panic Wednesday in Philadelphia after rival groups exchanged gunfire, leaving at least three people injured and hundreds of parents and children to flee in search of safety. The annual Eid al-Fitr event, held outside a large mosque

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An off-duty police officer in South Carolina has been charged with murder after state investigators say he shot a man trying to drive away after the two fought in a fast food restaurant parking lot. The State Law Enforcement Division says 64-year-old Anthony DeLustro told investigators

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press An effort to amend the Maine Constitution to enshrine the right to an abortion is coming up short. The measure fell shy of a two-thirds majority in the Maine House on Tuesday night, failing to clear the hurdle for sending the amendment to voters for ratification. Both chambers have to

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa is directing nearly a million dollars in grant funding to expand summer meal sites for low-income kids. It is an effort that advocates welcome, with worries that it won’t be enough to alleviate the barriers to access that were addressed by a separate federal

By ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — President Javier Milei of Argentina kicked off a visit to the United States, where he’ll meet with tech billionaire Elon Musk, as the libertarian leader seeks an infusion of cash to overhaul Argentina’s embattled economy. Milei started his four-day trip in Miami, where he received

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Two Texas-based natural gas companies are being sued by Oklahoma, which alleges they fraudulently reduced gas supplies to send prices soaring during Winter Storm Uri, making huge profits while thousands shivered across the state. The lawsuits are Oklahoma’s first against natural gas operators over earnings during the 2021 storm. The suits

By MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press The Environmental Protection Agency announced new limits on certain types of PFAS chemicals in drinking water. PFAS is a large family of chemicals and they’ve been used to make nonstick pans and waterproof clothing over many decades. Scientific evidence of their harms, however, has accumulated in recent years. As a

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump is now 0 for 3 in last-minute attempts to get a New York appeals court to delay his looming hush money criminal trial. An appeals court judge Wednesday swiftly rejected the latest salvo from the former president’s lawyers, who argued

PARIS (AP) — French authorities say an explosion and fire hit a French factory that treats dangerous substances. One person was critically injured. The cause of the explosion is being investigated. Firefighters brought the blaze under control soon after the explosion at the Saipol oil products factory in the port of Sete, on the Mediterranean

By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Toronto’s Jontay Porter could face expulsion from the league if the gambling-related accusations against him are found to be true, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday. Silver, speaking after a two-day meeting of the league’s Board of Governors, did not reveal any specifics about the

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press A federal judge has ruled that Woodford Reserve undermined unionization efforts at its Kentucky distillery by awarding pay raises, relaxing its vacation policy and handing out bottles of whiskey to workers before a vote on whether to unionize. Andrew S. Gollin, an administrative law judge with the National Labor Relations

By BILL BARROW Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump has stirred religious controversy again in his presidential comeback bid, lashing out at Jewish voters who back President Joe Biden and framing Election Day as a referendum on Christianity’s strength in America. Jews who support Biden “should have their head examined,” he said. Trump made

By SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON Associated Press/Report for America COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — On a cold and dreary October day, Heather C. Jarvis packed everything she had into a pink duffle and a plastic trash bag and waited for the rest of her life to begin. Sitting in the lobby of the Ohio Reformatory for Women in

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s president has issued a natural disaster declaration as 44 forest fires continue to burn across the Central American country. President Bernardo Arévalo made the announcement Wednesday, and said that 80% of the fires were started by people. Authorities canceled classes across three central provinces to protect students from the prevailing

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says Japan’s attempts to set up a leader-to-leader summit with North Korea is “a good thing,” and reiterated his administration’s willingness for its own talks without preconditions. Fumio Kishida and Biden were using the Japanese leader’s official visit to Washington to spotlight strengthened defense and intelligence ties to address

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Some Federal Reserve policymakers argued at their most recent meeting in March that inflation was likely worsening, even before the government reported Wednesday that price increases re-accelerated last month. According to the minutes of the Fed’s meeting, all 19 officials generally agreed that high inflation readings

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors say the May bribery trial of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez should be postponed until July or August after it was learned that the New Jersey Democrat’s wife, who’s a co-defendant, has a serious medical issue. Prosecutors sent a letter to the trial judge on

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — Margot Robbie has her sights on another toy. The “ Barbie ” producer and star is making a Monopoly movie, with Hasbro and Lionsgate behind it, the companies announced Wednesday at the CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas. Robbie, and her production company LuckyChap, were the

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press Nebraska lawmakers are on track to pass a bill that would circumvent voters who could repeal a new law that funds private school tuition with taxpayer money. The bill by Omaha Sen. Lou Ann Linehan advanced Wednesday. Linehan is the author of last year’s measure allowing businesses and people