Month: June 2024

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A judge has rejected a law Illinois Democrats approved last month that prohibited the slating of candidates who weren’t on a party primary ballot. A Sangamon County Circuit judge says the law violates the voting rights of those seeking ballot access. Democrats approved the law

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior Biden administration officials say the U.S. has been tracking Russian warships and aircraft that are expected to arrive in the Caribbean for a military exercise in the coming weeks. The ships also are expected possibly to make port calls in Venezuela and Cuba. The officials say

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A defense lawyer is declining to comment on the case against a New York man charged in a sports betting scandal that cost former NBA player Jontay Porter his career. Attorney Michael Soshnick also wouldn’t Wednesday say whether his client, Long Phi Pham, knows the former

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Government advisers Wednesday said it’s time to update the recipe for the COVID-19 vaccines Americans will receive in the fall — targeting a version of the ever-evolving coronavirus called JN.1. While COVID-19 cases currently are low, more surges are inevitable and manufacturers need time to brew

VIGO PARK, Texas (AP) — Storm trackers in the Texas Panhandle recovered a massive hail stone that researchers say is likely to be a new state record. Val and Amy Castor, veteran storm chasers with Oklahoma City television station KWTV, discovered a piece of hail more than 7 inches (17.78 centimeters) long Sunday along the

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A black bear who had ventured into a Salt Lake City neighborhood from the nearby mountains took a 20-foot tumble from a tree Wednesday morning after it was tranquilized by wildlife officials, who were unable to provide it a soft landing. The 2-year-old male black bear perched above the tree-lined

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The wife of Sen. Bob Menendez has been excused from appearing in court next week after her lawyer said she’s experiencing intense and chronic pain after surgery to treat cancer. Nadine Menendez was supposed to be on trial with the Democrat for the past month, but

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — A day after lawmakers voted to put a border proposal on Arizona’s Nov. 5 ballot, a Latino advocacy group and a Democratic legislator filed a lawsuit challenging the measure because it contains an alleged constitutional defect. In the challenge filed Wednesday, the group Living United for Change

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens says he will support a plan to spend $5 million reimbursing businesses for losses during water outages in the city in recent days. He’s also promising a commission to examine the city’s infrastructure needs and to deploy monitors to detect leaking pipes. Dickens’

By JOHN HANNA and MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Florida and Kansas officials are accusing two petition circulators of forging voter signatures during campaigns to put an abortion rights measure to a vote in Florida and allow the No Labels party to put candidates on the Kansas ballot. Forty-seven-year-old Jamie Johnson

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico voters have ousted several incumbent lawmakers in the state’s primary election, as ballots were tallied Wednesday. Former school board member and educator Jon Hill of Las Cruces defeated state Rep. Willie Madrid of Chapparal in Tuesday’s primary election. Hill campaigned in support of

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday appointed two far-right Republicans to the powerful House Intelligence Committee, positioning two close allies of Donald Trump who worked to overturn the 2020 presidential election on a panel that receives sensitive classified briefings and oversees the work of America’s spy agencies.

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Month after month, global temperatures are setting new records. Meanwhile, scientists and climate policymakers warn of the growing likelihood that the planet will soon exceed the warming target set at the landmark Paris 2015 climate talks. Making sense of the run of climate extremes may be challenging

By ED WHITE Associated Press PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A May court appearance by a Detroit-area man went viral when he appeared by video from behind the wheel for a driving offense. Now he’s been arrested for the same offense — nine years ago in a different community. The incident occurred Wednesday at a

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A Colorado woman who was seriously injured when a freight train hit the parked police vehicle in which she sat handcuffed has reached an $8.5 million settlement, a lawyer representing two of the involved police officers said Wednesday. The city of Fort Lupton and nearby town of

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics has hired retired Army Lt. Gen. Reynold Hoover as its CEO. In a news release announcing the move on Wednesday, the committee said, “Hoover’s appointment underscored LA28’s heightened focus on operations and delivery.” “Reynold is one of the few people in the

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden commemorates the 80th anniversary of D-Day in 1944, he might be thinking about some of his uncles. That amphibious landing on the beaches of Normandy, France, during World War II is credited with helping Allied powers liberate France from Nazi Germany. Biden was

By MIKE CATALINI Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Curtis Bashaw’s Senate nomination over Donald Trump’s preferred candidate in the New Jersey Republican Senate primary and the chance that Sen. Bob Menendez’s independent campaign could split Democrats is fueling GOP hopes they can put a reliably Democratic Senate seat in play this fall. Bashaw is

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer Most people who received money from Norfolk Southern in the wake of last year’s fiery train derailment in eastern Ohio won’t have to pay taxes on millions of dollars in aid payments after all. The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday that it had decided that most of the more

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — An appeals court has halted the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and others while it reviews the lower court judge’s ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case. The Georgia Court of Appeals’ order on Wednesday prevents Fulton

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas county has agreed to pay a group of female deputies $1.5 million to settle a federal lawsuit that claimed they were abused and harassed when a constable’s office turned undercover operations into a drunken “playground for sexual exploitation.” Harris County commissioners approved the settlement Tuesday, three years after the women

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Police investigating a shooting at a street party in Akron that left one dead have increased the number injured by three. Akron’s police chief said Wednesday that 27 people in all were injured. He says two remain in critical condition. No arrests have been made in the shooting last weekend. Police