Month: August 2021

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press A federal bankruptcy judge on Friday urged states that oppose a settlement plan with Purdue Pharma to try to work out differences with the OxyContin maker before he issues a ruling next week. During a videoconference hearing, Judge Robert Drain warned of lengthy and expensive appeals if he approves the

By DIANE JEANTET Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil, the country with the most freshwater resources in the world, has lost 15% of its surface water over the last three decades. The water’s gradual retreat in the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, is even worse. It is just one-quarter of its earlier

By BEN FINLEY and SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The latest surge in coronavirus cases is overwhelming many of the nation’s intensive care units. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday that nearly 80% of the country’s ICU beds were in use. About 30 percent of those were filled by

By JOSEF FEDERMAN and OMAR AKOUR Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The U.S. State Department has raised concerns to Jordan about the possible mistreatment of a former top official imprisoned for sedition in an alleged plot against the Western-allied monarchy. The lawyer for Bassem Awadallah, who is a U.S. citizen, has said the trial lacked

NEW YORK (AP) — The Pulitzer Prize Board has announced a special citation for people in Afghanistan who risked their safety to help produce news stories and images from their war-torn country. It also awarded a $100,000 emergency grant to help people including staff and freelance correspondents, interpreters, drivers and hosts either resettle or to

By TERRY TANG and JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona surpassed 1 million COVID-19 cases Friday. There are now more than a dozen states that have crossed the grim threshold as the nation wrestles with yet another major spike in infections. The benchmark is the latest in a tumultuous year-and-a-half where Arizona

By TERRY SPENCER and CURT ANDERSON Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A judge has ruled that Florida school districts may impose mask mandates. Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper on Friday agreed with a group of parents who claimed in a lawsuit that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on the mandates is unconstitutional

By STEPHEN McGRATH AND AUREL OBREJA Associated Press CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldova’s pro-Western president has been joined in the capital Chisinau by her counterparts from Romania, Poland, and Ukraine to celebrate the country’s three decades of independence from Soviet rule. Moldova, Europe’s poorest country, sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, proclaimed its independence from the

By BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona nurse who has spent the past 18 months caring for COVID-19 patients is sharing her perspective as a third surge of cases hits the state and it crosses the 1 million case mark. Caroline Maloney works in the intensive care unit at Scottsdale Osborn

By TED ANTHONY AP National Writer SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — The act of remembering is a complex one, particularly when it comes to an event like 9/11. Memory can be filled with emotion, with politics, with anger and with a desire to make sure that certain stories are told. As the 20th anniversary of 9/11

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — A judge has ordered a western Michigan couple to pay $30,441 to their son for getting rid of his pornography collection. The decision this week came eight months after David Werking won a lawsuit against his parents. Werking says they had no right to throw out his collection of films,

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The SUV carrying Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was stopped and surrounded by a radical teachers’ group, preventing him from leading his usual daily morning news conference. The incident occurred Friday in the southern state of Chiapas. López Obrador’s vehicle was allowed to proceed after a couple of hours. The

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alex Lasry benefitted from nearly $24,000 in property tax breaks in both New York and Wisconsin that are supposed to only be applied to a primary residence, not multiple properties. Property records from both states show that Lasry received at least

By KELSEY SHEEHY of NerdWallet Business owners planning a move from remote-only to a hybrid workplace face unique challenges. Define what a hybrid setup will look like for your team or company and invest in tools to create a seamless experience for employees, no matter where they’re working. Owners and managers also need to rethink

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado woman accused of hiding 26 children behind a false wall at her day care center has been found guilty of child abuse and other charges. A jury found Carla Faith guilty of 26 counts of misdemeanor child abuse, a felony count of attempting to influence a public servant

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II will attend the United Nations climate change conference in Scotland in November. British official Alok Sharma, president of the COP26 conference, said he is “absolutely delighted” the queen will be at the event, which is due to be held in Glasgow Nov. 1-12. Details of the monarch’s schedule have

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has opened a mass COVID-19 vaccination site for arriving Afghans near Dulles International Airport, where thousands fleeing the Taliban are now arriving daily. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday confirmed that the site has begun administering vaccinations to the Afghan evacuees. It

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Akis Tsochadzopoulos, a once prominent Greek socialist politician who held nearly a dozen ministerial positions over two decades but later fell from grace, was convicted and imprisoned in one of Greece’s highest profile corruption trials, has died, the successor to his former party has confirmed. He was 82. Tsochadzopoulos had been

LYONS, Ill. (AP) — Authorities plan to excavate a suburban Chicago backyard this weekend after one of two adult brothers found living in deplorable conditions in a home told officers he had buried their mother and sister’s bodies behind the home years ago after they died. Lyons Police Chief Thomas Herion says after survey work

By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press While the Sept. 11 attacks united much of America in grief and anger, conspiracy theories about what happened that day uncovered a well of distrust. Twenty years on, the skepticism and suspicion first revealed by claims that 9/11 was an inside job have metastasized. They’ve been spread by the internet

By COLLIN BINKLEY and CAMILLE FASSETT Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — While many schools scrambled to shift to online classes last year, the nation’s virtual charter schools faced little disruption. For them, online learning was already the norm. Most have few physical classrooms, or none at all. Yet when Congress sent $190 billion in pandemic

By The Associated Press This week’s new entertainment releases include a new album from Imagine Dragons, Billie Eilish’s Disney+ concert special and Michael Keaton leading the new Netflix film “Worth.” Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez star in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” as a trio of true-crime addicts and neighbors in a

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland’s highest court will reconsider the punishment of Lee Boyd Malvo. He’s serving life without parole for sniper attacks that terrorized the Washington, D.C., region in 2002. At issue is whether Maryland’s new law abolishing life without parole for crimes by youths should be extended to people already serving such sentences.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve will start dialing back its ultra-low-interest rate policies this year as long as hiring continues to improve, Chair Jerome Powell said Friday, signaling the beginning of the end of the Fed’s extraordinary response to the pandemic recession. Such a move could lead to