Month: August 2021

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Stephen Oates has died after a life that saw him become an award-winning Civil War historian who wrote biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Clara Barton, William Faulkner and others. The University of Massachusetts Amherst says Oates died Friday at his Amherst home at age 85. Oates received the

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press Vermont’s agriculture secretary says 89 organic dairy farms in the Northeast will lose their contracts with an organic dairy company when it stops buying milk in the region by the end of August of next year. Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts says Danone, the parent company of Horizon Organic, notified farms

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The attorney for parents suing to overturn the governor’s executive order banning strong student mask mandates says the order violates the authority of school districts to decide health issues. Attorney Craig Whisenhunt represents the parents. He argued in court Thursday that Gov. Ron DeSantis is

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaragua’s legislature has ordered the closure of 15 more non-governmental organizations, bringing to 45 the number whose permits to operate in the country have been cancelled in the last month. Those affected include the Mejía Godoy Foundation of popular folk singers Carlos and Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy. The legislature is dominated

By PAUL J. WEBER and ACACIA CORONADO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans have advanced new voting restrictions after months of protests by Democrats. The sweeping bill that passed the Texas House late Thursday comes one week after Democrats ended a 38-day walkout to stop it from passing. Texas is now back in

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The United States has pledged another $32 million in aid to the victims of Haiti’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake, as the country’s interim prime minister defends his government’s response. U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power said Thursday the U.S. government had learned from

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s minimum age to be married is now higher after Gov. Roy Cooper signed a bill increasing it from 14 years old to 16. The increase takes effect immediately after the governor’s bill signing Thursday. It comes after the General Assembly gave unanimous support to the new threshold earlier this

By ERIC OLSON AP College Football Writer LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — College football programs are transitioning from traditional paper tickets to digital ticketing. Many fans like the feel of holding a ticket in their hand and hanging on to them as keepsakes. Others welcome the convenience of having a barcode on their smartphone scanned at

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida attorney general says the state will receive $5 million after a settlement with a nonprofit domestic violence agency and its former CEO over exorbitant pay the state said should have gone to domestic abuse shelters. Attorney General Ashley Moody and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore police say a woman has been charged with murder after confessing to killing her 6-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. Police said Thursday that Jamerria Hall has been charged with first-degree murder, assault and reckless endangerment in the deaths of Da’Neria and Davin Thomas. The children’s decomposing bodies were found at a

By KATHY GANNON and ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press The Islamic State offshoot that President Joe Biden blames for a deadly suicide attack outside the Kabul airport got its start six years ago with several hundred fighters who regarded the Taliban as too moderate. The group known as Islamic State Khorasan formed along the mountain border

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Connecticut woman has been sentenced to seven days in jail and is banned from Yellowstone National Park for two years after other tourists captured photos and video of her walking on thermal features in the Norris Geyser Basin. The 26-year-old woman pleaded guilty to

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s new attorney general is seeking execution dates for seven death-row inmates. In motions filed Thursday with the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals, Attorney General John O’Connor says the seven inmates have exhausted all their appeals. Six of the inmates were recently dismissed from a federal

By NINIEK KARMINI and DON BABWIN Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An attorney and an Indonesian official say a Chicago woman will be released from prison six years into a 10-year prison sentence for her role in the slaying of her mother, whose body was found stuffed into a suitcase on the island of

By MARIA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president has again sidestepped questions about reinstating the U.S. “Remain in Mexico” policy. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday that Mexico will continue helping the United States on immigration. But he noted “it can’t go on forever,” and said attention must turn to development

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — “Making a Murderer” subject Steven Avery has appealed his latest unanimous legal defeat, asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take the case. The 59-year-old Avery filed the request Wednesday. Avery is serving a life sentence for the 2005 killing of photographer Teresa Halbach. The case became the focus of a popular

By MIKE FULLER Associated Press LONDON (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has held talks with top Irish officials in Dublin, focusing on a major overhaul of taxes on the world’s biggest multinational companies. During Thursday’s one-day state visit — his first to Ireland — Macron met with President Michael Higgins and Taoiseach Michael Martin.

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Human remains found in a cemetery in Belgium have been identified as those of a U.S. Army sergeant from Connecticut who went missing in Germany during World War II. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Thursday that testing showed the remains were those of Sgt. Bernard

By BRYAN ANDERSON Associated Press/Report for America RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Senate Republicans on Thursday passed a bill to limit how teachers can discuss certain racial concepts inside the classroom. The proposal seeks to bar educators from compelling students to personally adopt any ideas from a list of 13 beliefs. The measure passed

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ and ALEXIS TRIBOULARD Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — An all-woman Afghan robotics team known as the “Afghan Dreamers” are now safe in Mexico, but they say they want to help others who remain in their country after the Taliban takeover. The five women, accompanied by one man, arrived Tuesday after travelling

By SUDHIN THANAWALA and JAY REEVES Associated Press Kentucky and Texas have joined a growing list of states that have surpassed their record for hospitalized coronavirus patients. The two states on Wednesday reported the most COVID-19 patients in their hospitals since the pandemic began. At least six other states have already surpassed their records amid

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A $100 million fix to stop a San Francisco luxury high-rise from sinking and tilting even more is on hold while engineers try to learn why the building has sunk another inch (2.5 centimeters) during the repair. Doug Elmets, spokesman for the Millennium Tower, said in a statement that pile installation

ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) — An inmate who confessed in court to using a hammer to kill a nurse and correctional officer during an escape attempt at an Iowa prison has been sentenced to life in prison. Thomas Woodard Jr. was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty earlier this month to two counts of first-degree murder, as

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS Associated Press SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — State officials have destroyed the first Asian giant hornet nest of the season, which was located near the town of Blaine along the Canadian border. The Washington state Department of Agriculture said it eradicated the nest on Wednesday. The nest was located in the base

By TAMEEM AKHGAR and JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press Salgy Baran got the highest score in all of Afghanistan on her university entrance exams this year, but she has no answers for what comes next. The 18-year-old graduate wants to stay in the country and become a doctor. But as with so many other Afghans, those

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois will require all educators from kindergarten through college and health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines or submit to weekly testing. Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday also announced a fresh statewide mandate on wearing masks indoors in response to a spike in cases, particularly in southern

By STEPHEN McGRATH AND NICOLAE DUMITRACHE Associated Press BRAILA, Romania (AP) — Romania and Japan have celebrated a century of diplomatic relations with officials from both countries visiting the site of what will be one of Europe’s longest suspension bridges. The bridge in the eastern city of Braila will cross the Danube River and is