Month: August 2021

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A group of Nantucket residents have filed a federal lawsuit to block the construction of dozens of wind turbines off the coast of the Massachusetts island resort. ACK Residents Against Turbines say Vineyard Wind’s proposed project 14 miles south of Nantucket poses a risk to the endangered

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press A Purdue Pharma lawyer says states would get more money from settling with the company than if they were allowed to continue their lawsuits against the OxyContin maker and members of the Sackler family who own it. The warning came Wednesday as part of the final day of a weeks-long

By JONATHAN MATTISE and TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press WAVERLY, Tenn. (AP) — The body of the final person missing from a devastating weekend flood in Middle Tennessee has been recovered and the search for victims has been suspended. The discovery came around mid-day on Wednesday, shortly before the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

By DAVID EGGERT Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Two conservative hoaxers face a record $5.1 million fine for allegedly making illegal robocalls to wireless phones without the owners’ consent in the 2020 election. The Federal Communications Commission says the proposed fine for Jacob Wohl, Jack Burkman and Burkman’s lobbying firm would be the largest

By DAVID SOLOMON Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina’s 19th season will be his last. The 39-year-old made the announcement a day after agreeing to a $10 million deal for 2022 that represents a $1 million raise. The 10-time All Star has spent his entire career in the Cardinals

By DYLAN LOVAN Associated Press LONDON, Ky. (AP) — A man pardoned by Kentucky’s former governor for a 2014 drug robbery killing has been convicted for the same slaying in federal court after a two-week trial. Federal prosecutors brought charges against Patrick Baker after he was released from prison when former Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Republican state senator from Wisconsin who opposed mask and vaccine mandates and then developed pneumonia after testing positive for COVID-19 is in stable condition after being placed on a ventilator. State Sen. Andre Jacque tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month and was hospitalized Aug.

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nashville Freedom Rider and civil rights leader Ernest “Rip” Patton has died. He was 81. The Freedom Rides Museum announced the death on Tuesday. Patton participated in the downtown Nashville civil rights sit-ins in 1960, a movement that eventually led to the desegregation of the city’s

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina woman is suing the Transportation Security Administration, saying her transgender teenager was ordered to undergo a strip-search at an airport. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports the lawsuit says that when 15-year-old Jamii Erway passed through a checkpoint in 2019, the teen triggered a “false positive” and

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say they’ve taken down a criminal racket in which corrupt lawyers and doctors used hundreds of desperate people, including drug addicts and homeless individuals, to feign trip-and-fall accidents to collect damages. They announced charges Wednesday against four individuals, including two lawyers and two doctors. They

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Two members of Congress are facing condemnation and questions following their surprise trip to Afghanistan this week. The trip by Democrat Seth Moulton, of Massachusetts, and Republican Peter Meijer, of Michigan, diverted resources from the U.S.’s chaotic withdrawal and enraged military leaders. House

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Senate Democrats are bringing their push for a new federal voting bill to battleground Wisconsin. Sens. Tammy Baldwin, of Wisconsin, and Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, argued at a roundtable discussion Wednesday that the sweeping measure is needed to blunt attempts by Republicans to make voting more

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham wants to conserve more of the state’s land and water. She says doing so will boost other state efforts to mitigate climate change effects. The Democratic governor signed an executive order Wednesday creating a committee that will draft a

By TOM MURPHY AP Health Writer Pfizer is seeking U.S. approval of a booster dose of its two-shot COVID-19 vaccine. The drugmaker announced Wednesday that it has started the approval process for a third dose of its vaccine for all Americans ages 16 and older. The company said it expects to complete its application with

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A federal judge has scheduled a trial in early 2022 for three Georgia men charged with hate crimes in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood issued a written order saying jury selection in the case will begin Feb. 7. Father

By AMIR VAHDAT Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — State TV reports that Iran’s hard-liner dominated Parliament has voted to approve the majority of ministers proposed by newly elected President Ibrahim Raisi. Lawmakers voted Wednesday in favor of 18 out of 19 ministers proposed by Raisi after five days of hearings and discussions. Lawmakers did

By RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A proposed class-action lawsuit claims that Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision to end enhanced unemployment benefits for tens of thousands of residents violated state law and asks a court to reinstate their aid. The lawsuit seeks to make claimants eligible for potentially hundreds of

By MEG KINNARD and DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man on federal death row for the racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A prosecutor says South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg will avoid a trial and take a plea deal on misdemeanor traffic charges in a crash last year in which he hit and killed a man who was walking near a rural highway. Beadle County State’s Attorney

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — An attorney for the Illinois teen accused of killing two men and wounding a third during a protest in Wisconsin last summer says he doesn’t know who donated to his client’s defense and therefore cannot produce any names. Attorney Mark Richards was responding to a motion filed by prosecutors last week

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Rana Cash, executive editor of the Savannah Morning News in Georgia, has been named to the same position at The Charlotte Observer, the newspaper’s first Black editor in the North Carolina newspaper’s 135-year history. The 50-year-old Cash begins her new job in early October. She is replacing Sherry Chisenhall, who announced

LONDON (AP) — Several types of crispy pork snacks have been pulled from sale in Britain after almost 180 people became ill with suspected salmonella poisoning. The packets of pork scratchings sold under the labels Mr. Porky, Jay’s and The Real Pork Crackling Company were all made by snack company the Tayto Group. The Food

TUSCUMBIA, Ala. (AP) — Workers have used dynamite to demolish six smokestacks at a decommissioned power plant in Alabama. The implosion took place Wednesday at the old Colbert Fossil Plant, which was operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority for more than six decades beginning in 1955. TVA says the work is part of its move

PARIS (AP) — A French court has handed a 10-month suspended prison sentence to an Afghan evacuee who failed to respect restrictions placed on him because of indirect links to the Taliban. The man was among five such evacuees confined to a hotel with family members. He was arrested Monday, days after his arrival in

By COLLEEN LONG and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the January insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is demanding a trove of records from federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The requests show the sweep of the lawmakers’ review of the deadly attack by a mob of Donald Trump supporters.