Month: August 2021

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — Federal prosecutors are recommending a nine-year prison sentence for a man who says he worked on a wild plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Ty Garbin pleaded guilty to conspiracy just four months after being arrested. In a court filing, the government says he deserves credit

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Educated young women, former U.S. military translators and other Afghans most at-risk from the Taliban are appealing to the Biden administration to get them on evacuation flights. President Joe Biden and his top officials say the U.S. is working to speed up the

By JIM MORRIS Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — .A Canadian judge has reserved her decision on whether a senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies should be extradited to the U.S. Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes says that on Oct. 21, she will likely when she will rule on extradition of the

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A fourth business executive faces criminal charges stemming from a federal investigation into a failed multibillion-dollar project to build two nuclear reactors in South Carolina. An indictment filed Wednesday shows Jeffrey A. Benjamin is accused of multiple felony counts of fraud and conspiracy. Benjamin is a former executive at Westinghouse Electric

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press TULUM, Mexico (AP) — Mexico’s Caribbean coast is readying for the arrival of Hurricane Grace, evacuating some smaller hotels, opening shelters and suspending ferry service to Cozumel as the Category 1 storm churns toward the heart of the country’s tourism industry. Grace is expected to make landfall before dawn Thursday

By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer The Biden administration is banning use on food crops of chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide that environmentalists say poses risks to children and farm workers. The Environmental Protection Agency announced the move Wednesday. A federal appeals court ordered the government in April to quickly determine whether the pesticide is

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A judge has denied a defense attorney’s request to move the trial of the former police officer charged with the killing of Andre Hill in Columbus, Ohio. The 47-year-old Hill, who was Black, was fatally shot by ex-Columbus officer Adam Coy, who is white, on Dec. 22. Hill was shot as

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mister Rogers’ deliveryman’s son just so happens to be a real-life mail carrier. He briefly appeared this week on an episode of a children’s show based on one of Mister Rogers’ puppets. The 39-year-old Alex Newell is the son of David Newell, who played Mr. McFeely on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” The Pittsburgh

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — CNN’s Clarissa Ward says her producer on a report from Afghanistan was nearly pistol-whipped by Taliban fighters, before another one stepped in to save him. The CNN crew was reporting Wednesday from a chaotic scene outside the airport in Kabul, where many Afghans are trying

By MICHAEL BIESECKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — American foreign correspondent Joseph L. Galloway, best known for his book recounting a pivotal battle in the Vietnam War, has died. He was 79. A Texas native, Galloway spent 22 years as a war correspondent and bureau chief for United Press International, including serving four tours in

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The nation’s largest public utility plans to switch out 1,200 of its vehicles for electric ones by 2030. Tennessee Valley Authority officials announced the plan during a board meeting Wednesday. They say the changeout will include reducing the fleet’s 600 light-duty vehicles to 400 electric versions

By ALEX SANZ and TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press American friends of a high-profile national police officer in Afghanistan are trying to help him and his family escape almost certain death at the hands of the Taliban. Mohammad Khalid Wardak worked alongside American special forces for many years and even went on television to challenge the

By ARSENE KABORE and SAM MEDNICK Associated Press OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Authorities say suspected Islamic extremists have ambushed a convoy in northern Burkina Faso, killing at least 30 civilians along with 17 soldiers and volunteer defense fighters. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday’s attack in Burkina Faso’s Sahel region,

TALI ARBEL and ZEN SOO Associated Press China appears to be taking greater control of ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns global video app TikTok, and Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. State-backed firms took stakes in Chinese subsidiaries of the two companies this April and last year. Beijing has been clamping down on its technology

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The former school resource officer accused of hiding during a South Florida school shooting that left 17 people dead says he never would have sat idle if he had known people were being killed. The Sun Sentinel reports that former Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson appeared in court Wednesday, and

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge has ruled that a statue of Christopher Columbus can remain in south Philadelphia, reversing a decision by city officials to have it removed. The explorer became a focus of protesters after the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. Common Pleas Court Judge Paula Patrick said last year’s

By DARIA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities have added a prominent independent election monitoring group to its registry of “foreign agents,” the latest in a relentless government crackdown on activists ahead of the September parliamentary election. The group was first labeled as “foreign agent” in 2013 and liquidated as a non-governmental organization

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A major Southern California water agency has declared a water supply alert for the first time in seven years and is asking residents to voluntarily conserve. The Los Angeles Times reports that the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California took the step Tuesday hoping to lessen the need

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — An attorney for 22 women who have filed lawsuits accusing Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual assault and harassment says he and some of his clients have spoken to the FBI about the case. Tony Buzbee told The Associated Press that the FBI “reached out

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A newspaper editor friend of former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was hit Wednesday with state cyberstalking charges in New York, seven months after Trump pardoned him in a similar federal case just before leaving office. Manhattan prosecutors accused Ken Kurson, the New York

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and JIM SALTER Associated Press MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Many overwhelmed hospitals, with no beds to offer, are putting critically ill COVID-19 patients on planes, helicopters and ambulances and sending them hundreds of miles to far-flung states for treatment.The delta variant of the virus, combined with low vaccination rates in many states,