Month: October 2021

By ROBERT BURNS AP National Security Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — In a reversal of Trump administration policy, the State Department has disclosed the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile. It said this will aid global efforts to control the spread of such weapons. The number of U.S. weapons, including those in active status

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — A Navy jet fighter has crashed in Death Valley National Park and authorities say the pilot ejected and was treated for minor injuries. The Navy says the jet went down at about 3 p.m. Monday in the California park in the Mojave Desert west of Las Vegas. Nobody

By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. officials have approved a long-lasting fire retardant that could significantly aid in fighting increasingly destructive wildfires. The U.S. Forest Service on Tuesday approved Perimeter Solutions’ fire retardant that is intended to be used as a preventative measure and can last for months. It’s similar to

CHICAGO (AP) — Opponents of a new Texas ban on most abortions have asked a federal judge in Illinois to declare the law unconstitutional. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday. Courts have for weeks thwarted abortion providers’ efforts to block the nation’s most restrictive abortion law. The latest legal challenge comes as the Biden administration waits

PHOENIX (AP) — Former six-term Sheriff Joe Arpaio is attempting another comeback, this time running for mayor of the affluent Phoenix suburb where he has lived for the last two decades. The former lawman on Tuesday announced his entry in the 2022 mayor’s race in Fountain Hills. After getting crushed by a Democratic challenger in

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers say a potential plea deal that would have averted a criminal trial for an associate of Rudy Giuliani never materialized despite talks. A prosecutor told U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken on Tuesday that the talks with Lev Parnas never reached the stage where a

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal appeals court has tossed out California’s ban on privately owned immigration detention facilities, keeping intact a key piece of the world’s largest detention system for immigrants. A divided three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that it found the ban

By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Gov. Brad Little says he will rescind an executive order involving COVID-19 vaccines by Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. Also on Tuesday, the commanding general of the Idaho National Guard told McGeachin she can’t activate troops to send to the U.S.-Mexico border. Little and Major General

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has announced his picks to head the National Endowments for the Humanities and the Arts, tapping a Harvard University scholar and an Arizona State University professor to oversee the federal agencies. If confirmed by the Senate, Shelly Lowe, who is the executive director of Harvard University’s  Native American program,

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s reputation as a destination for the wealthy to store billions of dollars in trust funds has long had the blessing of the state Legislature. The state’s roll was revealed in detail this week by a massive document trove called the “Pandora Papers.” The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists report

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A national sorority has suspended activities at a North Carolina university after most of its members left the group when it failed to hold discussions on racial inequities after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. The Asheville Citizen Times reports that in mid-August, 25 of 28 members

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press A former Facebook data scientist testified before Congress that the social network’s products harm children and fuel polarization in the U.S. while executives reject changes that could hurt company profits. Speaking before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Frances Haugen accused her former company of knowing

By PETER SMITH Associated Press A top committee of the Southern Baptist Convention has agreed to open up legally protected records to investigators who will examine how it handled — or mishandled — cases of sexual abuse. Tuesday’s vote reverses two previous ones in recent weeks by the denomination’s Executive Committee that would have maintained

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Brady wins in the television ratings, too. The Tampa Bay quarterback’s return to his old haunts in New England led NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” to its best ratings in years. The Nielsen company said the game was watched by 26.7 million people on NBC,

By DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Federal officials are recommending that Tootsie Roll Industries pay more than $136,000 in fines after a machine cut off part of an employee’s finger at its Chicago plant this year. The U.S. Department of Labor said in a news release Tuesday that its Occupational Safety and Health

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot a woman who called 911 to report a possible rape behind her home is being resentenced this month, after the Minnesota Supreme Court threw out his murder conviction. Mohamed Noor was initially convicted of murder and manslaughter in the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Work has halted at all of the Kellogg Company’s U.S. cereal plants as roughly 1,400 workers went on strike. It wasn’t immediately clear how much the supply of Frosted Flakes or other iconic brands would be disrupted. The strike includes plants in Omaha, Nebraska; Battle Creek,

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An executive who lied to regulators about two South Carolina nuclear plants that never generated a watt of power is ready to go to prison. Former SCANA Corp. CEO Kevin Marsh has agreed with prosecutors that he should spend two years in prison. He goes before

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A jury in Oregon has found a member of the far-right group the Proud Boys guilty of assault, menacing and unlawful use of a weapon for pulling out a loaded revolver, firing paintballs and spraying bear mace at people during Portland protests last year. Prosecutors called 51-year-old Alan Swinney a “vigilante

By JULIE WATSON Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration says the coronavirus pandemic and the difficulty of reversing Trump administration policies were responsible for the record-low number of refugees admitted to the United States during the 2021 budget year. The State Department, in an email Tuesday to The Associated Press, said 11,411

By TERRY TANG Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — A federal agent shot and killed by an Amtrak train passenger in Arizona is being remembered as a revered leader with a career spanning almost two decades. The Drug Enforcement Administration formally identified Group Supervisor Michael Garbo in a statement Tuesday, calling him “universally loved and respected.”

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Israel’s president is in Ukraine to honor the victims of the Babi Yar massacre eight decades after one of the most infamous Nazi mass slaughters of World War II. Nearly 34,000 Jews were killed within 48 hours in a ravine in the Ukrainian capital when Kyiv

CAIRO (AP) — Libyan lawmakers have voted to reschedule parliament elections, a move likely to increase tensions among Libyan rivals already divided over bills regulating planned elections. A spokesman for the legislature says lawmakers decided to hold parliamentary elections a month after the presidential vote scheduled for late December. A U.N.-brokered roadmap had set both

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer “Girls Trip” producer Will Packer will produce next year’s Oscars. It’s the first time Packer has been selected for the gig and the third time in as many years that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC have enlisted new teams to produce the show.  Film