Month: November 2021

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republicans have approved a sweeping bill to hobble coronavirus vaccine mandates in businesses. They rejected claims they were sacrificing public health to hand Gov. Ron DeSantis a win in his fight against White House virus rules. The lawmakers in the GOP-controlled statehouse expedited the measure

By RAMI MUSA Associated Press BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Libya’s influential speaker of parliament has announced that he will be running for president, making him the latest candidate to join the race for the country’s highest office after years of war. The 77-year-old Aguila Saleh has led the country’s House of Representatives since 2014 and

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An independent review has concluded that the Defense Department and its top leaders acted appropriately before and during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Some local and congressional leaders have asserted that the military did not respond quick enough as protesters breached the building.

By FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The massive infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed this week includes billions of dollars to address long-standing issues with water and sanitation on tribal land. The Indian Health Service says it will consult with tribes on how best to use the $3.5 billion. The amount

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Battery-powered vehicles will get top billing at the Los Angeles Auto Show opening this week after a year’s hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. Subaru will unveil its first all-electric vehicle, a smallish SUV named the Solterra. VinFast is a Vietnamese automaker that plans to start selling in the U.S. next

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota lawmakers have issued a subpoena to the former head of the state agency at the center of questions over whether Gov. Kristi Noem used her office to influence her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license. The Executive Board ratified a subpoena

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s governor says he will posthumously pardon Homer Plessy, whose 1892 arrest  for refusing to leave a “whites only” railroad car wound up putting “separate but equal” into U.S. law. Gov. John Bel Edwards says he wants relatives of both Plessy and the judge whom he sued in “Plessy v.

The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan’s district attorney announced Wednesday that he would ask a court to vacate the convictions of two of the three men convicted of murdering civil rights leader Malcom X in 1965. The decision follows a nearly two-year investigation into the assassination and long-held suspicions that police got some

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Quentin Tarantino’s attorney says he has every right to create and sell a series of “Pulp Fiction” NFTs. The statement Tuesday from lawyer Bryan Freedman comes a day after Miramax filed a lawsuit over the director’s plans to create and auction off a series of

By DIANE JEANTET Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s government has rolled out a new welfare program, temporarily ensuring much needed financial help for millions of families while also worrying experts because funding and other details have yet to be determined. The program will provide a monthly stipend of around 224 reais ($40)

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A 31-year-old western Montana man who responded to a plume of diesel exhaust with a murderous rage has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Johnathan Bertsch of Arlee pleaded guilty in June to deliberate homicide and three counts of attempted deliberate homicide. His actions in March

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A licensed cannabis grower, a vineyard owner and a sheriff were among witnesses who testified this week before a committee of the Oregon Legislature, in an effort to seek help in stemming the proliferation of illegal grow sites in southern Oregon. One lawmaker told the committee

By SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS and BERENICE BAUTISTA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The Latin Grammy for best new artist is often one of the most coveted awards, as it can only be won once in a lifetime and can open many doors. This year’s nominees include 11 contenders of various genres, genders, countries and ages.

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s high court says district administrators overreached when they permanently expelled a 17-year-old high school student for sending Snapchat messages that referred to another student as a potential school shooter. The justices ruled Wednesday that such communications must be analyzed in context and the primary focus

By ADRIAN SAINZ and RYAN PEARSON Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say rapper Young Dolph was shot and killed at a cookie shop in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, and a search is underway for the shooter. Memphis police tweeted that they had no information to release about a possible suspect. The shooting

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Pressss ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An unusual alert was issued by volcano scientists Wednesday, warning that an ash cloud was headed toward Alaska’s Kodiak Island. What made this unusual is that the ash is not from a current eruption, not even one from this century. The ash is from the powerful

By DYLAN LOVAN Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal jury has cleared four former coal company officials who were accused of skirting dust rules in two underground Kentucky mines. The federal jury in Louisville deliberated Wednesday for about two hours. All four men were found not guilty. The trial was a rare attempt

NEW YORK (AP) — A man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for setting fire to a car in what authorities say was an attempt to intimidate a potential witness in R. Kelly’s sex trafficking trial. Authorities say Michael Williams had been described as being related to a former publicist for Kelly. They

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has overturned the approval of a massive flood-control project in the south Mississippi Delta that officials said was erroneously greenlit in the final days of the Trump administration. EPA officials said the past administration’s November 2020 decision to approve

BOSTON (AP) — Pandemic-weary workers at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts are holding a one-day strike over stalled contract negotiations with management. Members of the Museum of Fine Arts Union picketed outside the museum Wednesday. The union has said workers are concerned about pay, safety, workplace diversity and job growth. The union represents public-facing staff,

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Federal health authorities have confirmed the discovery of some frozen vials labeled “Smallpox” in a freezer at a Pennsylvania facility that conducts vaccine research. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday the vials “were incidentally discovered by a laboratory worker” who was cleaning out the freezer. An official said the

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — A new lawsuit alleges that Alec Baldwin recklessly fired a gun when it wasn’t called for in the script when he shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of the film “Rust.” The lawsuit filed Wednesday, from script supervisor Mamie Mitchell,

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press Contrary to popular belief, there has been no great migration in the U.S. during the pandemic. New figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau show that the proportion of people who moved over the past year fell to its lowest rate in the 73 years that it has been

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer Apple is letting some iPhone users fix their own phones, a sharp turnaround for a company that has long prohibited anyone except Apple-approved technicians from fiddling with its proprietary parts and software. The company said Wednesday it will enable users of two of the newest iPhone models and later

BOSTON (AP) — An airman from Massachusetts who was shot down over Romania during World War II has been accounted for. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Charles G. McMackin was accounted for in August 2020. The announcement was not made until Wednesday because his family was only recently

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Three members of the Sikh community affected by a mass shooting at an Indianapolis FedEx facility in April are seeking compensation from the city over claims that local officials failed to pursue a court hearing that could have prevented the shooter from accessing guns used in the attack. An Oct. 12 letter

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Parliament has voted to restrict lawmakers’ ability to hold second jobs, in an attempt to stem a slew of damaging headlines over lobbying and political “sleaze.” The House of Commons voted Wednesday to ban legislators from acting as paid political consultants or advisers. But lawmakers rejected a more strongly worded proposal