Month: December 2021

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 6% of the Air National Guard and Reserve did not meet the deadline to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and could begin to face consequences if they don’t get the mandated shots or receive an exemption, the Air Force said Friday. Air Guard members who

By KELLI KENNEDY Associated Press Say her name with flowers on your tongue. That’s what Breonna Taylor’s sister wants during Miami’s art week from people visiting an augmented reality garden created to honor her late sister. “Breonna’s Garden” commemorates the 26-year-old emergency medical worker who was fatally shot by police raiding her apartment in Louisville,

SEATTLE (AP) — A completed report on Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s missing text messages from a period during last year’s racial justice protests has yet to appear as Durkan prepares to leave office. The Seattle Times reports it’s been more than a year since the city attorney’s office hired a private contractor to analyze the

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Nevada’s Supreme Court ruled gun manufacturers cannot be held responsible for the deaths in the 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip because a state law shields them from liability unless the weapon malfunctions. The parents of a woman who was among the 58 killed that night filed a

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Zion National Park in Utah will soon require reservations to hike a famed trail perched on the edge of a red-rock cliff. Park officials announced Friday that people who want to hike the narrow Angels Landing hike will need permits provided through a lottery system

By MIKE CATALINI Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey statehouse requirement for visitors to show proof of COVID-19 or a negative test is still in effect after Republican lawmakers defied it ahead of a voting session Thursday. That’s according to signage posted around entryways to the statehouse complex Friday as well as

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A man charged with killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket earlier this year has been ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial for now. A judge on Friday ordered 22-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa to be treated at the state mental hospital to see if he can

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Film Critics Circle on Friday named “Drive My Car,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour emotional epic and Haruki Murakami’s short story adaptation, the best film of the year. Jane Campion’s Montana gothic drama “The Power of the Dog” led all films with three awards.

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Casey Goodson Jr. in the back five times asked Friday to move the criminal case into federal court. Attorneys for Meade argue that as a member of a U.S. Marshals Service taskforce, Meade was operating as a federal agent

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors and retailers are pushing back on assertions by California’s governor and attorney general that they have enough tools to combat shoplifting and other retail thefts. California Retailers Association President Rachel Michelin says recent large-scale thefts in which groups of individuals steal in plain sight or

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is upset that her beloved Mariah Carey Christmas album has gone missing. But she was promised a replacement copy courtesy of the five-time Grammy winner herself. The Democrat in a tweet Friday asked that whoever took the album could leave it at her office door, no questions asked.

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The chief of the National Guard has tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from an overseas trip to visit guard troops in Europe for Thanksgiving. Guard spokesman Wayne Hall says Gen. Dan Hokanson has been working remotely and isolating himself from contact with others all week.

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The Botswana scientist who may well have discovered the omicron variant of the coronavirus says he has been through a “rollercoaster of emotions” — the pride of accomplishment followed by dismay over the travel bans immediately slapped on southern African countries. Dr. Sikhulile Moyo was doing genomic

By AMY FORLITI and STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The jurors who will hear testimony in former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter’s trial in the death of Daunte Wright are a mostly white group, with two people who identify as Asian and one as Black. And they include a medical editor, IT workers,

By ALAN SUDERMAN, ERIC TUCKER and FRANK BAJAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The phones of 11 U.S. State Department employees were hacked using technology from Israel’s NSO Group, the world’s most infamous hacker-for-hire company. That’s according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The person said the employees

CAIRO (AP) — Libya’s foreign minister has sharply criticized a system of deterring migrants from reaching European shores that she argues has so far only served the interest of EU states. Her statement was made by video call on Friday at a conference hosted by Italy. She asked other countries to “not push the problem

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The documentary “Flee” uses animation to tell the true tale of a refugee’s journey from Afghanistan to Denmark, vividly rendering a kind of story usually only filtered through blunter mediums like journalism and traditional documentary. It’s made “Flee” one of the most acclaimed films of

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s high-stakes race for an open U.S. Senate seat is seeing candidates bringing big bank accounts and big-time connections from blue states. Introducing Carla Sands, Mehmet Oz — best known as the host of TV’s “Dr. Oz Show” — and David McCormick, all three of whom

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed five Republican-authored anti-abortion bills, a move that came two days after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could curtail if not end a woman’s right to abortion. Evers is making his support for abortion rights

DENVER (AP) — In a story published December 3, 2021, about a lack of snow in the Rockies, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Deer Valley had delayed its opening this season. The ski resort opened Dec. 4 as planned. 

BRUSSELS (AP) — A Belgian zoo says that a pair of hippopotamuses in its care have been placed in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. Antwerp Zoo’s two hippos – Imani and Hermien – were confirmed Friday to have contracted the disease.  It’s possibly the first time ever such animals have caught it, and it’s

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Far-right activist Ammon Bundy says time he has spent campaigning to be Idaho’s next governor should count toward his order to perform community service after being convicted of obstructing police during his arrest for trespassing at the state Capitol. Aaron Welling is Bundy’s campaign treasurer and told court officials late last

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has paid her respects to Jewish and Polish victims of World World II. Her gestures came the day before she is to attend a gathering in Warsaw of right-wing European party leaders. The summit appears to be the latest effort by right-wing nationalist parties to consolidate the European right.

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI and TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal appeals court has signaled it might be willing to let another restrictive abortion ban take effect, this one in Tennessee. Earlier this year, a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily halted a Tennessee law banning abortion once

PRAGUE (AP) — The outgoing Czech government is planning a vaccine mandate for the elderly and some groups of professionals. Health Minister Adam Vojtech says his ministry will issue the order next week. It will make vaccination mandatory for all aged 60 and over, medical personnel, police officers, firefighters and medical students. The order is

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Federal appeals judges are weighing whether former President Donald Trump can be held liable in a defamation case that concerns his response to a rape allegation. At a hearing Friday in New York, the judges asked multiple questions about the line between public and private conduct

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s interior minister has resigned after a series of gaffes and missteps that could have made him a political liability for his center-left Socialist Party ahead of elections for a new government on Jan. 30. Eduardo Cabrita, whose department oversees internal security, including police, the immigration service and firefighters, said Friday

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders is asking the White House to cut back a big Medicare premium hike set to take effect in weeks and tied to a pricey Alzheimer’s drug whose benefits have been widely questioned. In a letter Friday to President Joe Biden, the Vermont Independent called

By DAVID PITT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two Iowa teenagers charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of their high school Spanish teacher will remain in jail after a judge decided to keep their bail bond at $1 million cash only. Attorneys for Willard Noble Chaiden Miller