Month: December 2021

SHOW LOW, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities say a Utah man and a Tucson girl were killed when a single-engine plane crashed near the airport of the east-central Arizona city of Show Low. Deputy Chief Randy Chevalier of the Timber Mesa Fire and Medical District identified those killed Wednesday as 40-year-old David A. Gillette and 11-year-old

By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas board has withdrawn a unanimous pardon recommendation for George Floyd over a 2004 drug arrest in Houston. The Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles says it had identified “procedural errors” in how pardons were issued this year. The same board in October had

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities rescued one driver early Thursday but were unable to save two more from a submerged car in a flooded underpass south of San Francisco as a storm rolled through California. Residents of three Southern California canyons scarred by a wildfire last year were ordered to leave their homes because of

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press MILAN (AP) — An archaeological dig in Sicily has uncovered traces of a lost World War II American heavy bomber shot down in 1943, and possible human remains that could lead to identification of five airmen whose bodies were never recovered. The six-week dig that ended this week was carried

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A senior government human rights official says that 90% of crimes against activists and journalists go unpunished in Mexico. The assistant interior secretary in charge of human rights said Thursday that in cases where the culprits have been identified, almost half are local officials. Alejandro Encinas said new laws are needed

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press SOAVE, Italy (AP) — Italy has again tightened its COVID-19 restrictions, focusing on the unvaccinated and on New Year’s Eve celebrations, as the new omicron variant pushed recorded infections to the country’s highest one-day total ever. Under the new rules announced Thursday, people who have not been vaccinated will be

TAMPA, Fla (AP) — A federal judge in Florida has blocked President Joe Biden’s requirement for federal contractors to receive coronavirus vaccines, adding to a series of legal setbacks for the mandate. U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday on Wednesday wrote that Florida’s lawsuit against the rule demonstrated a “substantial likelihood” that the White House

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police have fatally shot a 14-year-old girl who was inside a clothing store dressing room as they fired at a suspect who had assaulted a woman earlier. Police also killed the male suspect on Thursday. The woman who had been assaulted was taken to

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A white suburban Minneapolis police officer has been found guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright, a Black man. Kim Potter said she meant to use her Taser to try to stop the 20-year-old Wright from fleeing during an April 11 traffic

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador says vaccination against the coronavirus will be mandatory for most citizens. Only Ecuadorians with a medical condition that could be complicated by vaccination will be exempt from the new rule, according to the government. It said Thursday that those people must have documentation to prove it. The government said it

By BARBARA SURK Associated Press NICE, France (AP) — France has condemned the Malian transitional authorities’ decision to allow the deployment of the Wagner Group, and accused Moscow of funding the private military company’s use of mercenaries in the West African country. “We are aware of the involvement of the Russian government in providing material

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The mother of a transgender teenager who died by suicide at a youth detention center in Maine has settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the state for $225,000. The Bangor Daily News reported the settlement on Thursday in the 2016 death of 16-year-old Charles Knowles at Long Creek Youth Development Center.

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Under pressure from U.S. auto safety regulators, Tesla has agreed to stop allowing video games to be played on center touch screens while its vehicles are moving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the company will send out a software update over the Internet so

PHOENIX (AP) — The first Native American woman elected to Arizona’s Senate has resigned to take a position with the U.S. Department of the Interior, led by Secretary Deb Haaland. Democratic state Sen. Jamescita Mae Peshlakai said in her resignation letter Wednesday that she will “be more impactful for all of the western United States”

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Revelers will still ring in the new year in New York’s Times Square next week, there just won’t be as many as usual under new COVID-19 restrictions. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that viewing areas that normally accommodate about 58,000 people

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is making two final nominations to the federal bench this year as he caps his first year in office with 40 judges confirmed. That’s the most since Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Nancy Gbana Abudu, his nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th

ATLANTA (AP) — Authorities say a man suspected in the shooting death of a rising Texas rap artist on an Atlanta area interstate was arrested as he was exiting a plane at Atlanta’s airport. The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that James Edward Thomas was taken into custody at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on

WASHINGTON (AP) — North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn and his wife, Cristina Bayardelle, are divorcing after about a year of marriage and a statement from Cawthorn cites the difficulty of “balancing the enormity” of transitioning to a congressman’s life. While they agreed he should run, Cawthorn says their lives changed overnight after his election. News

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The Hubble Space Telescope and its upcoming replacement are vastly different. The deputy project scientist for the new James Webb Space Telescope says comparing the two is like asking if you love your second child as much as your first. With Hubble pushing 32

By JANIE HAR Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is meeting to consider an emergency order the mayor wants to tackle an opioid epidemic in its troubled Tenderloin district. The emergency order is part of Mayor London Breed’s plan to crack down on drug use and drug dealing in

BERLIN (AP) — Police in eastern Germany say a call from an intoxicated man has led them to a stash of weapons and an altar-like collection of Nazi memorabilia including pictures of Adolf Hitler. Officers went to the 53-year-old man’s apartment in Limbach-Oberfrohna on Tuesday night after he called police asking for help and leaving

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A prosecutor says former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo won’t face criminal charges after a female state trooper said she felt “completely violated” by his unwanted touching at an event at a Long Island racetrack in September 2019. Acting Nassau County District Attorney Joyce Smith

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The last three months have been very dry in New Mexico and it’s going to get worse. That’s the word from forecasters with the National Weather Service and other climate experts in the state. They said during a meeting this week that New Mexico reservoirs

Associated Press Wall Street delivered another strong year in 2021, as a spike in consumer demand fueled by the reopening of the global economy pumped up corporate profits. Investors faced plenty of challenges, however, most notably a resurgence of inflation and the persistent coronavirus pandemic. Retail investors made their presence felt by boosting GameStop and

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus has labeled the local service of U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty extremist, launched a criminal probe against one of its journalists and arrested another one. It’s the latest move in a crackdown on independent media. Belarusian journalists and ordinary citizens face up to seven

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials are warning the public not to eat certain brands of packaged salads, which they say are linked to two small, long-running listeria outbreaks in which three people died. One outbreak is linked to packaged salads produced by Fresh Express and another has

By JIM MUSTIAN, JEFFREY COLLINS and CANDICE CHOI Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden promised to distribute hundreds of millions of free COVID-19 tests and to open more testing sites, but the stepped-up efforts will not come in time for the holidays. Americans have been searching drugstores for scarce home tests or

By JAMES ANDERSON and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — The man known as the “Unabomber” has been transferred to a federal prison medical facility in North Carolina after spending the past two decades in a federal Supermax prison in Colorado for a series of bombings that targeted scientists. A U.S. Bureau of Prisons

By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Joan Didion, the revered author and essayist whose provocative social commentary and detached, methodical literary voice made her a uniquely clear-eyed critic of a uniquely turbulent time, has died. She was 87. Didion’s publisher Penguin Random House announced the author’s death on Thursday. She died from

Associated Press Wall Street delivered another strong year in 2021, as a spike in consumer demand fueled by the reopening of the global economy pumped up corporate profits. Investors faced plenty of challenges, however, most notably a resurgence of inflation and the persistent coronavirus pandemic. Retail investors made their presence felt by boosting GameStop and