Month: December 2021

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s governor-elect announced his first Cabinet secretary pick, the state’s next education secretary. Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin is a Republican who made education a centerpiece of his campaign. He announced Monday that he’s picked education data consultant Aimee Rogstad Guidera, saying she’d help “recharge a system that has settled for too long.”

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors have tried to prove that a white suburban Minneapolis police officer, Kim Potter, committed manslaughter when she fatally shot Daunte Wright, a Black man, during an attempted arrest in April. Potter, who resigned two days after the shooting, says she meant to use her Taser but

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer DENVER (AP) — U.S. moguls skier Kai Owens was abandoned at a town square in a province of China as an infant. Taken to an orphanage, she was adopted at around 16 months old by a couple from Colorado. Now 17, Owens is in the mix to earn a

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a 58-foot-long (18-meter) pedestrian bridge stolen from an Ohio city last month has been found and a man is facing charges. Akron police say investigators acting on tips and other information Friday afternoon found the missing span partially disassembled on property in Sharon Township in neighboring Medina County. Police

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is advising American citizens not to travel to Ukraine, citing “increased threats” from Russia amid its military buildup along the country’s border. The travel advisory says Americans should be “aware of reports that Russia is planning for significant military action against Ukraine” and that security could deteriorate. The State

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The $10 billion successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is about to take flight. NASA is entrusting the launch of the world’s biggest and most powerful space observatory to its European partners. A French-built rocket is poised to blast off from South America with

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has revealed he received a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, drawing boos from a crowd in Dallas. Trump made the disclosure Sunday night during the final stop of “The History Tour,” a live interview show he has been doing with former

By LAETITIA BEZAIN Associated Press ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — A cargo ship illegally carrying 130 passengers sank off Madagascar’s northeastern coast, killing at least 17 people and leaving 68 missing. The Maritime and River Port Agency said in a report Monday that at least 45 people have been rescued from the waters of the Indian

The Associated Press The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center says tornadoes and thunderstorms that struck the Great Plains and upper Midwest on Dec. 15 were the result of a rare event called a derecho. A derecho is often described as an inland hurricane. The storm has no eye and its powerful winds come across

By SARA BURNETT Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — A newly released report finds prosecutors’ handling of the initial case against former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett represented a “major failure of operations.” The report by special prosecutor Dan Webb was released Monday. It details multiple instances of false public statements about the case by State’s Attorney

By DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) — Authorities say preliminary autopsy results show seven people whose bodies were discovered inside a Minnesota home did not die from “any obvious trauma.” Police say all seven victims, including three minors, lived at the residence in south Moorhead. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office in St.

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The federal judge presiding over the upcoming hate crimes trial of the three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery says she plans to summon roughly 1,000 potential jurors from 43 Georgia counties. U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood said at a hearing Monday she

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Warning that extremism in the ranks is increasing, Pentagon officials are issuing detailed new rules prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities. The new guidelines come nearly a year after a number of current and former service members took part in the riot at

ATLANTA (AP) — A senator from Georgia is welcoming his first child. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said on social media Monday that his wife, Dr. Alisha Kramer, gave birth Friday to a daughter, Eva Beth Ossoff. The 34-year-old Ossoff says he and Kramer are “overjoyed and totally in love” with their first child. Ossoff says

By JIM SALTER Associated Press O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A line of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes that swept across the north-central U.S. last week has been classified by the National Weather Service as a serial derecho — the first on record December. At least 45 tornadoes have been preliminarily confirmed in the Dec. 15 storms

By The Associated Press After 2020 became a year of racial reckoning with the public killing of George Floyd and the protests of injustices against Black people, 2021 offered a follow-up year. It was a continuation of some familiar story threads with other new ones emerging. Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who killed Floyd,

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The U.K. Supreme Court has ruled that Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó should be recognized as the nation’s interim president in a case that will determine who controls almost $2 billion of gold held by the Bank of England. The court unanimously agreed Monday that British courts

By JUSTIN KATUMWA Associated Press GOMA, Congo (AP) — Authorities say at least four people are dead after a protest turned violent in Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo. The unrest Monday was sparked by fears that police from neighboring Rwanda had entered Congolese territory, a claim that local officials deny. Gunfire rang out

By The Associated Press Myanmar had another rough year in 2021. The government was unseated by the army on Feb. 1, the day Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy was to take office for a second term after winning national elections in a landslide. Nonviolent nationwide demonstrations came next, followed by a deadly

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump sued New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, seeking to end her civil investigation into his business practices. The lawsuit was filed two weeks after James requested that Trump sit for a deposition next month. Trump alleges the Democratic attorney