Month: December 2021

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams named a Las Vegas jail official and former New York police officer as his incoming head of the city’s jail system on Thursday. Louis Molina, who oversees the Las Vegas city jail in his role as the head of the Department of Public Safety, will

By JAY REEVES Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A judge has approved a request to wipe clean the court record of a Black woman who was arrested for refusing to move to the back of a segregated Alabama bus in 1955. Claudette Colvin was arrested months before Rosa Parks gained international fame for refusing

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Local authorities in western Serbia have suspended a plan that would allow mining giant Rio Tinto to operate a lithium mine. The mining had been expected to start in the near future, but a town council in Loznica voted on Thursday to suspend a regional development

By HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press Americans across the country are pitching in to help after last week’s tornadoes ravaged the South and Midwest, killing at least 90 people and displacing hundreds. Some are removing broken tree limbs from the ground. Others are preparing hot meals and shelters for those who have nowhere to turn. And

By EVENS SANON and PETER SMITH Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The remaining members of a U.S.-based missionary group who were kidnapped two months ago have been freed. That’s according to the group and to Haitian police. The spokesman for Haiti’s National Police confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that the remaining hostages

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH. N.C. (AP) — A prominent U.S. Senate candidate in North Carolina has withdrawn from next year’s race for the Democratic nomination. State Sen. Jeff Jackson of Charlotte endorsed former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley in a video released Thursday. Jackson got in the race nearly a

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press Medical regulators are under increasing pressure to act against American doctors who spread COVID-19 misinformation. A small but vocal group of physicians in communities around the country have decried the coronavirus as a hoax, promoted unproven treatments and pushed bogus claims about the vaccine, including that the shots magnetize the

By JAY REEVES and SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press Details about the fathers and mothers, friends, siblings and children who died during a tornado outbreak that ripped through the Midwest and South are still coming into focus nearly a week after the onslaught. Lannis Joe Ward was a father and boyfriend who worked at a candle

By BEN NUCKOLS Associated Press LeVar Burton has been hired as host of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Burton gives the competition a celebrity headliner who’s also a longtime literacy advocate. His addition to the bee lineup comes as Scripps prepares to take over production of the telecast. Scripps has ended its longtime partnership with

REDDING, Calif. (AP) — A section of a major interstate highway in Northern California has reopened after a nearly 24-hour closure caused by blizzard conditions as the latest of back-to-back storms pushed through. The California Department of Transportation says traffic resumed moving around 1 p.m. Thursday on a stretch of Interstate 5 north of the

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — Survivors of a tornado that leveled a Kentucky candle factory have filed a lawsuit against their employer. They claim Mayfield Consumer Products demonstrated “flagrant indifference” by refusing to allow employees to go home early. The suit was filed in state court. It seeks compensatory and punitive

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The government of Cyprus expects tourism to start fully rebounding in 2022 after arrivals this year increased a healthy 175% over a dismal 2020. The deputy Minister of tourism said the Mediterranean island nation recorded around 1.7 million traveler arrivals between January and October, 54% fewer than in a record-setting 2019.

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — US industrial production increased 0.5% in November as output at the nation’s factories reached the highest level since January 2019. The November gain followed an even larger 1.7% increase in October which had represented a rebound following a 1% drop in production in September, the Federal

By MARCELA ISAZA AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bay Area-rapper Saweetie wants to win a Grammy for the West Coast. Nominated for best new artist and best rap song, the icy queen with the sharp lyrics has taken the rap game by storm and has been named one of the Associated Press’ Breakthrough

By AL-HADJI KUDRA MALIRO Associated Press BENI, Congo (AP) — Congolese health authorities have declared an end to the Ebola outbreak in the country’s east that had killed at least six people since October. The outbreak was the second of its kind in eastern Congo this year alone. The World Health Organization says research shows

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has given final approval to a bill barring all imports from China’s Xinjiang region unless businesses can prove they were produced without forced labor. In doing so they overcame initial hesitation from the White House and what supporters say was opposition from

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s health ministry has confirmed the country’s first case of the omicron coronavirus variant, detected in a visitor from Lesotho. The ministry tweeted Thursday to say that the 30-year woman feels well but has been put in isolation. She visited Poland to take part in the U.N. Digital Summit in Katowice

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The line of cars started forming at dawn. It was early November in Greenville, North Carolina, and drivers waited in a line that stretched for miles to pick up Thanksgiving turkeys — 10,000 free frozen birds to anyone who asked. Who was behind this act

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say all of the military services have now begun disciplinary actions and discharges for troops who have refused to get the mandated coronavirus vaccine, with as many as 20,000 unvaccinated forces at risk of being removed from service. On Thursday, the Marine Corp said