Month: December 2021

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Council has voted to pay $2.9 million to a woman who was handcuffed by police officers during a February 2019 raid of her home. The unanimous vote Wednesday to pay Anjanette Young was widely expected after the city and Young’s attorneys agreed to the settlement amount and a City Council

By KEVIN McGILL and DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court panel has lifted a nationwide ban against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for health workers, creating the potential for patchwork enforcement across the country. Wednesday’s decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals keeps an

By The Associated Press If 2020 was a pandemic-induced pause, 2021 was when things started up again, albeit slowly and timidly. But that doesn’t describe this year’s eight Associated Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of the Year: They seized their masks — and the moment. They are Damson Idris, Simu Liu, Rachel Zegler, Rauw Alejandro, Adrienne Warren,

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Associated Press says a freelance video journalist accredited to the AP in Ethiopia has been detained by police in the capital of Addis Ababa. Amir Aman Kiyaro was detained under the country’s new war-related state of emergency powers on Nov. 28 after returning home from

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Attorneys for a Mexican woman who was shot in the head by a Border Patrol agent and survived have filed a claim against the U.S government as a precursor to a lawsuit. The claim by Marisol García Alcántara against U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the June

By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has sent President Joe Biden a $768.2 billion defense bill that makes landmark changes to the way the military handles sexual assaults and keeps women out of the draft. It also lays the groundwork for a new war memorial on the National Mall, to honor

JERUSALEM (AP) — A spokesman for Christian churches in the Holy Land has accused Israel of discriminating against Christian tourists during the normally busy Christmas holiday season. Israel last month closed its borders to foreign tourists in response to the outbreak of the omicron coronavirus variant. But this week, Israeli officials decided to make an

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell responded to surging inflation by counseling patience and stressing that the Fed wanted to see unemployment return to near-pre-pandemic levels before it would raise interest rates. But on Wednesday, Powell suggested that his patience has run out. High inflation

By TOM MURPHY and EMILY SWANSON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Most older Americans have had to use telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic and many were comfortable with it. But a new poll finds persistent concerns about issues like technology, care quality and patient privacy. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs

NEW YORK (AP) — The Metropolitan Opera is requiring audience and employees to receive COVID-19 booster shots for entry starting Jan. 17. The company said anyone not yet eligible to receive a booster shot will be allowed a two-week grace period after they become eligible. The Met was closed from March 2020 until September because

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s interior minister has ordered the deportation of members of Bahrain’s outlawed Shiite opposition party after they criticized from Beirut their country’s human rights record. It wasn’t immediately clear how many Al-Wefaq members will be impacted by Wednesday’s decision. The order is likely another move to ease an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between

BY CURT ANDERSON Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — As winter approaches Florida, state wildlife officials say a test feeding plan will save many threatened manatees from starvation. But they say the manatees will still face the threat of manmade water pollution stifling their food supply. The state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing questions about his future after almost 100 Conservative lawmakers defied him and opposed new restrictions to help slow the fast-spreading omicron variant. The measures were approved with opposition support and took effect Wednesday. Conservative lawmaker Mark Harper said the vote

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — bell hooks, the author, educator and activist whose explorations of how race, gender, economics and politics intertwine made her among the most influential feminist thinkers of her time, has died. She was 69. Starting in the 1970s, hooks published dozens of books that helped shape

By CHEVEL JOHNSON Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Essence Festival is planning its return to New Orleans next summer after a two-year absence brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Essence Communications Inc. said Tuesday that its annual festival is scheduled June 30 to July 3. The event will include programming covering networking, finance,

By MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — New test results show that the amount of lead in Benton Harbor, Michigan’s drinking water has declined. The latest round of water sampling marks the first time in three years that the majority Black city’s lead levels did not exceed Michigan’s standards. But state officials say

By LAURA UNGAR and CARLA K. JOHNSON Associated Press The new omicron coronavirus mutant speeding around the world may bring another wave of chaos, as it threatens to further stretch hospital workers already struggling with a surge of delta cases and upend holiday plans for the second year in a row. Omicron, even if it

By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Amazon’s “With Love” is a holiday-themed TV series that takes a different approach. It follows an extended Latino family through five episodes and a year’s worth of holidays. Christmas Eve is the starting point for the romantic comedy created and produced by Gloria Calderón Kellett.

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin are sharply divided over Democrats’ huge social and environment bill, with the holdout senator pushing to erase the measure’s improved child tax credit. That word comes from a person familiar with the talks who described them on condition of anonymity.