Month: January 2022

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Three former Minneapolis police officers charged with federal civil rights violations in George Floyd’s death will go on trial Jan. 20. The trial date was given Thursday in a docket filing, with proceedings to be held in St. Paul. Court records in November showed that juror summonses had gone out for that

By ZEKE MILLER and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — It may not be the fight he sought, but taking on Donald Trump is President Joe Biden’s calling. Biden offered himself as a guardian of American democracy in a visceral speech Thursday discussing the Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overthrow his 2020 election

MONTREAL (AP) — Passengers who filmed themselves partying without masks aboard a chartered flight from Montreal to Mexico now face being stranded after three airlines have refused to fly them home to Canada. Sunwing Airlines cancelled the return charter flight from Cancun scheduled for Wednesday and Air Transat and Air Canada both said they will

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say five Americans died of rabies last year — the largest number in a decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released a report focusing on three of the deaths, all stemming from contact with rabid bats. CDC officials said

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A winter storm blanketed parts of the South with snow, freezing rain and sleet Thursday, tying up roads in Tennessee and Kentucky as the system tracked a path through Appalachia toward the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The National Weather Service says Nashville saw snowfall of 6.3 inches.

By MARK GILLISPIE Associated Press CLEVELAND (AP) — Police in Ohio have released body camera footage showing an officer firing multiple rounds through a wooden privacy fence without warning at someone shooting gunfire into the air on the other side. Forty-six-year-old James Williams, of Canton, was shot in the chest minutes into the new year

By LINDSEY BAHR and JAKE COYLE AP Film Writers Peter Bogdanovich, the ascot-wearing cinephile and director of 1970s black-and-white classics like “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon,” has died. He was 82. Bogdanovich died early Thursday morning at this home in Los Angeles, said his daughter Antonia Bogdanovich. She said he died of natural

By DYLAN LOVAN Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal appeals court has declined to lift a three-state ban on President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors. The ruling comes after a nationwide ban on the mandate for federal contractors was imposed by a federal judge in Georgia last month. A judge

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon election officials ruled that former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof is not eligible to run for governor because he does not meet the state’s residency requirement. Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said it was obvious Kristof had been a New Yorker until recently, citing

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — While tortillas come to mind when Mexico is mentioned, every Jan. 6, Mexicans’ love of bread comes to the fore with the cutting of oval brioche decorated with candied fruit known as king cakes to celebrate Epiphany. Just hours before Mexicans took their first slices, hundreds

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson has apologized after a government ethics investigator criticized the U.K. leader and his staff for failing to disclose messages he exchanged with a donor about financing the redecoration of his official residence. Christopher Geidt, the independent adviser on minister’s interests, wasn’t informed of

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Amnesty International says it has independently confirmed that an Israeli company’s powerful spyware was used to hack a Polish senator when he was running the opposition’s 2019 parliamentary election campaign. The Associated Press reported last month that an internet watchdog group at the University of Toronto

By KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Two former investment executives from Japan have pleaded guilty in Las Vegas in what prosecutors have called a $1.5 billion international Ponzi scheme with 10,000 victims in the U.S. and abroad. Junzo Suzuki and his son, Paul Suzuki, entered their pleas Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

By COLLEEN SLEVIN and BRITTANY PETERSON Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Most people safely evacuated from a fast-moving Colorado wildfire that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes last week. But dozens of homeowners either had pets who died, had to scramble to find them or still don’t know the fate of their dogs or cats. Many people

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — International humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders says its teams assigned to Poland’s border with Belarus have left the country after repeatedly being denied access to the migrants and refugees they went to help. Doctors Without Borders said Thursday that it spent three months unsuccessfully seeking permission for its emergency response workers

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The theatrical magic keeping Broadway going during the latest coronavirus surge has been the unheralded actors ready to step into any role due to an emergency. Then there’s Carla Stickler, who had actually left show business altogether but returned to rescue “Wicked.” Stickler, who had

NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York Mets acting general manager Zack Scott has been cleared of drunken-driving charges stemming from his arrest last August after he attended a fundraiser at team owner Steve Cohen’s house. Scott’s attorney, Bruce Bendish, said a judge in the White Plains City Court acquitted Zack Scott of all criminal

By MICHAEL MELIA Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Principals, superintendents and counselors are filling in as substitutes in classrooms around the United States as the surge in coronavirus infections further strains schools already struggling with staffing shortages. Dozens of employees from the central office in Cincinnati were dispatched this week to schools at risk

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — A strong earthquake has shaken Nicaragua, sending people into the streets, but there are no initial reports of damage. The U.S. Geological Survey says the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.1. It was centered on the country’s Pacific coast about 36 miles (59 kilometers) south of Corinto. The earthquake was

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Jennifer Garner has been named Woman of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals, based not just on her career as an actor, but also because of her record as a philanthropist and entrepreneur. The organization said Thursday that Garner will be the guest of honor at a parade through

THE VILLAGES, Fla. (AP) — A fourth resident of a massive Florida retirement community has been arrested on a charge of voter fraud. Charles Barnes was arrested Tuesday on a fraud for casting more than one ballot. The arrest affidavit doesn’t detail the basis for the charge. Barnes entered a not guilty plea on Thursday.

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Classes in Chicago were canceled for a third consecutive day amid an ongoing fight with the teachers union over remote learning and other COVID-19 safety protocols. Families in the nation’s third-largest district were notified of Friday’s cancelation on Thursday evening, noting that “in-person learning and activities may

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia is nervously awaiting the outcome of what increasingly looks like a soap opera, with its most famous sports idol in the lead role. The top-ranked Novak Djokovic faces the prospect of deportation from Australia where the Serb had hoped to win his 21st Grand Slam

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — New data from the music industry confirms what a lot of people long suspected — 2021 was a very good year for Morgan Wallen, Adele and vinyl. MRC Data’s year-end report, presented in collaboration with Billboard, shows that Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album” ended 2021

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lawyers for Los Angeles County failed in their bid to persuade a federal judge to end Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuit over gruesome photos of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, her daughter Gianna and seven others. The Los Angeles Times reports that U.S. District Judge John F. Walter on

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A judge has ruled that incriminating statements made by a British national charged with a significant role in the torture and beheading of hostages held by the Islamic State group can be used against him at trial. El Shafee Elsheikh sought to have statements admitting his role in the scheme tossed

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A juror at the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell who told reporters he was sexually abused as a child has retained a lawyer. The juror’s attorney, Todd Spodek, notified the court on Thursday that he would represent the unidentified man. Spodek did not immediately return a request

By MARK PRATT Associated Press A U.S. District Court judge has agreed to let federal prosecutors use convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s $1,400 COVID-19 stimulus payment to help pay the millions of dollars he is ordered to pay his victims.  The Wall Street Journal also reported Thursday that prosecutors can also use other money

By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Andrew Cuomo will be required to appear virtually for a court session Friday as a judge considers a prosecutor’s request to dismiss a fondling case against the former New York governor. Albany County District Attorney David Soares asked Judge Holly Trexler on Tuesday to dismiss the