Month: January 2022

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The director of a South Dakota agency has resigned amid scrutiny over Gov. Kristi Noem’s hands-on role in the agency prior to his arrival and as it was evaluating her daughter’s real estate appraiser license in 2020. Scott Amundson took over as head of the

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Former New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof has told Oregon’s top election official that his having voted in New York state in 2020 doesn’t disqualify him from being a candidate for governor in Oregon. According to Oregon law, a candidate must have been a resident of

HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Hawaii (AP) — The body of a 75-year-old man has been found in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park after he apparently fell from a closed area late Sunday night on Hawaii’s Big Island. The National Park Service says family members reported the Hilo man missing from in the park early Monday. Rangers

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A powerful state lawmaker in California has resigned from the Legislature. Lorena Gonzalez will become the next leader of the California Labor Federation. It’s the nation’s largest federation of labor unions, representing about 2.1 million workers. Gonzalez announced Monday she will resign on Wednesday. The San

By DAVID BILLER Associated Press Cruise ship activity has been temporarily suspended along Brazil’s shores until Jan. 21 due to the spread of the coronavirus’ omicron variant, according to a statement the federal government published Monday.  The decision came after a recommendation from the nation’s health regulator, which said in a separate statement Monday night

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Conservative firebrand state Sen. Amanda Chase says she is ending her bid for Congress, citing the impact of redistricting on Virginia’s legislative maps. Chase had announced in November that she was joining the crowded race for the 7th Congressional District currently represented by Democrat Abigail Spanberger. On Monday, she wrote in

COLORADO CITY, Texas (AP) — A West Texas grand jury has indicted a man in the death of his ex-girlfriend’s 13-year-old daughter reported missing more than a decade ago. The Mitchell County grand jury indicted 36-year-old Shawn Casey Adkins of Big Spring, Texas, on a murder count Thursday in the death of Hailey Dunn. The

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Officials say a Florida city’s incoming mayor will take office in a virtual inauguration ceremony after testing positive for COVID-19. Ken Welch was scheduled to be sworn in Thursday on the steps of City Hall as St. Petersburg’s first Black mayor, but that ceremony has been canceled to follow quarantine

KANKAKEE, Ill. (AP) — A prosecutor says he’ll ask the Justice Department to review the case of two people charged in the shootings of two police officers at a northern Illinois hotel with the intention of pursuing federal death penalty charges. Illinois is not a death penalty state, but Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has ordered charges dropped against two Bureau of Prisons guards who admitted falsifying records after Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide in jail. Prosecutors had said the guards shopped online and slept, and failed to make required rounds every 30 minutes. The guards had agreed to deferred

By FRED GOODALL AP Sports Writer TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are moving on from Antonio Brown, whose NFL career is on hold again after yet another messy departure. Coach Bruce Arians said Monday he has no regrets about giving the often-troubled receiver an opportunity to play with Tom Brady and revive

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a South Florida man tried to obtain more than $4.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds by filing false loan applications. Court records show that 27-year-old Valesky Barosy made his first appearance last week in Fort Lauderdale federal court. He faces multiple charges and up to 132 years

By ROXANA HEGEMAN Associated Press A coalition of community groups is demanding that a special prosecutor be appointed in the case of a Black youth who died following a physical altercation with staff at a Kansas juvenile center. In a Wichita rally and letter to local officials, community activists also called Monday for the release

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The number of people applying for refugee or asylum status in Mexico almost doubled between 2019 and 2021, reaching a historic high of over 130,000. While numbers dipped in 2020, that was largely due to the coronavirus pandemic. Before, migrants rarely sought protection in Mexico, preferring to make their claims in

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal judge in Oklahoma has set a Jan. 28 date for the resentencing of “Tiger King” Joe Exotic. A federal appeals court in July ruled that Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, should get a shorter sentence. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota political candidates are revving into full campaign mode this week, with one big exception — Republican Sen. John Thune. He has delayed a reelection announcement as he considers retirement. Thune has held his Senate seat for three terms and is a likely pick

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska State Troopers say a newborn baby was found abandoned in a cardboard box at a Fairbanks-area intersection, with a note indicating the child’s parent could not care for them. The troopers, in a statement, say they were were notified around 2 p.m. Friday that a

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A federal magistrate judge has recommended against dismissing an indictment accusing an Atlanta-area sheriff of violating the civil rights of people in his custody. The federal indictment against now-suspended Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill says he violated the civil rights of five people who were being held

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Scientists say a meteor that caused an earthshaking boom across suburban Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day exploded in the atmosphere with an energy blast equivalent to an estimated 30 tons of TNT. NASA’s Meteor Watch social media site said late Sunday that a “reasonable assumption” of the speed of the meteor at

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Starbucks says its U.S. workers must be fully vaccinated by Feb. 9 or face a weekly COVID testing requirement. The Seattle-based coffee giant said Monday it was acting in response to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which issued a vaccine-or-test requirement for companies with more than 100 employees

By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. officials say they have almost completed a lengthy project to dig up and remove radioactive and hazardous waste buried for decades in unlined pits at an eastern Idaho nuclear facility that sits atop a giant aquifer. The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week that

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Former University of Evansville basketball coach Walter McCarty is suing the school, saying it owes him more than $75,000 under the terms of the contract he signed four years ago. The federal lawsuit alleges the university didn’t fulfill its contractual obligations to the longtime Boston Celtics forward under a five-year contract

By BEN FOX Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An internal review has been launched into the actions of a special Customs and Border Protection unit that used sensitive government databases intended to track terrorists to investigate as many as 20 U.S.-based journalists, including an Associated Press reporter. CBP spokesperson Luis Miranda says the review is

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Gov. Kathy Hochul wants New York to impose term limits on her office and other statewide elected officials and ban them from earning an outside income. Those changes are an implicit rebuke of her predecessor Andrew Cuomo. Hochul is a Democrat who took office in