Month: January 2022

By ALAN FRAM and MARINA VILLENEUVE WASHINGTON (AP) — New York Rep. John Katko has announced he is not seeking reelection this year. That makes him the third of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump last January to say they will leave Congress next January. Katko is 59 and was

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — More than two thirds of Poland’s COVID-19 medical advisory body have resigned saying the government is not heeding their advice in its pandemic measures. They said Friday that with “growing frustration” they were experiencing a “lack of political possibilities to introduce the optimal and globally tested methods of fighting the pandemic.”

By GLENN GAMBOA and HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writers The late Betty White was a tireless advocate for animals for her entire life, from caring for homeless animals as a child to launching her own weekly TV show “The Pet Set” dedicated to her celebrity friends and their pets. Her biggest contribution, though, may be

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy, stewards of the Star Wars universe and numerous other notable motion pictures, are being honored by the Producers Guild of America for their contributions to the film industry. The PGA said Friday that Lucas and Kennedy will receive the Milestone Award at the Producers

By JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Kosovo has rejected a call from Western governments to allow its minority Serbs to vote in a Serbian referendum in the same way as in the past several years. A joint statement by Kosovo’s top authorities Friday said that the Serbs can cast ballots only via

By FATIMA HUSSEIN, ZEKE MILLER and BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is threatening to recoup COVID-19 relief funds sent to Arizona over state provisions it says discourage families and school districts from following federal guidance recommending face coverings in schools. At issue are two state programs that are meant to

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is wrapping up a transformative but sometimes-tumultuous four-year term that saw the enactment of some of Virginia’s progressive legislation. The mild-mannered doctor from Virginia’s Eastern Shore said in an interview with The Associated Press that his time in office has made him

By TALI ARBEL and KELVIN CHAN Associated Press A lot of people are angry at Novak Djokovic. And his sponsors may just wait it out. It’s unclear if the No. 1 seed can compete Monday in the Australian Open after Australian officials again revoked his visa over his lack of a COVID-19 vaccine. So far,

SEATTLE (AP) — A dog that was trapped inside a collapsed Seattle house for six days following a landslide has been rescued. The Seattle Fire Department said Thursday that firefighters responded to reports of the black Labrador named Sammy possibly trapped inside the home’s wreckage. Fire department video shows someone carrying the alert dog out

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Heavy snow is spreading across a large swath of the Midwest, where travel conditions deteriorated and scores of schools closed or moved to online instruction. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning Friday for parts of Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa and Illinois, where forecasters are expecting up to 10 inches

By AAMER MADHANI, NOMAAN MERCHANT and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says U.S. intelligence officials have determined a Russian effort is underway to create a pretext for its troops to further invade Ukraine, and Moscow has already prepositioned operatives to conduct “a false-flag operation” in eastern Ukraine. White House press

By MARC LEVY and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press McCONNELLSBURG, Pa. (AP) — An inspection of voting machines in a heavily Republican county in Pennsylvania is being stopped just as it was about to get underway. The state Supreme Court on Friday granted a request by lawyers for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf over the Fulton County

By MARK GILLISPIE Associated Press CLEVELAND (AP) — Ohio investigators have found 89 sets of cremated remains in an abandoned Akron church. The state attorney general’s office said Thursday that the search was conducted Tuesday at the Greater Faith Missionary Baptist Church. A search warrant affidavit says an “urban explorer” spotted the remains Sunday and

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A substitute teacher in Florida has resigned after students said she yelled a racial slur in the classroom. Pinellas County school officials say the 59-year-old white woman continued using the slur after going to the principal’s office Wednesday at Lealman Innovation Academy. Principal Connisheia Garcia is Black, as are about

Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Family and friends of a New Orleans man who was the oldest World War II veteran when he died earlier in January will gather to remember him at a ceremony. Lawrence Brooks died Jan. 5 at the age of 112. Funeral services will be held Saturday at The National

BERLIN (AP) — German officials have praised a group of medical students who held a silent vigil outside a hospital in Dresden late Thursday in protest against a rally by far-right vaccine skeptics. Saxony’s governor thanked the students Friday on Twitter. He said they had made a “clear and important statement.” Germany’s health minister told

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — More than 150 former Environmental Protection Agency employees are writing to the Virginia Senate, asking the Democrat-controlled chamber to oppose the nomination of former EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to GOP Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin’s Cabinet. Youngkin announced last week that he had selected Wheeler to serve as

By TOM MURPHY AP Health Writer Insurers and employers are taking a renewed interest in programs that help people deal with chronic _ and potentially expensive _ health problems. They are identifying patients with diabetes or high blood pressure and connecting them with care managers who can answer questions about their medicines or help them

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a young Florida man to life in prison for the stabbing death of a 13-year-old during a sleepover party five years ago. Judge Cheryl Caracuzzo denied a request to have Corey Johnson spend 40 years behind bars for the killing of Jovanni Sierra. Johnson, now

BANGKOK (AP) — A legal official says Myanmar’s military-installed government has filed five new corruption charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi in connection with granting permits to rent and buy a helicopter. Suu Kyi, who has been detained since last February’s military takeover, is already being tried on five other corruption charges. Each

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Athletes have been put at center court of arguments over COVID vaccines. The NFL’s Aaron Rodgers, the NBA’s Kyrie Irving, and tennis’s Novak Djokovic, have each become cultural touchstones in the cultural controversy. Robert Hayashi, a professor at Amherst College, says it’s part of a

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. industrial production fell 0.1% in December, the first decline since September, with weakness in factory output showing that manufacturers are still struggling with snarled supply chains. The 0.1% decline was unexpected. Many economists had been forecasting a small increase, helped by a further rebound in

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers want the Senate to have a say in who leads the troubled federal Bureau of Prisons. A bill introduced late Thursday would require Senate confirmation for the bureau’s director. Currently, the attorney general can just appoint someone to the position. The bill

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has long lamented that he can’t walk around town unnoticed like he used to before becoming pope. But he seems to have kept his sense of humor after getting caught on camera making an unannounced visit to a Rome record shop this week. Francis wrote