Month: January 2022

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Tens of thousands of people who took out student loans over the past 20 years could see their loans canceled or receive a small check as part of a nationwide settlement with Navient, a major student loan collecting company. Officials say borrowers who will receive restitution

LE GRAND, Calif. (AP) — Officials say the mother of three children found dead inside a home in central California has been charged with murder. The Merced County Sheriff’s Office says deputies doing a welfare check found the 3-, 5- and 8-year-old children Wednesday in a Merced County apartment. The office says they also found

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas wants Planned Parenthood to return more than $10 million in payments for low-income patients. The lawsuit filed by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday comes years after Republican leaders moved to cut off Medicaid dollars to the abortion provider. The money Texas is seeking to recoup from Planned Parenthood

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he hopes Mexican investors buy the local subsidiary of Citigroup. The president made his remarks about Citibanamex in a video posted to his social media accounts Thursday, saying that “we would like this bank to be Mexicanized.”  The president contends foreign bankers often take

BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted Baltimore’s top prosecutor on charges of perjury and making false mortgage applications in the purchase of two Florida vacation homes. The Maryland-based U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the four-count indictment Thursday. It alleges Marilyn Mosby lied about meeting qualifications for coronavirus-related distributions from a city retirement plan

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan professor has been placed on leave after he told students in a profanity-laced video that he randomly assigns grades before the first day of class. Barry Mehler is a 74-year-old instructor at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. He told students in the video: “I don’t even want

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A  man once dubbed “King Perry” will spend more than 17 years in prison for his role in masterminding a long-running Ponzi scheme that collected more than $115 million from 1,000 investors nationwide. Perry Santillo appeared Thursday in federal court in Rochester, New York. A judge ordered him to pay $103

By MICHELLE LIU Associated Press/Report for America The family of a mentally ill Black man who died after South Carolina jail employees repeatedly stunned him and then kneeled on his back until he stopped breathing is still seeking criminal charges one year later. Relatives for Jamal Sutherland want South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson to

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Paul Tash is retiring as CEO of the Tampa Bay Times, a media organization he joined 47 years ago as a summer intern. The Times announced the move Thursday. Tash, 67, became editor of what was then the St. Petersburg Times in 1992. During his tenure, the newspaper won nine

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — The ashes of Winter the dolphin have been returned to the sea, about two months after the beloved marine mammal of movie star fame died at a Florida aquarium. Clearwater Marine Aquarium staff members released a seal salt urn containing Winter’s ashes into the Gulf of Mexico from a U.S. Coast

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio prison system says it will deploy more than 5,000 body cameras by May in all state prisons and adult parole authority offices. The director of the Ohio corrections department said Thursday that the state has signed a contract with Arizona-based Axon for the cameras.

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Ahead of Michael Avenatti’s trial on charges he cheated porn star Stormy Daniels out of book deal proceeds, a judge has twice warned prospective jurors about potential perjury charges if they don’t fill out a written questionnaire honestly. U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman warned jurors

By DAVID BAUDER AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Elvis Costello’s new album sounds like a tight rock ‘n’ roll combo sweating together on a tiny stage, feeding off each other produce a joyful noise. But that’s an illusion. The coronavirus-era disc ‘The Boy Named If’ was made in solitary style — four musicians,

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Authorities have arrested more than two dozen people for allegedly taking part in a multistate shoplifting ring involving more than $10 million in stolen merchandise. U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson in Tulsa and Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor announced state and federal charges Thursday against 29 defendants, including 25 who have been

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — The federal government is moving forward with a plan to let teenagers drive big rigs from state to state in a test program. Currently, truckers who cross state lines must be at least 21 years old. But an apprenticeship program required by Congress to help ease

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has issued subpoenas to Twitter, Meta, Reddit and YouTube, demanding documents after lawmakers said the companies’ initial responses were inadequate. The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, demanded records from the companies related to their role in allegedly spreading misinformation about

By JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice says his health is improving  two days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19. The 70-year-old Republican governor continues to experience mild symptoms. Justice was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Tuesday and says he’s feeling much better Thursday. Justice says he woke

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s governor said Thursday she’s considering seeking help from the National Guard to address COVID-19 staffing shortages at public schools, a move that could mark a first in the nation. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Thursday the state has been in discussions with the

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — Federal work-safety investigators say another federal agency violated safe handling policies at a helium plant in the Texas Panhandle. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a statement Thursday that it has issued 21 notices of unsafe working conditions to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The citations involved the

MONTREAL (AP) — Quebec’s premier says the COVID-19 curfew he imposed across the French-speaking Canadian province in December will be lifted on Monday. Premier Francois Legault says the order can be ended because the number of COVID-19 infections seems to have peaked, and pandemic-related hospitalizations are expected to peak in the coming days. The 10

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police say they are investigating after a battery report was filed against Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. Los Angeles police say the incident that spurred the complaint took place in downtown LA at about 3 a.m. Thursday. No arrests have been made. An email seeking comment from a

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — In defending itself against a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems, Fox News is seeking access to an expert report filed under seal in a separate Georgia lawsuit that the author says details vulnerabilities in the company’s touchscreen voting machines. Election security expert J. Alex Halderman

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (AP) — A man at the scene of a medical helicopter crash outside Philadelphia this week told a dispatcher he was most concerned about the infant girl who survived, but that the pilot was the only passenger not alert after the wreck. The unidentified caller described the pilot as a middle-aged man

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press Elected officials and activists are harshly critical of a suburban Philadelphia prosecutor over his handling of the case of an 8-year-old girl hit by police gunfire. Two teens who shot at each other outside a high school football game are facing first-degree murder charges in the death of Fanta Bility.

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and MICHAEL TARM Associated Press An overturned conviction in Missouri is raising new questions about video testimony in criminal court cases nationwide. And the ruling could have ripple effects through a justice system increasingly reliant on remote technology as it struggles with a backlog of cases during the coronavirus pandemic. Missouri’s highest

By KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — A lawyer for ex-Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs’ girlfriend says he’ll appeal a Las Vegas judge’s decision to grant prosecutors access to the woman’s medical records after a fatal high-speed crash that cost Ruggs his spot on the team. Attorney Peter Christiansen’s appeal would block access

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A United Nations diplomat newly tasked with reviving stalled negotiations for a settlement to the decades-old Western Sahara conflict has met with Moroccan officials during his first visit to the region. U.N. envoy to Western Sahara Staffan De Mistura held talks in the capital Rabat Thursday with Morocco’s foreign minister and

CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island has opened an investigation into the North Kingstown School Department after student-athletes filed a complaint that the high school violated students’ civil rights by allowing a former boys’ basketball coach to disrobe athletes for “fat tests” for two decades. U.S. Attorney