Month: January 2022

WESTBROOK, Maine (AP) — Maine’s rotating ice disk has begun to form again in the Presumpscot River three years after its famous first appearance in 2019. Westbrook city officials shared photos Wednesday of the formation on Facebook. Ice disks form as a result of a collection of a current and vortex underneath the ice. Ice

By DAVE KOLPACK Associated Press FARGO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says a police investigator violated state law by confiscating a radio journalist’s cellphone without a valid warrant and has been forced to return the device. Tom Simon, who works for Williston Trending Topics News Radio Live and Coyote Radio 98.5,

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors have added dozens of charges against a man accused of driving his SUV through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee last year. Darrell Brooks Jr. was charged in November with six homicide counts in connection with the Nov. 21 killings in Waukesha. Prosecutors added 71

By ROB GILLIES Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — Students in Canada’s largest province will return to classrooms Monday, and teachers and staff will be provided with non-fitted N95 masks. The provincial government had said earlier this month that online learning would run until at least Jan. 17 because of a surge in infections with the

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Senior U.N. officials say escalating military action in Yemen displaced more than 15,000 people over the past month, killed or injured more than 350 civilians in December and left the Arab world’s poorest nation facing growing hunger and economic collapse with no political solution in

By TOM MURPHY AP Health Writer Shares of Biogen have tumbled a day after regulators slapped strict limitations on coverage the drugmaker’s new Alzheimer’s disease treatment. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Tuesday that patients taking Biogen’s Aduhelm will have to participate in clinical trials to assess the drug’s effectiveness in order for

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Ronnie Spector, the cat-eyed, bee-hived rock ‘n’ roll siren who sang such 1960s hits as “Be My Baby,” “Baby I Love You” and “Walking in the Rain” as the leader of the girl group The Ronettes, has died. She was 78. Spector died Wednesday after

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is seeking approval from city ethics officers to hire his brother as the head of his security detail. The new mayor has brought on his brother Bernard Adams, a former New York police officer who was most recently as

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Republican Rep. Trey Hollingsworth says he won’t seek reelection to the southern Indiana congressional seat that he first won in 2016 despite criticism that the wealthy Tennessee transplant had little connection to the state. Hollingsworth has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Indiana governor in the 2024 election and alluded to

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge’s ruling against Prince Andrew in a sexual abuse lawsuit is bad news for the British Royal. But it doesn’t say much about whether accuser Virginia Giuffre will ultimately prevail in her civil suit. The ruling Wednesday in New York dealt with narrow legal challenges raised by Andrew’s lawyers. They

By JAKE SEINER AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Rachel Balkovec was introduced as manager of the New York Yankees’ Low A affiliate in the Florida State League. In taking over the Tampa Tarpons, Balkovec will become the first female manager in the history of affiliated baseball, an appointment 10 years in the making

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection has requested an interview and records from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He says he will not cooperate, claiming the investigation is not legitimate and accusing the panel of “abuse of power.” The committee is seeking

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected newly drawn district maps that retained Republican supermajorities in both state legislative chambers. A divided court ruled Wednesday the Ohio Redistricting Commission must redraw the boundaries in compliance with a 2015 constitutional amendment within 10 days. That amendment mandated

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say two of the men arrested in connection with the slaying of rapper Young Dolph had a history of violent crimes. Shelby County, Tennessee, District Attorney General Amy Weirich told a news conference Wednesday that 23-year-old Justin Johnson was held in juvenile custody after he

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two of New Jersey’s big stated priorities — protecting the environment, and keeping minority communities from being overburdened with pollution — are about to collide in a decision over a backup power plant that would kick in when a sewage treatment system gets knocked offline. The

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian government has lifted its ban on Twitter, seven months after the West African country’s more than 200 million people were shut out of the social media network. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general of the country’s National Information Technology Development Agency, said Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari

By TRISHA THOMAS and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press GIGLIO, Italy (AP) — Italy is marking the 10th anniversary of the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster with a daylong commemoration on Thursday. The events include a Mass and will end with a candlelit vigil near the moment of impact: 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2012. That’s

By EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Flags at half-mast are flapping in the wind as Haiti honors the estimated 316,000 people who died in a devastating earthquake that hit 12 years ago. Prime Minister Ariel Henry and other government officials clad in black suits on Wednesday visited the monument topped by a

LONDON (AP) — British police have cordoned off an area outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House in central London after a man was spotted scaling the building and using a hammer to attack a statue by controversial sculptor Eric Gill. Officers and ambulance workers attended the scene after receiving reports that a man used a ladder

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve says the economy was growing at a modest pace at the end of 2021 but was still being held back by ongoing supply-chain disruptions and labor shortages. In its latest survey of business conditions around the country, the Fed said its 12 regional

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER and FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. last month posted its smallest monthly budget deficit in two years. That was thanks to a rebounding economy that helped boost tax receipts, coupled with slower spending as some COVID relief programs ended. The Treasury Department reported that the December deficit of

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court has sentenced four men to death for their involvement in a car bombing last year that killed four people near the residence of an anti-India militant leader. The court Wednesday also ordered a five-year prison term for a woman convicted of facilitating the attack. All five accused were

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has dealt a blow to the Boston Police Department’s long controversial gang database. A panel of judges for the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled Monday in favor of a Salvadoran national who maintains police wrongly implicated him as a

By Associated Press (AP) — Italy on Thursday marks the 10th anniversary of the Costa Concordia cruise ship wreck off the Tuscan island of Giglio. There are some key dates in the saga, including the trial of the captain and the remarkable engineering feat to right the liner from its side so it could be

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press Officials across the U.S. are again weighing how and whether to impose mask mandates as COVID-19 infections soar and the American public grows weary of pandemic-related restrictions. Much of the debate centers around the nation’s schools, some of which closed due to infection-related staffing issues. Yet in a variety of

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The city of Indianapolis has effectively denied a request for over $2 million in compensation made by three members of the Sikh community affected by a mass shooting at an Indianapolis FedEx facility. The victims of the April 15 attack each requested $700,000 in damages from the city. They claimed that local

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump says politicians who refuse to say whether they’ve received COVID-19 booster shots are “gutless.” In an interview with the conservative One America News Network on Tuesday night, Trump didn’t name names when he said some politicians have been afraid to admit they