Month: June 2022

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “MJ,” the hit-filled Broadway musical about the King of Pop, got a huge bump at the box office after nabbing four Tony Awards and getting valuable exposure in front of millions during its electric telecast performance. The Michael Jackson show may have lost the best

PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. (AP) — A swimmer has been seriously injured in a shark attack on the central California coast. The attack occurred at midmorning Wednesday at Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove. Police say the swimmer is a man who suffered significant injuries from the shark bite and was taken to Natividad Hospital. Firefighters

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal lawsuit is challenging a decades-old Missouri law that limits the extent to which volunteers can provide ballot-booth help to people who have disabilities or are unable to read or write. The lawsuit filed Wednesday targets a 1977 Missouri law that says people can only provide voting assistance to

ATLANTA (AP) — Police say nearly $100,000 in cash was taken in a weekend burglary at the Atlanta home of former NBA player Vince Carter. Police said in an  incident report released Wednesday that two guns and more than $16,000 was recovered outside the home after Sunday’s burglary. Carter told police the recovered money was

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has received the final chapter of a report on an extensive judicial investigation into corruption. Chief Justice Raymond Zondo handed over the last installment of the report, reportedly 1,000 pages long, to Ramaphosa. The earlier segments of the report have laid bare

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The family of a man who died in custody after being shot with a stun gun has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Indianapolis and six police officers. The estate of Herman Whitfield III is seeking compensatory and punitive damages following the 39-year-old pianist’s death April 25 inside his parent’s

By JIM SALTER Associated Press An attorney working as a senior investigator for the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection will leave the post amid calls urging him to run for a Missouri U.S. Senate seat as an independent. John F. Wood’s resignation is effective Friday. The resignation was confirmed Wednesday by Steve

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The owner of seven Louisiana nursing homes whose residents suffered in squalid conditions after being evacuated to a warehouse for Hurricane Ida has been arrested. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry says 68-year-old Bob Glynn Dean Jr. faces multiple counts of cruelty to persons with infirmities, Medicaid

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — The head of the European Space Agency says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights the need for the continent to become less dependent on other nations. Josef Aschbacher told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that the collapse of a joint Mars mission with Russia was “a

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The final phase of jury selection in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz is underway. It began Wednesday with prosecutors and defense attorneys asking candidates about their job histories, opinions on law enforcement and racial minorities, whether they own guns and if

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — This week’s gripping testimony to Congress about threats to local election officials after the 2020 presidential election had a rapt audience far beyond Washington — secretaries of state and election clerks across the U.S who said the stories could easily have been their own. Death

LONDON (AP) — Health officials in Britain are warning parents to ensure their children have been vaccinated against polio after the virus that causes the disease was found in London sewage samples in recent months. The U.K. Health Security Agency said Wednesday that it believes the virus was “vaccine-derived,” meaning it came from someone who

By DÉBORA ÁLVARES Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s judicial watchdog agency says it’s investigating a judge who stopped an 11-year-old rape victim from getting an abortion. Advocates insist the procedure is allowed in the South American nation for rape cases at any stage of a pregnancy. Santa Catarina state Judge Joana Ribeiro Zimmer

MIAMI (AP) — A prominent Mexican scientist who led a double life with two families on separate continents and was co-opted by Russian agents into surveilling a U.S. government informant residing in Miami has been sentenced to four years and one day in federal prison. Hector Cabrera Fuentes was arrested in 2020 at Miami International

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A California man who was arrested near Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home in Maryland earlier this month has pleaded not guilty to trying to kill Kavanaugh. Nicholas John Roske remains in custody after his arraignment Wednesday on one count of attempting to assassinate a Supreme

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice says Maine is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act because it unnecessarily institutionalizes youths with mental health and developmental disabilities because a lack of sufficient community-based services. The Justice Department conducted its investigation after advocacy group Disability Rights Maine

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — A team of biologists recently hauled in the heaviest Burmese python ever captured in Florida. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida says the female python weighed 215-pounds, was nearly 18 feet long and had 122 developing eggs. The team used radio transmitters transplanted in male “scout” snakes to study python movements, breeding

By DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago City Council has passed new cooling requirements for residential buildings after three women died in their stifling hot apartments during a brief heat wave last month. Under the amendment to the city’s municipal code passed Wednesday, any new construction of senior facilities and larger residential

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Top Tennessee Republican House leaders are urging Gov. Bill Lee to delay the state’s health department from distributing and promoting the COVID-19 vaccines to infants, toddlers and preschoolers. In a letter sent to the Republican governor on Wednesday, House leaders said they had too many concerns

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press A former West Virginia lawmaker who livestreamed himself on Facebook storming the U.S. Capitol and cheering on what he described as a “revolution” has been sentenced to three months in prison. Derrick Evans, 37, who pleaded guilty to a felony civil disorder charge, told the judge on Wednesday that

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The independent watchdog for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan is accusing the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development of illegally withholding information about the American withdrawal from the country. The dispute seems to stem from what the Biden administration believes was an overly critical report

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Families from many places, including war-ravaged Ukraine, have told Pope Francis their stories of joys, sorrows and hopes at an event on a stage at the Vatican. The occasion on Wednesday evening at the Vatican’s auditorium was part of events for the World Meeting of Families, a Catholic church tradition established

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Actor Marlee Matlin, director Jason Reitman and producer Jason Blum are joining the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The organization that puts on the Oscars said Wednesday that they are among the 12 Hollywood professionals who have been elected to the board

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Brittney Griner will have a place at the WNBA All-Star Game. League commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the Mercury center will be an honorary starter. Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson were selected as co-captains, having received the most votes from fans. They will be joined this

BOSTON (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $650,000 in damages to a Massachusetts construction worker who said his employer retaliated against him after he was injured on the job by sparking an immigration investigation that led to his arrest. The jury Tuesday ordered Tara Construction and its owner to pay the compensation to José

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection heard from election workers and state officials on Tuesday as they described President Donald Trump’s pressure to overturn his 2020 election defeat. On Thursday, the nine-member panel will hear from former Justice Department officials who refused Trump’s entreaties to

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is proposing to “legislate in a different way” based on compromises between diverse political forces. His national televised address Wednesday came three days after he suffered a major political blow when his party lost its parliamentary majority. Macron held for two days back-to-back

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Violent protests by Indigenous people demanding a variety of changes, including lower fuel prices, have paralyzed Ecuador’s capital and other regions, but the government has rejected their conditions for dialogue. The capital of Quito is experiencing food and fuel shortages after 10 days of demonstrations in which protesters at times have

HOPEWELL, Va. (AP) — The U.S. Marshals Service and Federal Bureau of Prisons say all four inmates who escaped a minimum-security prison satellite camp in Virginia over the weekend are now back in custody. Officials said the inmates were discovered missing from the satellite camp of the Federal Correctional Complex Petersburg in Hopewell, Virginia, around