Month: June 2022

REDDING, Calif. (AP) — A California utility company has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges it faces after its equipment was blamed for starting a Northern California wildfire that killed four people and destroyed hundreds of homes in 2020. The Shasta County District Attorney’s Office says Pacific Gas & Electric was arraigned

By BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona officials have confirmed the first cases in the Southwest of a bird flu that has led to the deaths of 37 million birds on commercial farms in the central and eastern U.S. Arizona Game and Fish officials announced this week that the disease was present in

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — A person’s race and ethnicity must be taken into account when deciding whether they were free to leave an encounter with police, the Washington Supreme Court said Thursday in its latest decision seeking to counteract bias in the justice system. The unanimous ruling concerned Palla Sum, a

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has authorized Russian troops, planes and ships to deploy to Nicaragua for purposes of training, law enforcement or emergency response. In a decree published this week, and confirmed by Russia on Thursday, Ortega will allow Russian troops to carry out law enforcement duties, “humanitarian

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Explorers and historians are telling the world about the discovery of the wreck of a royal warship that sank in 1682 while carrying a future king of England, Ireland and Scotland. The HMS Gloucester, traveling from southern England to Scotland, ran aground while navigating sandbanks off the

GOSHEN, Ind. (AP) — A judge has accepted a plea agreement calling for a suspended sentence for a retired northern Indiana teacher accused of grabbing a 15-year-old student and slapping him across the face. Former Jimtown High School sociology teacher Michael Hosinski entered a guilty plea Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of battery causing moderate

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than 30 people have filed a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse at a now-closed Los Angeles County shelter for kids waiting placement in foster homes. Their attorneys said Thursday there are more than 200 former foster children who were molested by staff and

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is launching a study of UFOs as part of a new push toward high-risk, high-impact science. The space agency announced Thursday that it’s setting up an independent team to see how much information is publicly available on the matter and how much more

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man has admitted to illegally selling unregistered pesticides as a COVID-19 defense to government and municipal entities. Paul Andrecola pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Camden to wire fraud and other charges. A criminal complaint alleges the 63-year-old Burlington County man made and sold pesticides that weren’t

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — The NFL’s Washington Commanders once again find themselves at the center of an off-the-field issue that has nothing to do with football, dealing another blow to their rapidly sagging reputation as one of the most dysfunctional franchises in professional sports. The fallout from the latest

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — A federal aviation accident investigator will be sent to Hawaii to investigate after a tour helicopter crashed on a remote lava field, injuring all six people on board. Officials say the Bell 407 helicopter crashed on a rough lava field near the Big Island’s southernmost tip.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan police officer has been charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head as the Black man was on the ground. Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr was charged Thursday, more than two months after the 26-year-old Lyoya was killed on April 4

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says an oil spill temporarily closed shipping traffic on the St. Mary’s River between Ontario and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Coast Guard said Thursday that the 5,300-gallon spill came from Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The Coast Guard asked all traffic to stay

By MARGARET STAFFORD Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Geico may have to pay $5.2 million to a woman who says she contracted a disease during sex in a car with a man insured by the company. A Missouri Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday upheld the award to a woman identified in court

IRWINDALE, Calif. (AP) — Bottles of the popular Sriracha hot sauce could be hard to find on store shelves this summer. Southern California-based Huy Fong Inc., told customers in an email earlier this year that it would suspend sales of its famous spicy sauce over the summer due to a shortage of chili peppers. The

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ AP Energy Writer NEW YORK (AP) — An explosion at a liquefied natural gas terminal in Texas has left nearby residents rattled. And it’s taking a substantial amount of the fuel off the market at a time when global demand is soaring. Freeport LNG will be offline for at least three weeks

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was the sort of diplomatic rebuff a small country like El Salvador generally can rarely afford to make. In the run-up to this week’s Summit of Americas in Los Angeles, senior U.S. officials frantically worked the phones seeking to boost attendance amid

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer A federal labor board has denied Amazon’s request to bar the public from a hearing on the company’s bid to overturn a historic union win at one of its Staten Island, New York, warehouses. Hearings by the National Labor Relations Board are typically held in person and open to

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court justices took in $800,000 in book royalties last year, a lucrative supplement to their judicial salaries, according to financial reports released Thursday. By far the largest payment went to Justice Amy Coney Barrett, $425,000 for a yet-to-be-released book and likely the first installment on a

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is pushing back on an assertion from former Trump White House official Peter Navarro, who had claimed he was denied access to an attorney when he was arrested on contempt charges last week. The Justice Department alleges Navarro lied to the judge and to

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing elections officials to count mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania that lack a handwritten date but were received in time. The unsigned order Thursday applies to a Lehigh County judicial election from 2021. But Justice Samuel Alito warned in a dissent that the issue could affect the November elections.