Month: June 2022

By GRANT SCHULTE Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Abortion-rights opponents are inching closer to a filibuster-proof super-majority in the Nebraska Legislature that would let them outlaw abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its landmark legalization ruling, as it appears poised to do. Nebraska lawmakers were two votes short this year on a bill

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged Tuesday that she and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell “could have used a better word” than “transitory” when describing the expected run of inflation in the U.S. economy. She added that she was hopeful it would soon be on the decline. “I

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man serving a life sentence for the shooting deaths of 11 family members, including eight children, on Easter in 1975 has died. James Ruppert, 88, died Saturday at the prison system’s Franklin Medical Center in Columbus. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced his death Monday, saying that

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Curbing abortion rights and expanding the right to be armed in public are long-sought goals of the conservative legal movement that the Supreme Court seems poised to deliver within the next month. The justices also could ease the use of public funds for religious schooling and constrain

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — A popular hiking trail to an oasis in Joshua Tree National Park has been temporarily closed so bighorn sheep can get undisturbed access to water. “The park is under extreme drought conditions and herds in the area are increasingly reliant on the oasis spring to survive the hot

By THOMAS BEAUMONT and JILL COLVIN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The public hearings of the House committee investigating the insurrection pose a challenge to Democrats seeking to maintain narrow control of Congress. Some view the hearings as an invaluable moment to refocus the public’s attention on the violence that day and persistent threats

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Three Florida police officers are charged with manslaughter in the death of a man who was subdued with a stun gun last fall. State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden’s office announced Tuesday that a grand jury in Okaloosa County indicted Crestview police officers Brandon Hardaway, William Johns

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The son of Ruth Whitfield, an 86-year-old woman killed when a gunman opened fire in a racist attack on Black shoppers in Buffalo, New York, challenged Congress Tuesday to act against the “cancer of white supremacy” and the nation’s epidemic of gun violence. Garnell

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer The widow and son of the man who wrote the 1983 article that inspired the original “Top Gun” are suing Paramount Pictures over its sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick.” In a complaint filed in California federal court Monday, Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay claim that the rights to Ehud Yonay’s

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says Poland will get no money from an EU pandemic relief fund until the right-wing government rolls back measures deemed to limit the independence of the judiciary. Poland is line to receive nearly 36 billion euros to help its economy

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Oprah Winfrey has chosen 19-year-old Leila Mottley’s “Nightcrawling,” a debut novel about a young Black woman from East Oakland and her battles with poverty, racism and the police, for next book club pick. A spokesperson for Winfrey said Mottley is the youngest author ever selected

By MARK PRATT Associated Press A musician who wants to make classical music more accessible to more diverse performers and audience members has been named this year’s recipient of a college scholarship founded in honor of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Joseph Weinberg plans to use the $2,000 Daniel Pearl Berkshire Scholarship to

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A meteorologist who oversaw warnings and forecasts during one of the busiest spurts of Atlantic hurricane activity on record will take over as the new director of the National Weather Service, as scientists expect extreme and dangerous storms and heatwaves to worsen with climate change. The

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister is cutting short a three-country foreign trip after testing positive for COVID-19 in Pakistan. Annalena Baerbock took a test after she noticed that she had lost her sense of taste at lunch, her ministry said on Twitter. It said that a test hours before had been negative. She met

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Bank of Jamaica is preparing to issue a nationwide digital currency for the first time following recent approval from legislators. The government says the move is expected to help many on the island of nearly 3 million who don’t have bank accounts. The move comes almost two years

DERMOTT, Ark. (AP) — Five people were killed and five others injured after a large truck collided with a van belonging to a school serving disabled adults in southeast Arkansas, authorities said. The crash happened Monday afternoon on U.S. 65 when the 15-passenger van failed to yield when crossing U.S. 65 in rural Chicot County

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has announced the first appointments under his newly reformed Vatican bureaucracy. He has tapped a trusted cardinal, Kevin Farrell, to head a new investment committee. Also named to the committee Tuesday were four outside financial experts from Britain, Germany, Norway and the U.S. Francis’

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA. Nigeria (AP) — Thirty-eight persons have been confirmed dead after the attack on a church in southwestern Nigeria, according to the Catholic church in Ondo state where the incident happened. The church said the figure excluded the dead bodies taken to private hospitals. Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Services earlier

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Xavier Lopez had a smile that lit up the room. His mother, Felicha Martinez, told the Washington Post that 10-year-old Xavier “was funny, never serious and his smile. That smile I will never forget. It would always cheer anyone up.” Xavier was among the 19 children and two teachers killed on

MOSCOW (AP) — Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has lost an appeal contesting the decision by penitentiary officials to label him as “inclined to commit crimes of a terrorist or extremist nature.” Navalny received the designation in October 2021. He and his defense team filed an appeal contesting the label, but a panel of

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Aerospace and defense company Raytheon Technologies says it plans to establish a global headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The company says in a news release that the location just outside Washington “increases agility in supporting U.S. government and commercial aerospace customers.” The company is currently based in Waltham, Massachusetts, but each of