Month: July 2022

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The trial of R. Kelly’s manager opened Tuesday on charges that he forced the cancellation of a screening of a documentary about the singer’s sexual abuse of women and girls by calling in a threat to the crowded Manhattan theater. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz told

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has filed a lawsuit seeking to hold nearly 20 companies liable for allegedly contaminating the environment with a group of chemicals known as PFAS. Kaul, a Democrat, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Dane County circuit court. It names 18 companies as

By MARCOS ALEMÁN Associated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s congress has granted President Nayib Bukele another 30-day extension of the state of exception that has suspended fundamental rights since a surge in gang killings in late March. The Legislative Assembly is controlled by Bukele’s party and it voted overwhelmingly late Tuesday

By KEN MILLER Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal audit report sharply criticizes Oklahoma officials for a lack of oversight and accountability in the use of coronavirus relief funds intended for education. The state received nearly $40 million in pandemic assistance and has returned more than $919,000 that was unspent. The U.S. Department

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Authorities in Slovenia have scheduled a presidential election for Oct. 23 to choose a successor to the current centrist leader who has been in office for 10 years. If no candidate wins more than half of the ballots in the first round, a runoff between the top two vote-getters will be

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A ban on certain semi-automatic weapons is moving forward in the House. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have begun considering legislation to ban some assault-type weapons. If the measure passes, it would be the most far-reaching response yet to this summer’s mass shootings. But passage is

By TOM DAVIES Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Leaders of Indiana’s Republican-dominated Senate on Wednesday proposed banning abortion with limited exceptions — a move that comes amid a political firestorm over a 10-year-old rape victim who came to the state from neighboring Ohio to end her pregnancy. The proposal will be taken up during a

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Fewer manatee deaths have been recorded so far this year in Florida compared to the record-setting numbers in 2021, but wildlife officials cautioned Wednesday that chronic starvation remains a dire and ongoing threat to the marine mammals. Between Jan. 1 and July 15, about 631

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — An attorney for Jayland Walker’s family has joined the NAACP in asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate his death. Walker was a 25-year-old Black man killed in a hail of police gunfire in Akron, Ohio, on June 27 after a car and foot chase. The chase ended with eight

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal authorities are offering a $5,000 reward for information about the man who allegedly shot Lady Gaga’s dog walker last year in Hollywood and stole two of the pop star’s French bulldogs. He was mistakenly released from custody in April and remains missing. James Howard Jackson,

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The Greek Cypriot president of Cyprus has dismissed proposals put forward by the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots as an “unacceptable” bid to permanently partition the ethnically divided nation. President Nicos Anastasiades said Wednesday that he considered the ideas to be “another attempt to entrench

By JAKE BLEIBERG Associated Press UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Facing massive public pressure, Uvalde’s top school official has recommended the firing of the school district police chief who has been blamed for the botched law enforcement response to the elementary school shooting nearly two months ago that killed two teachers and 19 students. The South

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A judge in New York has ordered Rudy Giuliani to appear next month before a special grand jury in Atlanta that’s looking into whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia. New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber

DETROIT (AP) — The company that makes Can-Am Ryker motorcycles is warning people not to ride some of them because a handlebar bolt can break, causing loss of steering and raising the risk of a crash. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration put out an alert about the problem on Wednesday involving certain 2022

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says plans to launch a new military offensive in northern Syria will continue to be on the table as long as Kurdish militants continue to pose a security threat to his country. The Turkish leader also called on the United States to leave Syria, accusing the

By SAM METZ Associated Press DELTA, Utah (AP) — The coal plant is closing. In this tiny Utah town surrounded by cattle, alfalfa fields and scrub-lined desert highways, hundreds of workers over the next few years will be laid off — casualties of environmental regulations and competition from cheaper energy sources. Yet across the street

BY SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — Libya’s National Oil Corporation says it resumed oil exports, ending a monthslong hiatus. It says a Malta-flagged tanker, Matala, docked Wednesday at the al-Sidra terminal to ship one million barrels of crude oil. Two other tankers were scheduled to ship 1.6 million barrels from the terminals of

BERLIN (AP) — Europe is in an energy crisis, and it means countries will struggle to keep homes warm and industry humming this winter. That’s because Russia has slashed Europe’s flows of natural gas used to power factories, generate electricity and heat homes in the winter. Moscow says deliveries through a major pipeline to Germany,

WALTERBORO, SC (AP) — The disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife and son. His defense lawyers and prosecutors have agreed to keep the evidence secret amid media attention. His defense agreed to ask the judge to deny him bond, saying he can’t afford to post it anyway.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s prime minister has been elected president by lawmakers who opted for a seasoned, veteran leader to lead the country out of economic collapse. Ranil Wickremesinghe is an ally of the ousted president whose term he is finishing after he fled the country and resigned. The new leader on

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron says that a new spiral of violence between Israel and the Palestinians “can start at any moment.” Speaking alongside the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the presidential palace in Paris, Macron called for a resumption of peace talks that broke down more than a decade ago. The quest

By RAQUEL REDONDO and BARRY HATTON Associated Press MADRID (AP) — The death of a street cleaner during a heat wave in Madrid is driving a debate in Spain about the need to adapt labor rules to the realities of climate change. Most importantly, officials and unions are trying to ease the heat inequalities faced

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed for the fifth consecutive month in June as higher mortgage rates and rising prices kept many home hunters on the sidelines. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that existing home sales fell 5.4% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted