Month: December 2022

By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Charlie Baker, the next leader of the largest college sports governing body in the country, is stepping into a hornet’s nest of a job that will likely tap every political skill in his bag. It’s a good thing he’s collected many. Baker has proven to be one

By KATHLEEN FOODY The Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Several members of Congress want Amazon to explain why an Illinois warehouse that collapsed during a 2021 tornado, killing six employees, is being rebuilt without adding upgraded storm shelters. In a letter released publicly Thursday, U.S. Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press A small town Iowa police chief has been indicted on federal charges that he abused his position to purchase more than two dozen machine guns. Adair Police Chief Brad Wendt and Robert Williams were both charged with making false statements about whether the police department in the town of less

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and SEUNG MIN KIM The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers who eagerly accepted piles of cash from Samuel Bankman-Fried now can’t move fast enough to offload contributions from the disgraced crypto mogul to anywhere but their own campaign coffers. Before Bankman-Fried’s arrest, he was a prolific political donor to individual candidates

ATLANTA (AP) — A prosecutor says five people arrested on charges including domestic terrorism as authorities tried to remove the protesters from the site of a planned public safety training center will remain in custody without bond. The arrests happened as agents from the GBI, Atlanta police officers, and other state and local law enforcement

By The Associated Press By The Associated Press After beginning 2022 by hosting a Winter Olympics inside a COVID bubble, China faced a tough year. It was filled with economic challenges, maintaining and then loosening its zero-COVID policy, fending off claims of human rights abuses. On top of that, it dealt with unusual and widespread

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — An engineering firm has settled a lawsuit with four families after being accused of not doing enough to stop lead contamination in the Flint, Michigan, water supply. The deal involving Lockwood, Andrews & Newman comes four months after a jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict. No details were disclosed. LAN and

By MAYSOON KHAN Associated Press/Report for America ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York has become the latest state to ban the sale of cats, dogs and rabbits in pet stores in an attempt to target commercial breeding operations decried by critics as “puppy mills.” The new law was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Longtime St. Louis Cardinals television play-by-play announcer Dan McLaughlin will not return to the booth this year after being charged with driving while intoxicated. Bally Sports Midwest and McLaughlin announced Thursday he was leaving after more than two decades announcing for the Cardinals. McLaughlin was charged on Dec. 5 as a

By SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California air regulators voted unanimously Thursday to approve an ambitious plan to drastically cut reliance on fossil fuels by changing practices in the energy, transportation and agriculture sectors, but critics say it doesn’t go far enough to combat climate change. The plan sets out

MOSCOW (AP) — A coolant leak from a Russian space capsule attached to the International Space Station could have been caused by a micrometeorite, a Russian space official said Thursday. Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos and NASA both said that the incident hasn’t posed any danger to the station’s crew. However, the leak prompted a pair

By JAMIE STENGLE and JAKE BLEIBERG Associated Press A former Texas police officer was convicted of manslaughter Thursday for fatally shooting Atatiana Jefferson through a rear window of her home in 2019, a rare conviction of an officer for killing someone who was also armed with a gun. Jurors also considered a murder charge against

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia regulators have granted a critical approval for Dominion Energy’s plans to construct and operate a 176-turbine wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean. The State Corporation Commission effectively signed off Thursday on an agreement Dominion reached this fall with the Virginia attorney general and several other

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia has formally demanded that its security troops return to the breakaway former Serbian province of Kosovo, despite warnings from the West that such calls are unlikely to be accepted and only add to tensions in that part of the Balkans. Serbia’s government said in a

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Seacrest will usher in 2023 on “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” from Times Square, with iconic bands from the 1980s and 1990s as well as a member of BTS and a TikTok sensation. Duran Duran, fresh off an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall

By THALIA BEATY and GLENN GAMBOA Associated Press Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott says her donations have yielded more than $14 billion in funding for about 1,600 nonprofits since 2019, according to her long-awaited website called Yield Giving. Unveiled Wednesday night, the site also announced plans to introduce an “open-call process” that allows nonprofits seeking donations from

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press MILAN (AP) — The founder of the Afro Fashion Association in Italy says she is launching awards recognizing the achievements of minorities in Italian society, to promote greater diversity and inclusion. The first edition of the Black Carpet Awards will premier  during Milan Fashion Week in February,  sponsored by Instagram

By RAF CASERT and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union says it has approved a new package of sanctions aimed at ramping up pressure against Russia for its war in Ukraine. The package’s details have not been revealed yet but were approved Thursday during a meeting of the 27-nation bloc’s ambassadors.

By BEN FINLEY and DANIEL KOZIN Associated Press CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — The parents of a University of Virginia football player killed in a shooting last month are calling for stricter gun laws and more mental health support to prevent future gun deaths. Happy Perry is the mother of D’Sean Perry. She told reporters

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana’s government says it has asked world police agency Interpol to help it investigate the background of a Nigerian national who tried to illegally enter the residence of President Irfaan Ali and ended up trading gunfire with guards, wounding one seriously. Ali was at home at the time when a man

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University has named Claudine Gay as its next president, making her the first Black person and the second woman to lead the Ivy League school. Gay is currently a dean at the university and a democracy scholar. She will become president July 1. Gay replaces Lawrence

By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri man seeking freedom after nearly three decades in prison for a murder he denies committing testified Thursday that he was with his girlfriend on the night of the crime, except for a few minutes when he stepped outside to sell drugs on a corner

By SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON Associated Press/Report For America COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The latest proposal to give Ohio’s governor more power overseeing K-12 education cleared the Senate with a ban on transgender student-athletes in girls sports. But the legislation hit a roadblock hours later Thursday in the House, where it fell several votes short of passage.

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Capitol riot will hold its final meeting Monday, wrapping up its year-and-a-half-long inquiry by asking the Justice Department to investigate potential crimes. The committee is expected to release its final report on Wednesday. The chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, has said the committee

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican leader of the Wisconsin Senate says he opposes spending any state money to help Madison bring a passenger rail line connecting the capital city to Milwaukee, joining the state’s other top GOP legislative leader against the project. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu told The

By The Associated Press After decades of abortion rights, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and suddenly abortion was illegal in parts of the country. The months leading up to the momentous decision were marked by states passing “trigger bans,” which would go into effect if the high court ruled. Adding to the

By REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Since the pandemic began, the United States has been using a public health rule designed to limit the spread of disease to expel asylum-seekers on the southern border. Title 42, as it’s called, has been used more than 2.5 million times to expel migrants since March 2020,

By MARGARET STAFFORD Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 25-year veteran of the Kansas City police department has been chosen as the city’s new police chief. The Board of Police Commissioners announced Thursday that Stacey Graves was chosen to lead the department. Graves, who is currently acting deputy chief, takes over a department

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California utility regulators have approved major changes to the state’s booming rooftop solar industry. Members of the California Public Utilities Commission say the proposal they passed Thursday will make the program more equitable and encourage more people to install home storage systems. The vote came after

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts State Police say a man wanted in connection with a 1991 stabbing death during a fight has been found, working on a shrimp farm  in Guatemala. Police said Wednesday Mario Garcia was found living under an alias, operating the farm in Iztapa. He was wanted in the death of Ismael Recinos-Garcia,