Month: December 2022

PARADISE, Texas (AP) — A 7-year-old Texas girl who was found dead last week after she was reported missing from her home is being remembered as “the best little girl” who loved animals, drawing and dancing. Athena Strand was found dead Friday, two days after she was reported missing from her home in Paradise, Texas,

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is such an enemy of rats that he once called a press conference to demonstrate a contraption for drowning them in poison. So it is noteworthy to find Adams contesting a $300 fine issued by his own administration over a

By MAYSOON KHAN Associated Press/Report for America ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — In an election in which Republicans underperformed nationally, Lester Chang was a success story. He beat a New York City Democrat who’d been in office for almost 36 years. In doing so, he became the first Asian American elected to represent Brooklyn’s growing Chinatown

By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — For Senate Democrats, an oh-so-slim 51-49 majority never sounded so good. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s victory in swing-state Georgia gives Democrats a welcome “lift,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday at the Capitol — newly confident of sidelining Trump-inspired Republicans in Congress and reaching across the

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A five-member Oklahoma board has decided that a man convicted in the shotgun slayings of an elderly couple in eastern Oklahoma in 2003 and sentenced to die should not be spared from the death sentence. The Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 on Wednesday to reject

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — In both Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” and Kelly Reichardt’s upcoming “Showing Up,” Michelle Williams plays women where life — societal hurdles and daily nuisances — gets in the way of self-expression. Mitzi Fabelman, the early-1960s matriarch based on Spielberg’s own mother, has given up her

By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Wednesday that his “special military operation” in Ukraine is taking longer than expected but hailed the seizure of his neighbor’s territory as a major achievement and said his country’s nuclear weapons are deterring escalation of the conflict.

By JOHN FLESHER Associated Press TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A state judge has ordered five men to stand trial on charges involving a foiled plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Michael Null, William Null, Eric Molitor and Shawn Fix, all of Michigan, are accused of providing material support for terrorist acts as well

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative government has approved the U.K.’s first new coal mine in three decades. Environmentalists have condemned the decision as a leap backwards in the fight against climate change. Cabinet Minister Michael Gove decided the mine in the Cumbria area of northwest England would have “an overall

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s Supreme Court is considering a case that will decide whether police officers who use deadly force can remain anonymous under a law designed to protect crime victims. The court heard short oral arguments Wednesday in the trial between the city of Tallahassee and the Florida

WASHINGTON (AP) — A published report says lawyers for former President Donald Trump found at least two items marked as classified during a recent search of a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Florida, and have provided them to the FBI. The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reports that the items were discovered by an

By DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — One day in the 1970s, Paul Fleisher and his wife were walking through a department store parking lot when they noticed a group of people looking at them. Fleisher, who is white, and his wife, who is Black, were used to “the look.” But this time

By DAVID BAUDER and LYNN ELBER AP Entertainment Writers NEW YORK (AP) — What was the most shocking TV moment of 2022? Well, it had to be The Slap, Will Smith’s onstage assault of Chris Rock that stunned millions watching the Oscars. Both fictional and real, television offered moments to remember in 2022. The death

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — 2 Chainz wants to capitalize off the NFL’s huge “Thursday Night Football” platform to feature some of the world’s most popular musical performers on Amazon Music’s new live concert series. The Grammy winner is the host of “Amazon Music Live,” a weekly concert show

By JANIE McCAULEY AP Sports Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The family of a former University of California-San Diego rower who killed himself in January 2021 says he was pushed too far by his coach. Coach Geoff Bond is no longer at the school and the parents of Brian Lilly Jr. filed a wrongful-death lawsuit

CAIRO (AP) — The U.S. secretary of state has warned Sudanese leaders that America will impose a travel ban on any individuals who threaten to derail Sudan’s fragile democratic transition. The announcement Wednesday comes two days after Sudan’s two ruling generals signed a preliminary deal with the country’s main pro-democracy group. The agreement would see

BERLIN (AP) — Police in western Germany are appealing for help in cracking a potentially very cold case. Authorities say about 60 containers of bull sperm were stolen from a farm in the town of Olfen late Monday or early Tuesday. Police said in a statement Wednesday that although it’s unclear how the rustle happened,

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli soldiers have shot and killed a Palestinian militant who opened fire at them in the occupied West Bank. The army says the gunman was traveling in a vehicle Wednesday when he fired at a military post next to the settlement of Ofra. It says soldiers chased the vehicle and shot the

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Documentaries about Brooke Shields, Judy Blume and Michael J. Fox, films from veteran directors like Nicole Holofcener, an adaptation of the viral New Yorker story “Cat Person” and the feature directorial debut of actors Alice Englert and Randall Park are among the world premieres set for the Sundance Film

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) — The president of Peru was ousted by Congress and arrested on a charge of rebellion Wednesday after he sought to dissolve the legislative body and take unilateral control of the government, triggering a grave constitutional crisis. Vice President Dina Boluarte replaced Pedro Castillo and became the

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Experts raised concerns over a new policy announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria that heavily limits withdrawals of money in a push for a cashless economy. The central bank limited weekly over-the-counter cash withdrawals to 100,000 naira, which amounts to $225, for individuals, and 500,000

PARIS (AP) — French animal rights activists have protested against what they say are broad exceptions to a new legislation that was meant to ban the practice of killing male chicks after they hatch.The ban is set to enter into force in January. Yet France-based animal rights group L214 said exceptions to the rule that

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the country’s nuclear arsenals as a deterrent factor in the Ukrainian conflict but demurred when challenged to make a pledge that Russia would not be the first to use them. Asked by a member of the presidential Human Rights Council to commit Russia to forswearing a