Month: January 2023

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A nonprofit group that aims to protect endangered species has asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reintroduce sea otters to a stretch of the West Coast from Northern California to Oregon. Threatened southern sea otters occupy only 13% of their historic range, with a small population of the mammals

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A state Corrections Department official says testing to determine the reason two dozen employees at a state prison this week needed medical treatment for dizziness, nausea and vomiting has ruled out “narcotics or hazardous materials.” An Illinois State Police hazardous materials team responded Wednesday afternoon

By NOMAAN MERCHANT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Director William Burns visited Kyiv last week to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It’s the latest example of high-level contacts between the U.S. and Ukraine. A U.S. official on Thursday disclosed Burns’ trip on condition of anonymity to discuss the director’s schedule, which is classified.

By MARIA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Concern is growing in Mexico over the fate of two environmental and community activists who disappeared five days ago in a dangerous corner of western Mexico. Farmers blocked roads and the government sent soldiers, National Guard and aircraft to search for the pair, whose bullet-ridden vehicle

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Summer Myomick bundled her baby against the freezing winds whipping off the Bering Sea and stepped outside into a blur of blowing snow. It was a short walk from the school where she had visited relatives to the health clinic about 150 yards (137 meters) away,

By ZEKE MILLER and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press APTOS, Calif. (AP) — A frustrated President Joe Biden said Thursday there is “no there there” when he was persistently questioned about the discovery of classified documents and official records at his home and former office. “We found a handful of documents were filed in the wrong

By TARA COPP and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says the U.S. will send 90 Stryker combat vehicles and an additional 59 Bradley fighting vehicles to Ukraine, in addition to hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition. It’s the latest aid package timed to help Ukraine push back against Russia’s

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge is ordering Boeing to appear in court next week and be arraigned on a felony charge stemming from crashes of two 737 Max jets. The judge’s ruling Thursday threatens to unravel an agreement that Boeing negotiated with the government to avoid prosecution. The

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Sports Writer A California lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require schools that play major college sports to pay some athletes as much as $25,000 annually. The bill also calls for schools to pay some post-college medical expenses for athletes and to guarantee athletic scholarships for six years.

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — Advocates say the Biden administration has agreed to lower part of a border wall planned in the southwest corner of the continental United States. Construction paused in August at Friendship Park, which was inaugurated in 1971 by then-first lady Pat Nixon as a symbol of ties

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has visited Minnesota to affirm the Biden administration’s commitment to abortion rights despite the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Becerra went to a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in St. Paul Wednesday. Then he appeared

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan authorities have arrested a lawyer representing the jailed director of an investigative newspaper and are pursuing a second lawyer for alleged obstruction of justice. José Rubén Zamora of El Periodico was ordered to stand trial on money laundering charges in December related to a 2013 donation to his newspaper that

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A detention hearing has been scheduled for a felon and failed political candidate suspected of orchestrating a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of four elected Democrat officials in New Mexico. Solomon Peña remains in custody pending a Jan. 23 detention hearing. Prosecutors say

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization has had a rocky start, but Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said Thursday in releasing an audit of the program that it’s too early to call it a failure. Decriminalization of personal-use amounts of drugs, approved by voters in 2020 under Ballot

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Look who’s in line for coveted House committee assignments. The most far-right House Republicans and early opponents of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Even embattled new Rep. George Santos. Some are set to serve on the high-profile committee investigating President Joe Biden’s administration. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Department of Correction has fired its top attorney and another employee following a scathing independent report on failures within the state’s lethal injection system. Documents obtained by the AP through a public records request show deputy commissioner and general counsel Debbie Inglis and inspector

By KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Lawyers for a Black transgender woman who sued Georgia prison officials over alleged mistreatment while in custody said she decided not to proceed to trial because she feared the experience would be harmful to her. Ashley Diamond sued Georgia prison officials in November 2020, saying they had

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — Five days after the U.S. Energy Department announced a $700 million conditional loan to an Australian company for a lithium mine in Nevada, federal land managers cited the developer for trespassing within the habitat of an endangered wildflower. The Bureau of Land Management said in the

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer PARIS (AP) — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and French President Emmanuel Macron met this week in Paris to talk about ways they can help one another grow the game in France and beyond. The meeting comes with good timing given that French star Victor Wembanyama is about to enter

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Russian spy ship has been patrolling off the coast of Hawaii but so far has remained in international waters, the Pentagon said Thursday. While the appearance of a Russian surveillance ship along the U.S. coastline is not unusual, this one has attracted more attention because of

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University has announced it plans to offer a fellowship to a leading human rights activist after its initial denial sparked widespread criticism. Kenneth Roth was the executive director of Human Rights Watch until last year. Also last year, he was recruited by the Harvard Kennedy School’s

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — U.S. agents in southern Arizona say they seized up to 440 pounds of what they suspect is a precursor chemical often used to manufacture the dangerous drug fentanyl. Law enforcement experts say it’s a chilling sign that producers may be moving to manufacture the deadly synthetic opioid

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida lawmakers can fine local government officials who attempt to restrict gun and ammunition sales under a state law upheld by the state Supreme Court. Former Democratic Agriculture Commissioner and some municipalities sued the state over a law that preempts local governments from enacting gun sale

By KATHLEEN FOODY The Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Attorneys say the family of an Illinois man whose death prompted murder charges against two paramedics who strapped him facedown on a stretcher has filed a lawsuit against them and their employer. Prosecutors have separately charged Peter Cadigan and Peggy Finley with first-degree murder in 35-year-old

By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — A group of religious leaders who support abortion rights has filed a lawsuit challenging Missouri’s abortion ban, saying lawmakers openly invoked their religious beliefs while drafting the measure and thereby imposed those beliefs on others who don’t share them. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in St.

By MARK SHERMAN and JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says it hasn’t determined who leaked a draft of the court’s opinion overturning abortion rights, but that the investigation continues. Eight months ago, Politico published its explosive leak detailing the draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade.

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — When Hillary Clinton was running for president, her campaign wanted a gentler way to talk about the criminal investigation into her private email server, so they called it a “security review.” Now President Joe Biden’s team is using similar language when talking about the

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. authorities have handed over to Mexico a key suspect in the 2014 disappearance of 43 college students. Officials say the the man was caught trying to cross the border without proper documents. Mexico’s National Immigration Institute identified the man only by his first name, but