Month: January 2023

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whose empathetic handling of the nation’s worst mass-shooting and health-driven response to the coronavirus pandemic led her to become an international icon but who faced mounting criticism at home, said Thursday she was leaving office. Fighting back tears, Ardern

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking state universities for the number and ages of their transgender students who sought the schools’ help with hormones or sex reassignment surgery, according to a survey released Wednesday. Why he’s conducting the survey isn’t completely clear. DeSantis has been

WILLAMINA, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say a student and a deputy were treated at a hospital after they likely were exposed to fentanyl at a western Oregon middle school. The Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office says one of their deputies went to Willamina Middle School Tuesday southwest of Portland and was asked to help check a

By ANNE M. PETERSON AP Sports Writer Midfielder Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir has been awarded more than $88,000 in back pay that was withheld by her French club team, Lyon, in violation of FIFA’s rules protecting maternity rights. Gunnarsdóttir, who now plays for Juventus in Italy, wrote her account of the salary dispute for The Players’

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has changed death penalty procedures to give the prison system longer to carry out executions — a move that comes after a string of troubled lethal injections in the state — and also eliminated an automatic review for trial errors. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s office

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Santa Fe district attorney will announce Thursday whether charges will be brought in the fatal 2021 film-set shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal of the Western “Rust.” Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said a decision will be announced

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican human rights group has launched an online guide for people searching for missing relatives, a real need in a country where authorities have been slow to act. Mexico has almost 110,000 people listed as missing, but many of the most effective searches are carried out by relatives or activists.

By BEN FINLEY and DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — When a 6-year-old shot and wounded his first-grade teacher in this shipbuilding city near Virginia’s coast, the community reacted with collective shock. But the sentiment has percolated into rage from parents and particularly from teachers, with many lambasting school administrators Tuesday night

By LEA SKENE BALTIMORE (AP) — In one of his first high-profile decisions after taking office earlier this month, Baltimore’s new top prosecutor declined to bring criminal charges against a local police officer who fatally shot a fleeing teenage driver last year. The decision came despite an investigative review released Tuesday that found the driver

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Investigators seized stained bedding, strands of what looked like hair and a single glove — but no weapon — when they searched the Washington state apartment of a graduate student charged with stabbing four University of Idaho students to death, according to newly unsealed court documents.

By ALI SWENSON Associated Press A movement to retrofit telephone kiosks with defibrillators across the U.K. is more than a decade old and didn’t result from the coronavirus or vaccines, according to Community Heartbeat Trust, the nonprofit that originated the idea. Still, widely shared social media posts falsely claim that the phone booth defibrillators are

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A government lawyer says the Capitol riot was the culmination of weeks of preparation and was a moment of triumph for members of the far-right Oath Keepers. A federal prosecutor has told told jurors in his closing argument that the Jan. 6 riot was everything that members

By SAM METZ Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah lawmakers wasted no time this week before returning to an issue that has become a popular topic in GOP-led statehouses: Trying to limit medical options doctors are allowed to provide transgender youth. On the second day of the legislative session, a committee began considering

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in western Mexico say they have launched a search for two activists who went missing after their vehicle was found with bullet holes on a rural roadway. The two had been active in fighting a massive iron ore mine in the town of Aquila. The town is located in area

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Legal challenges to Illinois’ semiautomatic weapons ban have begun. A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday contends that the 8-day-old law prohibits “commonly possessed” and constitutionally protected guns. A state court pleading also filed Wednesday questions the law’s exemptions based on a person’s employment. The law was

By MATTHEW LEE and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is finalizing a massive package of military aid for Ukraine that U.S. officials say is likely to total as much as $2.6 billion. It’s expected to include for the first time nearly 100 Stryker combat vehicles and at least 50 Bradley

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government’s star witness in a corruption trial over the broadcasting rights to some of soccer’s biggest events testified Wednesday how he and two former Fox executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to undermine competing bids. The trial in New York City is

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department says it has opened a civil rights investigation into the arrest of Tyre Nichols, who died days after a confrontation with Memphis Police Department officers during a traffic stop. The U.S. attorney’s office released a statement saying the FBI’s field office in

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — More than four years after gunmen killed emerging rap star XXXTentacion during a robbery outside a South Florida motorcycle shop, three suspects are on trial. Jury selection began Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale. Shooting suspect Michael Boatwright and his accused accomplices, Dedrick Williams and Trayvon Newsome,

NEW YORK (AP) — A bestselling author of crime stories and other nonfiction works is working on a book about the stabbing deaths last fall of four students at the University of Idaho. Howard Blum has a deal with HarperCollins Publishers, which has not yet announced a title or release date. His previous books include

By RIO YAMAT Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — A new report released this month in Nevada says state auditors in 2022 found a troubling pattern of lax oversight at five child care facilities. Unsecured chemicals and knives, clogged toilets and broken electrical outlets were just some of the issues the auditors say they found

By R.J. RICO Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Authorities say they killed a man who shot and injured a Georgia state trooper as law enforcement officers tried to clear protesters from the site of a planned public safety training center just outside Atlanta. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Mike Register says authorities were trying to

By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press/Report for America COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Supreme Court is set for an all-male bench for the first time in 35 years. Two of the three candidates to replace Justice Kaye Hearn have withdrawn from consideration. That means Judge Gary Hill remains the only nominee under consideration as

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man who had more than 200 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition at his home has pleaded guilty to lying to federal authorities about his drug use when he bought the weapons. Federal prosecutors say 38-year-old Ronald Andruchuk admitted Wednesday he was an unlawful user of controlled

By DANICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Lawyers for sprinter Usain Bolt say more than $12.7 million is missing from his account with a private investment firm in Jamaica that authorities are investigating. Attorney Linton P. Gordon on Wednesday provided The Associated Press with a copy of a letter sent to

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly has elected Inger Andersen of Denmark to a second four-year term as executive director of the United Nations Environment Program. Wednesday’s vote came after the assembly rejected a Russian-sponsored resolution that would have opened the job to other candidates. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a note to the

By JIM MUSTIAN and MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, said he met for 2½ hours Tuesday with Manhattan prosecutors who have revived a years-old investigation into payments made to a porn star to keep her quiet about an alleged extramarital tryst. Cohen said he had

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer Chris Ford, a member of the Boston Celtics 1981 championship team, a longtime NBA coach and the player credited with scoring the league’s first 3-point basket, has died, his family announced Wednesday in a statement. He was 74. The family revealed the death through the Celtics. No official cause