Month: January 2023

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A group of Florida college professors are asking a federal judge to block Gov. Ron DeSantis from requesting spending data on diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory programs in state universities. The Wednesday filing comes as part of a lawsuit against the so-called “Stop WOKE” Act, which restricts certain

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A judge has ordered a Detroit museum to hold onto an 1888 painting by Vincent van Gogh. The order comes in response to a lawsuit by the painting’s owner, who claims it has been missing for nearly six years. The painting is titled “The Novel Reader” or

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A second arrest has been made in the case of the daughter of MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley who gave birth in the woods in New Hampshire in subfreezing temperatures. Police in the city of Manchester said Wednesday that George Theberge was arrested and

JEFF AMY Associated Press (AP) — Georgia state lawmakers are pushing back on a state court ruling that forced some of them to testify during an investigation into whether former President Donald Trump tried to influence the 2020 election in the state. New rules adopted Wednesday by the state House and Senate say lawmakers shouldn’t

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida drawbridge operator won’t be going to prison for causing a bicyclist to fall to her death last year. Artissua Paulk pleaded guilty to manslaughter Tuesday and was sentenced to eight years of probation under a deal reached with prosecutors. Seventy-nine-year-old Carol Wright was walking her bike across

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are taking early action on abortion now that they are in the majority. Republicans approved two abortion measures Wednesday, making clear they want to go further after the Supreme Court overruled the federal right to an abortion last year. However, neither of their measures

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The 14th Mississippi child has died from COVID-19. The state’s department of health says the child was an infant under the age of one — the first person under 18 to die from COVID-19 in the state in 2023. The state epidemiologist says the death should serve as a reminder for

By JIM SALTER Associated Press A Christian boarding school in Missouri that’s been under intense scrutiny over abuse allegations will close later this month. It’s citing financial hardship. Agape Boarding School in Stockton has been the subject of state and location investigations and several lawsuits filed on behalf of former students. A statement from the

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors and attorneys for a Wisconsin man accused of killing his wife with antifreeze in 1998 have delivered opening statements in his retrial, nearly two years after a judge vacated his previous conviction. Sixty-three-year-old Mark Jensen was convicted in 2008 of killing his wife, Julie Jensen, at their Kenosha County home

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — The head of the National Transportation Safety Board is expressing concern about the safety risks that heavy electric vehicles pose if they collide with lighter vehicles. Jennifer Homendy raised the issue in a speech Wednesday in Washington to the Transportation Research Board. She noted, by way

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press Five Connecticut police officers have pleaded not guilty to charges accusing them of cruelly mistreating a Black man after he was partially paralyzed in a police van when the driver braked hard. The New Haven officers entered the pleas Wednesday in state court. They were arrested in November in connection

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Republican member of Wisconsin’s bipartisan elections commission is standing by comments he made crowing about depressed turnout among Black and Hispanic voters in heavily Democratic Milwaukee, saying he won’t resign as a fellow commissioner and others have called on him to do. Commissioner Robert Spindell

By SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s capital city is known for the many trees that fill up its parks and line its streets. But persistent storms that have hit the so-called “City of Trees” and other parts of the state have damaged homes, vehicles and power lines. Over the

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press Writer OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Department of Corrections has reversed its position and now says it will allow an anti-death penalty minister inside the execution chamber for an upcoming execution. The department said Tuesday it would not allow the Rev. Jeffrey Hood of Arkansas inside the death chamber

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top military officer has been put in charge of troops fighting in Ukraine on Wednesday. It’s a move that appears to reflect the Kremlin’s dissatisfaction with the current leadership and flaws in the military’s performance. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Gen. Valery Gerasimov was named

By MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Western Union says it has resumed remittance services between the U.S. and Cuba in a limited capacity after two years of the essential economic lifeline being severed. The step could offer Cuban families key economic support during a time of record economic crisis in the Caribbean nation,

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing New York to continue to enforce for now a sweeping new law banning guns from “sensitive places” such as schools, playgrounds and Times Square and increasing training requirements. The high court is letting the law be in force while a lawsuit over

By EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Hundreds of Haitians are flocking daily to the sole immigration office in Port-au-Prince to secure a passport in hopes they will soon be chosen to live legally in the U.S. under a new immigration plan. The crowd has swelled ever since U.S. President Joe Biden announced

By The Associated Press SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Tatjana Patitz, one of an elite group of famed supermodels who graced magazine covers in the 1980s and ’90s and appeared in George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90” music video, has died at age 56. Patitz’s death in the Santa Barbara, California, area was confirmed by her New