Month: March 2023

By JANIE HAR and SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The infamous state prison on San Francisco Bay that has been home to the largest death row population in the United States will be transformed into a lockup where less-dangerous prisoners will receive education, training and rehabilitation, California officials announced Thursday.

ST. CHARLES. Mo. (AP) — A 70-year-old Missouri man has been convicted of shooting an Amazon delivery driver in the back during an argument over a disabled parking spot. Larry Thomlison, of St. Charles, was found guilty Monday of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of 21-year-old Jaylen Walker, who was paralyzed

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Biden administration’s approval this week of the largest new oil project in years on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope has immediately been met by lawsuits seeking to stop the Willow project. Lawsuits filed by environmental groups and an Alaska Native organization seek to overturn Monday’s approval

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — NFL lawyers want a New York judge to change her mind and agree to let all racial discrimination claims against the league and its teams go to arbitration rather than trial. In written arguments Wednesday, the lawyers urged Judge Valerie Caproni to reverse her decision finding

By HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is infusing artificial intelligence tools into its suite of office software, including Word, Excel and Outlook emails. The company said Thursday the new feature, named Copilot, is a processing engine that will allow users to do things like summarize long emails, draft stories in Word

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities have arrested a 14-year-old boy nicknamed “El Chapito” for the drug-related killing of eight people near Mexico City, the federal Public Safety Department said Thursday. The boy allegedly rode up on a motorcycle and opened fire on a family in the low-income Mexico City suburb of Chimalhuacan. Another man

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina lawmakers have launched an effort to sack the comptroller general for a $3.5 billion accounting error that could affect the state’s credit rating. A resolution introduced Thursday asks for a two-thirds vote from the House and the Senate to trigger a state constitutional provision

By The Associated Press Federal investigators say an air traffic controller cleared a plane to take off from Sarasota, Florida, while an American Airlines jet was making its final approach to the same runway last month, leading the American pilots to abandon their landing. The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that the American and

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserves says cash-short banks have borrowed about $300 billion in emergency funding from the central bank in the past week. Nearly half the money — $143 billion — went to holding companies for the two major banks that failed over the past week, Silicon

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press ST.. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota regulators said Thursday they’re monitoring the cleanup of a leak of 400,000 gallons of radioactive water from Xcel Energy’s Monticello nuclear power plant, and the company said there’s no danger to the public. “Xcel Energy took swift action to contain the leak to the

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Thursday that will permanently outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the state. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled last year that the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act include sexual orientation. But the legislation signed by

By DALATOU MAMANE and KRISTA LARSON Associated Press NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is seeking to strengthen ties with Niger as Russian influence is on the rise in other countries in Africa’s Sahel region. Blinken on Thursday became the first American secretary of state to visit the West African nation.

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill Paxlovid won another vote of confidence from U.S. health advisers Thursday, clearing the way for its full regulatory approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The medication has been used by millions of Americans since the FDA granted it emergency use authorization in

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A prosecutor in Mexico says there is evidence that some of the six women who went missing on March 7 have been found dead. Carlos Zamarripa is the head prosecutor of the violence-plagued state of Guanajuato. Zamarripa said Thursday that  “unfortunately we have found signs that some of them were killed.”

By MAYSOON KHAN Associated Press/Report for America ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A coalition that includes some of New York’s medical marijuana companies is suing state cannabis regulators in an effort to open up licensing to all retail dispensary applicants immediately. The lawsuit filed Thursday in Albany Supreme Court against the state’s Cannabis Control Board, Office

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A former Illinois state corrections officer has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for his role in the beating death of a prison inmate in May 2018. U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough said Thursday that 31-year-old Alex Banta of Quincy was “caught up

By HOLLY RAMER Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire has moved closer to adopting “parents’ bill of rights” legislation. Supporters say would strengthen family relationships and opponents say would harm transgender youth and violates the state’s anti-discrimination laws. The Republican-led Senate voted 14-10 along party lines Thursday to pass the bill. It now

By TARA COPP and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a number of improvements in access to mental health care on Thursday to reduce suicides in the military, but held off on endorsing more controversial recommendations to restrict gun and ammunition purchases by young troops, sending them to

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s No. 3 says Pope Francis gave clear indications to get out of a disastrous London real estate deal at the heart of big criminal trial. Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, the “substitute” in the secretariat of state, was the highest-ranking witness to be questioned during

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — The U.S. military is investigating the death of a soldier at a Texas Army post that in recent years has struggled with murder, suicide and sexual assault among its troops. Officials at Fort Hood announced Wednsday that Pvt. Ana Basaldua Ruiz died on Monday. She was a combat engineer who’d

By GARY GERARD HAMILTON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Marcus Samuelsson is keen on leading with intention. That focus is seared into the delectable dishes prepared at his popular restaurants, but it is also expressed with his staffing. “My restaurants are a reflection of the society we’re living in. (At) Hav & Mar, we

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Eleven of the biggest U.S. banks Thursday announced a $30 billion rescue package for First Republic Bank in an effort to prevent it from becoming the third to fail in less than a week and head off a broader banking crisis. San Francisco-based First Republic

By PREDRAG MILIC Associated Press PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro’s president has dissolved parliament and paved the way for an early parliamentary election. President Milo Djukanovic issued a decree dissolving parliament on Thursday, three months after Montenegro’s last government fell in a no-confidence vote. Djukanovic is expected to set a date for the early election

By STEPHEN McGRATH and AUREL OBREJA Associated Press CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldovan lawmakers have voted in favor of a divisive bill that will replace references to the country’s official national language from Moldovan to Romanian in the Constitution and in legislation. The bill was initiated by Moldova’s ruling pro-Western Party of Action and Solidarity,

BOSTON (AP) — Boston is pushing forward with plans to discourage the use of fossil fuel in new buildings. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Thursday filed an ordinance with the city council that would require new buildings that rely on fossil fuels to install solar panels and to add wiring in anticipation of future conversion

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s defense minister has rejected suggestions that the country’s armed forces are in a state of disarray. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius acknowledged Thursday that there were “deficits in the military” but said “these aren’t due to the military. Rather, they lie in the equipment.” He made the comment the day after the

WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky university says it has agreed to a settlement of more than $14 million over the death of a student wrestler hours after practice. The University of the Cumberlands said in a statement Wednesday that the settlement over the death of 20-year-old Grant Brace of Louisville, Tennessee, includes an agreement

ANACORTES, Wash. (AP) — Two BNSF trains derailed in separate incidents in Arizona and Washington state on Thursday, with the latter spilling diesel fuel. There were no injuries reported in either. The derailment in Washington occurred on a berm along Puget Sound, on the Swinomish tribal reservation near Anacortes. Most of 5,000 gallons (nearly 19,000