Month: March 2023

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are emerging as leading rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, but when it comes to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they are united in arguing that stopping the aggression isn’t a vital U.S. strategic interest. They contend that

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The FBI has arrested two Florida law enforcement officers on charges of involvement with illegal drugs after both had worked together on a Drug Enforcement Administration task force. Federal court records show that 37-year-old Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. James Darrell Hickox and 44-year-old Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Joshua Earrey were

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State lawmakers worry that southern Kansas is vulnerable to oil spills from the Keystone pipeline system because earthquakes have become more frequent there. They raised the concern Tuesday as they questioned an executive for the pipeline’s operator about a massive spill in northeastern Kansas in December.

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed as “sheer nonsense” allegations that Ukrainians were behind the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea last year. He once again insisted that the U.S. was behind the incident. Putin spoke on Tuesday after The New

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former New Orleans police officer has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl who was already a rape victim. Federal prosecutors said Rodney Vicknair was a police officer in 2020 when he escorted a then-14-year-old rape victim to a hospital. Prosecutors said he

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — It was a mundane, unanimously supported bill on liquor taxation that saw state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh take to the mic on the Nebraska Legislature floor last week. She offered her support, then spent the next three days discussing everything but the bill, including her favorite

By LEA SKENE Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — In a ruling issued Tuesday, a Baltimore judge granted the Maryland Attorney General’s Office permission to publicly release a redacted version of an investigative report detailing sex abuse allegations against more than 150 Roman Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. But it wasn’t immediately clear when

By ELÉONORE HUGHES Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Supporters gathered Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro to mark five years since the assassination of Black, bisexual councilwoman Marielle Franco amid hope that investigations into her death will accelerate under Brazil’s new leftist president. The rising political star and her driver were killed in central

By MARGARET STAFFORD Associated Press The city of Wichita has agreed to pay $5 million to the family of a man who was shot and killed by a police officer when he opened the door of his house during a hoax “swatting” call. The city council approved the settlement Tuesday in a lawsuit filed against

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Health authorities in Mexico say they will use more traditional medicine and more Cuban doctors in the country’s woefully underequipped public hospital system. The head of Mexico’s largest public hospital network said at a news conference Tuesday that the system will hire practitioners of traditional massage and herbal treatments. The Social

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A retired Wisconsin detective has lost a defamation lawsuit against streaming giant Netflix over his portrayal in the 2015 documentary series “Making a Murderer.” Former Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Detective Andrew Colborn sued Netflix in April 2019 alleging that “Making a Murderer” filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos misquoted his testimony against

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lindsay Lohan is expecting her first child. The “Mean Girls” star announced her pregnancy in an Instagram post on Tuesday, sharing an image of a baby onesie with “Coming soon…” written on it. The post was captioned “We are blessed and excited!” Lohan married financier Bader Shammas in 2022, People magazine

By JIM SALTER and MICHAEL TARM Associated Press The U.S. attorney in North Dakota says he will no longer seek the death penalty for Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., convicted in the kidnapping and killing of a college student nearly two decades ago in a case that led to changes in sex offender registration laws. U.S. Attorney

By JOHN SEEWER Associated Press Ohio filed a lawsuit against railroad Norfolk Southern to make sure it pays for the cleanup and environmental damage caused by a fiery train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border last month, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday. The federal lawsuit also seeks to force the company to pay for groundwater

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles prosecutors say they will not retry Harvey Weinstein on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson announced the decision to a judge Tuesday. The judge dismissed the charges and Weinstein will be returned to New York, where

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to review a judge’s order that is blocking enforcement of Ohio’s so-called heartbeat abortion ban, and to consider whether the clinics that have sued have standing to challenge the law. In a split decision Tuesday, the court, however, denied

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The largest corruption case in Ohio history culminated last week with guilty verdicts for the ex-House Speaker and a lobbyist who was the former head of the Republican Party. Both were convicted of racketeering conspiracy, which carries up to 20 years in prison. But the

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is facing stinging criticism for missing what observers say were clear signs that Silicon Valley Bank was at high risk of collapsing into what became the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. The Fed was the primary federal supervisor of the

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his family were spoken to by a police officer after letting their dog off the leash in London’s Hyde Park, police said Tuesday. It comes after a video was shared on TikTok appearing to show the prime minister and his family allowing their Labrador, Nova, to

By SEAN MURPHY and JAKE BLEIBERG Associated Press AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — A federal judge overseeing a high-stakes case that could threaten access to medication abortion across the nation asked lawyers for the “courtesy” of not publicizing upcoming arguments. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk said “less advertisement of this hearing is better,” according to the

DALLAS (AP) — Dallas police say a 14-year-old on horseback was killed and two other teens were injured in a collision between a vehicle and the group of teens, who were riding stolen horses. Police say the two riders who were injured — a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old — were hospitalized in stable condition after

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov and acclaimed Guadeloupe-born writer Maryse Condé are among 13 contenders for the International Booker Prize for translated fiction. Kurkov is nominated for “Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv” and Condé for “The Gospel According to the New World.” The International Booker Prize is awarded

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Italy’s leaders, on the defensive after a smugglers’ boat shipwrecked meters from an Italian beach, are contending that Russian mercenaries in Libya are behind an uptick in arrivals as part of an alleged strategy to retaliate for Western support for Ukraine. Analysts have quickly dismissed that scenario,