Month: April 2023

By MADDIE BURAKOFF AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The American Museum of Natural History in New York will soon open its massive new building, complete with live insects and swooping architecture. The Gilder Center has been almost a decade in the making and will open to the public next Thursday. The building features

By JIM SALTER and SUMMER BALLENTINE Associated Press CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge has temporarily halted a first-of-its-kind rule restricting access to gender-affirming health care just hours before it was set to take effect. A judge on Wednesday put the Republican attorney general’s emergency rule on transgender health care on hold until at

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer Twitter under its 4/20-friendly owner Elon Musk earlier this year became the first major social media company to allow cannabis advertisements. Now, the platform is relaxing those rules in an attempt to lure in more advertisers from U.S. states where marijuana is legal. “Going forward, certified advertisers may feature

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials on Wednesday approved the first pill made from healthy bacteria found in human waste to fight dangerous gut infections — an easier way of performing so-called fecal transplants. The new treatment from Seres Therapeutics provides a simpler, rigorously tested version of stool-based procedures

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis NAACP is suing the city of Minneapolis over allegations that police officers used phony social media accounts to spy on activists without a legitimate public safety purpose. The lawsuit, filed in federal court Wednesday, alleges that the Minneapolis Police Department discriminated against the NAACP and violated its members’ constitutional rights

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Fugees rapper accused in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies spanning two presidencies was convicted Wednesday after a trial that included testimony ranging from actor Leonardo DiCaprio to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was accused of funneling money from a now-fugitive Malaysian financer through straw

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (AP) — Five staff members at a suburban Indianapolis school have been charged with neglect or failure to report neglect after a 7-year-old special education student was told to eat his own vomit in February. The Hendricks County Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday charged a teacher and instructional aide at Brown Elementary School in

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press MISSOULA, Montana (AP) — In the college town of Missoula, pride flags are as common a sight as the peaks of Montana’s Rattlesnake Mountains. Even a downtown crosswalk is rainbow-colored. Often described as a blue island in a vast red state, Missoula sent the first openly transgender female legislator in

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado man who shot and killed a 13-year-old boy after a road rage confrontation and wounded the boy’s mother, brother and a witness was found guilty of first-degree murder. A jury issued the verdict on Wednesday after deliberating for less than three hours. Jeremy Webster

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr was silenced by her Republican colleagues on Wednesday in a vote that bars her from participating on the House floor for the remainder of the 2023 session. The crackdown followed a standoff between Montana Democrats and Republicans after Zephyr told Republican colleagues in the House they

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press The New College of Florida trustees, newly dominated by conservatives appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, has voted to deny tenure to five professors. The trustees overrode complaints Wednesday by faculty and students that the decision threatens academic freedom. The traditionally progressive public college in Sarasota has become the focus of

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge in Iowa has ruled against former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, who filed lawsuits claiming he was defamed by articles published by Esquire magazine about his family’s Iowa dairy farm. U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams ruled Tuesday in favor of reporter Ryan Lizza and Esquire publisher Hearst Magazines

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer It’s not “game over” yet for Microsoft’s quest to buy the video game maker Activision Blizzard, but the software giant is starting to run out of clear pathways to complete its $69 billion takeover. A major setback came Wednesday when British antitrust regulators said they would block the acquisition.

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court spoke is speaking with one voice in response to recent criticism of the justices’ ethical practices: No need to fix what isn’t broken. The justices’ response on Tuesday struck some critics and ethics experts as tone deaf at a time of heightened attention on

By EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Police are pledging to crack down on unrelenting gang violence that has paralyzed swaths of Haiti’s capital, and are pleading with Haitians to end a string of grisly vigilante killings. Wednesday’s appeal came after an angry crowd on Monday killed at least 13 suspected gang members

By HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press Amazon is winding down its health-focused Halo devices and membership as the tech giant continues to cut costs. The company told customers on Wednesday that it will issue refunds to anyone who purchased Amazon Halo devices in the past year. It says refunds will also be issued to customers who

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer First Republic Bank’s stock continued to slide Wednesday, an ongoing rout that has erased 60% of its value just this week on concerns about the bank’s financial health in the wake of two other bank collapses. Shares slumped almost 30%, following an even more severe tumble Tuesday, after the

NEW YORK (AP) — Call him the Cedric the Novelist. Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Wednesday that it will publish a novel in September by Cedric the Entertainer. “Flipping Boxcars,” billed as a “valentine” to 1940s crime fiction, is scheduled for Sept. 12. “Flipping Boxcars is an homage to my grandfather, who I never

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Haiti is urging immediate deployment of a specialized international force to counter escalating gang violence and develop the understaffed and ill-equipped police force, warning that delays could lead to a spillover of insecurity in the Caribbean and Latin America. But

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The co-founder of a fundraising group linked to Steve Bannon that promised to help Donald Trump construct a wall along the southern U.S. border was sentenced to four years and three months in prison on Wednesday for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors. Brian

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has avoided starting her more than 11-year prison sentence on Thursday by deploying the same legal maneuver that enabled her co-conspirator in a blood-testing hoax to remain free for an additional month. Holmes’ lawyers on Wednesday informed U.S. District Judge

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Ya Ya the giant panda has begun its trip to China from the Memphis Zoo, where it has spent the past 20 years as part of a loan agreement. The zoo said Ya Ya is being accompanied on its return to China by a veterinarian who will manage the panda’s medical

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The U.S. government is embarking on an effort to record the oral histories of survivors and descendants of boarding schools that sought to “civilize” Indigenous students, often through abusive practices. The Interior Department announced a partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities on Wednesday to document the experiences of thousands