Month: October 2023

By CLAIRE SAVAGE, MELISSA PEREZ WINDER and LISA BAUMANN Associated Press EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and others were reacting Friday to the news from Israel that Hamas had freed an American woman and her teenage daughter it had held hostage in Gaza. It was the first such release from among the

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked a federal judge to lift a narrow gag order imposed on him in his 2020 election interference case while the former president pursues a challenge to the ruling aimed at reining in his incendiary rhetoric. Trump’s legal team wants U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A jury in New Hampshire ended its first day of deliberations without issuing a verdict in the case of a man charged with fatally shooting a retired couple on a hiking trail. Jurors began reviewing the charges against 27-year-old Logan Clegg on Friday. Clegg is charged

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Deputies in central Florida investigating a woman who had jumped to her death later found her 5-year-old twins dead at her home. Authorities say motorists on Friday witnessed the 31-year-old woman jumping from the bridge into the lake below in suburban Orlando. The woman was pronounced dead after her body was

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The former Florida lawmaker who sponsored the controversial law critics call “Don’t Say Gay” will serve six-months in federal prison for defrauding a federal coronavirus loan program for small businesses. Former state Rep. Joe Harding, a 36-year-old Republican, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and making

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says it will indefinitely block a lower court order curbing Biden administration efforts to combat controversial social media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security. The justices said Friday they would hear arguments in a lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Missouri and others accusing

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Officials say an external investigation of the events surrounding the shooting that killed three University of Virginia student-athletes and wounded two others on campus last year has been completed. But the findings won’t be made public immediately. A UVA spokesperson says university officials have begun to

By BROOKE SCHULTZ Associated Press/Report for America HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — According to documents released by the administration late Friday under the state’s open records law, the office of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro settled a former employee’s claim she was sexually harassed by a senior aide earlier this year by agreeing to pay her and

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is keeping a Missouri law on hold that bars police from enforcing federal gun laws, rejecting an emergency appeal from the state. The 2019 law was ruled unconstitutional by a district judge but allowed to remain in effect. A federal appeals court then blocked enforcement while the state appeals

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis has suspended a youth football team whose coach was shot allegedly by an upset parent in front of players. The city’s Recreation Division said in a a statement Friday that the team is suspended from the city league. Police say a father who was upset about his son’s playing

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Presidential candidate and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will bring lawmakers back to Tallahassee for a special session to impose additional sanctions on Iran. His office said Friday that no date has been set. Details of proposed legislation haven’t been released. The special session is being called because Iran supports Hamas

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press The U.S. is warning other democracies that Russia appears to be opening up a new front in its covert campaign against democracy by sowing doubts about the reliability of elections in general. Encouraged by its success amplifying doubts about election procedures like mail balloting used in the 2020 U.S. presidential

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s justice minister resigned on Friday over what he described as a “monumental error” after it was discovered that Tunisia was seeking the extradition last year of an Islamic extremist who shot dead two Swedes and wounded a third this week. Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said

Associated Press Spirit Airlines canceled about 100 flights on Friday after pulling some planes out of service for inspections, and the airline expects the disruptions to last several days. Spirit did not describe the nature of the inspections and did not respond when asked for further information. By Friday afternoon, Spirit had canceled 11% of

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A U.S. district judge in New Mexico has unsealed a plea agreement for one of the key defendants in a federal terrorism and kidnapping case that stemmed from the search for a toddler who went missing from Georgia in 2017. The documents were made public

By ÁLVARO BARRIENTOS and CIARÁN GILES Associated Press OVIEDO, Spain (AP) — Spain’s royal family have presided over the presentation of this year’s Princess of Asturias awards that are among the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Among the winners honored were U.S. actor Meryl Streep, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami and Kenyan marathon legend Eliud

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — With three months to go before the Iowa caucuses that he has staked his campaign on, former Vice President Mike Pence faces mounting debt and lagging poll numbers that are forcing questions about not only whether he will qualify for the next debate, but whether it

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the music video for “Por La Familia,” a new track from Carín León and BorderKid, León is whisked away into a surrealist landscape inspired by Mexico. His taxi driver? Formula One’s Sergio “Checo” Pérez. It might seem like an unusual pairing, but bringing León

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — The federal judge overseeing the Florida classified documents case against Donald Trump is holding a hearing about a potential conflict of interest involving a co-defendant’s lawyer. Prosecutors say Trump valet Walt Nauta’s lawyer, Stanley Woodward, has a conflict because he previously

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on the board of Walt Disney World’s governing district are asking a state judge to dismiss Disney’s counterclaims in a lawsuit. The governing district made the request in court papers Wednesday. The counterclaims seek a court declaration that agreements Disney made with supporters on the

By MOSHE EDRI Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — There’s a saying among us video journalists: May the news stay far from your home. But on Saturday Oct. 7, it came terrifyingly close to my hometown. While I live in Jerusalem, where I work as a cameraman for The Associated Press, I was raised in Ofakim,

LONGMEADOW, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts prosecutor says Thursday that two juveniles have been charged after several slides at a park were doused with acid this summer and four children were injured. The juveniles, whose identities cannot be released due to their ages, have been charged with four counts of assault and battery on a

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey father has filed a federal lawsuit to block a state policy that prevents schools from outing transgender students to their parents. Frederick Short Jr. filed the suit Oct. 12 in federal court. His three children attend Cherry Hill High School. He argues that the policy violates his

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Federal law that prohibits insurers from denying healthcare based on preexisting conditions, or kicking dependents off their parent’s coverage until age 26 is now codified separately into Michigan law. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Thursday, essentially codifying the Affordable Care Act into state law. Like

By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press/Report for America Three men who each spent 36 years in prison for a high-profile killing they did not commit are going to get $48 million from Baltimore. It’s the largest settlement in Maryland history. The Baltimore Board of Estimates’ approval of the payout brings an end to a federal lawsuit

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — An employee with the Illinois comptroller’s office has been fired after she posted antisemitic comments on social media during an exchange about the latest Israel-Hamas war. A spokesperson for Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said in a statement Thursday that the employee was “immediately fired” after she admitted to some of the

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Many Nigerians are remembering the victims of the historic protests in 2020 against police brutality, with Amnesty International reporting that at least 15 of the protesters are still being detained and tortured. A group held a rally in Lagos to commemorate the third anniversary of the

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Police in Brazil conducted searches and made two arrests in an investigation targeting members of the country’s intelligence agency who were suspected of using spy technology to track cellphones without judicial authorization. Brazilian media reported that officials at the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, which is known by its Portuguese acronym ABIN,

By DANIEL POLITI and DAVID BILLER BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Politicians usually talk about belt tightening, or trimming spending with scissors. Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei is ready to attack the system with a chainsaw. The self-declared anarcho-capitalist favors a power tool. It’s a symbol projecting defiance and strength to disaffected Argentines. They see

By ABBY SEWELL Associated Press TYRE, Lebanon (AP) — More than 4,200 people have been displaced from villages in south Lebanon by clashes on the border with Israel, and local officials say they are ill-prepared for the much larger exodus that would ensue if the the limited conflict escalates to an all-out war. Some 1,500

By VESELIN TOSHKOV Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The European Commission says it’s discussing with Bulgaria its introduction of a fee on Russian gas transits, a measure that has angered EU co-member Hungary as well as Serbia — both recipients of Russian gas. Bulgaria last week introduced the new energy tax on Russian natural

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — There isn’t much Cher hasn’t done in her career. She’s achieved EGOT status, she’s the only artist to have a No. 1 song in each of the past six decades — heck, she’s got her own gelato business, Cherlato. But a Christmas album? That’s new

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial judge threatened Friday to hold the former president in contempt, raising the possibility of fining or even jailing him because a disparaging social media post about a key court staffer remained visible for weeks on his campaign website after the