Month: October 2023

By SAM McNEIL KIBBUTZ BE’ERI, Israel (AP) — Trudging down a cul-de-sac turned to rubble, an Israeli army commander stopped in front of one scorched home, its front wall blown wide open. Look at what Hamas militants have done, he said, to this close-knit community that only days ago brimmed with life. “Children in the

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — One of the people being sued by the Mississippi Department of Human Services over allegations of misspending welfare money has filed a separate lawsuit against Gov. Tate Reeves. Austin Garrett Smith’s lawsuit says Republican Reeves is trying to protect political allies including a former governor.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Spending more than three and a half days aloft and traveling more than 1,653 miles, a French ballooning team has traveled the farthest in the world’s oldest and most prestigious air race. Pilots Eric Decellières and Benoît Havret landed Wednesday just shy of the North Carolina coast. They and 15 other

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union significantly escalated its strikes against Detroit Three automakers Wednesday by going on strike against a major Ford truck plant in Louisville, Kentucky. In a surprise move, the 8,700 members left their jobs about 6:30 p.m. at the plant, which makes profitable

By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY AP Education Writer After serving more than a month of in-school suspension over his dreadlocks, a Black high school student in Texas was told he will be removed from his high school and sent to a disciplinary alternative education program on Thursday. Darryl George, 18, is a junior at Barbers Hill High

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press CASTLETON, Vt. (AP) — Vermont State Police have released a sketch of a person of interest in the killing of a retired college dean who was shot dead last week while walking on her favorite trail near the Vermont State University campus. They have also reminded the public to remain

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has been sentenced to two life terms for killing a 10-year-old girl who was missing for eight months before her remains were found in a pond. The Quad City Times reports that Henry Earl Dinkins also will have to pay $150,000 in restitution to the mother of Breasia

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nashville officials have filed a lawsuit challenging a new Tennessee law that lets state leaders pick six of its 13 board members on the panel overseeing professional sports facilities in the city. The lawsuit over the changes to the Nashville Sports Authority is the latest legal

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press New York (AP) — A prominent crime patrol leader in New York City’s Orthodox Jewish community was sentenced to 17 years in prison for raping a teenage girl placed in his care. Jacob Daskal pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges he groomed and sexually abused a 15-year-old who was

By DAVE SKRETTA AP Basketball Writer LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — An independent panel has downgraded five Level I violations lodged by the NCAA against Kansas and basketball coach Bill Self. That effectively ends a long saga that began with a 2017 FBI investigation into college basketball corruption. Kansas will be required to remove its 2018

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer Kansas became the 10th state in the nation Wednesday to require two-person railroad crews over the objections of the freight railroads, but the industry may challenge the rule in court as it has in other states like Ohio. Gov. Laura Kelly said the new rule will protect against fatigue

PATNA, India (AP) — A government official and news reports say a passenger train has derailed in eastern India, killing at least four people and injuring 50 others. The injured were rushed to hospital and rescue work was in progress though hampered by darkness. The Press Trust of India news agency cited police officer Manish

By BEN FINLEY Associated Press NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic said it has cancelled plans to retrieve artifacts from the shipwreck. That’s because the leader of the upcoming expedition died on the Titan submersible in June. Paul-Henri Nargeolet was the director of underwater research for RMS

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — A preliminary investigation suggests there was confusion among pilots just before a fatal mid-air collision at the National Championship Air Races last month but sheds little light on why. The National Transportation Safety Board released a four-page report Wednesday with some of the few details investigators

TITUSVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Bruce Weaver, a Florida-based photographer who captured a definitive image of space shuttle Challenger breaking apart into plumes of smoke and fire after liftoff, has died. He was 77. A statement released by the North Brevard Funeral Home says Weaver died in his sleep Friday. He was living in Titusville, Florida.

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press A criminal charge has been dropped against a Connecticut man who found a bag containing nearly $5,000 in cash outside a bank and claimed “finders-keepers.” A state prosecutor in Bridgeport decided to drop the felony larceny charge Wednesday after Robert Withington gave the money back. Withington found the bank bag

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in loans using financial statements that a court has since deemed fraudulent, a retired bank official has testified at the former president’s New York civil fraud trial. Trump’s statements of financial condition were key

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A 19-year-old man has pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the death of a 15-year-old student shot last year in a school van outside a Pittsburgh school as he waited to head home. Eugene Watson also pleaded guilty Wednesday in Allegheny County Court to criminal conspiracy and two firearms charges in connection

By JULIE CARR SMYTH and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Dysfunction within the Republican Party isn’t limited to the leadership chaos in the House of Representatives playing out in the nation’s capital. The GOP insurgent forces that increasingly steer the direction of the party also have gained strength in numerous state legislatures

By JIM VERTUNO AP Sports Writer AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A woman awaiting trial in the killing of professional cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson tried to run from officers Wednesday after a visit to a doctor. A Travis County sheriff’s spokeswoman says Kaitlin Armstrong was being escorted by two officers when she ran. Armstrong made it

By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press Authorities say former NFL player Sergio Brown has been arrested in Southern California nearly a month after the body of his 73-year-old mother was found behind her suburban Chicago home. San Diego County Jail records show Wednesday that the 35-year-old Brown was booked into the facility Tuesday following a “fugitive

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The speaker of the House is normally elected every two years, in January, when the House organizes for a new session. A new election can be held if the speaker dies, resigns or is removed from office. What’s going on now in Washington is the first

BALTIMORE (AP) — Law enforcement has blocked traffic from entering the Baltimore Washington International Airport terminal. Airport officials cited a law enforcement investigation Wednesday afternoon. They said in a post on X that people already inside the terminal should remain in place for the time being. People replied to the post saying police were blocking

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling that California cannot ban gun owners from having detachable magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal on Tuesday granted state Attorney General Rob Bonta’s emergency motion for a stay of last month’s ruling

By JAKE BLEIBERG Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — Authorities say a 13-year-old Texas boy has been convicted on a murder charge stemming from the fatal shooting of a Sonic Drive-In employee who had a fight with the boy’s uncle. The Johnson County sheriff’s and county attorney’s offices say a jury found on Oct. 5 that

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A jury has delivered a $135 million verdict in a molestation case involving a middle school teacher, determining that negligence by a Southern California school district allowed the abuse of two students during the 1990s. Jurors in Riverside County Superior Court decided Tuesday that the Moreno Valley Unified School District is

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is set to speak to some of his supporters near Mar-a-Lago Wednesday as he continues to dominate the Republican primary race for the White House despite four criminal cases against him. Trump is appearing Wednesday at a convention center in West Palm

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and KEN SWEET Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Sam Bankman-Fried’s former top executive has blamed the FTX founder of corrupting her values so that she could lie and steal and create false balance sheets. Wednesday was the second day on the witness stand for the prosecution’s star witness at Bankman-Fried’s federal

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press/Report for America RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The family of a transgender boy in North Carolina is suing the state to block implementation of gender-affirming care restrictions that they say will force their son to undergo a wrong-gender puberty. A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court alleges the new

By MICHAEL CASEY and TRISHA AHMED Associated Press An Israeli-American teenager survived an attack from Hamas fighters over the weekend after his parents shielded him from the gunfire but were killed themselves. The family lived on a kibbutz in southern Israel near the Gaza border. As the fighters invaded their home, they scrambled into a

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Social Security’s cost-of-living increase for 2024 will be announced Thursday. But retirees won’t see anything close to the 8.7% increase that they got this year. With consumer prices moderating, analysts are forecasting that the 2024 increase will be around 3.2%  The cost-of-living announcement comes as the Social

By JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — In the three and a half decades since it began as an underground militant group, Hamas has pursued a consistently violent strategy aimed at rolling back Israeli rule — and it has made steady progress despite bringing enormous suffering to both sides of the conflict. But its

By DANICA KIRKA and AMI BENTOV Associated Press TEL AVIV (AP) — One of those taken hostage is a grandmother who learned Arabic in hopes of building bridges with her neighbors. Others include 11 members of an extended family, one an elderly man in a wheelchair who requires hospital care. Still another is a nurse

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two giant rocket motors required to display the retired NASA space shuttle Endeavour as if it’s about to blast off arrived Wednesday at a Los Angeles museum, completing their long journey from the Mojave Desert. The 116-foot-long (35.3-meter) motors, which look like giant white cylinders, were trucked over two days from

STOUGHTON, Mass. (AP) — A confrontational blogger known as “Turtleboy” is facing charges of witness intimidation and conspiracy related a criminal case against a woman accused of running over and killing her boyfriend in Massachusetts. Aidan Timothy Kearney wore a hoody emblazoned with the message “Free Karen Read” when he was led handcuffed into a

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Plans by the Port of South Louisiana to purchase what was once a major shipyard for construction of military vessels have been delayed. The port in January had announced plans to purchase the old Avondale Shipyard site from the current owner, port terminal operator T. Parker Host. However, The Times-Picayune/The New

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors in New York are seeking forfeiture of a collection of 1,000 butterflies, moths and other insects that authorities say were illegally trafficked. Some of the dried specimens include birdwing butterflies, which are among the rarest and largest to grace the planet. The wings

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials regarded the U.S. economy’s outlook as particularly uncertain last month, according to minutes released Wednesday, and said they would “proceed carefully” in deciding whether to further raise their benchmark interest rate. Such cautious comments are generally seen as evidence that the Fed isn’t

By KEN MILLER Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court is recommending the removal of a district court judge who exchanged more than 500 texts with her bailiff during a murder trial. Chief Justice John Kane IV wrote Tuesday that an investigation found District Judge Traci Soderstrom mocked

By CAROLYN THOMPSON and HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press New York is bidding to put new controls on social media platforms that state leaders say will protect the mental health of younger users. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James announced legislation Wednesday that would restrict the ways online platforms like Instagram and YouTube can