Month: January 2024

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has found that a jury should hear former Republican state legislative candidate Janet Palmtag’s lawsuit accusing her own political party of defamation. The decision Friday reversed a lower court’s ruling in which a judge sided with the Nebraska Republican Party by

By STEFANIE DAZIO and MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles police chief has announced he is retiring. Chief Michel Moore made the unexpected announcement Friday. His tenure will end in February. Moore has been chief since 2018. He had been reappointed last year for a second term as chief

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press UNION, N.J. (AP) — An investigation into the deaths of two Newark, New Jersey firefighters finds that an initial call for help to battle the deadly fire on a cargo ship in July was canceled. Testimony Friday into the fatal blaze aboard the Grande Costa D’Avorio shows a fire chief

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press A Connecticut truck driver will serve at least 12 months behind bars after pleading guilty to charges related to a highway crash that killed a New Hampshire state trooper. The crash killed Staff Sgt. Jesse Sherrill in fall 2021. Jay Medeiros of Ashford, Connecticut, pleaded guilty Friday to negligent homicide

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s governor is advocating for a broad suite of legislative proposals on gun control and enhanced penalties for violent crime. At a news conference Friday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vowed to forge new pathways through the complex landscape of constitutional law in the wake

CAMBRIDGE, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont state trooper is being praised for plunging into a frigid pond and saving the life of an 8-year-old girl who had fallen through the ice while playing with siblings. Police say the girl and her younger sister fell through the thin ice on the pond on private property in

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump was ordered Friday to pay nearly $400,000 in legal fees to The New York Times and three investigative reporters after he sued them unsuccessfully over a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2018 story about his family’s wealth and tax practices. The newspaper and reporters

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ron DeSantis is taking his battle with Nikki Haley directly to her home state, planning to head straight to South Carolina, which holds the first GOP votes in the South, after Monday’s Iowa caucuses. His campaign tells The Associated Press the Florida governor will leave

By TARA COPP, LOLITA C. BALDOR and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — From his hospital room, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin first orchestrated and then watched in real time as the U.S. retaliatory attack on Yemen-based Houthi militants unfolded Thursday night. Austin’s hospital-room leadership was the latest in a series of actions the

By JONEL ALECCIA AP Health Writer Quaker Oats has expanded a December recall of more than 40 products that may be contaminated with salmonella. Two dozen additional types of granola bars, cereals and snack foods are now being recalled. The foods could be tainted with the bacteria that can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea and stomach

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden has indicated a new willingness to testify before lawmakers under certain conditions as part of the impeachment inquiry against his father President Joe Biden. But the president’s son on Friday held firm against complying with a current subpoena as House Republicans moved

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The family of a Navy officer jailed in Japan over a car crash that killed two Japanese citizens says he’s been released from U.S. custody one month after he was returned to the United States and placed in a federal prison. Lt. Ridge Alkonis was ordered released

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A South Florida Marriott Hotel canceled a Muslim group’s conference at the last minute after a protest group claimed the coalition was promoting Hamas, terrorism and antisemitism. The South Florida Muslim Federation says it was told by the hotel that its conference was being canceled

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge has ruled that the state’s top elections official is legally holding her position and that the commission that appoints her is under no obligation to name a new leader. The ruling Friday from Dane County Circuit Judge Ann Peacock hands yet another defeat

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer Caitlin Clark has set records on and off the court. The University of Iowa’s superstar guard is on track to do something never accomplished by a women’s basketball player — appear on all four broadcast networks in the same season. Clark and the third-ranked Hawkeyes host No. 14 Indiana

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for a columnist who last year won a $5 million jury award against Donald Trump for sex abuse and defamation urged a judge Friday to take strong measures to ensure the former president doesn’t “sow chaos” when a new jury considers next week if

By SEUNG MIN KIM and JOSH BOAK Associated Press EMMAUS, Pennsylvania (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday tried his hand at retail politics — stopping in a trio of Pennsylvania stores to stress the value of small businesses and talk up his economic record. It was a distinct change from the set speeches that

MADRID (AP) — Spain forward Jenni Hermoso has led the fight against sexism in Spanish soccer after finding herself in the global spotlight when she was kissed on the lips by former federation president Luis Rubiales without her consent after the Women’s World Cup final. But Hermoso has told a Spanish TV station that the

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil and natural gas companies would have to pay a fee for methane emissions that exceed certain levels under a new rule proposed by the Biden administration. The rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency follows through on a directive from Congress included in the 2022 climate

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO Associated Press With his civil fraud trial drawing to a close, Donald Trump has leveled unsupported claims of collusion against New York’s Attorney General Letitia James for visits she made to the White House. It continues a pattern of the former president describing the multiple cases against him as a form of

By SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press EMMAUS, Pennsylvania (AP) — President Joe Biden says it was a lapse in judgment for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin not to tell him about his hospitalization last week, but he still has confidence in the Pentagon chief. Austin, 70, remains hospitalized being treated for complications from prostate cancer surgery.

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s professional sports teams have started gathering initiative petition signatures to put the legalization of sports betting on the November ballot. The petition drive announced Friday comes after sports betting bills have repeatedly stalled in the state Senate. Missouri is one of a dozen

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army said Friday it killed three Palestinian men who infiltrated a West Bank settlement and fired upon soldiers. Israel’s Army Radio said the soldiers were attacked while patrolling the settlement of Adora in the southern West Bank and they returned fire, killing three men. One

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Aliens they are not. That’s what forensic experts in Peru said Friday about two doll-like figures and an alleged three-fingered hand that customs authorities in the South American country seized last year from a shipment heading to Mexico. The forensic experts with Peru’s prosecutor’s office said the objects were made with

By DIDI TANG and IAN MADER Associated Press Taiwan is holding a weekend presidential election that neighboring China has warned could mean the difference between peace and war. China claims Taiwan as its territory even though the island off its coast has governed itself for nearly three-quarters of a century. Saturday’s election is believed to

By RALPH RUSSO AP College Football Writer A person with direct knowledge of the talks tells The Associated Press that Alabama is negotiating with Washington coach Kalen DeBoer and is close to hiring him as the replacement for Nick Saban. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because a deal was not

By RIO YAMAT Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Robots of all kinds caused a stir on the show floor this week at the annual CES technology trade show in Las Vegas. There were robots that can make coffee and chef-like robots that advertised a future with autonomous restaurants. But these innovations worry Las Vegas

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Campaign events are falling as swiftly as the Iowa snow as wintry weather hampers both Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis as they clamor for support in the days before Monday’s leadoff presidential caucuses. Prolonged freezing temperatures, combined with strong winds, foreshadow possibly life-threatening conditions on

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A commercial truck driver from Ukraine who was ordered deported wants to get his driving privileges back, since he’s been acquitted of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in a crash in New Hampshire. Gov. Chris Sununu said the bikers “did not receive justice” after the

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The family of a transgender volleyball player has added a South Florida school district as a defendant in a federal lawsuit that challenges a 2021 state law banning transgender girls from playing on female sports teams. Attorneys for the family filed an amended complaint Thursday that adds the Broward School

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to review lower-court rulings that make it harder for cities in the western United States to prevent people from sleeping on the streets when there aren’t enough beds in homeless shelters. The justices will hear an appeal from the city of Grants Pass, in southwest Oregon, that

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer A prominent immigration lawyer and improbable hero among Beatles fans has died. Leon Wildes was 90. Wildes was known for his landmark, yearslong fight in the 1970s to prevent John Lennon from being deported and enable the former Beatle to receive permanent residency in the U.S. The government had

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota teenager was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after his murder conviction last year. Jesse Taylor Jr. was convicted of murder for the September 2022 shooting death of a South Dakota man at a motel in Bismarck, North Dakota. He was 16 at the

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Former U.S. senator and owner of the Milwaukee Bucks Herb Kohl is being remembered for his love of both the city where he grew up and the state of Wisconsin at a memorial service attended by sports, political and business leaders. The 88-year-old Kohl died Dec. 27 after a brief illness. Speakers,

By LOUIS PATRICK OKAMBA Associated Press BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (AP) — The United Nations says widespread floods in the Republic of Congo have pushed hundreds of thousands of people to be in urgent need of assistance. Unusually heavy rainfall has caused nine of the countries 12 departments to be affected with floods damaging health

SALEM, Oregon (AP) — Oregon’s Supreme Court is keeping former President Donald Trump on the primary ballot in that state. The court on Friday wouldn’t take up a lawsuit seeking to disqualify Trump under a rarely used constitutional provision prohibiting those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office. The state court said it will wait