Month: March 2024

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A Chinese billionaire has pleaded guilty to federal election crimes, admitting that he made thousands of dollars in contributions to New York and Rhode Island political candidates in the names of others. Hui Qin is a Chinese cinema magnate and pleased guilty on Monday. He faces

By JACK DURA Associated Press The Minnesota Court of Appeals has sent a transgender athlete’s lawsuit back to a trial court to determine whether she was illegally denied entry into women’s competitions because of her gender identity. JayCee Cooper has sued USA Powerlifting in 2021 and alleged the organization denied her 2018 request for participation

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press An attorney already facing criminal charges for illegally accessing Michigan voting machines says she disseminated documents obtained in discovery in a defamation case filed by a voting machine company. Stefanie Lambert said in a court filing Monday that she gave the records to “law enforcement.” Lambert obtained the documents by

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A judge has approved two additional murder counts against an Indiana man charged in the killings of two teenage girls but rejected a prosecutor’s bid to add kidnapping charges. Special Judge Fran Gull on Monday approved two counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping against Richard Allen of Delphi.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama has accused Nicaragua of meddling in its internal affairs by allowing former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli to continue taking swipes at the justice system and promoting his political allies from within the walls of the Nicaraguan embassy. Martinelli has been holed up in the embassy for more than a month

By MARK ANDERSON AP Sports Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — Bettors expect a lot of upsets in this year’s NCAA Tournament. They are placing wagers on long shots to win. The First Four is Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio. The tournament begins in full Thursday. Recent history has shown some of those fliers can

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police say a 78-year-old woman has been arrested in connection to a fatal crash at a San Francisco bus stop that killed two adults and a child and injured an infant who remains hospitalized. Jail records show Mary Fong Lau was booked into jail on Sunday and remained in custody Monday.

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a live-fire drill of nuclear-capable “super-large” multiple rocket launchers designed to target South Korea’s capital as he vowed to boost his war deterrent in the face of deepening confrontations with rivals, state media said. The report Tuesday came

By JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court has asked West Virginia’s highest court whether opioid distributions can cause a public nuisance. The question Monday came as the federal appeals court reviews a landmark lawsuit against three major U.S. drug distributors. A federal judge ruled in 2022 in favor of

SYDNEY (AP) — Tropical Cyclone Megan has made landfall along the coast of Australia’s Northern Territory bringing wind gusts of up to 200 kilometers per hour (124 mph), heavy rain and storm surges in the sparsely populated region. The cyclone crossed on to Australia’s mainland late Monday near the remote town of Borroloola on the

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The infamous “Access Hollywood” video in which Donald Trump bragged about grabbing women sexually without asking permission will not be shown to jurors at the former president’s hush-money criminal trial, a New York judge ruled Monday. Judge Juan M. Merchan said prosecutors can still question

CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio mother whose 16-month-old daughter died after being left home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Thirty-two-year-old Kristel Candelario had pleaded guilty last month to aggravated murder and child endangerment. Authorities

LAKEVIEW, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say the three people killed when tornados roared through Ohio last week all died from storm-related injuries. Seventy-year-old Darla Williams and 81-year-old Marilyn Snapp both were fatally injured in a mobile home park in Lakeview, while the third victim, 69-year-old Neal Longfellow, lived in nearby Orchard Island. The two Ohio

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has refused to halt a prison sentence for former Trump White House official Peter Navarro as he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction. Navarro is due to report Tuesday to a federal prison for a four-month sentence, after being found guilty of misdemeanor charges

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are demanding to know what led to a Justice Department order that a union of immigration judges get supervisor approval before speaking about the heavily backlogged courts. Rep. Jim Jordan, Judiciary Committee chair, and Rep. Tom McClintock, who leads an immigration subcommittee, seek records related to “a reported gag order

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has issued a last-minute endorsement in a highly sought northwest Ohio congressional district, backing state Rep. Derek Merrin as the best choice to face incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur this fall. Trump’s announcement Monday came about 18 hours before polls were to

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday indefinitely extended its block on a Texas law that would give police broad powers to arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. while the legal battle it sparked over immigration authority plays out. The one-page order signed by Justice Samuel Alito

By ISABELLA VOLMERT Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has vetoed a bill defining antisemitism and left the future of the bipartisan legislation uncertain. The bill Holcomb rejected on Monday was meant to address antisemitism on college campuses and has become a topic of ongoing debate between lawmakers over the legislative session’s

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida Jewish center suffered severe damage in a weekend arson fire that police believe was set by a mentally ill homeless man. The Las Olas Jewish Center in Fort Lauderdale will be closed indefinitely after Saturday’s blaze. The most severely damaged portion of the

By JEFF MARTIN Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Lawyers for a Georgia man who’s set to be executed this week say he should not be put to death because he is is intellectually disabled and feels remorse for killing his former girlfriend three decades ago. Fifty-nine-year-old Willie James Pye is set to be put to

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A movie set armorer is challenging her conviction on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust,” court records released Monday show. Defense attorneys for “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed filed a request for a new trial

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — Dartmouth says it will not enter into collective bargaining with the union its men’s basketball players voted to join earlier this month. The school made the announcement Monday in a move that could send the case to federal court. The school was adamant that it believes “athletes in the Ivy League

ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and other defendants in Georgia’s election interference case are seeking to appeal a judge’s ruling not to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from their prosecution. Attorneys for Trump, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and six other defendants said in a court filing Monday the resignation

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court justices appeared receptive Monday to National Rifle Association claims that a former New York state official violated its free-speech rights by pressuring banks and insurance companies to blacklist the group after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The NRA is suing former New York

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state of Iowa will provide “contemporaneous” access to newly filed civil court cases to settle a lawsuit that accused the state of violating the First Amendment by delaying access to those filings. The Des Moines Register reports that the newspaper publishing company Lee Enterprises, based in Davenport, Iowa, and

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been accused in a new lawsuit of sexually assaulting a police colleague seeking his career help in 1993. According to the suit, Adams drove the woman to a vacant lot, then offered to use his police connections to help her if she performed

By ED WHITE Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The parents of four students killed at a Michigan school are calling for a state investigation of all aspects of the 2021 mass shooting. They say the convictions of a teenager and his parents are not enough to close the book. The parents also want a

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Former Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner has thrown her support behind a local New York official’s order banning female sports teams with transgender athletes from using county-owned facilities. The reality television star came out as a transgender woman in 2015. She argued transgender athletes would undermine

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press A conservative social media influencer has been charged with storming the U.S. Capitol and passing a stolen table out of a broken window, allowing other rioters to use it as a weapon against police, according to court records unsealed on Monday. Isabella Maria DeLuca was arrested last Friday in Irvine,

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two Black men will be sentenced by a federal judge starting Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Tom Lee will sentence two of them each day

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Can you feel the Kenergy? Ryan Gosling’s 2024 Academy Awards performance of the “Barbie” power ballad “I’m Just Ken” stole the show earlier this month. The popularity of his star-studded, Slash-soloing, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”-channeling set is still being felt. Luminate, the industry data and analytics

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A badly decomposed body of a child has been found inside a duffel bag by crews who were cleaning a site in west Philadelphia The body was found Monday morning in the city’s Mantua neighborhood by workers with the Community Life Improvement Program. Police say it wasn’t immediately clear how the child

NEW YORK (AP) — Soprano Kathleen Battle is returning to the Metropolitan Opera at age 75 for a recital on May 12. It’s only her second appearance there since the company fired her in 1994 and publicly accused her of what it called “unprofessional actions.” Battle will be accompanied by harpist Bridget Kibbey and guitarist

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — James Burton, John Anderson and Toby Keith are the newest members to join the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Country Music Association announced the 2024 inductees on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee. Burton is a guitarist who served as Elvis Presley’s band leader and will enter

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — There’s a little too much Atlantic in Atlantic City this year for some casinos. Weeks of winter storms have washed away much of the sand from the gambling resort’s north end beaches. That’s left the Ocean, Resorts and Hard Rock casinos urgently trying to get

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer Sports Illustrated will continue operations after the company that owns the brand agreed with a new publisher for its print and digital products. Minute Media took over on Monday after reaching a licensing agreement with Authentic Brands Group. On Jan. 19, Authentic announced that it was revoking The Arena

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The mansion that was Freddie Mercury’s sanctuary in London and where he lived the final decade of his life is on sale for the first time in nearly 45 years. Garden Lodge, as the home in the posh Kensington neighborhood is known, is up for sale for

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ mega-stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto might prompt some to learn a few words of Japanese. Inside the country they’ve stirred pride in almost every Japanese and marked 150 years of baseball evolution in the country. They have also provided