Month: March 2024

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s State Land Office will withhold lease sales indefinitely on its most promising tracts for oil and gas development in the Permian Basin as it seeks approval for the state Legislature to increase top-tier royalty rates. Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard confirmed the decision

By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — Body checking is a thing in the new PWHL women’s hockey league, which is a change from the past. Players say the leeway gives them a better chance to show their skills and strength and restores the traditional balance between finesse and physicality familiar to

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Democratic state Sen. Dave Min has advanced to the November general election in California’s competitive 47th Congressional District. He’ll face Republican Scott Baugh, a former state lawmaker. The Orange County seat may be key to determining which party controls the House. It’s currently held by Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, who decided

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina top-flight club Vélez Sarsfield has suspended four players after a woman accused them of raping her last week. Velez says it suspended goalkeeper Sebastián Sosa, defender Braian Cufré, midfielder José Ignacio Florentín and striker Abiel Osorio after learning that prosecutors had launched an investigation. A sexual-abuse complaint was filed

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Police say three people have been shot in a park in Salem, Oregon, and that one of them has died. The Salem Police Department says officers were called to a reported shooting near Bush’s Pasture Park at about 1:45 p.m. Thursday. Police say officers found three males with gunshot wounds. One

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Katie Britt will call President Joe Biden a “dithering and diminished leader” in the Republican rebuttal to his State of the Union address Thursday evening. That’s according to excerpts of her prepared remarks. The first-term Alabama Republican is the youngest woman in the Senate. She

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon lawmakers have passed a campaign finance reform bill that limits the amount of money people can donate to political candidates. Oregon is one of roughly a dozen states that has no limits on campaign contributions. Under the bill given final passage Thursday, individuals and corporations

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida school districts could opt to allow volunteer chaplains in schools under a bill the Legislature sent to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Senate passed the bill Thursday over the objections of opponents who argued religion should be kept out of schools. Supporters argued the legislation

ABBEVILLE, La. (AP) — A rare calf born with two faces is continuing to flourish eight days after its birth at a southwest Louisiana farm. Owners of Breaux Farms LLC in Cossinade say the calf is named “Deux Face.” She was still thriving Thursday. Deux Face has four eyes, two mouths, two noses and two

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Fear of crime on subways and buses is back as a top concern in some big U.S. cities, and so are efforts aimed at persuading the public that officials are taking the issue seriously. New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, said Wednesday that she would deploy 750

By KANIS LEUNG and ZEN SOO Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s new national security bill proposes up to life imprisonment for offenses like treason and insurrection. The proposed law unveiled Friday deepens worries over further erosion of the city’s freedoms after Beijing imposed a similar law four years ago that all but

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un has supervised artillery firing drills aimed at boosting combat readiness posture. The drills comes as North Korea vows to take corresponding military steps against the ongoing South Korean-U.S military training that it regards as an invasion rehearsal. The

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia city official arrested during a traffic stop says she started recording because she feared for her husband’s life. LGBTQ+ leader Celena Morrison says she “feared the worst” when the trooper handcuffed him on an elevated highway. She says that’s when she tried to explain she

By TRISHA AHMED Associated Press/Report for America MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis City Council has passed a measure that would increase wages for drivers of ride-hailing services to an equivalent of more than $15 an hour. Opponents say this might increase costs to customers. Mayor Jacob Frey says he will veto the measure due to

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Senate has voted to expand insurance coverage for people seeking treatment for stuttering. The bill’s sponsor credits a former basketball star with the assist. The Senate action Thursday came days after Michael Kidd-Gilchrist endorsed the measure at a committee hearing. Kidd-Gilchrist played on a

By JANIE HAR Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mayor London Breed is pledging even greater improvements under a pair of controversial public safety proposals voters approved this week. In her State of the City address Thursday, Breed touted recent accomplishments and made a case for another term in office. She faces a tough reelection

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors are drawing sharp distinctions in the classified documents investigations involving Donald Trump and President Joe Biden as they urged a federal judge to reject the former president’s claims that he was the victim of a vindictive prosecution. Trump’s lawyers told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — People in Florida will be permitted to kill black bears threatening them on their property with no consequences under a bill being sent to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The House passed the bill  Thursday. The legislation is similar to the “stand your ground” law that allows

By DAVID BRANDT AP Sports Writer PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Suns will host the 2027 NBA All-Star game, giving owner Mat Ishbia a marquee event for the city roughly one year after he purchased the franchise. This will be the fourth time Phoenix has hosted the All-Star game and first since 2009. The Suns

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans in Iowa’s House of Representatives have approved a bill that would criminalize the death of an “unborn person” — over Democrats’ concerns about how it might impact in vitro fertilization. The legislation passed by the House on Thursday and awaiting Senate action would outline

By JONATHAN MATTISE and ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican Tennessee House lawmakers have advanced a bill to undo the reforms to police traffic stops made by Memphis officials in response to the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by officers last January. Republicans voted Thursday as Democrats accused Republican Rep. John Gillespie

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Several New York City employees have been arrested for their alleged role in a scheme to steal the identities of homeless shelter residents and defraud a pandemic-era relief program. Manhattan prosecutors brought charges against 18 people, including five employees of the city’s homeless services agency. Prosecutors

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The federal judge who oversaw a New York defamation trial that resulted in an $83.3 million award to a longtime magazine columnist who says Donald Trump raped her in the 1990s refused Thursday to relieve the ex-president from the verdict’s financial pinch. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan

By JEFF AMY and RUSS BYNUM Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Electric truck maker Rivian says it’s pausing construction of a $5 billion manufacturing plant in Georgia. The announcement Thursday put the brakes on Georgia’s second-largest economic development project, which came with $1.5 billion in incentives from the state and local governments. Rivian had planned

By TERESA M. WALKER AP Pro Football Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Derrick Henry is back in the gym eager to prove turning 30 is just a number that shouldn’t affect the four-time Pro Bowl running back’s value on the NFL’s open market. The challenge is that the man who organized a group chat among

By ISABELLA VOLMERT Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s governor will decide whether certain statewide elected officials can carry handguns inside the state Capitol after lawmakers resurrected the measure. The original Senate proposal stalled but lawmakers used another method to bring the idea back Thursday. Indiana lawmakers and their staff already have the right to

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s police chief is pledging to restore public trust in his department following revelations that more than 264,000 cases were dropped over the past eight years due to a lack of personnel. That number includes over 4,000 cases involving reported sexual assault. Last month Chief Troy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A United Airlines jetliner that lost a tire on takeoff has made a safe emergency landing in Los Angeles. Flight 35 left San Francisco and was bound for Osaka, Japan, on Thursday. Instead, the plane made a safe landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Fire trucks stood along the runway as

By The Associated Press Ukraine’s president on Thursday announced that he has approved his former top general, whom he dismissed last month, to become the country’s new ambassador to the United Kingdom, a key supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month replaced Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who had been commander-in-chief of

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has affirmed the convictions and death sentences of a man found guilty of killing eight people, including a deputy sheriff and his mother-in-law, in 2017. Willie Cory Godbolt was found guilty of capital murder, murder, kidnapping, attempted murder and armed robbery. The crimes happened in the south

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Recently unsealed court documents show that an Army soldier accused of selling national defense information has been indicted by a federal grand jury on a wide range on charges, including bribery of a public official. According to the indictment, Korbein Schultz allegedly conspired with an individual

By KEVIN FREKING and HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill that could lead to the popular video-sharing app TikTok being unavailable in the United States is quickly gaining traction in the House. Lawmakers advanced legislation against TikTok Thursday as they voiced concerns about the potential for the platform to surveil and manipulate

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Federal investigators determining why a Florida condominium tower partially collapsed three years ago have determined there were many faulty support columns in the tenant garage that ran below it and the adjoining pool deck. National Institute of Standards and Technology investigators told an advisory panel

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota’s top cannabis regulator says the state probably won’t meet its goal of launching full-scale retail marijuana sales in the first quarter of 2025. Charlene Briner of the Office of Cannabis Management cites the time it’s still expected to take to draft regulations and issue

By FREIDA FRISARO and DAVID FISCHER Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — The Miami Seaquarium, an old-Florida style tourist attraction that was home to Lolita, the beloved Orca that died last year, is being evicted from the waterfront property it leases from Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava cited a “long and troubling history

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Steve Lawrence, a singer and top stage act who as a solo performer and in tandem with his wife Eydie Gorme kept Tin Pan Alley alive during the rock era, died Thursday. He was 88. Lawrence, whose hits included “Go Away Little Girl,” died from

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico is rolling out a new rule mandating that school calendars consist of at least 180 days. The goal is to get students more learning time in the classroom and improve academic outcomes. Public Education Secretary Arsenio Romero said Thursday that the rule is

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and JIM SALTER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed legislation that would compensate Americans exposed to radiation by the government by renewing a law initially passed more than three decades ago. The bill by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican, and New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, a

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Prosecutors have arrested two taxi drivers who participated in the beating of two German tourists outside a club in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Playa del Carmen. Prosecutors in coastal state of Quintana Roo said the two drivers were arrested on charges of drug possession, after they were found to be

By PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press EAST HAMPTON, Conn. (AP) — A small earthquake hit the small Connecticut town of East Hampton on Wednesday, but that’s nothing new. Seismic sounds known as “The Moodus Noises” have been reported in the East Hampton area and the nearby village of Moodus for centuries. In fact, Moodus is short

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — A group of 40 state attorneys general have sent a letter to Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta expressing concern over what they say is dramatic uptick of consumer complaints about account takeovers and lockouts. The attorneys general called on Meta to do a better job preventing account takeovers. This

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer Fox will expand its coverage of college football with a package of Friday night games. The schedule of games, which will include matchups from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West conferences, likely won’t be announced until late May or early June after conferences and the networks hold

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer Federal investigators said Thursday they confirmed pilots’ account of a brief failure of rudder controls on a Boeing 737 Max after it landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey last month. United Airlines pilots said pedals that control rudder movement on the plane were stuck as they

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal authorities are investigating a possible smuggling ring at a Wisconsin prison that has resulted in the suspension of nearly a dozen employees. A spokesperson for Gov. Tony Evers said Thursday that the governor and the state Department of Corrections asked the U.S. Department of Justice

LONDON (AP) — Britain says it’s providing 10,000 drones to arm Ukraine in its fight against Russia. U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps made the announcement Thursday during a visit with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. The investment includes 125 million pounds ($160 million) of new funding on top of 200 million pounds ($256 million)

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Thursday passed a bill that would require federal authorities to detain unauthorized immigrants who have been accused of theft, as Republicans seized on the recent death of a nursing student in Georgia to rebuke President Joe Biden’s border policies just hours ahead of his

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Authorities and locals in Nigeria say gunmen attacked a primary school in Nigeria’s northwest region on Thursday morning and abducted at least 100 pupils as they were about to start the day’s learning activities. Authorities were still trying to confirm the exact number of pupils abducted