Month: April 2024

By JONEL ALECCIA and LAURA UNGAR Associated Press U.S. health and agriculture officials are ramping up testing and tracking of bird flu in dairy cows in an urgent effort to understand and stop the growing outbreak. Officials say the risk to humans remains low. Scientists fear that the virus that’s been detected in cattle in

By JOSH DUBOW AP Pro Football Writer The No. 1 pick in the NFL draft already has traded hands, with Carolina sending it more than a year ago to Chicago in a trade to move up to take Bryce Young first overall in 2023. Based on recent history, plenty more first-round picks should change hands

By The Associated Press Student protests over Israel’s war with Hamas have popped up on an increasing number of U.S. college campuses following last week’s arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University. Students are calling for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza — and

By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer A new study finds little change in the number of people taking a key medicine for opioid addiction even though it’s now easier for doctors to prescribe it. The findings were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers looked at what happened after the U.S.

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ and MAE ANDERSON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — For millions of American workers, the federal government took two actions this week that could bestow potentially far-reaching benefits. In one move, the Federal Trade Commission voted to ban noncompete agreements, which bar millions of workers from leaving their employers for a specific

GUYMON, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma prosecutors have charged a fifth member of an anti-government group with killing and kidnapping two Kansas women. Thirty-one-year-old Paul Jeremiah Grice was charged Wednesday in Texas County. He faces two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder. An Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has granted clemency to 16 people who were convicted of non-violent drug crimes. Biden used his clemency powers under the Constitution to issue pardons to 11 men and women. The Democratic president shortened the sentences of five others. Biden says he acted because April

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s capital city has settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by survivors of a man who died after police officers pulled him from a car while searching for a murder suspect. The Jackson City Council on Tuesday approved payment of $17,786 to settle the lawsuit filed by relatives of George Robinson

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Prosecutors urged jurors to convict a former Colorado sheriff’s deputy of murder and other charges in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man in distress. The 2022 death of Christian Glass in a small mountain community drew national attention and prompted calls for police reforms focused on

By ERICK KAGLAN Associated Press LOME, Togo (AP) — Amnesty International says authorities in Togo have repressed the media and prevented civilians from gathering to protest peacefully. In its an annual report published Wednesday, ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled to take place at the end of this month, the rights group said two newspapers in

By AMANDA SEITZ, REBECCA BOONE and MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court heard its first test on Wednesday of state abortion bans that have been enacted since the court upended the Roe v. Wade constitutional right to abortion. While the current case involves an Idaho abortion ban, the court’s ruling

By ANDREW SELIGMAN AP Sports Writer CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bears unveiled a nearly $5 billion proposal for an enclosed stadium next door to their current home at Soldier Field as part of a major project that would transform the city’s lakefront, and they are asking for public funding to help make it happen.

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines flight attendants have ratified a new contract that will boost their pay by about one-third over four years. The Transport Workers Union said Wednesday that Southwest cabin crews voted 81% to 19% in favor of the contract. The union’s board rejected a lower offer last summer, and rank-and-file flight attendants

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Democratic governor in Kansas has vetoed a broad package of tax cuts for the second time in three months. Gov. Laura Kelly described the tax plan Wednesday as too expensive despite the bipartisan support it enjoyed in the Republican-controlled Legislature. The cuts in income,

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden has used the launch of the Wounded Warrior Project’s annual Soldier Ride from the White House lawn, a multiday bike ride, to stress the importance of supporting service members. The first lady sounded a red horn to start the ride on Wednesday and also used

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Connecticut city alderman has been sentenced to 10 days behind bars for joining a mob’s assault on the U.S. Capitol over three years ago, court records show. Chief Judge James Boasberg also ordered Gene DiGiovanni Jr. to perform 50 hours of community service for his role in the Jan. 6,

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The big U.S. aid package for Ukraine and other allies that President Joe Biden signed Wednesday also allows the administration to seize Russian state assets located in the U.S. and use them for the benefit of Kyiv. That could mean another $5 billion in assistance for Ukraine,

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A fired minor league umpire sued Major League Baseball on Wednesday, claiming he was sexually harassed by a female umpire and discriminated against because he is male and bisexual. Brandon Cooper, an umpire who worked in the Arizona Complex League last year, filed the suit

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. resolution sponsored by the United States and Japan calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space. The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13 in favor, Russia opposed and China abstaining. Russia

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Relatives of imprisoned Belarusian opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova say it’s been 434 days since they heard from her. Kolesnikova, who is serving 11 years in prison for helping organize anti-government protests in Belarus in 2020, and other imprisoned opposition figures have been held incommunicado for months

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — A company started by a Texas billionaire oilman has announced a deal with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company to rehabilitate five aging oil fields. Wednesday’s announcement comes days after the Biden administration put a brake on sanctions relief for Venezuela amid concerns about the fairness of its upcoming

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s signing of legislation that could ban TikTok in the U.S. runs counter to his campaign’s embrace of the platform and outreach to influencers. The president is also facing criticism from some avid users of the app, which researchers have found is a primary news

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A state investigator in Michigan says he considers former President Donald Trump and some key allies to be uncharged co-conspirators in a scheme to claim that he had won Michigan in the 2020 election. Trump and Mark Meadows were among the names that came up during the

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas panel has prohibited election officials from accepting voter registration forms signed with an electronic signatures. The state Board of Election Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved the emergency rule that says voters will have to register by signing their name with a pen. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the

By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — The FBI has determined that a young Black man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a rural Missouri home, not at the hands of the white homeowner who had a history of racist social media postings. Chris Crocker, acting special agent in charge of the

By IGNATIUS SSUUNA Associated Press KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Rwanda says it’s ready to receive migrants from the United Kingdom after British Parliament this week approved a long-stalled bill seeking to stem the tide of people crossing the English Channel in small boats by deporting some of them to the East African country. There is

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A federal aviation official says one of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, Alaska. Clint Johnson, head of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska division, says the pilot

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s top official has taken the first steps toward removing a faculty member who was earlier fired from his job as chancellor over his fledgling porn career. Former UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow said Wednesday that interim Chancellor Betsy Morgan filed three charges against him in late

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press Some public school teachers in Tennessee could gain new powers to carry concealed guns into the classroom, a year after a deadly school shooting in the state’s capital city stirred impassioned debate about the best ways to curb such violence. The Republican-led Legislature in Tennessee gave final approval to

By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Botswana’s foreign minister says his country was approached by the U.K. to take some of what he called their “unwanted immigrants” but declined the request. Lemogang Kwape’s comments on Tuesday came hours after the British Parliament finally passed legislation allowing a contentious plan to

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A jury has rejected a woman’s lawsuit seeking tens of millions of dollars against Virginia’s largest school system after she allged she was raped multiple times as a middle schooler. The woman sued Fairfax County Public Schools under Title IX, a law guaranteeing girls and women

By STEPHEN GROVES and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — For Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson, the necessity of providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid as it fends off Russia’s invasion is rooted in their earliest and most formative political memories. McConnell, 82, tells the story of

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The North America’s Building Trades Unions has endorsed President Joe Biden. It adds to Biden’s roster of support from organized labor. The Democratic president and union leaders used the endorsement event Wednesday to torch Donald Trump’s carefully crafted image as a successful real estate

By SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers are announcing legislation Wednesday aimed at helping Arizonans access abortions after the Arizona Supreme Court allowed a near total-ban to move forward. The bill would allow Arizona doctors to temporarily provide abortion care to Arizona patients who

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Officials say U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr. of New Jersey has died after a heart attack this month that left him hospitalized. Payne was 65 and died Wednesday. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called his fellow Democrat a “steadfast champion for the people of New Jersey.” Payne previously was president of

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, JIM MUSTIAN and JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a longtime U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent to four years in prison for leaking DEA intelligence to defense lawyers. John Costanzo Jr.’s sentenced was announced Wednesday in Manhattan federal court months after he was found guilty

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma is poised to become the latest Republican-led state to impose criminal penalties for those who reside in the state illegally. The Oklahoma Senate gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that would make illegal immigration a crime. The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Kevin

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston man accused of fatally shooting a 9-year-old girl when he was robbed at a Houston ATM in 2022 has been indicted for murder in her death. Tuesday’s indictment against Tony Earls comes nearly two years after another grand jury had declined to indict him