Month: April 2024

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers are debating a bill that would raise the state’s sales tax by 1 cent to 6.5% on every taxable dollar spent. That would make it among the highest in the country. The bill would raise the state’s current 5.5% sales tax and expanding

By STEVE MEGARGEE AP Sports Writer MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bob Uecker received a hearty ovation from fans chanting “Ueck” when the legendary broadcaster appeared on the American Family Field video board early in the Milwaukee Brewers’ home opener Tuesday. Brewers fans don’t know how many more times they’ll get to continue cheering the presence of

The largest fresh egg producer in the U.S. says it has stopped production at a plant in the Texas Panhandle after bird flu was found in the flock. Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods said Monday it destroyed 1.6 million laying hens and 377,000 pullets. The facility is located on the Texas-New Mexico border about 85 miles southwest

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The president of Cyprus says he’s personally asked the head of the European Union’s executive arm to intercede with Lebanese authorities to stop boatloads of Syrian refugees from heading to the east Mediterranean island nation. President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters on Tuesday that Lebanon is the

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 15-year-old girl who had been kidnapped by her father was following sheriff’s deputies’ instructions and appeared to be surrendering when deputies fatally shot her during a gun battle on a Southern California highway. That’s according to video and audio released by the San Bernardino County

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — One of the three Tacoma police officers cleared of criminal charges in the 2020 death of a Black man has been hired by a neighboring sheriff’s office. Manuel Ellis was shocked, beaten and restrained facedown on a sidewalk as he pleaded for breath. The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office announced on its

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Teachers and staff in the rural Iowa district where a deadly school shooting took place earlier this year could get bonuses if they don’t quit their jobs under a new bill approved by lawmakers and sent to the governor. The Jan. 4 attack at the high

By EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — More than 53,000 people have fled Haiti’s capital in less than three weeks as deadly gang violence continues. That’s according to a new U.N. report. The majority of people fleeing are headed to Haiti’s rural southern region. That worries U.N. officials because the south doesn’t have

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Democrats hope that a ballot measure seeking to preserve abortion rights will put Florida back in play as the nation’s largest presidential swing state. On Monday, the state Supreme Court energized abortion rights proponents with two rulings: One paves the way for a six-week abortion ban

By MORGAN LEE and ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that New Mexico election officials violated public disclosure provisions of the National Voter Registration Act by refusing to provide voter rolls to a conservative group and its public online database. The opinion and order Friday from U.S.

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Travis Kelce is keeping himself busy: On the heels of winning his third Super Bowl, earning a Webby nomination for his podcasting endeavors and garnering headlines for his relationship with Taylor Swift, the superstar tight end will continue living his best life with his

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s attorney general is urging the state’s highest court to stop the creation of what would be the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school. Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond and attorneys for the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board presented their arguments Tuesday to the

By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The surging interest in women’s college basketball prompted the NCAA to double down on its investment last summer by backing the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament. It already appears to be paying off. With Wednesday night’s championship game between fourth-seeded Illinois and top-seeded Villanova looming, the

NEW YORK (AP) — Claire Jiménez’s “What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez,” a hard-hitting and comic novel set in New York City about a Puerto Rican family’s search for a missing girl, has won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The award, announced Tuesday, includes a $15,000 cash prize. The four other finalists, Jamel Brinkley for “Witness,”

By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Several humanitarian aid organizations have suspended operations in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen workers. The nonprofits, including World Central Kitchen, said they now need to determine whether their workers can safely provide aid in the region. According to the United

By LESLIE AMBRIZ Associated Press ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Pepe Aguilar says he feels like a superhero when he puts on his charro suit. And this superhero’s power is his pride and love for Mexican culture. Aguilar is testing out his superpowers on his latest tour by combining Mexican rodeo with performances from Aguilar and

The Associated Press An Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza reverberated around the world Tuesday. Friends and relatives mourned the losses of those who were delivering food to besieged Palestinians with the charity World Central Kitchen. Killed were three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen and a

By JACK DURA Associated Press South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is facing criticism from tribal leaders. It’s the latest in what has been a history of strained relations between the Republican governor and the tribes in South Dakota. In March during community forums, Noem said tribal leaders are more interested in hurting her politically and

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva has announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer, but he says he is continuing to work as he undergoes treatment. In a statement Tuesday, Grijalva says he sought medical treatment for a persistent cough a few weeks ago, and it was initially diagnosed as pneumonia. After

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities have ordered an urgent investigation into a woman’s fatal stabbing outside an Athens police precinct where she had just requested protection from an ex-boyfriend. The 28-year-old’s death has triggered new calls by left-wing opposition parties for the intentional killing of women or girls with a gender-related motivation to be

By ACACIA CORONADO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The mayor of the Texas city that was the site of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history has announced his resignation, citing health issues. City of Uvalde Mayor Cody Smith said Monday that he’s stepping down immediately though he didn’t elaborate on the

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Belarusian human rights group says a well-known activist was arrested on charges punishable by up to four years in prison. The Viasna group reported on Tuesday that Dzmitry Kuchuk, whose Green Party was shut down last year, has been charged with “organizing activities that grossly

LONDON (AP) — Police say J.K. Rowling didn’t break the law with tweets criticizing Scotland’s new hate speech law and referring to transgender women as men. The “Harry Potter” author is critical of the law, which makes it illegal to stir up hatred on the basis of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity.

NEW YORK (AP) — Google’s widely used Chrome browser has offered a private browsing mode called “Incognito” for nearly a decade. A legal settlement this week involving the way it works has cast new attention on the commonly available setting. The settlement disclosed Monday is primarily designed to ensure that users who use Incognito mode

CHARLOTTE, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan woman who was extradited from Italy in connection with the 2002 killing of her husband has been convicted of second-degree murder. A jury in Eaton County needed only two hours Monday to decide the outcome of the trial against Beverly McCallum. Roberto Caraballo was suffocated and beaten in the

By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER Associated Press ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — John Sinclair, a poet, music producer and counterculture figure whose lengthy prison sentence after a series of small-time pot busts inspired a John Lennon song and a star-studded 1971 concert to free him, has died. He was 82. Sinclair died Tuesday morning at Detroit Receiving

By The Associated Press Spectators who aren’t near the path of totality or who get cloudy weather on eclipse day can still catch the total solar eclipse. NASA, science centers and media organizations plan to stream live coverage online from different locations along the path next Monday. The space agency will show telescope views of

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys say two Mississippi catfish farms have settled a lawsuit over using immigrant workers and paying them more than they paid local Black farmworkers. Southern Migrant Legal Services and Mississippi Center for Justice sued Jerry Nobile, his son Will Nobile and their farms in August

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer While fewer than 1 in 3 head coaches at the top level of men’s college basketball are Black, the Atlantic Coast Conference is something of anomaly. Nine of the 15 head jobs this season were held by Black coaches. That includes Kevin Keatts at N.C. State getting the once-storied

By The Associated Press A look at what happened to the four Black assistant coaches arrested in 2017 as part of the FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball.

TORONTO (AP) — Comedian Joe Flaherty has died. He was a founding member of the Canadian sketch series “SCTV,″ He was 82. His daughter says Flaherty died Monday following a brief illness. Flaherty, who was born in Pittsburgh, spent seven years at The Second City in Chicago before moving north of the border to help

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Anti-smoking groups are suing the U.S. government over a long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes, which has been stalled at the White House for months. The lawsuit filed Tuesday aims to force federal officials to publish a rule banning menthol cigarettes, which are mostly used by Black

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stevie Wonder, Miranda Lambert, Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, Peter Frampton, Katy Perry, Smokey Robinson and J Balvin are just some of the over 200 names featured on a new open letter submitted by the Artist Rights Alliance non-profit, calling on artificial intelligence tech companies, developers,

By AARON BEARD AP Basketball Writer Black coaches in the top six men’s college basketball leagues are still facing a tough climb in going from assistant to the head job. An analysis by The Associated Press found Blacks holding 59.4% of assistant jobs in the Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Four assistant coaches arrested in a 2017 FBI probe designed to clean up college basketball are Black. All are out of the sport, banned by the NCAA. One coach, Book Richardson, tells The Associated Press he knows why: Because Black assistants were the low-hanging fruit

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Book Richardson doesn’t sleep much past 5:30 a.m. anymore. That was around the time seven years ago that FBI agents pounded on his door, barged in, handcuffed him and dragged him away while his 16-year-old son, E.J., looked on helplessly. “Ever since then, everyone looks

NEW YORK (AP) — More and more businesses are taking advantage of the total solar eclipse set to dim skies across North America next week. In the snacks department alone, Krispy Kreme is teaming up with Oreo to sell a limited doughnut-cookie creation. Sonic Drive-In is selling a “Blackout Slush Float.” And Frito-Lay’s SunChips has

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Firefighters came to the rescue of two people who were trapped under a bridge early when the waters of an Ohio river began rising, and forecasters warned more severe weather was headed to the area. The Columbus Fire Department reports the pair were sleeping under the bridge around 8:45 a.m. Tuesday

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss police say three people have been killed and three others injured after a helicopter ferrying a guide and visitors to a mountaintop drop-off point for skiers crashed in the Swiss Alps. Authorities opened an investigation to determine why the light utility helicopter skidded off its landing zone on Tuesday near the

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed Taiwan, artificial intelligence and security issues Tuesday in a call meant to demonstrate a return to regular leader-to-leader dialogue between the two powers. The call was the leaders’ first conversation since their November summit in California produced renewed