Month: December 2024

Religion News Service (RNS) — When Patita Pavana Das was a sophomore at Indiana State University, he considered his life pretty typical: geoscience student by day, partaker in the school’s party culture by night. But as he learned more about the Earth’s billion-year history, Das, now 28, felt a nagging sense of dissatisfaction — a

Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s highest court has ruled over some insurance claims filed by businesses that were harmed financially by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting 2020 government orders limiting commerce and public movement. The state Supreme Court on Friday ruled unanimously in favor of some restaurants and bars in their

AP Technology Writer A 7-year-old rivalry between tech leaders Elon Musk and Sam Altman over who should run OpenAI and prevent an artificial intelligence “dictatorship” is now heading to a federal judge as Musk seeks to halt the ChatGPT maker’s ongoing shift into a for-profit company. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued

Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has expressed “deep concern” at the recent decision by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to ban women from medical education. That could leave millions of women and girls without health care in the future. The council on Friday criticized “the increasing erosion” of human rights under the Taliban,

Associated Press TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Phil Murphy has asked the Biden administration to put more resources into an investigation of mysterious drone sightings that have been reported in New Jersey and nearby states. Murphy, a Democrat, made the request in a letter Thursday, noting that state and local law enforcement remain “hamstrung”

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — The largest seafood distributor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and two of its managers have been sentenced on federal charges of mislabeling inexpensive imported seafood as local premium fish. This comes weeks after Mary Mahoney’s Old French House restaurant and its co-owner were sentenced in the same scheme. On Wednesday, Quality

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian authorities say they have arrested a suspected British drug trafficker they characterized as “invisible” due to the low-key lifestyle that they said allowed him to remain anonymous while working for a cartel. Authorities on Friday announced the arrest a day earlier of Christopher Neil, whom they accused of working for

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a new religious rights case over whether a Catholic charitable organization must pay Wisconsin’s employment tax. The justices on Friday said they will review a divided state Supreme Court ruling that refused to grant an exemption to the Catholic Charities Bureau, based

AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paula Abdul and former “American Idol” producer Nigel Lythgoe have agreed to settle a lawsuit in which she alleged he sexually assaulted her in the early 2000s when she was a judge on the show. Abdul filed a notice of settlement of the case in Los Angeles Superior

Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump has rejected an attempt by former Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro to invalidate his guilty plea. Chesebro reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count a few months after he, Trump and 17 others

Associated Press Texas has sued a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas, launching one of the first challenges in the U.S. to shield laws that Democrat-controlled states passed to protect physicians after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit on Thursday in Collin

AP Entertainment Writer Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek are reuniting for a new four-episode run of “Malcolm in the Middle” for Disney+ — 25 years after the beloved sitcom first launched. The show ran for seven seasons starting in 2000 and was hailed for looking at ordinary life through the eyes of an

AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — How many roads must a man walk down to play Bob Dylan? Quite a few, at least, if you’re Timothée Chalamet. Off and on for some six years, Chalamet has been obsessively working toward his performance in “A Complete Unknown.” He has visited Dylan’s childhood home, learned how

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — An Atlanta man has been arrested and charged with fraud after George Mason University’s men’s basketball team was forced to cancel a trip to the Bahamas earlier this year after it paid for travel that was never actually booked. Charges against 44-year-old Maurice Smith, CEO of the Eugene Toriko travel agency,

Associated Press CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — When the elected prosecutor in Missouri’s largest county leaves his job for a seat in Congress next month, an appointed replacement will take his spot. The question is: Which one? Democratic St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and Republican Gov. Mike Parson have each named an appointee for the

Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Two weeks of historic and closely-watched hearings on the threat of climate change have wrapped up at the UN’s top court. Now the wait begins for the verdict that can take up to a year. The International Court of Justice has taken up the largest case in its

Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man who lived in a makeshift camp with a homeless 5-year-old Kansas girl and her father has pleaded guilty to rape and first-degree murder in connection with the child’s death. Prosecutors said Friday that Mickel Cherry, 26, admitted suffocating Zoey Felix in October 2023 with a pillow in

Associated Press Writing a Christmas made-for-TV movie may seem formulaic, but there’s no real checklist to follow. Successful writers in the genre say there are some standard practices to keep in mind. Be prepared to devote time beyond the actual holiday season to brainstorming, pitching and writing. These movies never have a true villain and

AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Home shoppers hoping for more attractive mortgage rates next year may be disappointed. That’s the takeaway from several economists’ 2025 housing forecasts. The majority of the eight forecasts call for the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain above 6% next year, with some including an upper

AP Technology Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning to make a $1 million personal donation to President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, joining a number of tech companies and executives who are working to improve their relationships the incoming administration. A spokesperson for OpenAI confirmed the move on Friday. The announcement

Associated Press Have you ever watched a holiday rom-com on Hallmark Channel or Lifetime — or any of the other many networks and streaming services that now air them — and thought, “I could write that”? It’s harder than you may think — but just as fun. Regular writers in the genre say there’s not

The griping Vatican-based movie thriller “Conclave” about picking a new pope and Stephanie Hsu starring in the dark comedy series “Laid” as a woman whose former lovers keep unexpectedly dying are some of this week’s new streaming entertainment releases. There’s a Little Big Town Christmas special on NBC, the video game Squid Game: Unleashed offers

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — After insurgents toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad this month, many senior officials and members of his dreaded intelligence and security services appear to have melted away. Activists say some of them have managed to flee the country while others went to hide in their hometowns. For more than five decades,

AP Business Writer DETROIT (AP) — Elon Musk says the Securities and Exchange Commission wants him to pay a penalty or face charges involving what he disclosed — or failed to disclose — about his purchases of Twitter stock before he bought the social media platform in 2022. In a letter, Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro

Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The woman who in 2006 falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her — making national headlines that stirred tensions about race, class and the privilege of college athletes — has admitted publicly for the first time that she made up the story. Crystal Mangum, who is

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The day after a masked gunman killed the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in New York City, police in San Francisco gave the FBI a potentially valuable tip about the identity of the suspect. He looked like a man who had been reported missing to them the previous month, Luigi Mangione.

NEW YORK (AP) — Books-in-progress on subjects ranging from Edgar Allan Poe to subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz are among this year’s 10 recipients of $40,000 Whiting grants for nonfiction creative writing. Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grants, established in 2016, have previously gone to such acclaimed authors as George Packer, Ilyon Woo and Meghan O’Rourke. Recipients announced

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Associated Press writer Lou Kesten has chosen his top 10 video games of 2024. The list is capped by Metaphor: ReFantazio, an ambitious political role-playing fantasy game. Indie developers make a strong showing, with Animal Well, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Dungeons of Hinterberg, Balatro and UFO 50. And larger

Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court has rejected a bid from human rights groups to block weapons exports to Israel and trading with the occupied territories. It found there were sufficient checks already in place to comply with international law. The ten organizations argued the Netherlands was in violation of the

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The U.N. office on human rights in Venezuela has partially resumed operations in recent weeks. That’s according to the agency’s chief. Volker Türk made the announcement on Friday, several months after the government of President Nicolás Maduro expelled the office’s staff, accusing them, without providing evidence, of assisting alleged coup plotters and

AP Sports Writer BEAVER CREEK, Colo. (AP) — Lindsey Vonn now has a firm target for her return to World Cup ski racing at age 40: next weekend for a pair of super-G events in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She has a goal, too, and it’s not showing up at the starting gate simply to show

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Canada’s labor minister says he’s asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order about 55,000 striking Canada Post employees back to work after a four week strike that disrupted mail service during the busy holiday season. Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon says if the board agrees the two sides are at an

LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman has been charged with threatening her health insurance provider after police say she uttered the same words found on the bullet casings used in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Police in Lakeland say a recording shows Briana Boston told a representative of Blue Cross Blue Shield,