Associated Press

Associated Press

PHOTO ESSAY: In a corner of Appalachia, soaring utility costs are surpassing rents and mortgages

WEST COLUMBIA, W.Va. (AP) — Eric Pinson is obsessed with stacks of electric bills laid out in neat piles on his desk. He runs a camping trailer park in West Virginia not far from a planned data center — all in the shadow of an enormous coal-powered plant that recently received millions in funding from […]
5 months ago

1 dead and 2 missing after parking garage collapses in Philadelphia

One person was dead and two were missing after a parking garage under construction in Philadelphia collapsed on Wednesday, officials said. A roof segment fell and triggered a “progressive collapse of connected sections across all seven levels,” Mayor Cherelle Parker told reporters Wednesday. “Let me be very clear about something at this moment: We are […]
5 months ago

How US communities have responded to plans to convert warehouses into immigration detention centers

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is reviewing a plan to transform warehouses across the U.S. into detention facilities for tens of thousands of immigrants. So far immigration officials have spent a total of $1.074 billion for 11 warehouses. They’ve mostly faced fierce opposition. And days after Mullin was sworn in, the Department of Homeland Security […]
5 months ago

Former NYPD officer faces sentencing in cooler throwing death

NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City police sergeant is set to be sentenced Thursday for tossing a picnic cooler full of drinks at a fleeing suspect, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died. The ex-officer, Erik Duran, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of Eric Duprey. The former sergeant, […]
5 months ago

Protesters rally against planned Maryland immigration detention facility that’s now paused

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — Horns blared and protesters screamed “Stop ICE!” outside a meeting on the western edge of Maryland where county officials were discussing mundane issues like the solid waste budget. It’s been like this ever since the Department of Homeland Security bought an 825,000-square-foot (76,645-square-meter) building in Washington County as part of a […]
5 months ago

Takeaways from the Gilgo Beach case as Rex Heuermann pleads guilty to 7 murders and admits to an 8th

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A Long Island man who carried out a series of murders known as the Gilgo Beach killings pleaded guilty to murder charges this week, bringing finality to the long-unsolved case more than 30 years after the first killing. Rex Heuermann, an architect who led a secret life as a serial killer, […]
5 months ago

States are struggling to meet their clean energy goals. Data centers are to blame

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada’s largest utility says it will need three times the electricity required to power Las Vegas just to handle proposed data centers — and it probably can’t do that without fossil fuels. That means the utility could miss Nevada’s clean energy targets requiring 50% renewable power by 2030. “I can’t remember […]
5 months ago

Republican fears grow as Democrats keep notching election victories ahead of midterms

MADISON, Wisc. (AP) — The bluntest assessment of Republican failures during this week’s elections in Wisconsin came from one of their own. “We got our butts kicked,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor. He was referring to Democratic victories in campaigns for the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the mayor’s office in […]
5 months ago

Trump promised to cut electric costs in half. Bills in energy-rich West Virginia now top mortgages

RAINELLE, W.Va. (AP) — Every month, Rebecca Michalski takes a deep breath before opening her electric bill. She lives on a fixed income, and heating her small house this winter has been staggering: Her February charge was $940.08 — more than her check. It makes no sense. She turns the lights off during the day […]
5 months ago

After Trump’s Iran ultimatum and a fragile ceasefire, Iranian Americans brace for what’s next

Zainab Haider was making the drive home after work with her two young children Tuesday as she contemplated what might come from the deadline President Donald Trump had set for Iran to concede to U.S. demands. Would her relatives in Iran be safe or would they be wiped off the map? Her emotions were heavy, […]
5 months ago

Miniature art transforms an alley into a surrealist wonderland at ‘Mississippi’s Tiniest Museum’

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — In the cramped backroom of a theater, Vicki Taylor glues together tiny figurines that peer over electrical boxes, canoe down drainage pipes and hide in nooks and crannies waiting to be found by someone curious enough to get on their hands and knees to search. Taylor and her husband, Rick, opened […]
5 months ago

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyers appeal his conviction with First Amendment argument

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs ’ lawyers are poised to try to persuade federal appeals court judges that the hip-hop mogul was treated unfairly at the trial that sent him to prison on prostitution-related charges, and that the First Amendment should win his freedom. Combs, currently in federal prison in New Jersey, won’t […]
5 months ago

Trump’s Iran war widens rift with European nationalists once viewed as MAGA allies

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — When President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, he was eager to pick up where he left off by strengthening ties with Europe’s right wing. But now many of those same factions are expressing open revulsion at the Iran war, rupturing relationships that were supposed to usher in […]
5 months ago

New Yorkers flock to Manhattan park for lovable woodcocks’ bobbing strut

NEW YORK (AP) — American woodcocks came to New York City looking to strut their stuff, and New Yorkers fell in love. The curious birds, known for their bobbing walks and kazoo-like calls, have drawn a crowd to Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan since arriving in late March. Dozens of spectators are gathering at the […]
5 months ago

2 killed in plane crash at small airport in Arizona

MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — Two people have died in a fiery plane crash at a small airport in Arizona, officials said Wednesday. The plane went off the runway and burst into flames, Marana Mayor Jon Post said. City spokesperson Vic Hathaway said there were two people on board the plane. They have not been identified. […]
5 months ago

Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife convicted of attempted manslaughter

HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii anesthesiologist who was accused of trying to murder his wife on a cliffside hike last year has been convicted of the lesser charge of attempted manslaughter. A Honolulu jury returned the verdict against Gerhardt Konig, 47, on Wednesday after a day of deliberations. The crime he was convicted of, attempted […]
5 months ago

Guatemalan man pleads guilty in federal court after truck crash in Mexico killed over 50 migrants

LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A Guatemalan man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to a felony offense and acknowledged his involvement in an attempt to illegally smuggle migrants to the U.S. when a jampacked tractor-tailer truck crashed in Mexico in 2021, killing more than 50 migrants. Daniel Zavala Ramos, 42, faces a possible sentence of […]
5 months ago

Appeals court rebuffs Anthropic in latest round of its AI battle with the Trump administration

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to block the Pentagon from blacklisting artificial intelligence laboratory Anthropic in a decision that differed from the conclusions reached in another judge’s ruling on the same issues. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. rejected Anthropic’s request for an order that would shield from […]
5 months ago

Judge orders rapper Pooh Shiesty to remain in custody in case involving rapper Gucci Mane’s label

DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday ordered rapper Pooh Shiesty to remain in custody on kidnapping charges after allegedly pulling a gun during a contract dispute involving rapper Gucci Mane ’s record label. Pooh Shiesty, whose legal name is Lontrell Williams Jr., appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver during […]
5 months ago

Oregon appellate ruling in PacifiCorp case could jeopardize $1 billion in wildfire victim damages

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon appeals court sided with PacifiCorp on Wednesday in a ruling that could possibly jeopardize over $1 billion in damages for victims of the state’s devastating 2020 wildfires. The Oregon Court of Appeals sent the class-action case back to a lower trial court over concerns about a jury instruction given […]
5 months ago

An Army veteran is charged with sharing classified details of an elite commando unit

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An Army veteran has been charged with sharing classified information about an elite commando unit with a journalist, which one official said put “our nation, our warfighters, and our allies at risk.” Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, North Carolina, is accused of violating federal law, as well as multiple nondisclosure agreements […]
5 months ago

UN: Over 1,000 aid workers have been killed in the past 3 years, nearly triple the previous 3 years

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — More than 1,000 humanitarian workers have been killed across the globe in the past three years, nearly triple the death count in the previous three years, the U.N. said Wednesday. “This is not an accidental escalation — it is the collapse of protection,” U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the U.N. […]
5 months ago

Brooklyn activist pleads guilty to setting fire to 11 NYPD vehicles

NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn activist with a history of arrests at pro-Palestinian protests pleaded guilty Wednesday to setting fire to 11 empty police vehicles last summer. Jakhi McCray, 22, admitted to the June 12 arson spree, which New York City police officials said caused $800,000 in damages to department vehicles. He faces a […]
5 months ago

Newly created Polymarket accounts bet big on US-Iran ceasefire in hours before Trump’s announcement

NEW YORK (AP) — A group of new accounts on the prediction market Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for these new customers. These bets were made even though, in the hours before […]
5 months ago