Nearly 43,000 people died on US roads last year, agency says
DETROIT (AP) — Nearly 43,000 people were killed on U.S. roads last year, the highest number in 16 years as Americans returned to the highways after the pandemic forced many to stay at home. The 10.5% jump over 2020 numbers was the largest percentage increase since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began its fatality […]12 hours ago
Buffalo suspect: Lonely, isolated — and a sign of trouble
CONKLIN, N.Y. (AP) — In the waning days of Payton Gendron’s COVID-19-altered senior year at Susquehanna Valley High School, he logged on to a virtual learning program in economics class that asked: “What do you plan to do when you retire?” “Murder-suicide,” Gendron typed. Despite his protests that it was all a joke, the bespectacled […]13 hours ago
Prosecutors: NYC investment adviser blamed in $5B fraud
NEW YORK (AP) — Bus drivers, subway conductors and religious and charitable organizations nationwide were among victims when fraud speeded the downfall of private investment funds once worth $11 billion, causing a loss of $5 billion for investors, authorities said Tuesday. Additional details were expected to be released at a news conference to announce conspiracy, […]13 hours ago
Jury selection underway for Minnesota clinic shooting trial
BUFFALO, Minn. (AP) — Jury selection was underway in the trial of a man accused of walking into a Minnesota medical clinic and opening fire, killing one staff member and wounding four others last year. Gregory Ulrich is being tried on charges of murder, attempted murder and other counts in the Feb. 9, 2021, shooting […]13 hours ago
US takes control of Afghan embassy, consulates in NY, CA
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has taken control of Afghanistan’s embassy in Washington and the country’s consulates in New York and Beverly Hills, California, the State Department said Tuesday. The State Department said that it had assumed “sole responsibility” for the security and maintenance of the diplomatic missions effective on Monday and would bar […]13 hours ago
Amber Heard cross-examined about fights with Johnny Depp
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Lawyers for Johnny Depp questioned the truthfulness of Amber Heard’s claim that Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle. Heard was cross-examined Tuesday after her testimony in Depp’s libel suit against her. Depp is suing Heard in Virginia’s Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote […]13 hours ago
Montpelier Foundation elects 11 descendants of slaves
ORANGE, Va. (AP) — The board that manages former President James Madison’s Montpelier estate in Virginia elected 11 new members representing descendants of people once enslaved there. Monday’s vote came two months after the board had retracted a commitment to share power with a group representing African Americans who trace their roots to the historic […]13 hours ago
Abortion resistance braces for demands of a post-Roe future
The day’s first caller begged for help to cross state lines and end her pregnancy. “Please,” the woman from Texas said in her voicemail. “Anything would be greatly appreciated.” Three states away, in southern Illinois, Alison Dreith heard the plea and grinded a toothpick between her teeth. She’d started chewing them last year as a […]13 hours ago
Ukraine’s crowdfunding aims to keep donors’ interest in war
The Ukrainian government is marrying some digital marketing tools with crowdfunding and other incentives for giving to keep global attention trained on its war efforts against the Russian invasion. “There is a wave and there is this kind of euphoria, but then it abates,” Mykhailo Fedorov, vice prime minister of Ukraine and minister of digital […]14 hours ago
Georgia students sue over blocked protest against rebel flag
ATLANTA (AP) — Several Black students who were suspended for trying to protest Confederate flag displays at their school in Georgia have filed a federal lawsuit against their school district and its board members, accusing them of allowing an extensive pattern of racism including “overt bigotry and animosity by some white students and teachers against […]14 hours ago
Shooting along Indiana highway where SUV was stopped kills 2
PALMYRA, Ind. (AP) — Two men were fatally shot after a police officer and two good Samaritans stopped along a southern Indiana highway to help a driver who was stopped in the roadway, police said. The shooting happened Monday night after an officer with the Palmyra Police Department stopped to assist the “apparent stranded motorist” […]15 hours ago
Biden to host leaders of Sweden, Finland amid NATO bids
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden and President Sauli Niinistö of Finland at the White House for a meeting Thursday amid their push to join NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The White House said they would discuss the two countries’ applications to join […]15 hours ago
Retail sales rise 0.9% in April as consumers show resilience
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. retail sales rose 0.9% in April, a solid increase that underscores Americans’ ability to keep ramping up spending even as inflation persists at nearly a 40-year high. The increase was driven by greater sales of cars, electronics, and at restaurants, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Even adjusting for inflation, which was […]15 hours ago
Biden offering additional 8 free COVID-19 tests to public
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government website for people to request free COVID-19 at-home tests from the U.S. government is now accepting a third round of orders. The White House announced Tuesday that U.S. households can request an additional eight free at-home tests to be shipped by the U.S. Postal Service. The announcement comes as coronavirus […]16 hours ago
US hate crime investigation opened in Dallas salon shooting
DALLAS (AP) — The FBI has opened a federal hate crime investigation into last week’s shooting at a hair salon in Dallas’ Koreatown area that injured three people. The Dallas FBI field office is working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division […]17 hours ago
Yellen warns Europeans about working with China, urges unity
BRUSSELS (AP) — Even as Western allies grapple with how to counter Russia’s assault on Ukraine, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Tuesday that they also must take a wary and united approach to checking China and its business practices. “We have a common interest in incentivizing China to refrain from economic practices that have […]17 hours ago
20 years since Navy ship sunk for artificial reef in Keys
KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — The 20th anniversary of the storied intentional sinking of a former Naval ship to become an artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is being celebrated Tuesday in Key Largo. The 510-foot-long (155-meter-long) Spiegel Grove earned international notoriety when it sank prematurely May 17, 2002, and landed with […]18 hours ago
Livestreamed carnage: Tech’s hard lessons from mass killings
These days, mass shooters like the one now held in the Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket attack don’t stop with planning out their brutal attacks. They also create marketing plans while arranging to livestream their massacres on social platforms in hopes of fomenting more violence. Sites like Twitter, Facebook and now the game-streaming platform Twitch have learned […]20 hours ago
Live updates | War crimes investigators going to Ukraine
BRUSSELS — The International Criminal Court prosecutor says he’s sent a team of 42 investigators, forensic experts and support personnel to Ukraine as part of a probe into suspected war crimes during Russia’s invasion. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said Tuesday that the team “will significantly enhance the impact of our forensic and investigative actions on […]20 hours ago
Man killed in California church shooting called a hero
LAGUNA WOODS, Calif. (AP) — A gunman motivated by hatred against Taiwan chained shut the doors of a California church and hid firebombs before shooting at a gathering of mostly elderly Taiwanese parishioners, killing a man who tackled him, authorities said. David Chou, 68, of Las Vegas — a U.S. citizen whom authorities say grew […]21 hours ago
Stocks rise on Wall Street; report shows strong retail sales
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose in morning trading on Wall Street Tuesday as investors review an encouraging report on retail sales and a mixed batch of earnings updates from several big retailers. The S&P 500 rose 1.2% as of 10:27 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 237 points, or 0.7%, to 32,460 […]21 hours ago
Tensions over racial justice shadow Louisville mayor’s race
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — On Valentine’s Day, a man appeared in the doorway of a Louisville campaign office and fired shots at mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg. He wasn’t hit — a bullet grazed his sweater — but some of the tensions still lingering over this city flared once again. A social justice activist was charged […]22 hours ago
New US hospitals face fiscal crisis over COVID relief money
THOMASVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A whole town celebrated in 2020 when, early in the coronavirus pandemic, Thomasville Regional Medical Center opened, offering state-of-the-art medicine that was previously unavailable in a poor, isolated part of Alabama. The timing for the ribbon-cutting seemed perfect: New treatment options would be available in an underserved area just as a […]22 hours ago
