The Trump administration has announced it’s issuing sanctions against an independent investigator tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza. The State Department’s decision to impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West […]
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Six firefighters suffered minor injuries in a blaze Thursday that partially collapsed a three-story building in a New Jersey neighborhood, authorities said. The fire in Jersey City, which started at about 1:30 a.m., also spread to nearby buildings, displacing some residents. Video showed intense flames and heavy smoke. The firefighters […]
Americans overwhelmingly view the cost of child care as a significant issue, and most support initiatives to offer free or low-cost day care and to require employers to provide paid family leave for parents of babies, according to a new poll. But they’re divided over how to solve the problem and what role the government […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — One hundred years ago, a public high school teacher stood trial in Dayton, Tennessee, for teaching human evolution. His nation is still feeling the reverberations today. The law books record it as State of Tennessee v. John T. Scopes. History remembers it as the “ Monkey Trial.” The case ballooned into […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A portion of a huge industrial tunnel under construction in Los Angeles collapsed Wednesday and up to 15 workers may have been trapped, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. The workers were up to 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) from the tunnel’s only entrance, the department said. Around 9 p.m. aerial video […]
Asian shares mostly gained on Thursday after a rally in U.S. tech stocks lifted the Nasdaq to an all-time high and helped Wall Street claw back most of its losses from earlier in the week. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1% to 3,164.26 after the Bank of Korea’s kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged and as […]
RUIDOSO, N.M. (AP) — The mountain village of Ruidoso returned to the grim rituals of rebuilding after flash flooding and a deadly natural disaster, just one year after wildfire and intense flooding reshaped the popular vacation getaway and its surroundings. Broken tree limbs, twisted metal, crumpled cars and muddy debris remained as crews worked to […]
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Several hundred people gathered for a worship ceremony at a high school stadium in Texas on Wednesday evening to remember the at least 120 people who died in the catastrophic flash floods over the July Fourth holiday, as well the many still missing. “Our communities were struck with tragedy literally in […]
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A federal judge in New Hampshire will hear arguments Thursday on whether to certify a class-action lawsuit that would include every baby affected by President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a pregnant woman, two parents and their infants, is among numerous cases challenging Trump’s […]
As floodwaters rose in Texas, camp counselors hoisted children onto rafters, carried them to dry ground and sang with them to keep them calm. Some died trying to keep their campers safe. These heroics have cast a spotlight on the people who fill these roles. Often teenagers, some just a year or two removed from […]
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Several hundred people gathered at Tivy High School’s stadium in Kerr County, Texas, to mourn the victims of the catastrophic flash floods that hit the region and to honor the many still missing. The vigil Wednesday included tributes to Camp Mystic, where 27 campers and counselors died. ___ This is a […]
RUIDOSO, N.M. (AP) — Residents were glued to the windows at a riverside brewery in Ruidoso, New Mexico, as a flash flood swept through town, carrying rocks and debris. Nervous chatter filled the taproom at Downshift Brewing Company, where about 50 people were sheltering from monsoon rains that caused the Rio Ruidoso to swell to […]
San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas, who leads more than 1.5 million Catholics in Southern California, has formally excused parishioners from their weekly obligation to attend Mass following immigration detentions on two parish properties in the diocese. The dispensation is a move usually reserved for extenuating circumstances, like the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Rojas […]
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Over the last decade, an array of local and state agencies missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert the type of disaster that swept away dozens of campers and others in Kerr County, Texas over the Fourth of July weekend. The agencies repeatedly failed to secure roughly […]
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal authorities in Idaho say they have ended a search in the Sawtooth National Forest after determining it was all case of mistaken identity. The search began Saturday after the U.S. Marshals Service Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force said a family reported they saw a man who looked like Travis Decker, […]
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s utility regulators can continue to hold closed-door meetings to determine price hikes, in an apparent departure from common practices in neighboring states, a circuit court judge ruled. The decision on Monday rejected a lawsuit filed by Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of Energy Alabama, a nonprofit that advocates for […]
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Two former West Virginia correctional officers were sentenced to decades in prison on Wednesday for their roles in an assault that resulted in the death of an inmate. Mark Holdren, 41, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Johnathan Walters, 33, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the […]
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge on Wednesday set an execution date for a man with dementia who has been on death row for 37 years, even as his lawyers file appeals and argue his condition is worsening. Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, is set to be executed Sept. 5 for abducting and killing […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — A surprise move by the IRS that would allow pastors to back political candidates from the pulpit without losing their organization’s tax-exempt status is drawing praise from conservatives and even some progressive religious groups but concern from other leaders of faith, along with tax and legal experts. A 1954 provision in the […]
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Josh Stein cleared his desk Wednesday of the deluge of bills passed to him from the North Carolina General Assembly last month, three of which he vetoed. Stein topped off his veto total at 14 for this year’s legislative session. One of the vetoes prolongs the extensive battle between […]
President Donald Trump expressed his disdain for wind power during a meeting with his Cabinet recently, calling it an expensive form of energy that “smart” countries don’t use. His comments on Tuesday contained false and misleading information about the use of wind power in the United States and around the world, and came on the […]
AP Business Writer (AP) — Alan G. Hassenfeld, a renowned philanthropist and former CEO of iconic toy company Hasbro Inc., the maker of G.I. Joe and Play-Doh, has died. He was 76, according to the toy company. Hasbro, the nation’s second largest toy company behind Mattel, declined to offer more details. Hassenfeld’s family foundation, Hassenfeld […]
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — More than 17 million people in conflict-torn Yemen are going hungry, including over a million children under the age of 5 who are suffering from “life-threatening acute malnutrition,” the United Nations humanitarian chief said Wednesday. Tom Fletcher told the U.N. Security Council that the food security crisis in the Arab world’s […]
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon judge on Wednesday sentenced former NBA player Ben McLemore to over eight years in prison, a week after a jury found him guilty of raping a woman at a 2021 party at the home of a then-teammate. The ex-Portland Trail Blazer was sentenced to 100 months in prison by […]
