Sorted by date Results 26 - 43 of 43
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A county commissioner in far southeast Oklahoma who was identified by a local newspaper as one of several officials caught on tape discussing killing reporters and lynching Black people has resigned from office, Gov. Kevin Stitt's office confirmed Wednesday. Stitt spokesperson Carly Atchison said the office received a handwritten resignation letter from McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings. In it, Jennings says he is resigning immediately and that he plans to release a formal statement "in the near future r...
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' Democratic governor on Thursday vetoed a sweeping set of anti-transgender measures, including a ban on gender-affirming care for children and teenagers, but the Republican lawmakers who pushed them appeared to have the votes to override most of her actions. Gov. Laura Kelly rejected restrictions for transgender people in using restrooms, locker rooms and other public facilities; limits on where they are housed in state prisons and county jails; and even restrictions on rooming arrangements for transgender youth on o...
DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Investigators on Thursday charged a sixth person with reckless murder in connection with a deadly shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party, saying in court documents they believe gunmen shot into the crowd during the celebration. Investigators said in court documents filed Thursday that they believe five of those charged were present at the party on April 15 and "discharged firearms into the crowd," resulting in the deaths of four people. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency on Thursday night announced the arrest of a 1...
GASTONIA, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man accused of shooting and wounding a 6-year-old girl and her parents after children went to retrieve a basketball that had rolled into his yard was arrested in Florida Thursday afternoon, authorities said. The violence was the latest in a string of recent shootings sparked by seemingly trivial circumstances. Robert Louis Singletary, 24, was arrested in the Tampa area by Hillsborough County deputies, according to online jail records. He was being held without bail on a fugitive warrant. He's scheduled t...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's foreign minister on Friday called the Group of Seven wealthy democracies a "tool for ensuring the U.S. hegemony" as she lambasted the group's recent call for the North's denuclearization. The top diplomats from G-7 nations, who met recently in Japan, had jointly condemned the North's recent ballistic missile tests and reiterated their commitment to the goal of North Korea's complete abandonment of its nuclear weapons. Their communique was prepared as a template for leaders at the G-7 summit next month i...
Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder, who sought to replace the California governor in a failed 2021 recall effort, announced Thursday he is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Elder, 70, made the announcement on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" and followed up with a tweet. "America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable. We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That's why I'm running for President," he wrote. The long-shot candidate joins a Republican...
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A state lawmaker in Tennessee resigned suddenly for an ethics violation that became public Thursday, two weeks after he joined fellow Republicans in expelling two Black Democratic legislators for protesting in support of gun control on the state House floor. Rep. Scotty Campbell, vice chair of the House Republican Caucus, violated the Legislature's workplace discrimination and harassment policy. The brief Ethics Subcommittee findings document from late March did not provide specifics and said no more information would b...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male would be barred from competing on girls or women's sports teams at federally supported schools and colleges under legislation pushed through Thursday by House Republicans checking off another high-profile item on their social agenda. The bill approved by a 219-203 party-line vote is unlikely to advance further because the Democratic-led Senate will not support it and the White House said President Joe Biden would veto it. Supporters said the legislation, whic...
A senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary committee is demanding that U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram address allegations of improper hiring and contracting of her past associates. The request Thursday by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa follows an Associated Press investigation finding that a federal watchdog is investigating whether strict federal rules on no-bid contracting and hiring may have been violated to channel DEA work to Milgram's associates. "These are serious allegations, and DEA must respond to them and...
Pulitzer Prize winning digital media outlet BuzzFeed News is being shut down as part of a cost-cutting drive by its corporate parent that's shedding about 15% of its entire staff, adding to layoffs made earlier this year. In a memo sent to staff, Buzzfeed Inc. co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said Thursday that in addition to the news division, layoffs would take place in its business, content, tech and administrative teams. BuzzFeed is also considering making job cuts in international markets. BuzzFeed has about 1,200 total employees,...
Move over "Dick and Jane." A different approach to teaching kids how to read is on the rise. For decades, two schools of thought have clashed on how to best teach children to read, with passionate backers on each side of the so-called reading wars. The battle has reached into homes via commercials for Hooked on Phonics materials and through shoebox dioramas assigned by teachers seeking to instill a love of literature. But momentum has shifted lately in favor of the "science of reading." The term refers to decades of research in fields...
In suburban Detroit, it was a lost 14-year-old looking for directions. In Kansas City, it was a 16-year-old who went to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers. There was the 12-year-old rummaging around in a yard in small-town Alabama, the 20-year-old woman who found herself in the wrong driveway in upstate New York and the cheerleader who got into the wrong car in Texas. All of them, and dozens more across America, were met by gunfire. Some were injured, some killed. In a nation where strangers are all too often seen as threats and...
Fighting in Sudan between forces loyal to two top generals has put that nation at risk of collapse and could have consequences far beyond its borders. Both sides have tens of thousands of fighters, foreign backers, mineral riches and other resources that could insulate them from sanctions. It's a recipe for the kind of prolonged conflict that has devastated other countries in the Middle East and Africa, from Lebanon and Syria to Libya and Ethiopia. The fighting, which began as Sudan attempted to transition to democracy, already has killed...
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX's giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on its first test flight Thursday and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Elon Musk's company was aiming to send the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. The nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship carried no people or satellites. SpaceX later said multiple engines on the 33-engine booster were not firing as the rocket ascended, causing it to lose altitude and begin t...
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — While two-thirds of the country now offers legal sports betting, only six states offer online casino gambling, confounding industry hopes that the rapid growth of sports betting would also bring internet casino wagering along with it. Speaking Wednesday at the East Coast Gaming Congress in Atlantic City, industry executives and legislators from gambling states offered various explanations for why internet gambling has yet to expand beyond a handful of eastern states. Internet gambling is legal in New Jersey, C...
BEIRUT (AP) — Large parts of the Muslim world marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan at sundown Thursday and ushered in the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but the festivities were overshadowed by raging battles for control of Sudan and a deadly stampede in Yemen. In other parts of the region, the holiday came against the backdrop of reconciliation and rapprochement between former rivals. The Islamic calendar is lunar and depends on the sighting of the moon — something Muslim religious authorities tend to disagree on. Ramadan sees worshippers f...
ATLANTA (AP) — Michael Crowder stands nervously at the front of his third grade classroom, his mustard-yellow polo shirt buttoned to the top. "Give us some vowels," says his teacher, La'Neeka Gilbert-Jackson. His eyes search a chart, but he doesn't land on an answer. "Let's help him out," Gilbert-Jackson says. "A-E-I-O-U," the class says in unison. Michael missed most of first grade, the foundational year for learning to read. It was the first fall of the pandemic, and for months Atlanta only offered school online. Michael's mom had just had a...
SEATTLE (AP) — Thursday marks marijuana culture's high holiday, 4/20, when cannabis fans gather in clouds of smoke at music festivals, celebrate with all-you-can-deals on chicken wings and other munchies, and take advantage of pot-shop discounts in legal weed states. This year's edition provides an occasion for activists to reflect on how far their movement has come, with recreational pot now allowed in 21 states and the nation's capital, as well as a national political climate that hasn't moved as quickly on legalization as many expected. H...
