Articles from the May 8, 2024 edition


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  • Second tornado in 5 weeks damages Oklahoma town and causes 1 death as powerful storms hit central US

    ALEXA ST. JOHN and SEAN MURPHY|May 8, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A tornado destroyed homes, forced the evacuation of a nursing home and toppled trees and power lines when it roared through a small Oklahoma town, one of several twisters that erupted in the central United States amid a series of powerful storms that stretched into Tuesday. At least one death was reported. The tornado ripped through the 1,000-person town of Barnsdall, about a 40-minute drive north of Tulsa, on Monday night. It was the second tornado to hit the town in five weeks — a twister on April 1 with maximum wind spe...

  • Australian woman denies murdering her former husband's relatives with poisonous mushroom lunch

    May 8, 2024

    MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A woman accused of serving her ex-husband's family poisonous mushrooms pleaded not guilty in an Australian court on Tuesday to three charges of murder and five charges of attempted murder. Erin Patterson, 49, appeared briefly in Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court by video link from a Melbourne prison, where she has been held since her arrest in November last year. She is accused of killing her former parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail Patterson's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66. All three died in a...

  • Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ|May 8, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday at Donald Trump's hush money trial, describing for jurors a sexual encounter the porn actor says she had with him in 2006 that resulted in her being paid off to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later. Jurors appeared riveted as Daniels, over the repeated objections of defense lawyers and occasional admonitions from the judge, offered a detailed and at times graphic account of an encounter Trump has denied. Trump stared straight ahead as Daniels entered the c...

  • Some colleges that had been permissive of pro-Palestinian protests begin taking a tougher stance

    CHARLES REX ARBOGAST and PAT EATON-ROBB|May 8, 2024

    CHICAGO (AP) — Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Chicago on Tuesday after administrators who had initially adopted a permissive approach said the protest had crossed a line and caused growing concerns about safety. University President Paul Alivisatos acknowledged the school's role as a protector of freedom of speech after officers in riot gear blocked access to the school's Quad but also took an enough-is-enough stance. "The university remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express t...

  • TikTok sues US to block law that could ban the social media platform

    HALELUYA HADERO|May 8, 2024

    TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are suing the U.S. over a law that would ban the popular video-sharing app unless it's sold to another company, arguing that it violates the First Amendment. The widely expected lawsuit filed on Tuesday may be setting up what could be a protracted legal fight over TikTok's future in the United States. The popular social video company alleged the law, which President Joe Biden signed as part of a larger $95 billion foreign aid package, is so "obviously unconstitutional" that the sponsors of The...

  • Israeli tanks have rolled into Rafah. What does this mean for the Palestinians sheltering there?

    JULIA FRANKEL and MELANIE LIDMAN|May 8, 2024

    JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli tanks that entered the periphery of Rafah early Tuesday stoked global fears that an offensive on Gaza's southernmost city could endanger the more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there. The ground assault dimmed hopes of an immediate cease-fire deal that the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have spent months pushing for. In the hours before the attack began, Hamas agreed to a cease-fire proposal that the Israeli government swiftly rejected. About 1.3 million Palestinians — more than half of Gaza's population — a...

  • Pro-Palestinian student protests spread across Europe. Some are allowed. Some are stopped

    MIKE CORDER and BARBARA SURK|May 8, 2024

    AMSTERDAM (AP) — Campus protests by pro-Palestinian activists spread across Europe on Tuesday as some called for a break in academic ties with Israel over the war in Gaza, while schools increasingly faced the question under debate in the U.S.: Allow or intervene? German police broke up a protest by several hundred pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied a courtyard at Berlin's Free University. Protesters occupied a university building in Amsterdam hours after police detained 169 people at a different campus location. Two remained in c...

  • Scientists are learning the basic building blocks of sperm whale language after years of effort

    MARIA CHENG|May 8, 2024

    ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — Scientists studying the sperm whales that live around the Caribbean island of Dominica have described for the first time the basic elements of how they might be talking to each other, in an effort that could one day help better protect them. Like many whales and dolphins, sperm whales are highly social mammals and communicate by squeezing air through their respiratory systems to make strings of rapid clicks that can sound like an extremely loud zipper underwater. The clicks are also used as a form of echolocation to h...

  • Boy Scouts of America changing name to more inclusive Scouting America after years of woes

    JAMIE STENGLE|May 8, 2024

    IRVING, Texas (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion. The organization steeped in tradition has made seismic changes after decades of turmoil, from finally allowing gay youth to welcoming girls throughout its ranks. With an eye on increasing flagging membership numbers, the Irving, Texas-based organization a...

  • Putin begins his fifth term as president, more in control of Russia than ever

    EMMA BURROWS|May 8, 2024

    President Vladimir Putin began his fifth term at a glittering Kremlin inauguration Tuesday, embarking on another six years as leader of Russia after destroying his political opponents, launching a devastating war in Ukraine and concentrating all power in his hands. At the ceremony in the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace, Putin placed his hand on the Russian Constitution and vowed to defend it as a crowd of hand-picked dignitaries looked on. "We are a united and great people and together we will overcome all obstacles, realize all our plans,...

  • Bernie Sanders says Gaza may be Joe Biden's Vietnam. But he's ready to battle for Biden over Trump

    SEUNG MIN KIM|May 8, 2024

    WASHINGTON (AP) — In April, Bernie Sanders repeatedly stood shoulder to shoulder with President Joe Biden, promoting their joint accomplishments on health care and climate at formal White House events while eviscerating Donald Trump in a widely viewed campaign TikTok video. Then just last week, Sanders was bluntly warning that the crisis in Gaza could be Biden's "Vietnam" and invoking President Lyndon B. Johnson's decision not to run for reelection as the nation was in an uproar over his support of that war. Such is the political dichotomy o...

  • After deadly Oklahoma tornado, storms bring twisters to the Midwest

    ED WHITE and ALEXA ST. JOHN|May 8, 2024

    DETROIT (AP) — Severe storms battered the Midwest on Tuesday, unleashing a curtain of heavy rain, gusty winds and tornadoes throughout the region a day after a deadly twister ripped through a small Oklahoma town and killed at least one person. Tornadoes were spotted after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters warned that the storms could stretch late into the night with the possibility of more...

  • More GOP states challenge federal rules protecting transgender students

    ANDREW DeMILLO|May 8, 2024

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Seven more Republican-led states sued Tuesday to challenge a new federal regulation that seeks to protect the rights of transgender students in the nation's schools. Republican plaintiffs call the effort to fold protection for transgender students under the 1972 Title IX law unconstitutional. The lawsuits filed in federal courts in Missouri and Oklahoma are the latest GOP attempts to halt the new regulation seeking to clarify Title IX, a landmark 1972 sex discrimination law originally passed to address women's rights an...

  • Palestinians flee chaos and panic in Rafah after Israel's seizure of border crossing

    WAFAA SHURAFA and SARAH EL DEEB|May 8, 2024

    RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tens of thousands of displaced and exhausted Palestinians have packed up their tents and other belongings from Rafah, dragging families on a new exodus. The main hospital has shut down, leaving little care for people suffering from malnutrition, illnesses and wounds. And with fuel and other supplies cut off, aid workers have been scrambling to help a population desperate after seven months of war. As the possibility of a full-scale invasion looms, Gaza's overcrowded southernmost city has been thrown into panic and c...

  • Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene triggers effort to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson from office

    LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING|May 8, 2024

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Hardline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Wednesday for a vote to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, pressing ahead with her long-shot effort despite pushback from Republicans at the highest levels tired of the political chaos. Greene, who is one of Donald Trump's biggest supporters in Congress, stood on the House floor and read a long list of "transgressions" she said Johnson had committed as speaker. Colleagues booed in protest. The vote, which under House rules is required within two days, could happen imminently. The Georgia R...

  • Police clear pro-Palestinian protest camp and arrest 33 at DC campus as mayor's hearing is canceled

    ASHRAF KHALIL|May 8, 2024

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Police used pepper spray to clear a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University and arrested dozens of demonstrators on Wednesday just as city officials were set to appear before hostile lawmakers in Congress to account for their handling of the 2-week-old protest. The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability canceled the hearing after the crackdown, with its chairman and other Republicans welcoming the police action. House Speaker Mike Johnson said, "it should not require threatening to haul D...

  • Why the US paused the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel ahead of a possible Rafah attack

    TARA COPP|May 8, 2024

    WASHINGTON (AP) — As it targets Hamas' underground tunnels in Gaza, Israel has relied on powerful 2,000-pound bombs provided by the United States. But now those deliveries are on hold. The U.S. is pausing a shipment of 1,800 of the bombs, as well as 1,700 500-pound bombs, U.S. officials said. The decision comes as Israel is planning an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah in an attempt to root out the final elements of Hamas. With more than 1 million refugees sheltering in Rafah, U.S. officials are concerned the bombs could inflict m...

  • The Rev. Al Sharpton calls for justice in eulogy for Ohio man who died last month in police custody

    BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI|May 8, 2024

    The Rev. Al Sharpton and family members of an Ohio man who died in police custody told mourners at his funeral on Wednesday that they and the community must fight to see that he gets justice. Sharpton gave the eulogy for Frank Tyson, a 53-year-old East Canton resident, during the service at the Hear The Word Ministries church in Canton. Tyson died April 18 after he was handcuffed and left facedown on the floor of a social club while telling officers he couldn't breathe. "You can't give us Frank back, but you can do justice for this family,"...

  • Biden administration will propose tougher asylum standards for some migrants at the border

    SEUNG MIN KIM and STEPHEN GROVES|May 8, 2024

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration plans to propose a new rule Thursday aimed at speeding up the asylum claims process for some migrants — a potential prelude to broader actions from President Joe Biden later this year that would impose a bigger crackdown at the border. It's meant to affect migrants with criminal records or those who would otherwise be eventually deemed ineligible for asylum in the United States. The proposal, which the Department of Homeland Security plans to announce on Thursday, was confirmed by four people fam...

  • 8 tornadoes confirmed in Ohio, 3 in Michigan as severe storms cross central US

    JOEY CAPPELLETTI and ED WHITE|May 8, 2024

    PAVILION TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — At least eight tornadoes have touched down in Ohio and three have been confirmed in Michigan as severe storms barreled through the central U.S. late Tuesday and early Wednesday, killing one man in Tennessee when a tree toppled onto a vehicle he was in. The storm that rumbled across northeastern Tennessee brought high winds that knocked down powerlines and trees. Claiborne County Sheriff Bob Brooks said a 22-year-old man was in a car struck by one of the trees. The National Weather Service says confirmed t...

  • Lawyers' coalition provides new messengers for Black voter engagement

    AYANNA ALEXANDER|May 8, 2024

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Young Black lawyers and law students are taking on a new role ahead of the general election: Meeting with Black voters in battleground states to increase turnout and serve as watchdogs against voter disenfranchisement. The Young Black Lawyers' Organizing Coalition has recruited lawyers and law students and is sending them to Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas to meet with Black voters, aiming to better understand the barriers that the historically disadvantaged voting bloc faces when registering to vote and accessing...

  • Biden lauds new Microsoft center on the same site where Trump's Foxconn project failed

    COLLEEN LONG and SEUNG MIN KIM|May 8, 2024

    STURTEVANT, Wisc. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday laced into Donald Trump over a failed project in the previous administration that was supposed to bring thousands of new jobs into southeastern Wisconsin and trumpeted new economic investments under his watch that are coming to the same spot. That location in the battleground state will now be the site of a new data center from Microsoft, whose president credited the Biden administration's economic policies for paving the way for the new investments. For Biden, it offered another p...

  • Israel says it reopened a key Gaza crossing after a rocket attack but the UN says no aid has entered

    JOSEPH KRAUSS and SAMY MAGDY|May 8, 2024

    JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after days of closure, but the U.N. said no humanitarian aid has yet entered and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side after workers fled during Israel's military incursion in the area. The Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel was closed over the weekend after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers nearby, and on Tuesday, an Israeli tank brigade seized the nearby Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt...

  • Trump is in no hurry as he leans into the pageantry of vice presidential tryouts

    JILL COLVIN and LISA MASCARO|May 8, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — As former President Donald Trump remains stuck in the courtroom listening to salacious details of an extramarital sexual encounter he denies, another spectacle is playing out in the background as his vice presidential tryouts get underway. The dynamic was on full display in Florida over the weekend at a closed-door fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago club that doubled as an audition featuring a long list of potential running mates. Trump, at one point, invited many of the contenders on stage like contestants in one of his old beauty p...

  • Fans are following Taylor Swift to Europe after finding Eras Tour tickets less costly there

    LISA LEFF|May 8, 2024

    LONDON (AP) — Thousands of ride-or-die Taylor Swift fans who missed out on her U.S. concert tour last year or didn't want to buy exorbitantly priced tickets to see her again found an out-of-the-way solution: Fly to Europe. The pop star is scheduled to kick off the 18-city Europe leg of her record-setting Eras Tour in Paris on Thursday, and planeloads of Swifties plan to follow Miss Americana across the pond in the coming weeks. The arena where Swift is appearing said Americans bought 20% of the tickets for her four sold-out shows. Stockholm, t...

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