Month: December 2023

By SHARON LURYE AP Education Writer Since the pandemic first upended American education, an estimated 50,000 students are still missing from any kind of U.S. school. That’s according to an Associated Press analysis of public, private and homeschool enrollment as of fall 2022, and U.S. Census data in 22 states, plus Washington, D.C. The reasons

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: An ice skating rink near Disneyland, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the Central Valley. And — coming soon — kitchen faucets. California regulators on Tuesday approved new

By MATTHEW PERRONE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In only two years, a small, colorful vaping device called Elf Bar has become the most popular disposable e-cigarette in the world, generating billions in sales and quickly emerging as the overwhelming favorite of underage U.S. teens who vape. Last week, U.S. authorities publicly announced the first

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A court hearing will resume this week in a lawsuit filed by a Memphis teen who alleges that NBA star Ja Morant assaulted him during a pickup basketball game two summers ago. The hearing has already featured testimony from the Memphis Grizzlies All-Star, who says he

By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY and SHARON LURYE of The Associated Press and ZAIDEE STAVELY of EdSource CONCORD, Calif. (AP) — Aylah Levy had some catching up to do this fall when she started first grade. After spending her kindergarten year at an alternative program that met exclusively outdoors, Aylah, 6, had to adjust to being inside

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the Arizona rancher’s daughter who became a voice of moderate conservatism as the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, was memorialized by President Joe Biden on Tuesday as a pioneer in the legal world who inspired generations of

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press LUKEVILLE, Ariz. (AP) — Hundreds of dates are written on concrete-filled steel columns erected along the U.S. border with Mexico to memorialize when the Border Patrol has repaired illicit openings in the would-be barriers. Yet no sooner are fixes made than another column is sawed, torched and chiseled for large

By BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS AP Education Writer ATLANTA (AP) — It’s unclear to Tameka how — or even when — her children became unenrolled from Atlanta Public Schools. But it was traumatic when, in fall 2021, they figured out it had happened. After more than a year of some form of pandemic online learning, students

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer At the dawn of 2023, the specter of Saudi Arabia’s growing influence on pro golf — and sports in general — served not only as a moral conundrum for players and their fans, but also, some argued, as an existential threat to the multibillion-dollar professional-sports industry itself. Twelve months

By MATTHEW PERRONE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In only two years, a small, colorful vaping device called Elf Bar has become the most popular disposable e-cigarette in the world, generating billions in sales and quickly emerging as the overwhelming favorite of underage U.S. teens who vape. Last week, U.S. authorities publicly announced the first