Month: January 2024

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a block on the enforcement of a Texas law requiring vendors to evaluate and rate the sexual content of books they sell or have sold to schools. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans says opponents of

By DIANA KRUZMAN Religion News Service BOKONBAYEVO, Kyrgyzstan (RNS) — On a crisp afternoon in November, Bakyt Choitonbaev picked his way along a narrow trail, pushing through spiky shrubs of ephedra before stopping at a small pool of bright green water and pointing out well-worn patches of dirt where visitors kneel to pray. Pilgrims, Choitonbaev

By JONATHAN MATTISE, ADRIAN SAINZ and KRISTIN M. HALL Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A new layer of ice formed over parts of Tennessee on Thursday after a deadly storm blanketed the state in snow and sent temperatures plummeting earlier this week — part of a broader bout of bitter cold sweeping the country

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill to create a bipartisan commission that would tackle the nation’s soaring debt and make policy recommendations to Congress has won approval from a House committee. House Republicans are making the bill a priority. The chairman of the House Budget Committee says “everything’s on the table”

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s State Health Officer says even as the state improves some of its poor health outcomes, more of its people die from preventable deaths than residents of any other state. State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney called for state leaders to work with health

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Country music singer Chris Stapleton, Foo Fighters, Queen Latifah and New Orleans’ own Jon Batiste are among the star power set to join The Rolling Stones as headliners of this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, organizers announced Thursday. The event will take place over two weekends, starting April 25

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer Shawn Barber, the Canadian pole vault record holder and 2015 world champion, has died from medical complications. He was 29. Barber died Wednesday at home in Kingwood, Texas, his agent, Paul Doyle, confirmed to The Associated Press. A cause of death was not known yet. Barber had been experiencing

By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have mapped the largest coral reef deep in the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles off the U.S. Atlantic coast. While researchers have known since the 1960s that some coral were present off the Atlantic, the reef’s size remained a mystery until new underwater mapping technology

By ALANIS THAMES AP Sports Writer MIAMI (AP) — A breakaway team of Cuban players who defected from the country had their club debut delayed this week when the Colombian government canceled a tournament there. Players with the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation, or FEPCUBE, say Colombia nixed the tournament over opposition to the Cuban team’s