Associated Press ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Johnny Zuagar says he tried to hide his worries about a potential government shutdown from his three boys as he weighs how much to spend on Christmas presents. Like thousands of federal workers, the statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau was navigating the holidays with the spirit of the
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract. The strikes that started Thursday and Friday followed other recent standoffs
Continue ReadingAssociated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A new report by a congressional subcommittee accused former top Coast Guard officials of hiding a yearslong investigation into sexual assault and harassment at the service’s academy in Connecticut from both Congress and the public. The Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations released the report Friday. It also accused Coast
Continue ReadingAssociated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The trailing Republican in a tight North Carolina Supreme Court race has suffered legal setbacks in his bid to overtake his Democratic rival. First a federal judge refused on Friday to block immediately the State Board of Elections from issuing a certificate that Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs won
Continue ReadingAssociated Press O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge has ruled that the state’s Republican governor and not a local Democratic official has the power to fill a vacancy in the prosecutor’s office for the state’s most populous county. A spokesperson said St. Louis County would appeal St. Louis Circuit Judge Brian May’s decision Friday.
Continue ReadingMEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. has won a trade dispute panel resolution on Mexico’s bid to ban genetically modified corn for human consumption. U.S. growers welcomed the decision announced on Friday, calling it “a major win.” Mexico’s Economy Department said it disagreed with the ruling by a panel of experts convened under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MIAMI (AP) — As the stars of Friday’s show in downtown Miami, baby pigs Glinda and Elphaba will never have to worry about gracing the dinner table at a Cuban American family’s home on Christmas Eve. Public pardons for the two piglets were granted by the mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava,
Continue ReadingNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Blaring trumpets and joyful voices resounded in a New Orleans neighborhood earlier this week as about 100 people marched in honor of John “Prince” Gilbert, a founding member of an innovative brass band, who died last weekend. Gilbert played the saxophone for the Rebirth Brass Band, which has been a favorite
Continue ReadingAssociated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s governor has commuted the sentence of a white Kansas City police officer who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black man. Gov. Mike Parson decided Friday to free Eric DeValkenaere, who was serving a six-year prison sentence after he was convicted in
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has found El Salvador’s government responsible for violating the rights of a young Salvadoran woman who was denied an abortion of her anencephalic fetus in a country with a total abortion ban. The Costa Rica-based regional court said Friday that the
Continue ReadingLINCOLN CITY, Ore. (AP) — A sheriff in Oregon says he has contacted the FBI and is increasingly concerned about a letter circulating in his rural, coastal community asking people to write down the license plate numbers of possible immigrants. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office issued a news release on Thursday condemning the letters that
Continue ReadingSAN ANTONIO (AP) — Authorities say a teacher at a San Antonio-area day care was killed when one car accelerated into another in a parking lot and both vehicles crashed through a fence into a play area. Another day care employee and five toddlers were injured in the accident that happened Thursday afternoon as parents
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of gunning down United Healthcare’s CEO outside a Manhattan hotel is now jailed in New York, awaiting arraignment Monday on a state murder indictment after he was returned to the city in dramatic fashion to face charges in multiple courts. Shackled and wearing an orange prison
Continue ReadingAssociated Press President-elect Donald Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk played a key role this week in killing a bipartisan funding proposal that would have prevented a government shutdown, railing against the plan in a torrent of more than 100 X posts that included multiple false claims. The X owner, an unelected figure, not only used
Continue ReadingLUSAKA, Zambia. (AP) — Two people have been arrested for allegedly plotting to harm Zambia’s president Hakainde Hichilema using witchcraft. Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga said Friday in a statement that the two suspects, Jasten Mabulesse Candunde, 42, and Leonard Phiri, 43, were allegedly hired by Nelson Banda, the young brother to fugitive lawmaker Jay Banda.
Continue ReadingCULPEPER, Va. (AP) — Three Black men who were lynched by mobs in Virginia during the 1800s and early 1900s have been declared innocent by a judge. The Washington Post reported Friday that the men were Charles Allie Thompson, William Thompson and William Grayson. Each was killed in rural Culpeper County. Circuit Court Judge Dale
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee says he is pardoning 43 people who have served out their sentences in what he says is “very different” than President Joe Biden’s recent wave of commutations. Lee’s latest clemency moves are nearly double his next highest total for a single year. But Lee
Continue ReadingPHOENIX (AP) — The director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources has determined that it’s necessary to regulate the use of groundwater in the state’s rural southeast. The agency’s announcement Friday allows it to designate a controlled area to stop rapid depletion of the water through agricultural use. The department’s director says data analysis
Continue ReadingAssociated Press/Report for America AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas man facing execution did not appear at the state Capitol after two failed attempts by lawmakers to issue a subpoena for his testimony. The second failed effort Friday comes after Texas’ attorney general ordered to block what was likely the final chance to have Robert
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida agriculture suffered more than $190 million in losses from Hurricane Milton, making it the costliest for farmers and ranchers of three cyclones that struck the state in 2024, according to University of Florida researchers. When all the data is in, the university’s Institute of Food and Agricultural
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