Month: March 2024

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press Former U.S. Rep. George Santos of New York says he is leaving the Republican Party and will run as an independent in a bid to return to Congress, after having been expelled while facing federal fraud charges. Santos made the announcement Friday in a social media posting that criticized the

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice has signed a law that supporters say promotes the free exchange of ideas in science classrooms. Opponents say it’s constitutionally vague and could allow for the incursion of religion into public schools. The legislation allows public school teachers to answer

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Public Service Commission is an elected body that’s gone years without having elections because of a redistricting lawsuit. Anticipating that a court will order elections to resume, Georgia lawmakers now want to tack an extra two years on the six-year terms of four commissioners on the

WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC’s “This Week” — Vice President Kamala Harris; former Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo. ___ NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; civil rights activist Ruby Bridges ___ CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.; former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. R-Calif. ___ CNN’s “State of the Union”

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and JORGE RUEDA Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition powerhouse María Corina Machado has named a substitute to her presidential bid while she fights a government ban on her running for office. The announcement came Friday after Machado faced increasing political repression from the government of President Nicolás Maduro

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Canada’s federal government and the provincial Manitoba government have agreed to spend tens of millions to help search a landfill for the remains of two slain Indigenous women. A sum of $14.7 million from each government is to go toward a search of the privately owned Prairie Green landfill north of

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming’s governor has vetoed a bill that would have erected significant barriers to abortion, should it remain legal in the state. The bill rejected Friday by Republican Gov. Mark Gordon would have required facilities providing surgical abortions to be licensed outpatient surgical centers, and women to

BASTROP, Texas (AP) — A cement truck veered into a school bus carrying more than 40 pre-K students returning from a field trip to a Texas zoo Friday, killing a boy on the bus and a man in another vehicle, authorities said. Officials said the bus rolled over on the highway in the rural outskirts

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Certain sexual assaults against a spouse will now be criminalized in West Virginia for the first time under a law signed by Republican Gov. Jim Justice. The law, signed Friday, removes marriage as a defense to first- and third-degree sexual assault. Until 1976, a married person couldn’t be charged with penetrative

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer The FBI has told passengers on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max that lost a door-plug panel in midflight that they might be victims of a crime. “I’m contacting you because we have identified you as a possible victim of a crime,” a victim specialist from the federal agency’s

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature wrapped up work Friday on a bill meant to lay the foundation for nuclear energy in a state where coal has been king for generations, fueling the economy. The House gave 92-0 final passage to send the measure to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Relatives of Tyre Nichols, George Floyd and Eric Garner are expressing frustration with politicians who have failed to pass legislation targeting police violence or have worked to invalidate laws intended to reduce chances that citizens’ encounters with police end in death. Philonise Floyd, the brother of

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president says he won’t fight drug cartels on U.S. orders, in the clearest explanation yet of his refusal to confront the gangs. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has laid out various justifications over the years for his “hugs, not bullets” policy of avoiding clashes with

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s unemployment rate is now the highest in the country. The state’s unemployment rate was 5.3% in February. That’s higher than Nevada’s 5.2% rate. The national unemployment rate is 3.9%. The increase comes after new data revealed job growth in California was much slower last year