AP National News

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana has blocked the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from state devices, its technology office said Thursday. The Indiana Office of Technology “blocked TikTok from being used in our state system and on our state devices” as of Dec. 7, office spokesman Graig Lubsen told The Journal Gazette. The Office of Technology

CYPRESS, Calif. (AP) — Snowbirds are a common sight in Southern California in wintertime — except when they’re actually a bird. A snowy owl to be exact. Crowds of bird-watchers have been showing up regularly in an Orange County neighborhood to gawk at a snowy owl, a species normally found around the Arctic, Canada and

By RONALD BLUM AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Pelé was remembered for a life beyond the field, for transcending the sport of soccer and becoming perhaps the most well-known person on Earth. “Before Pelé, ’10′ was just a number,” current Brazil forward Neymar wrote following the soccer great’s death Thursday at the age

WILSON, N.C. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a North Carolina man charged in the fatal shooting of a 5-year-old boy in 2020 to life in prison without parole as part of a plea agreement. Media outlets report that came after Darius Nathaniel Sessoms of Wilson entered an Alford plea to a first-degree murder charge

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska company is recalling alfalfa sprouts sold in three states after 16 cases of salmonella were linked to the food. SunSprouts said Thursday that its recall covers 808 pounds (366.5 kilograms) of sprouts that it sold to distributors in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas in November

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press KINGSHILL, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a $1.7 trillion spending bill that will keep the federal government operating through the end of the federal budget year in September 2023, and provide tens of billions of dollars in new aid to Ukraine for its fight

By JOHN WAWROW AP Sports Writer BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The wallop of a two-day blizzard that struck Buffalo over the weekend and the sense of desperation that came with it hit home for Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams on Christmas Eve, when he trudged through the storm to check on his mother-in-law. What is

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard spent hours Thursday searching the waters off Louisiana for four people on board a helicopter that crashed while departing an oil platform. The helicopter’s pilot and three oil workers went into the Gulf of Mexico about 8:40 a.m. CST, said Petty

TORONTO (AP) — Ian Tyson, the Canadian folk singer who wrote the modern standard “Four Strong Winds” as one half of Ian & Sylvia and helped influence such future superstars as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, died Thursday at age 89. The native of Victoria, British Columbia, died at his ranch in southern Alberta following

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI and JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — When multiple pharmaceutical companies objected to Tennessee using their drugs to kill death row inmates several years back, the scramble to find lethal injection chemicals needed to carry out state-sanctioned executions grew frantic. “What are your thoughts on acquiring it through a veterinarian?”

By MAURICIO SAVARESE AP Sports Writer SAO PAULO (AP) — The stadium where Brazilian soccer great Pelé played some of the best matches of his career will also hold his funeral on Monday and Tuesday. The club outside Sao Paulo where Pelé played in Brazil says the public will be able to pay their final

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer From spearheading the “beautiful game” to helping Brazil win three World Cup titles, Pelé embodied greatness in the land of his sport. The incarnation of the country’s style and elegance on the field, Pelé began enchanting Brazilian fans as a teenager. He helped the Selecao lift the World Cup

By MAURICIO SAVARESE AP Sports Writer SAO PAULO (AP) — Pelé will be famous for 15 centuries. The Brazilian soccer star said Andy Warhol told him that. It was a twist on something else the American artist is widely credited with saying, that “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Warhol made

By TALES AZZONI and MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Pelé won a record three World Cups and was widely regarded as one of his sport’s greatest players. He was among the most recognizable figures in the world at the time of his death on Thursday. Pelé was among the game’s most prolific

By GREGORY KATZ Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Vivienne Westwood, an influential fashion maverick who played a key role in the punk movement, died Thursday at age 81. Westwood’s eponymous fashion house announced her death on social media platforms, saying she died peacefully. A cause was not disclosed. “Vivienne continued to do the things she

RICHMOND, Ind. (AP) — A man facing a death penalty charge in the fatal shooting of an Indiana police officer has asked a judge to represent himself, and his appointed attorney wants to withdraw from the case. Phillip Matthew Lee, 47, of Richmond, is charged with murder in the death of Richmond Police Department Officer

Reactions poured in from around the world to the death of Brazilian soccer legend Pele. He died of cancer in Brazil at age 82. His grace, athleticism and mesmerizing moves transfixed players and fans. He orchestrated a fast, fluid style that revolutionized the sport — a samba-like flair that personified his country’s elegance on the

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer Nobody disputes Pelé ’s greatness but the exact number of goals he scored in his career will forever remain a motive for debate. Pelé often said one of the reasons he should be considered the greatest player of all-time was because of his feat of scoring more than 1,000