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WACO, Texas (AP) — A Central Texas school district is closing its schools after two teachers died last week of COVID-19. Connally Independent School District officials closed its seven suburban Waco schools for the rest of the week Tuesday after the Saturday COVID-19 death of 41-year-old Natalia Chansler. She taught social studies to sixth graders

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — A grand jury has declined to indict a Texas police officer in the death of a Black man who was shot as he ran away after being confronted. Twenty-two-year-old Joshua Feast died Dec. 9 after he was shot by La Marque police Officer Jose Santos. Civil

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 terror attacks. Yet an estimated 33,000 or more people successfully evacuated the stricken buildings. They navigated mountains of smoky stairs in the World Trade Center’s twin towers or streamed out of a flaming Pentagon. Some fled an otherworldly

NEW YORK (AP) — A woman who wasn’t a fan of R. Kelly says she ended up getting exposed to a sexually transmitted disease after he enticed her to join him on the road. She testified Tuesday at the R&B entertainer’s sex-trafficking trial not using her real name. She was 19 when her older half

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — An elderly man and woman died of gunshot wounds at a Honolulu assisted living center. Honolulu police are investigating whether Tuesday’s shooting was a murder-suicide or two suicides. Police say a note was left indicating they took their lives. Police say the 86-year-old woman was a

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — Gospel music artist Lee Williams, the leader and founder of The Spiritual QC’s, has died. He was 75. Williams’ death was announced Monday on the musical group’s Facebook page. Known for his deep baritone voice, Williams and the group performed for decades before releasing their first hit, a song called  “I’ve

By PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press Mystic Aquarium is asking that it be allowed to resume research on four beluga whales that was halted following the death of the fifth whale in that group. The request is part of a three-page report made public by the National Marine Fisheries Service detailing the Aug. 6 death of

Associated Press PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — One of the men who U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz accused of being behind a plot to extort $25 million from his family in exchange for having a federal sex investigation into the congressman go away has been indicted on charges of wire fraud and attempting to stop authorities from

By KRISTIN M. HALL AP Entertainment Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Heavy rains from Hurricane Ida have forced Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee to cancel as organizers say the waterlogged festival grounds are unsafe for driving or camping. The annual festival was scheduled to start Thursday on the site of a former farm

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM and MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has thrown out a Trump-era rule that ended federal protections for hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways across the country. The Biden administration had already taken legal action to undo the rule and says it is working