WASHINGTON The Biden administration is cancelling an additional $1.2 billion in student loans for borrowers who work in public service through changes to an existing forgiveness program. The relief for roughly 35,000 borrowers was announced Thursday by the Education Department and made through changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which benefits workers such
Continue ReadingAP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials have authorized sales of Vuse Alto, the best-selling e-cigarette in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration made the decision Thursday, allowing Reynolds American to keep its reusable e-cigarette on the market for years to come. The authorization only applies to several tobacco-flavored versions of reusable
Continue ReadingAssociated Press CHILLICOTHE, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court has cleared the way for the release of a Missouri woman whose murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years in prison, but she still remained in custody as of Thursday evening. A circuit court judge ruled last month that Sandra Hemme’s attorneys showed
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The St. Louis County Health Department has confirmed that some mosquitoes have tested positive for West Nile virus.
Continue ReadingROME (AP) — The Vatican is insisting at the close of a trial in London that it was the victim of a years-long fraud over its investment in a London property. The Vatican submitted a final concluding statement on Thursday at the close of the trial brought by British-Italian broker Raffaele Mincione. Mincione is seeking
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey has decided to move let a proposal for a backup power plant at one of the country’s largest sewage treatment facilities move forward. Newark residents have put up a hard fight against it, and they’re angry about the decision. The existing plant dumped some 840 million gallons
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. government says $325 million in federal funds will be available for solar and battery storage installations across Puerto Rico as the U.S. territory struggles with chronic power outages. The U.S. Department of Energy program will target community centers and healthcare facilities, as well as common
Continue ReadingAssociated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators, not the courts, must decide whether to change the state’s practice of stripping voting rights from people convicted of certain felonies, including nonviolent crimes such as forgery and timber theft, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The state’s original list of disenfranchising crimes springs from the Jim
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The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled over 3.2 million Bissel Steam Shot Handheld Steam Cleaners because they pose a burn hazard.
Continue ReadingAP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — A horrific crash that killed six high school girls in Oklahoma two years ago has the head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board urging parents to warn teenagers about the risk of driving after using marijuana. Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy made the appeal to parents Thursday as her agency
Continue ReadingBy Sergey Gudkov, CNN (CNN) — American citizen Travis Leake has been sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony in Russia, state media RIA Novosti reported Thursday, after he was detained on drug charges last year. A Moscow court had accused the “former paratrooper and musician” of engaging in a narcotics business, according to RIA. Leake pleaded
Continue ReadingCOLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Two Amur tiger cubs have had their first public outing at Cologne Zoo in Germany, one of several zoos that have sought to help keep up the numbers of the rare big cats. The cubs — a female named Tochka and a male named Timur — were born in mid-April and
Continue ReadingBy Andrew Carey, CNN Jerusalem (CNN) — The Biden administration received another rebuff from Israel Wednesday night – this time from the country’s parliament – over the United States’ long-standing support for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state. A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been US policy for decades, but absent negotiations
Continue ReadingBy Holly Yan, CNN (CNN) — Jurors returned mixed verdicts Thursday in the trial of a man accused of killing Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll at her home. Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 29, faced four charges. Jurors deadlocked on the charges of felony murder and home invasion. They found him not guilty of premeditated murder but found
Continue ReadingBy Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN (CNN) — The daughter of Dubai’s ruler has apparently announced her divorce on social media in what would be a rare move for a princess in the United Arab Emirates. The Instagram account of Sheikha Mahra bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the daughter of UAE Prime Minister and Dubai ruler
Continue ReadingAssociated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Kyiv official says Ukraine’s army has pulled out from a village in the eastern Donetsk region, surrendering another front-line position as Russian forces blast Ukrainian defenses in a relentless onslaught. The official said Thursday the village of Urozhaine was reduced to rubble and rendered indefensible. Russia seized Urozhaine
Continue ReadingAssociated Press PARIS (AP) — France’s divided National Assembly has kept a centrist member of President Emmanuel Macron’s party as speaker. Speaker Yaël Braun-Pivet has been at the head of the National Assembly since 2022 and retained her post after three rounds of vote in the lower house of parliament. The 53-year-old Braun-Pivet received the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say an Illinois sheriff’s deputy charged with murder in the death of a Black woman shot her in the face during a tense moment over a pot of water in her home. The details were in a court document filed Thursday in support of keeping Sean Grayson in
Continue ReadingAssociated Press From opposite ends of the world, the uncomfortable conditions Shamim Ahamed and Purvi Tiwari experienced doing separate Ph.D. research inside greenhouses inspired them to study the heat in the indoor structures. Tiwari, a researcher at Indira Gandhi Agricultural University in India, realized the heat-amplifying effect of greenhouses is a big concern that should
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says apps that allow workers to access their paychecks in advance, often for a fee, are providing loans and therefore subject to the Truth in Lending Act. If enacted, a rule proposed by the agency could provide clarity to a fast-growing industry known as
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