By MEG KINNARD Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Christale Spain, a longtime party operative, has been elected as chair of South Carolina’s Democratic Party. She became the first Black woman to lead the organization in what will be the Democrats’ leadoff presidential voting state in 2024. Spain takes over in a wave of changes
Continue Reading HELSINKI (AP) — A walrus that became a global celebrity last year after it was seen frolicking and basking in a Oslo fjord before it was euthanized by the authorities has been honored with a bronze sculpture in Norway. The life-size sculpture by Norwegian artist Astri Tonoian was unveiled Saturday at the Oslo marina not
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BUFFALO, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man was sentenced to life in prison without parole after entering an Alford plea in the death of a woman who was caged and dismembered. Sixty-year-old James Phelps is one of two men charged in the grisly death of 33-year-old Cassidy Rainwater, whose remains were found in southern Missouri
Continue Reading By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Jill Biden has welcomed military families to the White House lawn for a workout complete with jumping jacks and push-ups. The event Saturday was to highlight the sacrifices children make when their parents decide to serve. The workout was the latest in a series hosted
Continue Reading By NICOLE WINFIELD and JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Pope Francis plunged into both sides of Russia’s war with Ukraine on Saturday, greeting some of the 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees who have fled across the border to Hungary during a public prayer service and then meeting privately with an envoy of the
Continue Reading OSKALOOSA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man who spent 16 years in prison for a rape and murder he didn’t commit will receive $7.5 million from the county where he was arrested and convicted of the crime. Jefferson County commissioners approved the settlement last week with Floyd Bledsoe, who was released from prison in 2015
Continue Reading By JUAN A. LOZANO and PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press CLEVELAND, Texas (AP) — A Texas man went next door with a rifle and fatally shot five of his neighbors, including an 8-year-old boy and a teenage girl, after the family asked him to stop firing rounds in his yard because they were trying to
Continue Reading ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country’s first astronaut will travel to the International Space Station by the end of the year. Air force pilot Alper Gezeravci was selected to be the first Turkish citizen in space. His backup is a 30-year-old aviation systems engineer at Turksih defense contractor Roketsan. Erdogan
Continue Reading By JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press A federal judge overseeing the New Orleans Roman Catholic bankruptcy recused himself in a late-night reversal that came a week after an Associated Press report showed he donated tens of thousands of dollars to the archdiocese and consistently ruled in favor of the church in the case involving nearly 500
Continue ReadingCOLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Five people are dead after being shot in a home by a gunman using an Ar-15 style gun in Cleveland, Texas. Officials said the shooting happened Friday night around 11:30 pm when officials from the San Jacinto sheriff’s office received a call for harassment in Cleveland Texas. When officials arrived to the
Continue ReadingBy AJ Willingham, CNN Mormonism is a religion practiced by millions around the world. And yet, many who are unfamiliar with it sometimes rely on vague stereotypes and pop culture references to define it. In reality, it’s a theologically complex religion with an unusual history. Here, we answer some of the most common questions about
Continue Reading By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA Associated Press TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia’s coast guard says that under two weeks it has recovered around 210 bodies of migrants that have washed up on the North African country’s central coastline amid an ongoing increase in migration from Tunisia. Authorities say preliminary examinations of the bodies indicated that the
Continue Reading By JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press A federal judge overseeing the New Orleans Roman Catholic bankruptcy recused himself in a late-night reversal that came a week after an Associated Press report showed he donated tens of thousands of dollars to the archdiocese and consistently ruled in favor of the church in the case involving nearly 500
Continue Reading By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — “We thought we could die.” The Russian invasion had just begun when Nancy Pelosi made a surprise visit to Ukraine, the House speaker then the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to lead a congressional delegation to Kyiv. Pelosi and the lawmakers were ushered under the cloak of
Continue Reading By GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO Associated Press CORDOVA, New Mexico (AP) — Ever since missionaries started building churches out of mud 400 years ago in what was the isolated frontier of the Spanish empire, tiny mountain communities like Cordova relied on their own resources to keep the faith going. Thousands of miles from religious and lay seats
Continue ReadingBy Taylor Romine, CNN A jury in California has convicted a woman of lying to authorities about a couple attempting to kidnap her children at a Bay Area Michaels craft store in 2020. Kathleen Sorensen, 31, could serve up to six months in jail after the jury returned a guilty verdict on one count of
Continue Reading By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Russia has convicted a woman from a Siberian city over social media posts condemning the war in Ukraine and punished her with a steep fine even though both she and the prosecution had asked for a prison sentence. Marina Novikova was found guilty
Continue ReadingBy Faith Karimi, CNN Jennifer DeStefano’s phone rang one afternoon as she climbed out of her car outside the dance studio where her younger daughter Aubrey had a rehearsal. The caller showed up as unknown, and she briefly contemplated not picking up. But her older daughter, 15-year-old Brianna, was away training for a ski race
Continue Reading FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Authorities say a police officer and his wife were found shot to death in their North Carolina home after the officer failed to show up for work. The police chief in Fayetteville says state agents are investigating the deaths as a double homicide. Investigators say officer Domingo Tavarez-Rodriguez was supposed to
Continue ReadingBy Andy Rose and Aya Elamroussi, CNN A Texas man who was allegedly scammed of $40 in parking fees while on a date shot and killed the man who posed as the lot’s attendant — and then “nonchalantly” walked away to proceed with his dinner plans, court records show. Erick Aguirre, 29, appeared in court
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