News

By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer A new study found a cheap antidepressant reduced the need for hospitalization among high-risk adults with COVID-19. The research is part of a larger project hunting for existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat coronavirus. Researchers tested the antidepressant because it was known to reduce inflammation and

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Starbucks is raising its U.S. employees’ pay and making other changes to improve working conditions in its stores. The Seattle-based coffee giant says all of its U.S. workers will earn at least $15 __ and up to $23 __ per hour by next summer. Starbucks says the enhanced pay

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Twenty-one Republican state attorneys general have sent a letter to President Joe Biden criticizing his COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors. The Wednesday letter is signed by attorneys general from Texas, Mississippi, Alaska and other states. They say the mandate “stands on shaky legal ground,”

PONTOON BEACH, Ill. (AP) — A 31-year-old southern Illinois man has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of a police officer at a gas station. Scott Hyden of Highland was arrested at the gas station following the shooting Tuesday of 36-year-old Pontoon Beach Officer Tyler Timmins. Madison County State’s Attorney

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A jury has been seated in a civil trial to determine whether white nationalists who planned the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville will be held responsible for the violence that erupted. The process of choosing a jury was completed Wednesday, the third day of jury selection. Opening statements are

By JAY COHEN AP Sports Writer CHICAGO (AP) — The former player at the heart of the Chicago Blackhawks assault scandal has come forward publicly. Kyle Beach tells TSN he felt “alone and dark” in the days following the alleged assault in 2010.  Earlier this week, a report detailed how senior team leaders badly mishandled

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge on Wednesday refused to pause a vaccine mandate set to take effect Friday for the city’s municipal workforce, denying a police union’s request for a temporarily restraining order. Judge Lizette Colon ruled that the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois law has for more than four decades protected those who oppose providing or receiving certain medical treatment because of their religious beliefs. Now Democrats want an exception to allow repercussions against those who refuse vaccinations in the battle against COVID-19. The Illinois Health Care

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — A federal jury has determined that The GEO Group must pay minimum wage — rather than $1 a day — to immigration detainees who perform tasks like cooking and cleaning at its for-profit detention center in Washington state. The verdict came Wednesday in U.S. District Court in

By EDGAR H. CLEMENTE Associated Press VILLA COMALTITLAN, Mexico (AP) — A growing migrant caravan has filled the town square here after knocking off another 13 miles of its trek across southern Mexico. About 2,000 migrants had walked out of the southern city of Tapachula near the Guatemala border on Saturday. While the multitude is

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press An early 18th-century painting depicting Yale University’s namesake with an enslaved Black child has been returned to public display at one of the college’s museums. The return this month of the portrait that includes Elihu Yale comes as art experts investigate its origins and campus discussions about the school’s ties

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A young Saudi man was released from prison after spending nearly a decade behind bars. His case had drawn international scrutiny because until recently he’d been facing a possible death sentence for protest-related crimes committed as a minor. His death sentence was commuted in February following a royal decree issued