News

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Joe Biden will visit Louisiana later this week to survey storm damage from Hurricane Ida. It was the fifth most powerful storm to strike the U.S. when it hit Louisiana on Sunday with maximum winds of 150 mph (240 kph), likely causing

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts select board has ruled that it does not have the authority to fire the police officer that kept a photo of Adolf Hitler in his locker for two decades. The Berkshire Eagle reports that board chair Andrew S. Hogeland says that even if the board had the authority to

By TATIANA POLLASTRI and DAVID BILLER Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — Packages have only just started reaching doorsteps in Sao Paulo’s second-biggest favela, Paraisopolis. It’s thanks to a bespectacled 21-year-old with a degree in information technology. Inspired by community-led distribution of food kits and donations during the pandemic, Giva Pereira founded a logistics startup

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Police in northwestern Nigeria say gunmen have attacked another remote school, kidnapping 73 students. Wednesday’s attack prompted authorities to close all primary and secondary schools across Zamfar state. The latest abductions come just days after Nigerians celebrated the release of three different groups of young hostages

By BRYAN ANDERSON Associated Press/Report for America RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina House Republicans have given final legislative approval to a bill to limit how teachers can discuss certain racial concepts inside the classroom. The proposal would prohibit teachers from compelling students to personally adopt any ideas from a list of 13 beliefs. The

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO, PETER SMITH and MARIAM FAM Associated Press America’s major religious faiths and denominations, often divided on other big issues, are preparing to receive an influx of refugees from Afghanistan. Among those gearing up to help are Jewish and Islamic groups; conservative and liberal Protestant churches; and prominent Catholic relief organizations. The

By TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — One of R. Kelly’s accusers has told a jury that he kept a gun by his side while he berated her before forcing her to give him oral sex in a Los Angeles music studio. The testimony came Wednesday at the R&B singer’s sex-trafficking trail in

NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say a 9-year-old boy was killed and more than a dozen people were injured in a fire caused by an electric scooter that was charging overnight. New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Wednesday that firefighters worked “heroically” to remove 14 people from the Queens building where the fire

By KEN MILLER Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma judge says she is temporarily blocking a state law banning public school mask mandates, but that personal exemptions to mask-wearing will be required. Judge Natalie Mai’s ruling Wednesday drew praise from Gov. Kevin Stitt, who opposes mask mandates without exemptions, and Dr. Mary Clarke,

BERLIN (AP) — The World Health Organization has inaugurated a new “hub” in Berlin that aims to help prepare the globe better to prevent future pandemics. The U.N. health agency’s director-general and Germany’s chancellor cut the ribbon to launch the new WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence. WHO says Germany is making an initial