DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An order issued by the Iowa Supreme Court will require everyone entering any Iowa courthouse to wear a face covering, regardless of whether they are vaccinated against COVID-19. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that in the order issued Friday, Chief Judge Susan Larson Christensen says the court is balancing the
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By TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The second week of the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial in New York City proved to be an exercise by the government in trying to paint the “I Believe I Can Fly” R&B star as a man-child control freak. They also sought to portray him as a
Continue Reading ROME (AP) — Italian military vessels have aided a decrepit fishing boat crammed with 539 migrants aboard, which was approaching the tiny southern island of Lampedusa south of Sicily. Alida Serrachieri, a nurse who runs the Doctors Without Borders’ operation on Lampedusa, said the passengers included three women and several unaccompanied minors. Two coast guard
Continue Reading DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Rainfall has been below normal across Iowa this year, but agricultural experts say the overall picture isn’t that bleak heading into the harvest season. Still, the Des Moines Register reports that Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said this year’s harvest could be one of extremes. The most recent U.S. Department
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By Rachel Ramirez, CNN Last year’s hurricane season devastated parts of Louisiana with no reprieve. In August 2020, Hurricane Laura made landfall in Louisiana as a category 4, triggering a “catastrophic” storm surge of up to 18 feet above ground level. The storm killed dozens of people in the state and inflicted $17.5 billion in
Continue Reading TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 19-year-old Topeka man is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a man at a motel. WIBW-TV reports that Isaiah Quin Dale Krainbill was charged Friday in the death of 37-year-old James Epps Jr. Epps was killed Tuesday at a Travelers Inn in Topeka. He had been shot
Continue Reading By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The often-heated debate over whether returning students should wear masks in the classroom has moved from school boards to courtrooms. In at least 14 states, lawsuits have been filed either for or against masks in schools. In some Republican-led states, normally rule-enforcing school administrators
Continue ReadingBy Kelly Murray, CNN A Washington state man was found guilty Friday in the death of a transgender teenager, Nikki Kuhnhausen. David Bogdanov, 27, was convicted of second-degree murder and malicious harassment, according to Clark County Superior Court records. Malicious harassment is Washington state’s hate crime statute. Prosecutors say when Bogdanov found out Nikki was
Continue Reading TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs had a big crowd Friday for their preseason game win over Minnesota, and unvaccinated Kansas residents who were part of the crowd should quarantine. The Kansas City Star reports that Kansas’ travel rules aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 advise anyone unvaccinated attending mass gatherings to
Continue Reading By CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The need for crisis-driven leadership comes to all U.S. presidents. Now, on several fronts at once, it’s come to President Joe Biden. As the president who is ending the Afghanistan war, America’s longest, he’ll be judged by history for how he did it. To some, the scenes
Continue Reading KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man is hospitalized after shooting himself following a police chase in Kansas City, Missouri. Police were called Friday afternoon to a report of a domestic disturbance. Police say the man fled as officers spoke with the alleged victim. The suspect sped south on U.S. 71, prompting a chase that
Continue Reading By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Republican efforts questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential race have led to voting system breaches that election security experts say pose a heightened risk to future elections. Copies of Dominion Voting Systems software used to manage elections were distributed at an event this month in
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By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Republican efforts questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential race have led to voting system breaches that election security experts say pose a heightened risk to future elections. Copies of Dominion Voting Systems software used to manage elections were distributed at an event this month in
Continue Reading ST. LOUIS (AP) — Evictions are resuming in St. Louis now that the U.S. Supreme Court has stopped the Biden administration from enforcing the latest eviction moratorium. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Mayor Tishaura Jones and other St. Louis leaders are urging tenants with financial hardship to take advantage of federal help to
Continue Reading VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has replaced an Australian bishop who stepped down amid a Vatican investigation into what Australian media have described as allegations of sexual misconduct. The Vatican said Francis accepted Bishop Christopher Alan Saunders’ resignation as head of the Broome diocese. Francis on Saturday appointed another bishop to temporarily administer the
Continue Reading By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British troops have left Kabul, ending the U.K.’s evacuation operation, and its 20-year military involvement in Afghanistan. The U.K. government said about 1,000 troops who have been running an airlift of British nationals and Afghan civilians departed on military planes from Kabul airport on Saturday, hours after
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By Scottie Andrew, CNN Visitors to New York’s Christopher Park this week were greeted by the bust of Marsha P. Johnson, stoic yet softly smiling. She’s wearing a tiara on her head, designed to loop live flowers through. It evokes a famous photograph of Johnson, beaming with a crown of brilliant blooms strewn through her
Continue Reading Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Survivors of last month’s extreme flooding in western Germany have joined first responders, religious leaders and government officials in remembering the more than 180 killed in the disaster and to express hope for the future. Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble, the leader of Germany’s
Continue Reading By SAYED ZIARMAL HASHEMI, RAHIM FAIEZ, JILL LAWLESS and ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban forces have sealed off Kabul’s airport to most Afghans as NATO nations wrap up evacuation flights out of Afghanistan. Western leaders acknowledged their withdrawal would mean leaving behind some of their citizens and many Afghans who helped
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By Laura Smith-Spark, Saskya Vandoorne, Oren Liebermann, Nick Paton Walsh and Sandi Sidhu, CNN Nine members of one family — including six children — were killed in a US drone strike targeting a vehicle in a residential neighborhood of Kabul, a relative of the dead told a local journalist working with CNN. The US carried
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