Texas man sentenced to 180 days in jail for drugging wife’s drinks to induce an abortion
HOUSTON — A Texas man who drugged his wife’s drinks in an attempt to induce an abortion was sentenced to 180 days in jail and 10 years on probation. Mason Herring, a 39-year-old Houston attorney, pleaded guilty Wednesday to injury to a child and assault of a pregnant person. He...
AI-generated voices in robocalls can deceive voters. The FCC just made them illegal
NEW YORK — The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday outlawed robocalls that contain voices generated by artificial intelligence, a decision that sends a clear message that exploiting the technology to scam people and mislead voters won’t be tolerated. The unanimous ruling targets robocalls made with AI voice-cloning tools under the...
2 JetBlue planes make contact at Logan Airport, wingtip touches tail
BOSTON — Two JetBlue planes made contact Thursday morning at Boston Logan International Airport, with one wingtip touching another plane’s tail. No one was hurt and both flights were canceled, Jennifer Mehigan of the Massachusetts Port Authority said in an email. The left winglet of JetBlue Flight 777 struck the...
PennWest University embarks on search for new president
Efforts to identify PennWest University’s next president are advancing this week after the school finished assembling a 25-member search committee. Members are a mix of State System of Higher Education leaders and representatives from the California, Clarion and Edinboro campuses, which were merged in 2022 to create Western Pennsylvania’s largest...
Death toll in landslide-hit Philippine mountain village rises to 11 with over 100 missing
MANILA, Philippines — Rescuers dug out more bodies from a landslide-hit southern Philippine village on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 11 as the number of missing rose to 110, officials said. At least 31 residents survived with injuries when the landslide hit the gold-mining mountain village of Masara in...
Sports leagues promise the White House they will provide more opportunities for people to exercise
WASHINGTON — More than a dozen sports leagues and players associations, from the NFL to the PGA Tour, have promised the White House that they will provide more opportunities for people to be physically active and learn about nutrition and adopting healthy lifestyles. The White House announced Thursday that the...
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy tells top general it’s time for someone new to lead the army
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Ukraine’s top general on Friday and told him it’s time for someone new to lead the army. In a post on X, Zelenskyy said he thanks Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi for his two years of service and discussed possible replacements for the...
Haley plans a 2-week bus tour before South Carolina’s GOP primary as Trump returns to the state
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Nikki Haley is launching a bus tour before South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary on Feb. 24, hoping the two-week push will show the former governor’s commitment to her home state heading into the first-in-the-South vote. It’s a tall order in a state where support remains strong for...
5 Marines aboard helicopter that went down outside San Diego are confirmed dead, military says
SAN DIEGO — Five U.S. Marines aboard a helicopter that went down during stormy weather in the mountains outside of San Diego are confirmed dead, the military said Thursday. Authorities say the CH-53E Super Stallion vanished late Tuesday night while returning to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego...
Countdown begins for April’s total solar eclipse. What to know about watch parties and safe viewing
The sun is about to pull another disappearing act across North America, turning day into night during a total solar eclipse. The peak spectacle on April 8 will last up to 4 minutes, 28 seconds in the path of total darkness — twice as long as the total solar eclipse...
Israeli strikes kill 13 in a southern Gaza town that could be the next target in the war
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed over a dozen people overnight and into Thursday in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ cease-fire terms and vowed to expand the offensive into the southern Gaza town. More than half of strip’s population has fled...
Supreme Court seems poised to reject efforts to kick Trump off ballot over Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seems poised to reject attempts to kick former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot. A definitive ruling for Trump, the leading Republican candidate for president, would largely end efforts in Colorado, Maine and elsewhere to prevent his name from appearing on the ballot. Conservative...
Legalizing marijuana could generate $255M in revenue for Pa., Gov. Shapiro says
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is hoping to capitalize on what he predicts would generate more than a quarter-billion dollars in revenue if the state legalizes adult-use marijuana. During his budget address Tuesday, he pointed to neighboring states Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland that have legalized recreational use...
Marianne Williamson suspends her presidential campaign, ending long-shot primary challenge to Biden
WASHINGTON — Self-help author and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson on Wednesday announced the end of her long-shot Democratic challenge to President Joe Biden. The 71-year-old onetime spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey contemplated suspending her campaign last month after winning just 5,000 votes in New Hampshire’s primary, writing that she “had...
Stabbing of Palestinian American near the University of Texas meets hate crime standard, police say
AUSTIN, Texas — The stabbing of a 23-year-old Palestinian American who advocates say was attacked near the University of Texas campus while riding in a truck displaying support for Palestine merits the label of a hate crime, Austin police announced Wednesday. Bert James Baker, 36, was arrested following the Sunday...
Fossil fuel-dependent Puerto Rico can fully shift to clean energy by 2050, a federal study says
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — As Puerto Rico struggles with chronic power outages and a decaying electric grid, federal officials believe the U.S. territory can fully shift from fossil fuels to clean energy by 2050, according to a report Wednesday that has been two years in the making. The report...
Prince William thanks public for messages to King Charles and Kate, says they mean ‘a great deal’
LONDON — Prince William returned to royal duties Wednesday for the first time since his father, King Charles III, announced his cancer diagnosis and his wife, Kate, was hospitalized for abdominal surgery. Speaking about his families’ health scares in public for the first time, the 41-year-old heir to the throne...
Massachusetts governor nominates former romantic partner to state’s highest court
BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday nominated an appeals court judge and former romantic partner with whom she shared a home for several years to an open seat on the state’s highest court. Massachusetts Appeals Court Associate Justice Gabrielle R. Wolohojian would serve as an associate justice of the...
Cough? Sore throat? More schools suggest mildly sick kids attend anyway
Trenace Dorsey-Hollins’ 5-year-old daughter was sick a lot last year. Dorsey-Hollins followed school guidelines and kept her home when she had a cough or a sore throat — or worse — until she was completely better. Near the end of the year, the school in Fort Worth, Texas, called her...
2 officers wounded by gunfire at a suburban Philadelphia home that is then gutted by fire
EAST LANSDOWNE — Two police officers were wounded Wednesday by gunfire at a suburban Philadelphia home that was later set on fire and consumed by the blaze, possibly with multiple people inside, authorities said. Officers from East Lansdowne, Lansdowne and Upper Darby responded to the house in East Lansdowne in...
Drone strike in Baghdad kills high-ranking militia commander, officials say
BAGHDAD — A U.S. drone strike hit a car in the Iraqi capital Wednesday night, killing three members of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, including a high-ranking commander, officials said. The strike came on a main thoroughfare in the Mashtal neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. A crowd gathered as emergency response...
What’s next for Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of the Michigan school shooter?
PONTIAC, Mich. — A conviction in the unprecedented trial of a Michigan school shooter’s mother will stand as a milestone to law enforcers across the U.S. as well as a stark reminder to parents with guns in their home. But experts who followed Jennifer Crumbley’s involuntary manslaughter case note that...
‘Cocaine Bear’ or serious threat? Florida legislator warns of bears ‘on crack’
If House Bill 87 called “Taking of Bears” passes in Florida, the state’s bear population could be in danger. Republican state Rep. Jason Shoaf wants Florida to loosen regulations on the killing of wildlife, as he claims black bears that are high on crack are breaking into people’s homes and...
Medical examiner rules the decapitation of a baby during delivery was a homicideVideo
ATLANTA — A medical examiner has classified the death of a Georgia couple’s baby that was decapitated during delivery as a homicide, their attorneys announced Wednesday. Treveon Taylor, Jr.’s parents have sued the hospital and the doctor who delivered him in July. Both denied any negligence. The Clayton County Medical...
Senate Republicans block bipartisan border package, scuttling deal they had demanded from Democrats
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan border package Wednesday, scuttling months of negotiations with Democrats on legislation intended to cut back record numbers of illegal border crossings. Many Republicans said the election-year compromise wasn’t enough, even as supporters of the bill insisted it was the best possible in divided...
