Kevin McCarthy fails in marathon votes for speaker, House adjournsVideo
WASHINGTON — Unable to elect Republican leader Kevin McCarthy as the new House speaker Tuesday, the Republicans adjourned for the day in disarray as the party tries to regroup from his a historic defeat after a long, messy start for the new Congress. The surprise move end to Day One...
Welfare scandal sharpens contrasts in long-poor Mississippi
JACKSON, Miss. — In Mississippi, where elected officials have a long history of praising self-sufficiency and condemning federal antipoverty programs, a welfare scandal has exposed how millions of dollars were diverted to the rich and powerful — including pro athletes — instead of helping some of the neediest people in...
Drone advances in Ukraine could bring dawn of killer robots
KYIV, Ukraine — Drone advances in Ukraine have accelerated a long-anticipated technology trend that could soon bring the world’s first fully autonomous fighting robots to the battlefield, inaugurating a new age of warfare. The longer the war lasts, the more likely it becomes that drones will be used to identify,...
Russia, shaken by Ukrainian strike, could step up drone use
KYIV, Ukraine — Emergency crews on Tuesday sifted through the rubble of a building struck by Ukrainian rockets, killing at least 63 Russian soldiers barracked there, in the latest blow to the Kremlin’s war strategy as Ukraine says Moscow’s tactics could be shifting. An Associated Press video of the scene...
As legal pot grows, more kids sickened by edibles at home
The number of young kids, especially toddlers, who accidentally ate marijuana-laced treats rose sharply over five years as pot became legal in more places in the U.S., according to a study published Tuesday. More than 7,000 confirmed cases of kids younger than 6 eating marijuana edibles were reported to the...
Move on from covid? Child care disruptions continue
Forty-seven. That’s how many days of child care Kathryn Anne Edwards’ 3-year-old son has missed in the past year. RSV, covid-19 and two bouts of the dreaded preschool scourge of hand, foot and mouth disease struck one after another. The illnesses were so disruptive that the labor economist quit her...
$785M Mega Millions prize is 6th largest in U.S. history
DES MOINES, Iowa — An estimated $785 million Mega Millions jackpot set for Tuesday night will give lottery players a chance to start the new year with a lucrative bang. The big prize is the sixth-largest jackpot in U.S. history and has grown so large because no one has matched...
Idaho slayings suspect’s family voices sympathy for victims
STROUDSBURG — Relatives of a man arrested in Pennsylvania in the slayings of four University of Idaho students expressed sympathy for the victims’ families but also vowed to support him and promote “his presumption of innocence.” Bryan Kohberger, 28, is eager to be exonerated and plans to tell a judge...
New York City machete attack: Man arrested on attempted murder chargesVideo
NEW YORK — A man accused of attacking police with a machete near New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve was arrested on charges of attempting to murder police officers, authorities said Monday as they continued to investigate whether he was motivated by Islamic extremism. Trevor Bickford, 19, also...
California braces for more rain after New Year’s Eve deluge
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Residents in California’s vast Central Valley region are bracing for another round of powerful storms this week after flooding from a New Year’s Eve deluge killed one person and forced the evacuation of people in low-lying areas — including more than 1,000 inmates at a county jail....
Transgender woman’s scheduled execution would be U.S. first
ST. LOUIS — Unless Missouri Gov. Mike Parson grants clemency, Amber McLaughlin, 49, will become the first openly transgender woman executed in the U.S. She is scheduled to die by injection Tuesday for killing a former girlfriend in 2003. McLaughlin’s attorney, Larry Komp, said there are no court appeals pending....
Pope Benedict aide’s tell-all book will expose dark maneuvers
VATICAN CITY — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s longtime personal secretary has written a tell-all book that his publisher on Monday promised would tell the truth about the “blatant calumnies,” “dark maneuvers,” mysteries and scandals that sullied the reputation of a pontiff best known for his historic resignation. Archbishop Georg Gaenswein’s...
At the Supreme Court, it’s taking longer to hear cases
WASHINGTON — When lawyers argue before the Supreme Court, a small white light goes on to tell them when their time is almost expired and then a red light signals when they should stop. But arguments this term are extending well beyond the red light’s cue. Arguments that usually lasted...
Israeli army kills 2 Palestinians in West Bank confrontation
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a man claimed by an armed group as a member, during a confrontation that erupted early Monday when troops entered a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said. The two men were killed in the village...
Danish screenwriter Lise Nørgaard dies at age 105
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Lise Nørgaard, a screenwriter who penned the popular epic television drama “Matador” about the lives of ordinary Danish families in a fictitious provincial town during the recession of the 1930s and the hard times of World War II, has died. She was 105. Nørgaard died Sunday after...
Fans mourn Pelé at public viewing in Brazil stadium
SANTOS, Brazil — Thousands of mourners began paying their respects to Pelé in a solemn procession past his coffin at the Vila Belmiro Stadium in his hometown of Santos on Monday. The Brazilian soccer great died Thursday after a battle with cancer. The three-time World Cup winner was 82. Pelé’s...
South Africa gas truck explosion death toll rises to 34
JOHANNESBURG — The death toll from an explosion of a tanker truck on Christmas Eve near eastern Johannesburg has risen to 34, including 10 health workers at a nearby hospital, officials report. The truck was carrying gas when it got stuck under a low-lying bridge in the town of Boksburg,...
Longtime congresswoman defends heartland
TOLEDO, Ohio — When the new Congress convenes on Tuesday, Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur will become the longest-serving woman in its history. Yet after 40 years, she sometimes feels like an outsider. Not because she’s a woman or now in the minority party in the House. It’s that she’s...
How to prepare for your next emergency
When a power outage knocked out electricity to a multistate region in 2003, Gabriella Barthlow , a financial coach in the Detroit area, was prepared. She had enough money on hand to buy food for herself and her two young children, plus put gas in her car in case they...
Ukraine reports more Russian drone attacks
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces fired rockets at a facility in the eastern Donetsk region where Russian soldiers were stationed, killing 63 of them, Russia’s defense ministry said Monday, in one of the deadliest attacks on the Kremlin’s forces since the war began more than 10 months ago. Ukrainian forces...
2 kids among 6 people die in Kashmir village attack
SRINAGAR, India — Two children were killed and five other civilians wounded in a blast in a village in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday, a day after assailants sprayed bullets toward a row of homes, leaving at least four dead, police said. The blast occurred near one of the houses targeted...
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI body lying in state at Vatican
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI ‘s body, his head resting on a pair of crimson pillows, lay in state in St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday as tens of thousands queued to pay tribute to the pontiff who shocked the world by retiring a decade ago. On the eve of the first...
Pennsylvanians choose their most popular New Year’s resolution
Some Pennsylvanians appear to be looking for ways to work on their inner self in 2023. Pennsylvania, along with 11 other states, listed therapy as the top New Year’s resolution, in a recent study conducted by Zippia, a job search website. Nationally, going to therapy was named the most popular...
Brazil’s Lula sworn in, vows accountability and rebuilding
BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in as president on Sunday, and in his first address expressed optimism about plans to rebuild while pledging that members of outgoing Jair Bolsonaro’s administration will be held to account. Lula is assuming office for the third time after...
Ukraine faces grim start to 2023 after fresh Russian attacks
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainians faced a grim start to 2023 as Sunday brought more Russian missile and drone attacks following a blistering New Year’s Eve assault that killed at least civilians across the country, authorities reported. Air raid sirens sounded in the capital shortly after midnight, followed by a barrage...
