President declares disaster in New Mexico wildfire zone
LAS VEGAS — Firefighters slowed the advance of the largest wildfire in the U.S. as heavy winds relented Wednesday, while President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration that brings new financial resources to remote stretches of New Mexico devastated by fire since early April. U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez announced...
AP analysis finds growing number of poor, high-hazard dams
More than 2,200 dams built upstream from homes or communities are in poor condition across the U.S., likely endangering lives if they were to fail, according to an Associated Press analysis. The number of high-hazard dams in need of repairs is up substantially from a similar AP review conducted just...
WHO reports nearly 15M deaths associated with covid
LONDON — The World Health Organization is estimating that nearly 15 million people were killed either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years, more than double the official death toll of 6 million. Most of the fatalities were in Southeast Asia,...
Alabama’s new transgender care felony faces federal test
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal judge will hear arguments Thursday on a challenge to Alabama’s plan to outlaw the use of gender-affirming medications to treat transgender youth. U.S. District Judge Liles Burke has scheduled a hearing on a request to block the law’s enforcement while it’s challenged in court. The...
‘Seemed like goodbye’: Mariupol defenders make their stand
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian fighters in the tunnels underneath Mariupol’s pulverized steel plant held out against Russian troops Thursday in an increasingly desperate and perhaps doomed effort to deny Moscow what would be its biggest success of the war yet: the complete capture of the strategic port city. The bloody...
Donations pouring in for abortion rights organizations
Abortion advocacy groups said they saw their donations grow exponentially after a draft opinion leaked revealing that the U.S. Supreme Court soon intended to reverse its landmark Roe v. Wade decision. The reproductive-rights group NARAL Pro Choice America on Tuesday said it received a 1,403% spike in donations in the...
Attacks dominate Pennsylvania’s Senate GOP primary debate
HARRISBURG — What could be the final primary debate between Republicans running for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat devolved into a string of attacks over China, abortion and more as the candidates stretched Wednesday night for any perceived advantage in a wide-open and expensive race. In many cases, the five...
Pa. state police trooper charged after receiving steroids in the mail
A state trooper was arrested Wednesday accused of having steroids sent to his Chester County home. Trooper Joseph W. Czachorowski is suspended without pay pending the resolution of the charges, state police announced. Czachorowski came under suspicion when a U.S. postal inspector intercepted a parcel addressed to him and got...
Donald Trump Jr. meets with Jan. 6 committee
WASHINGTON — The oldest son of former President Donald Trump has met with the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to two people familiar with the matter. The interview Tuesday with Donald Trump Jr. comes as the bipartisan House committee moves closer to...
Oath Keeper from North Carolina pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy
WASHINGTON — A North Carolina man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring with other members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group to forcefully halt the peaceful transfer of power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. William Todd Wilson, 44, is the third Oath Keepers member to plead guilty...
Arizona officials blast Attorney General Mark Brnovich for election report
PHOENIX — Republican officials who oversee elections in Maricopa County issued a blistering retort Wednesday to GOP Attorney General Mark Brnovich accusing the state’s top lawman of abusing his position and misleading the public about the 2020 election to advance his U.S. Senate campaign. The county officials issued a nine-page...
Fox chews through fence, kills 25 flamingos, duck at National Zoo
WASHINGTON — Zookeepers at the National Zoo made a macabre discovery this week, when they entered the outdoor enclosure that housed 74 flamingos. A wild fox from neighboring Rock Creek Park had apparently chewed a hole in the metal mesh fencing and wreaked havoc, killing 25 flamingos and injuring three...
Georgia man charged with murder after daughter dies in hot car
SNELLVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia man was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday when his 8-month-old daughter died after she was left in a hot car while he went to retrieve a gun from the police department and ended up getting arrested, authorities said. Davied Japez McCorry Whatley, 20, went to...
As U.S. poised to restrict abortion, other nations ease access
BOGOTA, Colombia — As women in the United States find themselves on the verge of possibly losing the constitutional right to abortion, courts in many other parts of the world have been moving in the opposite direction. That includes in a number of traditionally conservative societies — such as recently...
WHO: Covid continues to decline, except in Americas, Africa
GENEVA — The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the number of newly reported coronavirus cases and deaths globally continued to fall in the last week, continuing a decline that first began in March. In its weekly report on the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said there were about 3.8...
Kansas gamer pleads guilty for role in fatal ‘swatting’ case
WICHITA, Kan. — A Kansas man has pleaded guilty to his role in a hoax call that led to a fatal shooting of an innocent bystander by Wichita police in 2017. Shane Gaskell, 23, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to wire fraud in case that drew national attention to...
Ukraine: Russia using ‘missile terrorism’ in wide attacksVideo
LVIV, Ukraine — Complaining that the West is “stuffing Ukraine with weapons,” Russia bombarded railroad stations and other supply-line targets across the country, as the European Union moved to further punish Moscow for the war Wednesday by proposing a ban on oil imports. Heavy fighting also raged at the Azovstal...
Mexican president to talk development, migration on tour
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador plans to begin a lightning, five-day tour Thursday to four Central American countries and Cuba to discuss his government’s approach to development and ways it might help alleviate the pressure to migrate. It will only be the third overseas trip...
Gov. Wolf calls draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade ‘un-American and unacceptable’
Gov. Tom Wolf said he is angry that a leaked draft ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court outlines an effort to overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling Wolf, along with a group of lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates, met in Philadelphia on Wednesday to criticize the draft opinion...
Pope’s Ukraine diplomacy a political and spiritual tightrope
VATICAN CITY — His appeals for an Orthodox Easter truce in Ukraine went unheeded. His planned meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church was canceled. A proposed visit to Moscow? Nyet. Even his attempt to showcase Russian-Ukrainian friendship fell flat. Pope Francis hasn’t made much of a diplomatic...
Texas student fatally stabbed at school; classmate jailed
BELTON, Texas — An 18-year-old student has died after he was stabbed during a fight at a Texas high school and another student was taken into custody, authorities said. Jose Luis Ramirez Jr. died after he was stabbed Tuesday morning in a campus bathroom at Belton High School, about 60...
EU takes major step toward Russian oil ban, new sanctions
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s top official on Wednesday called on the 27-nation bloc to ban oil imports from Russia and target the country’s biggest bank and major broadcasters in a sixth package of sanctions over the war in Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, addressing the European...
Election 2022: JD Vance wins Ohio’s GOP Senate primary
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Bestselling author JD Vance has won Ohio’s contentious and hyper-competitive GOP Senate primary, buoyed by Donald Trump’s endorsement in a race widely seen as an early test of the former president’s hold on his party as the midterm season kicks into high gear. Vance’s win brings to...
Norman Mineta, transportation secretary in 9/11 era, dies
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Norman Mineta, who broke racial barriers for Asian Americans serving in high-profile government posts and ordered commercial flights grounded after the 9/11 terror attacks as the nation’s federal transportation secretary, died Tuesday. He was 90. John Flaherty, Mineta’s former chief of staff, said Mineta died peacefully at...
D.C. reaches $750K settlement in Trump inaugural lawsuit
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s businesses and inaugural committee have reached a deal to pay Washington, D.C., $750,000 to resolve a lawsuit that alleged the committee overpaid for events at his hotel and enriched the former president’s family in the process, according to the District of Columbia’s attorney general....
