Month: April 2023

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Republican-dominated Florida Legislature on Thursday approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal supported by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis as he prepares for an expected presidential run. DeSantis is expected to sign the bill into law. Florida currently prohibits abortions after

By ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative mega-donor Harlan Crow purchased three properties belonging to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his family, in a transaction worth more than $100,000 that Thomas never reported, according to the non-profit investigative journalism organization ProPublica. The 2014 real estate deal shines a new light on Thomas’s

By JAMIE STENGLE Leaders in a rural Texas county held a special meeting Thursday to consider the drastic option of shutting their public library system down rather than heed a federal judge’s order to return books to the shelves ranging from teen sexuality and gender to bigotry and race. After public comments for and against

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida will soon no longer require unanimous jury recommendations for judges to impose death penalty sentences. The legislation passed Thursday is a reaction to the life sentence handed to the man who massacred 17 people at a Parkland high school. It will allow the death penalty

By MICHAEL R. SISAK ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump answered questions for nearly seven hours Thursday during his second deposition in a legal battle with New York’s attorney general over his company’s business practices, reversing an earlier decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and remain silent. The

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A rapid spring snowmelt after an unusually wet winter is unleashing flooding from the Southwest to the Rockies, causing residents there and in the Upper Midwest to evacuate or stock up on sandbags amid surging creeks and rivers. In Flagstaff, Arizona, neighbors on one street have been working side by side

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The judge who oversaw the sentencing of the Parkland massacre gunman won’t be able to oversee proceedings in another murder case involving the death penalty. The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Judge Elizabeth Scherer showed inappropriate sympathy for victims’ families and prosecutors. She hugged them after being left no

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Thousands of Iowa residents are expected to lose Medicaid and food stamp benefits under a bill given final legislative approval and sent to Gov. Kim Reynolds. The state House approved the bill Thursday. It would change eligibility requirements and require more checks that people qualify

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) — A Peruvian judge has convicted retired army general and conservative politician Daniel Urresti to 12 years in prison for his role in the 1988 murder of a journalist who covered abuses during Peru’s civil war. Urresti was a military intelligence officer in November 1988 when journalist