Month: March 2024

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have proposed legislation to allow spiritual chaplains in public schools, a move that proponents say will ease a youth mental health crisis, bolster staff retention and offer spiritual care to students who can’t afford or access religious schools.

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Lucy Pitka McCormick’s relatives cooked salmon, moose, beaver and muskrat over an earthen firepit on the banks of the Chena River, just outside Fairbanks, as they honored her life. They whipped whitefish, blueberries and lard into a traditional Alaska Native dessert, and dolloped servings onto a

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Supreme Court ruling curtailing subsidies for ultra-Orthodox men has rattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition and raised questions about its viability as the country presses on with the war in Gaza. Netanyahu has until Monday to present the court with a plan to dismantle what

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press The largest uranium producer in the United States is ramping up work just south of Grand Canyon National Park on a long-contested project that largely has sat dormant since the 1980s. The work is unfolding as global instability and growing demand drive uranium prices higher. The Biden administration and

By DAVID A. LIEB and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press The rapid collapse of a Baltimore bridge that was struck by large cargo ship highlighted the importance that bridges play in the daily lives of many Americans. Six construction workers who were on the bridge are presumed dead. The drivers of more than 30,000 vehicles that

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press ENID, Okla. (AP) — The typical topics for discussion among city leaders in the northwest Oklahoma community of Enid are how to lure a new movie theater, the cost of operating a downtown arena and plans for a solar farm on the edge of town. But the issue looming large

By DAVID A. LIEB, MICHAEL CASEY, JEFF MCMURRAY and CHRISTOPHER KELLER Associated Press After a yearlong closure, a bridge over the Puyallup River reopened in 2019 with a sturdy new span and a brand new name. It even won a national award. But today, the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge is closed again after federal officials

By SEUNG MIN KIM and BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is raising gobs of cash. And it has an election-year strategy that, in a nutshell, aims to spend more — and spend faster. Not only has Biden aimed to show himself off as a fundraising juggernaut this month,

By SERKAN GURBUZ and JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — Teams of engineers are working on the intricate and careful process of hauling away the twisted steel and shattered concrete of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland while also trying to recover the bodies of four workers still missing and presumed dead. The

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — Representatives of two armed groups in Congo signed solemn pledges this week to both their violence-wracked country and the wider world: We will do better to respect and protect civilians. The envoys made commitments that their forces will work to end sexual violence, food insecurity and conditions