Associated Press/Report for America RESERVE, La. (AP) — A southeast Louisiana school board voted to shut down a predominantly Black elementary school next to a petrochemical facility embroiled in multiple lawsuits over its high levels of toxic emissions. Denka Performance Elastomer LLC produces a synthetic rubber used for wetsuits and laptop sleeves and has exposed
Continue ReadingDemocratic Rep. Andrea Salinas won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Oregon on Friday. Salinas, a first-term congresswoman, defeated Republican Mike Erickson, who also ran against her unsuccessfully in 2022. Democrat Joe Biden would have comfortably carried the Salem-based district in the 2020 presidential election. The Associated Press declared Salinas the winner at 8:31
Continue ReadingDemocrat Lateefah Simon won election to a U.S. House seat representing California on Friday. The district in northern California is the most Democratic district in the entire country, according to the Cook Partisan Voter Index. Simon, born legally blind, has served on the Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors since 2016 and was elected
Continue ReadingMEXICO CITY (AP) — Gunmen have killed a navy rear admiral in Mexico, one of the highest-ranking officers slain in the country in the last decade. The navy said Friday that a rear admiral _ which is just below full admiral, the Navy’s highest rank _ had been shot to death in the Pacific coast
Continue ReadingPHOENIX (AP) — A natural gas utility with more than 2 million customers in Arizona, Nevada and parts of California is being fined $2 million by regulators in Arizona over concerns about piping that is known to degrade in the heat. The Arizona Corporation Commission announced Friday that it reached a consent agreement with Southwest
Continue ReadingJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A former sheriff in Mississippi’s largest county has been convicted on federal charges of soliciting bribes and providing ammunition to a convicted felon. Marshand Crisler of Jackson was acting Hinds County sheriff for part of 2021 after the death of the elected sheriff, Lee Vance. Crisler was convicted Friday and faces
Continue ReadingNEW YORK (AP) — A parked vehicle containing gas cylinders and other flammable materials has exploded on a residential street in New York City, damaging homes, other vehicles and overhead power lines. Deputy Fire Chief George Healy says no injuries were reported, but five homes and five vehicles were destroyed in the Friday morning blast.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has ruled that New York City can’t use a two-century-old “anti-pauper” law to block the state of Texas from offering migrants free bus rides to the city. The court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from Mayor Eric Adams targeting charter bus companies paid by the southern border
Continue ReadingAssociated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Army has awarded a $435 million contract to build a TNT production plant in western Kentucky. Officials said Friday it will become the first domestic source for the explosive material in decades. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was a key player in securing the funding. He says
Continue ReadingAssociated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Republican Don Bacon has been elected to a fifth House term representing Nebraska’s Omaha-based 2nd District, nearly three days after the polls closed. Bacon held a news conference Wednesday morning declaring victory. But his Democratic challenger, state Sen. Tony Vargas, declined to concede the tight race, with around 15,000
Continue ReadingSAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has declared a state of emergency in 23 counties swamped by flooding rainstorms. Kemp’s order Friday covers a wide section of southern Georgia that was inundated Wednesday and Thursday by heavy rains. The National Weather Service says more than 12 inches of rainfall caused flooding in Valdosta
Continue ReadingAssociated Press INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A woman and a child are dead after an officer fired a weapon while responding to a domestic disturbance at an apartment in the Kansas City suburb of Independence, Missouri. “Heartbreaking” is how Police Chief Adam Dustman described it at a news conference. He says the woman was armed
Continue ReadingAssociated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Board of Corrections has approved an 815-acre site where it plans to build a new prison, despite objections from some residents. The board on Friday voted to accept the land the state had purchased for nearly $3 million to build a planned 3,000-inmate prison. Gov. Sarah
Continue ReadingAssociated Press The rhesus macaque monkeys that escaped a South Carolina medical lab this week are among the most studied animals on the planet. For more than a century, they’ve held a mirror to humanity through research on their behaviors, organ systems and genetic code. These bare-faced primates with expressive eyes have been launched into
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Several federal and state agencies are investigating how racist mass texts were sent to Black people across the country in the wake of the presidential election this week. The text messages invoking slavery were sent to Black men, women and children, prompting inquiries by the FBI and other law enforcement
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A federal judge has overturned Illinois’ ban on semiautomatic weapons, leaning on recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that strictly interpret the Second Amendment right to keep and bear firearms. U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn said his Friday decision applied universally, not just to the lawsuit’s plaintiffs. The Protect
Continue ReadingRepublican Rep. Don Bacon won a fifth term representing the Omaha-centered U.S. House district for Nebraska on Friday. In yet another hard-fought bid, Bacon defeated Democrat Tony Vargas, a state lawmaker, in a rematch of their 2022 race. Unlike other GOP candidates in the solidly Republican state, Bacon emphasized his bipartisan credentials and highlighted his
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie, who has never held public office, promised on Friday that as San Francisco’s mayor he will do what seasoned politicians before him have not — clean up city streets and bring an end to its open-air drug markets. “Your voices and your call for
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Police say they have arrested a man in a spate of random stabbings over two days in Seattle in which nine people were injured. Police say five people were stabbed on Friday and one person was taken into custody in Seattle. The Seattle Police Department says the stabbings happened in
Continue ReadingAssociated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Hunger experts are warning that there’s “a strong likelihood” famine is imminent in parts of northern Gaza where Israeli forces are conducting a major offensive. An alert issued Friday by the four experts called the humanitarian situation throughout the Gaza Strip “extremely grave and rapidly deteriorating” and worst in
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