ASHLAND, Ore. (AP) — A winged creature from Oregon was crowned this year’s winner Thursday in an annual bat beauty contest put on by the Bureau of Land Management. On Halloween, which was also the last day of International Bat Week, a hoary bat with a feisty personality named “Hoary Potter” defeated “Lestat”, the western
Continue ReadingVANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian police dismantled what they say is the largest, most sophisticated illicit drug “super lab” in the country. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police believe organized crime ran the operation where there was mass-production and distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine across Canada and internationally. Officers served search warrants last week on
Continue ReadingWASHINGTON (AP) — Third-party presidential candidate Cornel West has lost a Supreme Court bid to be included on the presidential ballot in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. Justice Samuel Alito refused his emergency appeal in a brief order Thursday. Alito handles appeals originating in Pennsylvania. The liberal academic would likely draw more votes away
Continue ReadingLAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada jury decided Thursday that a man should serve life in state prison with no chance of parole for breaking into a room at a Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino and killing two Vietnamese tour leaders in 2018. Julius Damiano Deangilo Trotter, 37, was spared a death sentence by the same
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Survivors of a deadly walkway collapse at a state-run ferry dock on a Georgia island said Thursday that the government should help them pay for funerals for the seven people who died as well as medical bills and mental health counseling for those who lived. Lawmakers on the Georgia
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s new law categorizing two widely used abortion drugs as controlled dangerous substances is being challenged in a state court lawsuit by a physician, a pharmacist, two women who had difficult pregnancies and others. The lawsuit filed Thursday in Baton Rouge says the law sets up needless, dangerous
Continue ReadingAssociated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A Marine investigation blamed the pilot of an advanced fighter jet for ejecting from the aircraft when he didn’t need to, causing the F-35 to fly unmanned for 11 minutes before it crashed in rural South Carolina last year. Military officials could not find the jet or its wreckage
Continue ReadingMONTREAL (AP) — More than 45 nations signed a pledge in Montreal to repatriate to Ukraine the civilians, prisoners of war and children taken by Russia since it invaded the country. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says the countries agreed to co-ordinate efforts to gather information about Ukrainians held in Russia and to create
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The city of St. Petersburg will spend about $6.5 million to clean up and protect Tropicana Field, the home of baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Milton. The translucent fiberglass dome of the ballpark was shredded by the storm Oct. 9, leaving in doubt
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and South Korea have called on China to use its influence over Russia and North Korea to prevent escalation after Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to Russia to aid Moscow’s war against Ukraine. Beijing has so far stayed quiet. In a rare meeting earlier this week, three top
Continue ReadingAssociated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A judge has handed down long sentences to two former police officers for the 2018 murder of Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco, an icon of Brazil’s political left whose killing sparked outrage. Ronnie Lessa and Élcio de Queiroz were sentenced to almost 79 years and almost
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Rapper Young Thug has pleaded guilty to gang, drug and gun charges and will be released from jail. He could be put back behind bars if he violates the terms of his sentence. Lead prosecutor Adriane Love says the 33-year-old Grammy winning artist entered his pleas without reaching a deal
Continue ReadingAssociated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County is taking on Pepsi and Coke for their role in plastic pollution. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the county alleged PepsiCo and Coca-Cola companies have misled the public about the recyclability of their plastic bottles and downplayed the negative environmental and health impacts of plastic disposal.
Continue ReadingThe amount of the powerful climate-changing gas methane spilling out of oil and gas equipment, coal mines and landfills globally is nowhere near fully documented and what is known is “only scratching the surface” according to the CEO of one the companies that tracks methane with its own satellites. Rather than improving, the methane emissions
Continue ReadingCHICAGO (AP) — The president of the Chicago school board resigned Thursday just a week after he was appointed because of social media posts deemed antisemitic, anti-women and lending credence to a conspiracy theory about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Rev. Mitchell Johnson’s resignation came at the request of Mayor Brandon Johnson. The mayor called
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors say lawyers for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs are trying to “hijack” the music mogul’s criminal case from them by asking a judge to force early disclosure of evidence, including his accusers’ identities. The prosecutors urged a judge in papers filed late Wednesday to reject the requests, saying the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A co-chair of Donald Trump’s transition team says Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants access to federal health data so he can show vaccines are unsafe and lead to them being pulled from the market in a second Trump administration. Trump has talked often about how Kennedy, who suspended his
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NEW YORK (AP) — After 42 seasons, Bob Costas is retiring from baseball play-by-play. Costas had done games the past couple seasons for MLB Network and TBS Sports. His final games were the American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals. Costas’ contract with TBS expired at the end of
Continue ReadingAP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Never before in a presidential election cycle has there been so much discussion of the child tax credit — a tool many Democrats and Republicans have endorsed as a way to lift children and young families out of poverty. Just three years ago, child poverty rates fell significantly when
Continue ReadingReligion News Service (RNS) — An eight-man heavy metal band from Mongolia known as The Hu has done what few thought could happen in the 21st century: Create a new genre of folk-metal music. Decked out in black war regalia out of the 13th century, they sing invocations to a Mongolian sky deity and odes
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