CHICAGO (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped their case against the last of three men accused of killing an off-duty Chicago police officer in 2011. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that prosecutors dropped charges against Alexander Villa during a court hearing Wednesday. Villa, Tyrone Clay and Edgardo Colon were all charged in the shooting death of Officer
Continue ReadingAP Soccer Writer Prince William has watched his beloved Aston Villa seal another famous win against Bayern Munich. Villa won 1-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday with heroics from Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. The Prince of Wales and future King of England is a lifelong fan of the Premier League team and was part
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A gambler has pleaded guilty in a sports betting scandal that got NBA player Jontay Porter kicked out of the league earlier this year. Prosecutors and a court document say Long Phi Pham pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to commit wire fraud. Pham — who also goes by the
Continue ReadingSANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic says it will start massive deportations of Haitians living illegally in the country and expel up to 10,000 of them a week. Government spokesman Homero Figueroa said Wednesday that the government took the decision after noticing an “excess” of Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic, which
Continue ReadingAP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates dipped last year and the proportion of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted Wednesday. The share of kids exempted from vaccine requirements rose to 3.3%, up from 3% the year before. Meanwhile, 92.7% of kindergartners got their
Continue ReadingLOS ANGELES (AP) — Fernando Valenzuela is stepping away from his broadcast duties with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the rest of the season so the former major league pitcher can focus on his health. Valenzuela, who turns 64 on Nov. 1, is a Spanish language broadcaster for LA. The team said Wednesday he is
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has taken action to immediately implement a sweeping new gun law in her state. The law cracks down on privately made, unserialized “ghost guns,” criminalizes possession of bump stocks and trigger cranks and requires applicants for a gun license complete live-fire training. The new law was
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A civil rights group is suing the city of Albuquerque, its police department and top officials on behalf of a man who was among those arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and later forced to pay bribes to get the charges dropped. The DWI scandal has spurred a
Continue ReadingAssociated Press Whether a 2-year-old beaver named Nibi gets to stay with the rescuers she has known since she was a baby or must be released into the wild as winter approaches in Massachusetts has ended up in court — and caused such an uproar that even the governor has weighed in. “To literally see
Continue ReadingAssociated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations has called Israel’s ban on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres entering the country a political statement by its foreign minister and stressed that the world body’s contacts with Israel will continue “because they have to.” A U.N. spokesman told reporters Wednesday that Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz deeming
Continue ReadingAssociated Press DETROIT (AP) — U.S. authorities have charged five Chinese nationals with lying and trying to cover their tracks. It comes more than a year after they were confronted in the dark near a remote Michigan military site where thousands of people had gathered for drills. The five were University of Michigan students at
Continue ReadingMEXICO CITY (AP) — Four men are dead and two others are recovering from wounds after gunmen burst into a Mexican drug rehab center and opened fire. Officials in the north-central state of Guanajuato said Wednesday that the killings occurred late Tuesday in the city of Salamanca. There was no immediate information on the conditions
Continue ReadingAP Pro Football Writer FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — New York Jets wide receiver Allen Lazard expects to be fined by the NFL for his celebration after a catch against Denver last Sunday that included what officials deemed to be a gun-like gesture. Lazard called the situation “very, very silly.” The wide receiver said his
Continue ReadingAP Technology Writer OpenAI said Wednesday it has raised $6.6 billion in venture capital investments as part of a broader shift by the ChatGPT maker away from its nonprofit roots. Led by venture capital firm Thrive Capital, the funding round was backed by tech giants Microsoft, Nvidia and SoftBank, according to a source familiar with
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump laid the groundwork to try to overturn the 2020 election even before he lost, knowingly pushed false claims of voter fraud and “resorted to crimes” in his failed bid to cling to power, according to a court filing unsealed Wednesday that offers new evidence from the landmark criminal
Continue ReadingCanadian figure skater Nikolaj Sorensen has been suspended for at least six years for sexual maltreatment. The Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner announced the suspension Wednesday. The ban is a result of an investigation into an allegation that Sorensen sexually assaulted an American figure skating coach and former skater in Hartford, Connecticut, in 2012.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland officials have approved a $2.75 million settlement to resolve a federal investigation into discriminatory hiring practices affecting 48 Black and female applicants to the Maryland State Police. The settlement was approved Wednesday by the Maryland Board of Public Works and will include changes to how applicants are tested.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press John Savage says he checked on his grandparents in their bedroom as Hurricane Helene roared outside. Just minutes later, he says they were killed by a tree that fell and crushed their bedroom. Marcia and Jerry Savage are two of the more than 150 people killed because of the storm and its aftermath.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press Falling trees and raging floods from Hurricane Helene killed more than 150 people when it struck Florida late last week and then plowed through the Southeast as one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. People died in six states: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Among them were two
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An anti-corruption agency in Haiti has accused three members of the country’s transitional presidential council of bribery in a scathing report that threatens to destabilize the country’s fragile political stability. The Unit for Combating Corruption says that Smith Augustin, Emmanuel Vertilaire and Louis Gérald Gilles are accused
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