WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown, instead telling House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans to essentially renegotiate just days before a deadline when federal funding runs out. The sudden decision to make new demands has sent Congress spiraling even as lawmakers are trying
Continue ReadingAssociated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The brother of the late New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has pleaded guilty to threatening to carry out a shooting at the University of Connecticut and to kill three people outside of the state last year. Dennis Hernandez entered the plea Wednesday in federal court in Hartford.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York prosecutors are using a 9/11-era anti-terrorism law in their case against the man charged with gunning down UnitedHealthcare’s CEO outside a midtown Manhattan hotel. Luigi Mangione was indicted on charges of murder as an act of terrorism, under a state law that allows for stiffer sentences when
Continue ReadingAssociated Press Detroit (AP) — Global battery maker CATL says it will expand its electric vehicle battery swapping in China in 2025. Wednesday’s announcement was a reminder of a technology that has been around for some time and periodically tried. The expansion of battery swapping is likely to do well in China, which accounts for
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Jay-Z’s lawyers are asking a judge to speedily extract the rapper from a lawsuit in which a woman alleges she was sexually assaulted by Jay-Z and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs when she was 13. The unidentified woman recently added Jay-Z to her lawsuit against Combs in Manhattan federal court. In
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A former top aide to New York City Mayor Eric Adams is expected in court Thursday to face corruption charges in the latest blow to an administration beset by searches, resignations and the mayor’s own indictment. Two people familiar with the matter say Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who resigned Sunday as
Continue ReadingAssociated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — An appeals court says New Jersey’s top law enforcement official overstepped his authority last year when he took control of the police force in the state’s third-largest city soon after Paterson police fatally shot a man barricaded in an apartment bathroom. The New Jersey Appellate Division said Wednesday that
Continue ReadingTOWSON, Md. (AP) — Investigators in Baltimore County are looking into whether a shooting and related vehicle crash that left one person dead and nine injured Tuesday night are connected to a nearby homicide earlier this month. Officials say all 10 of the victims were found inside a flipped vehicle that burst into flames after
Continue ReadingROCKVILLE, Conn. (AP) — A man accused of stalking and harassing UConn basketball star Paige Bueckers has pleaded guilty to a stalking charge. A court clerk said 40-year-old Robert Cole Parmalee received a one-year suspended sentence and three year’s probation on Wednesday. He originally faced three charges, but those were substituted for second-degree stalking. Parmalee
Continue ReadingCHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Fred Lorenzen, a NASCAR Hall of Famer and the 1965 Daytona champion, died Wednesday. He was 89. NASCAR released a statement saying Lorenzen had died. A cause of death wasn’t given, but Lorenzen had been in declining health for years. In 1998, he was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers.
Continue ReadingWASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense is expected to face his first public questioning from U.S. senators on Jan. 14. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker told reporters Wednesday that the committee is planning to hold Pete Hegseth’s hearing in mid-January as the former Fox News host and veteran
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The shooter who killed a student and teacher at a religious school in Wisconsin brought two guns to the school and was in contact with a man in California who authorities say was planning to attack a government building, according to authorities and court documents that became public Wednesday.
Continue ReadingAP Education Writers Children of the wealthy and connected get special admissions consideration at some elite U.S. universities, according to new filings in a class-action lawsuit originally brought against 17 schools. Georgetown’s then-president, for example, listed a prospective student on his “president’s list” after meeting her and her wealthy father at an Idaho conference known
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SEATTLE (AP) — The world’s largest hornet, an invasive breed dubbed the “murder hornet” for its dangerous sting and ability to slaughter a honey bee hive in a matter of hours, has been declared eradicated in the U.S., five years after being spotted for the first time in Washington state near the Canadian
Continue ReadingMIAMI (AP) — A friend of brothers who are prominent in luxury real estate in Florida and New York and are charged with sex trafficking and assault surrendered Wednesday on an allegation that he helped two of them rape a woman nearly a decade ago. Ohad Fisherman, 39, returned early from his honeymoon in Japan
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Billionaire author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott acknowledged another $2 billion in donations in a blog post on Wednesday, bringing the total she’s given away since 2019 to $19.2 billion. She also revealed new information about how she was managing her wealth, saying she had directed advisors to invest her
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AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto safety regulators have backed away from seeking a giant recall of nearly 50 million air bag inflators and will investigate further after the auto industry raised questions about whether all of the inflators are defective. The move Wednesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is vastly
Continue ReadingCHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The two teams suing NASCAR over an antitrust complaint were granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday that allowed them to compete as chartered teams in the 2025 season. 23XI Racing, the team owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports refused
Continue ReadingHELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s Supreme Court has upheld a landmark climate ruling that said the state was violating residents’ constitutional right to a clean environment by permitting oil, gas and coal projects without regard for global warming. The justices, in a 6-1 ruling Wednesday, upheld an August 2023 decision by a state judge. That
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge who presided over the seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers members said Wednesday that it would be “frightening” if the anti-government group’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, is pardoned for orchestrating a violent plot to keep Donald Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
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