Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge is considering whether a Minnesota law that bans religious tests for colleges that participate in a state program that allows high school students to take college courses for credit is unconstitutional. The state argued at a hearing Monday that the 2023 law rightly protects high-school students who
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts judge has dismissed witness intimidation and criminal harassment charges against a backer of Karen Read who admitted placing dozens of yellow rubber ducks and fake $100 bills around town. Richard Schiffer Jr. had argued he had a First Amendment right to support the defense theory that Read has
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer Shares of Nvidia fell Monday after China said it is investigating the high-flying U.S. microchip company over suspected violations of Chinese anti-monopoly laws. In a brief news release with few details, Chinese regulators appear to be focusing on Nvidia’s $6.9 billion acquisition of network and data transmission company Mellanox in 2019. Nvidia
Continue ReadingWASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says the U.S. government’s top hostage negotiator is in Beirut in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for 12 years. Spokesman Matt Miller told reporters Monday that the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs is talking to officials in
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BOSTON (AP) — Wildlife rescuers are rushing to tend to dozens of geese and ducks that were soaked in oil after a spill in a Boston river. Police and fire departments were dispatched a little after noon on Sunday to the Muddy River on the border of Boston and the town of Brookline
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BEIRUT (AP) — For the first time in 50 years, the question of how Syria will be governed is wide open. The end of the Assad family’s rule is for many Syrians a moment of mixed joy and fear, of the total unknown. The insurgency that swept President Bashar Assad out of power
Continue ReadingAP Entertainment Writer BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The Golden Globes will return in January with major star appeal thanks to a slew of big name nominees, including Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Denzel Washington, Ariana Grande and more. Nominations for the 82nd awards ceremony were announced Monday. The show will be televised
Continue ReadingAssociated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden designated a national monument at a former Native American boarding school site in Pennsylvania to commemorate the resilience of tribes whose children were forced to attend the school and similar abusive institutions. The White House announced the creation of the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National
Continue ReadingLOS ANGELES (AP) — Detroit’s 34-31 comeback victory over Green Bay last Thursday night averaged 17.29 million viewers, making it the most-streamed NFL regular-season game in history and Amazon Prime Video’s most-watched game since exclusively taking over the prime-time package in 2022. According to Nielsen, the audience peaked at 18.87 million viewers during the first
Continue ReadingPRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — Dozens of drone sightings across New Jersey in recent weeks don’t appear to pose a public safety concern. That’s what Gov. Phil Murphy stressed Monday. The FBI has been investigating reports about mysterious nighttime drone flights that started last month across central Jersey and has asked the public for help. Since
Continue ReadingAssociated Press CHICAGO (AP) — As Donald Trump’s Cabinet begins to take shape, the nominees offer a preview of how his administration might handle abortion after he repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue on the campaign trail. Trump attempted to distance himself from anti-abortion allies by deferring to the states on abortion policy, even while he
Continue ReadingSALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A missing Wyoming man with dementia whose wife spotted him hundreds of miles away on the TV news has died soon after his return home. Ninety-one-year-old Michael Black fell ill with the flu days after he returned to Afton, Wyoming, with his wife, 77-year-old Avril Black. Avril Black tells KSL-TV
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Ghana’s former leader John Dramani Mahama has been declared the winner of the presidential election. His victory speech on Monday pledged a “a life of limitless opportunity” for citizens after voters vented their anger over the West African nation’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. His win is seen
Continue ReadingMEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president says much of the money gained by eliminating independent oversight and regulatory agencies will go to the army to fund a rise in soldiers’ pay. The announcement by President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday is the latest in a a series of strange funding sources to pay for the country’s
Continue ReadingAP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The bestselling author team of Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray has a new novel in the works, while celebrating a milestone for its best known publication, “The Personal Librarian.” Benedict and Murray are writing a historical thriller set in 1930s New York, featuring such real-life characters as
Continue ReadingAP Sports Writer If Juan Soto replicates his 2024 performance throughout his $765 million, 15-year deal with the Mets, he’ll make roughly $1.2 million for every home run he hits. He’s hardly the only superstar athlete earning outrageous sums for each of his accomplishments. Some NFL quarterbacks make more than $3 million per game. Stephen
Continue ReadingAssociated Press It could be argued that 2024 wasn’t the best year for TV. Highly-anticipated shows like the final season of “Stranger Things,” “The Last of Us,” and “The White Lotus” didn’t even make it on the calendar and will instead return in 2025. Also, streamers and broadcast networks tightened their budgets by saying yes
Continue ReadingATHENS, Greece (AP) — Work to lay natural gas pipelines near the foot of the Acropolis has uncovered an ancient marble statue of a young man buried almost upright in a brick-lined pit. Greece’s Culture Ministry says in a statement that the nude statue resembles ancient representations of messenger of the Greek gods Hermes and
Continue ReadingBANGKOK (AP) — One of the most powerful ethnic minority armed groups battling Myanmar’s army claims it has captured the last military outpost in a strategic western town, gaining full control of the border with Bangladesh. The capture of Maungdaw by the Arakan Army makes the group’s control of the northern part of Rakhine state
Continue ReadingOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal appeals court has delayed a hearing in which an Oklahoma death row inmate is expected to make a final plea for mercy before his scheduled execution. The three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit delayed Monday’s scheduled hearing of the Pardon and Parole Board.
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