Associated Press CHATHAM, N.J. (AP) — It’s unclear if that buzzing sound coming out of New Jersey is drones or something else, but for sure the nighttime sightings are producing tons of talk, a raft of conspiracy theories and craned necks looking skyward. Cropping up on local news and social media sites around Thanksgiving, the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — “My Driver and I” was supposed to be made in 2016, but was scuttled amid Saudi Arabia’s decades-long cinema ban. Eight years later, the landscape for film in the kingdom looks much different. And the star of “My Driver and I” now has an award. Roula Dakheelallah was
Continue ReadingMOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (AP) — A report from the Department of Justice finds that the police department in a New York City suburb grossly violated residents’ rights, documenting illegal strip searches of people who weren’t under arrest, and arrests of people for verbally criticizing officers. The report on the approximately 160-officer department blames financial mismanagement
Continue ReadingBy Ivana Kottasová, CNN Damascus, Syria (CNN) — At Umayyad Square in central Damascus, tens of thousands of people had the party of a lifetime on Friday. Filling the roundabout to the brink, they partied late into the evening, celebrating the moment many thought would never come: the exit of their brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press A judge who helped orchestrate a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks was among the 1,500 people whose sentences were commuted by President Joe Biden this week. Biden’s decision to commute the 17-year prison sentence of Michael Conahan angered many in northeastern Pennsylvania, from the governor to the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Senate Republicans are recommending that the state write laws banning transgender girls and women from participating in school and college sports. The recommendation on Friday sets the stage for action in the 2025 legislative session. Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones announced almost identical goals at the panel’s first meeting
Continue ReadingNAPLES, Fla. (AP) — UCLA alums Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanakit birdied the entire front nine in a scramble format Friday and finished eagle-birdie for a 14-under 58, giving them a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Grant Thornton Invitational. The tournament has 16 two-player teams from the PGA Tour and the LPGA,
Continue ReadingLOS ANGELES (AP) — The leader of a Southern California white supremacist group was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison for inciting violence at California political rallies in 2017. Robert Paul Rundo, 34, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act, the U.S. attorney’s office in
Continue ReadingLOS ANGELES (AP) — The leader of a Southern California white supremacist group was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison for inciting violence at California political rallies in 2017. Robert Paul Rundo, 34, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act, the U.S. attorney’s office in
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Dallas man who tried to fly overseas to join the Russian military and fight against Ukraine has been sentenced on to six months in prison for violating the terms of his probation for storming the U.S. Capitol four years ago. Kevin Loftus, a 56-year-old veteran of the U.S. Army,
Continue ReadingBy Kate Sullivan, CNN (CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump said Friday the Republican Party would try to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, calling it “inconvenient” and “costly.” “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very
Continue ReadingWEST BABYLON, N.Y. (AP) — The owner of a New York thermometer factory has been sentenced to three years of probation for failing to protect workers who were exposed to hazardous levels of mercury. Owner Robert Peyser was sentenced Friday. He and his company, Kessler Thermometer Corp., had earlier pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment for
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Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump wants to turn the lights out on daylight saving time. In a post on his social media site Friday, Trump said his party would try to end the practice when he returns to office. He called daylight saving time “inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
Continue ReadingAssociated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former South Carolina Sen. Kay Patterson, who rose from cleaning offices at the segregated Statehouse to serving as a state legislator for over 30 years died Friday. He was 93. The South Carolina Democratic Party announced Patterson’s death saying he “left an indelible mark on our state. Senator Patterson
Continue ReadingReligion News Service (RNS) — When Patita Pavana Das was a sophomore at Indiana State University, he considered his life pretty typical: geoscience student by day, partaker in the school’s party culture by night. But as he learned more about the Earth’s billion-year history, Das, now 28, felt a nagging sense of dissatisfaction — a
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Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday said it would take up a business-backed appeal that could make it easier to challenge federal regulations, acting in a dispute related to California’s nation-leading standards for vehicle emissions. The justices agreed to hear an appeal filed by fuel producers who object to a waiver
Continue ReadingBy Marshall Cohen, CNN Washington (CNN) — Victims of major public corruption cases in Pennsylvania and Illinois are angry that President Joe Biden granted clemency this week to two convicted officials. The commutations were announced Thursday as part of a historic clemency package for 1,500 convicted criminals who, the White House said, “deserve a second
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By Andy Rose, Artemis Moshtaghian, Polo Sandoval, Josh Campbell and Pete Muntean, CNN New York (CNN) — Federal agencies are facing intense pressure to give the public more details on unexplained drone sightings in the New York City metropolitan area and beyond that have been going on for weeks over residential neighborhoods as well as
Continue ReadingAssociated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s highest court has ruled over some insurance claims filed by businesses that were harmed financially by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting 2020 government orders limiting commerce and public movement. The state Supreme Court on Friday ruled unanimously in favor of some restaurants and bars in their
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press (CNN) — Texas has sued a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas, launching one of the first challenges in the US to shield laws that Democrat-controlled states passed to protect physicians after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit on
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