TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey interim Sen. George Helmy, a Democrat appointed when Bob Menendez resigned after a federal corruption conviction, is stepping down this weekend. The move will allow Sen.-elect Andy Kim to be sworn in early. The step confirms what Helmy and Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy announced during his appointment this summer
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — When SmileDirectClub shut down a year ago, scores of existing customers of the teeth-straightening company were left in limbo. Now, tens of thousands are set to get some relief. New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced that her office recovered $4.8 million to distribute nationwide to more
Continue ReadingBy Paula Reid, CNN (CNN) — Defense lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump are using President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter to argue that Trump’s conviction in his Manhattan hush money case should be dismissed. “Yesterday in issuing a 10 year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any and all crimes whether charged or
Continue ReadingBy Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski, CNN (CNN) — As protests broke out across American cities in June 2020, Pete Hegseth, co-host of the weekend “Fox & Friends” show, joined an on-air panel to discuss the situation in Seattle, where protestors had created a self-declared autonomous zone around a few blocks near downtown. Hegseth, speaking
Continue ReadingBy Alejandra Jaramillo, Holmes Lybrand, Kaitlan Collins and Evan Perez, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump’s transition team has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Justice Department, paving the way for the team to seek FBI background checks on the president-elect’s appointees. The agreement, announced by the Trump team on Tuesday, outlines the terms of
Continue ReadingAssociated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s top law enforcement official says authorities took down two human trafficking rings, including one that was forcing children as young as 13 to have sex with adults for money. Attorney General Matt Platkin said Tuesday that seven people have been charged as a result of the operations.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers formally asked a judge Monday to throw out his hush money criminal conviction, arguing that continuing the case would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.“ In a filing made public Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan that anything short
Continue ReadingAP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has signed an agreement to allow the Justice Department to conduct background checks on his nominees and appointees after a weeks-long delay. The step lets Trump transition aides and future administration staffers obtain security clearances before Inauguration Day to access classified information about
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Closing arguments in the high-profile murder trial of a tech consultant charged in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee concluded Tuesday, with both sides urging jurors to use their common sense to deliver justice. The case is expected to go to the jury for deliberation Wednesday.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators in the Georgian capital have converged on parliament again in the capital of the South Caucasus nation. They are venting outrage against the governing party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union. Riot police have deployed to push the protesters away from parliament. There
Continue ReadingBy Josh Campbell, CNN (CNN) — A California man confessed to helping the North Korean regime prepare for an attack in a “sophisticated scheme” to illegally obtain restricted weapons and military grade technology, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. Shenghua Wen, a Chinese national residing unlawfully in Ontario, California, conspired with North Korean officials to obtain prohibited
Continue ReadingAP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Contracts for Blake Snell and Tommy Edman increased the Los Angeles Dodgers’ obligations for deferred payments to more than $1 billion owed to seven players from 2028-46. Snell’s $182 million contract, announced Saturday, includes $66 million in deferred money payable to the pitcher through July 1, 2046, according
Continue ReadingAP Health Writer Nearly three out of 10 U.S. drugstores that were open during the previous decade had closed by 2021, new research shows. Black and Latino neighborhoods were most vulnerable to the retail pharmacy closures, which can chip away at already-limited care options in those communities, researchers said in a study published Tuesday in
Continue ReadingAP Health Writer Nearly three out of 10 U.S. drugstores that were open during the previous decade had closed by 2021, new research shows. Black and Latino neighborhoods were most vulnerable to the retail pharmacy closures, which can chip away at already-limited care options in those communities, researchers said in a study published Tuesday in
Continue ReadingBRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — A former Florida ballerina has been sentenced to 20 years in prison following her manslaughter conviction for fatally shooting her estranged husband in 2020. Manatee County court records show Circuit Judge Matt Whyte imposed the sentence Tuesday on 32-year-old Ashley Benefield after rejecting her request for a new trial based on
Continue ReadingAssociated Press HOUSTON (AP) — An elaborate parody appears to be behind an effort to resurrect Enron, the Houston-based energy company that exemplified the worst in American corporate fraud and greed after it went bankrupt in 2001. If its return is comedic, some former employees who lost everything in Enron’s collapse aren’t laughing. “It’s a
Continue ReadingAssociated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut residents, past and present dignitaries, and state Capitol insiders are paying tribute to former Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who died in late November. On Tuesday, she lay in state inside the Connecticut Capitol building, with her casket covered in the state’s blue flag. A funeral service was
Continue ReadingTHE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Associated Press has learned that a United Nations watchdog has been selected to lead an external probe into allegations of sexual misconduct against the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The move is likely to generate conflict of interest complaints owing to the prosecutor’s wife’s past work for
Continue ReadingHONOLULU (AP) — San Jose State is headed back to the Hawaii Bowl for a second straight season to face South Florida. Bowl officials on Tuesday announced the matchup for the game set to be played on Dec. 24 on the campus of the University of Hawaii. The Spartans went 7-5 in coach Ken Niumatalolo’s
Continue ReadingAssociated Press Ohio’s top elections official has rejected a Republican challenge over the legal residency of one of the state’s Democratic members of Congress. Secretary of State Frank LaRose made the decision late last week. LaRose says the complainant brought by a political activist did not provide “clear and convincing” proof that Rep. Emilia Sykes
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