There’s a push to rename the Cottonwood Visitor Center at Joshua Tree National Park after the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler, along with local Representative Raul Ruiz announced the legislation on Wednesday. The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Park held a hearing on the bill the same
Continue ReadingBy JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — Prosecutors and defense attorneys have discussed in court whether classified documents might play a role in the trial of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas. The congressman and his wife are facing federal bribery and conspiracy charges over accusations he accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijan-controlled
Continue ReadingBy EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations is reporting improved economic prospects since its January forecast for the global economy, pointing to a better outlook in the United States and several large emerging economies including Brazil, India and Russia. According to its mid-2024 report, the world economic is now
Continue ReadingBy MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A measure to repeal a now-defunct Nebraska law that would use public money to fund private school tuition has been pulled from the November ballot. Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen said Thursday that because another law passed this year repealed and replaced last year’s
Continue ReadingBy SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A former top official in Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget office has pleaded not guilty to extortion, bribery, conspiracy and false statement charges. Konstantinos Diamantis appeared in federal court in Hartford on Thursday. Federal authorities allege Diamantis demanded and received thousands of dollars in bribes from
Continue ReadingBy ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Justice Department documents show a federal prosecutor in Arkansas stepped down from the post while under investigation for having an inappropriate relationship with an employee. He was then appointed to a state panel that investigates judges for misconduct. The report released Tuesday and first reported
Continue ReadingBy MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer Reba McEntire is hosting Thursday’s Academy of Country Music Awards, promising a night of memorable performances, including a tribute to Toby Keith. When McEntire takes the stage at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas, it will be a record 17th time she’s
Continue ReadingBy Billy Stockwell, CNN London (CNN) — Queen Camilla has granted her first royal warrants to seven companies, including Shane Connolly, the designer behind the floral arrangements at last year’s Coronation and the King and Queen’s 2005 wedding, as well as the upmarket central London department store Fortnum & Mason. The seven companies chosen by Camilla are among 145
Continue ReadingJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a complaint against a Mississippi school district over a dress code policy based on students’ sex assigned at birth. The ACLU says the dress code “discriminates against girls, especially students who are transgender or gender nonconforming.” A 16-year-old transgender girl tried to wear a
Continue ReadingPORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Prosecutors say an Oregon man who met two 15-year-old girls on Snapchat, sexually abused them while traveling through three states and finally abandoned them at a park has been sentenced to over a decade in prison. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon said Thursday in a news release
Continue ReadingANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels acquired right-hander Roansy Contreras from the Pittsburgh Pirates for cash on Thursday. The Pirates designated the 24-year-old Contreras for assignment on Saturday to create room on the roster for Paul Skenes ahead of the prized pitcher’s major league debut against the Chicago Cubs. Contreras, acquired as part
Continue ReadingBy MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Google on Thursday asked that a judge, rather than a jury, decide whether it violated U.S. antitrust laws by building a monopoly on the technology that powers online advertising. To bolster its case, the tech giant wrote a multimillion-dollar check to the U.S. government that it says renders moot the
Continue ReadingBy REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A typo in the triple murder indictment of an Idaho man accused of killing his wife and his girlfriend’s two children doesn’t mean that he should be acquitted of one of the deaths, a judge said Thursday. Prosecutors had been carefully detailing the case against Chad
Continue ReadingBy MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Google on Thursday asked that a judge, rather than a jury, decide whether it violated U.S. antitrust laws by building a monopoly on the technology that powers online advertising. To bolster its case, the tech giant wrote a multimillion-dollar check to the U.S. government that it says renders moot the
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A U.S. citizen living in Mexico was arrested after a stop on Interstate 10 in the Coachella Valley after allegedly being found with nearly $2 million worth of fentanyl pills in her vehicle. Adriana Galindo, 34, of San Luis Río Colorado, Mexico, was arrested Tuesday in Indio, according to the Department of Justice. She is
Continue ReadingBy ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S.-built pier is in place to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea, but no one will know if the new route will work until a steady stream of deliveries begins reaching starving Palestinians. The trucks that will roll off the pier project installed Thursday will
Continue ReadingBy JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge is rejecting a lawsuit by a former Democratic congressman running for Georgia state Supreme Court who claims a state agency is unconstitutionally trying to block him from talking about abortion. U.S. District Judge Michael Brown ruled Thursday that John Barrow doesn’t have standing to
Continue ReadingBy COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A man has been convicted of killing four people at his ex-girlfriend’s home in suburban Denver in 2022 a week after she was granted a court order to keep him away from her. Joseph Mario Castorena was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder after deliberation for
Continue ReadingBy Leah Asmelash, CNN (CNN) — What is big, with a fluffy, cotton candy-like composition? Turns out, a planet. An international coalition of astronomers has newly discovered an unusual planet, dubbed WASP-193b, that’s about 50% bigger than Jupiter and somehow still the second lightest planet ever found. But WASP-193b, located beyond our solar system about 1,200
Continue ReadingBy LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Pentagon officials are cautiously optimistic that an overall decline in reported sexual assaults among active-duty service members and the military academies suggests that leaders are finally getting a handle on what has been a persistent problem. But they say there is more work to be done,
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