A convicted felon who stored thousands of fentanyl pills, as well as large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin, for sale out of his Cherry Valley home was bound for state prison today to serve a 10-year sentence. Julio Cesar Castillo, 52, pleaded guilty in February to three counts of possession of controlled substances for
Continue ReadingBy GONZALO SOLANO and MANUEL RUEDA Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador has started to ration electricity in its main cities as a drought linked to the El Niño weather pattern depletes reservoirs and limits output at hydroelectric plants. “We urge Ecuadorians to cut their electricity consumption in this critical week,” the ministry of
Continue ReadingBy STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks slipped Tuesday, and Treasury yields rose on expectations that interest rates may stay high for a while. The S&P 500 fell 10.41 points, or 0.2%, to 5,051.41. The index deepened its loss from the day before, when it sank under the pressure
Continue ReadingBy Dakin Andone, CNN (CNN) — A Texas judge last week recommended the conviction and sentence of a mother on death row be overturned, finding prosecutors withheld key evidence that could have prevented her from being found guilty in the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter. The evidence – namely a Child Protective Services report
Continue ReadingCNN By Manu Raju, Melanie Zanona, Haley Talbot and Lauren Fox, CNN A defiant House Speaker Mike Johnson, facing growing threats to his speakership, said Tuesday he is not resigning and dismissed threats to his gavel as “absurd” after a second Republican member of Congress threatened to oust Johnson for his handling of legislation to
Continue ReadingBy John Fritze, CNN (CNN) — A trade group representing the adult entertainment industry asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to temporarily block a Texas age-verification law that it says violates the First Amendment by making it more difficult to access porn sites on the internet. Texas’ law requires any website that publishes a substantial
Continue ReadingBy JULIA FRANKEL and JACK JEFFERY Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is vowing to retaliate against Iran, risking further expanding the shadow war between the two foes into a direct conflict after an Iranian attack over the weekend sent hundreds of drones and missiles toward Israel. Israeli officials have not said how or when
Continue ReadingBy JILL COLVIN and BILL BARROW Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Fresh from a Manhattan courtroom, Donald Trump visited a New York bodega where a man was stabbed to death, a stark pivot for the former president as he juggles being a criminal defendant and the Republican challenger intent on blaming President Joe Biden
Continue ReadingBy MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Performing in the U.S. for international musicians just got a lot more complicated. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has instituted a 250% visa fee increase. For those musicians who filed visa paperwork before April 1, the cost per application was $460. After that
Continue ReadingBy JOHN ANTCZAK and JULIE WATSON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California canceled a commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil
Continue ReadingBy JOHN ANTCZAK and JULIE WATSON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California canceled a commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil
Continue ReadingBy MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ, JAKE OFFENHARTZ and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The first six jurors for Donald Trump’s hush money trial were chosen Tuesday after lawyers grilled members of the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives to decide whether they can sit
Continue ReadingBy RENATA BRITO Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Brazilian police investigating the discovery of a boat with several dead bodies say they were likely African migrants from Mali and Mauritania. Fishermen off Brazil’s northern coastal state of Pará had found the boat adrift on Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil’s Federal Police said in
Continue ReadingBy Olga Voitovych, Radina Gigova, Svitlana Vlasova and Christian Edwards, CNN (CNN) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed into law a key piece of legislation overhauling the country’s mobilization rules. The legislation places a new requirement on all men between 18 and 60 to register with Ukraine’s military and to carry their registration documents
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By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer The Biden administration is enlisting the help of officials in 15 states to enforce consumer-protection laws covering airline travelers, a power that by law is limited to the federal government. The U.S. Department of Transportation said Tuesday that the states, which include California, New York and Illinois, will help
Continue ReadingMANITOWOC, Wis. (AP) — A man who was caring for a 3-year-old Wisconsin boy when he vanished in late February has pleaded not guilty to a charge of chronic child neglect. Thirty-nine-year-old Jesse Vang entered the plea Tuesday during his arraignment in court. A judge on April 4 ordered Vang to stand trial on the
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By AMY TAXIN Associated Press California might step in to regulate groundwater use in part of the crop-rich San Joaquin Valley, which would be a first-of-its-kind move that comes a decade after lawmakers tasked local communities with carefully managing the precious but often overused resource. At issue is control over a farming-dependent area where state
Continue ReadingBy JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — Strong storms have caused damage in parts of the middle U.S. and spawned tornadoes in Kansas and Iowa, including one that left two people hurt. The National Weather Service says an EF-1 tornado touched down shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday near the northeastern Kansas town of
Continue ReadingBy MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — An Army general who investigated the abuse of prisoners 20 years ago at Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison has testified that a civilian contractor instructed prison guards to “soften up” detainees for interrogations. Retired general Antonio Taguba told jurors Tuesday that Steven Stefanowicz even tried to
Continue ReadingBy SUMMER BALLENTINE Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri ethics panel is at an impasse over reported misconduct by the powerful state House speaker, who allegedly used his office to stymie the investigation. A draft Ethics Committee report would have recommended that the House formally denounce Republican Speaker Dean Plocher for hurting
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