Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities in a Phoenix suburb will not pursue criminal charges against a gallery owner whose racist rant last year was caught on video while Native American dancers were being filmed. Officials in Scottsdale called the confrontation last February “a nauseating example” of bigotry but said that Gilbert Ortega Jr.’s
Continue ReadingBy JAKE OFFENHARTZ and MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A 15-year-old accused of shooting a Brazilian tourist in the leg Thursday night then firing at a police officer while fleeing through Times Square has been arrested just outside of New York City. Police say the teenager was taken into custody Friday
Continue ReadingTONTITOWN, Ark. (AP) — Two Michigan men are being held on multiple charges after police said the pair led officers on a high-speed case through Oklahoma and Arkansas in a stolen U-Haul. Police said they found weapons and Molotov cocktails in the cargo van after arresting Cory Robert Mercier and Trenton Johnson. The two 21-year-old
Continue ReadingBy JILL COLVIN Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump told thousands at a National Rife Association event in Pennsylvania Friday, “no one will ever lay a finger on your firearms,” should he be elected in November. “Not gonna happen,” Trump said, in his opening remarks at the NRA’s presidential forum in
Continue ReadingJOLIET, Ill. (AP) — Authorities in Illinois say a Minnesota man charged in the stabbing death of a 15-year-old suburban Chicago girl more than 50 years ago has died. Seventy-nine-year-old Barry Lee Whelpley was found unresponsive Friday in his cell at the Will County Jail in Joliet. Deputy Chief Dan Jungles of the Will County
Continue ReadingBy ALMA SOLÍS Associated Press PANAMA CITY (AP) — Not a 10-year prison sentence for money laundering nor going into political asylum in Nicaragua’s embassy have softened the political aspirations of Panama’s former President Ricardo Martinelli who still seeks to retake that position. Just last week a judge sentenced the former leader to prison. Then
Continue ReadingBy Yoonjung Seo and Nectar Gan, CNN Seoul, South Korea (CNN) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is months out from a crucial election seen as a barometer of his mid-term popularity, but surveys show he has a big problem – the latest scandal surrounding his wife. Kim Keon Hee, 51, is not a
Continue ReadingBy Nick Valencia, Jason Morris and Zachary Cohen, CNN (CNN) — One of former President Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia election racketeering case has alleged that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her top deputy on the case aren’t being truthful about the details of their relationship. Mike Roman’s defense attorney plans to
Continue ReadingBy Andy Rose and Dalia Faheid, CNN (CNN) — An Oklahoma judge stepped down Friday after allegedly exchanging more than 500 texts with a bailiff in which she mocked trial participants and talked offensively about the state’s attorneys while she presided over a June murder trial. Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom agreed to resign
Continue ReadingBy RUSS BYNUM Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A company’s plan to mine near the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp is nearing approval by Georgia regulators, despite conservationists’ concerns that it could irreparably damage the swamp and its vast wildlife refuge. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division on Friday released drafts of three permits that
Continue ReadingBy JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former Catholic priest in South Carolina has been sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for trying to sexually assault a boy and showing him pornography. Prosecutors say 69-year-old Jamie Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias was a priest for more than 30 years after being ordained in his
Continue ReadingBy JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — Actor Scarlett Johansson and NFL legend Dan Marino come from different professions, but they have two things in common: Both have a sweet tooth and an infatuation with M&Ms. Johansson and Marino will star in the Super Bowl commercial that will focus on the
Continue ReadingBy STEFANIE DAZIO and JULIE WATSON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 4.6-magnitude earthquake struck the Southern California coast near Malibu on Friday and was widely felt in the Los Angeles region, rattling windows and shaking shelves but bringing no reports of major damage or injuries. The area of the epicenter was in the
Continue ReadingBy STEFANIE DAZIO and JULIE WATSON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 4.6-magnitude earthquake struck the Southern California coast near Malibu on Friday and was widely felt in the Los Angeles region, rattling windows and shaking shelves but bringing no reports of major damage or injuries. The area of the epicenter was in the
Continue ReadingBy JOSH FUNK Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s largest city won’t be able to enforce its ban on guns in public places like parks and sidewalks while a lawsuit challenging that restriction moves forward. Douglas County District Judge LeAnne Srb issued a preliminary injunction Friday blocking that ban, but she refused to put
Continue ReadingBy AUDREY McAVOY and JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the world’s largest active volcano on Friday — Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii — knocking items off shelves and cutting power in a nearby town but not immediately prompting reports of serious damage. The earthquake,
Continue ReadingBy Gregory Wallace, Carlos Suarez and Sharif Paget, CNN (CNN) — Two people, “tentatively” identified as the pilot and second-in-command, were killed when a small plane crashed Friday afternoon on Interstate 75 near the Florida city of Naples and collided with a vehicle, authorities said – a wreck that came shortly after a pilot reported
Continue ReadingBy Vasco Cotovio and Allegra Goodwin, CNN (CNN) — Satellite images show Venezuela has bolstered its military presence near the border with Guyana, despite Caracas saying it would pursue a diplomatic avenue to try and resolve the long-standing territorial dispute over an oil-rich piece of Guyanese land. Imagery from Maxar collected in January showed an
Continue ReadingBOSTON (AP) — The Dartmouth men’s basketball team has scheduled a March 5 election to determine whether the players will unionize. That would be unprecedented in American college sports. The National Labor Relations Board said the in-person election will take place on the school’s Hanover, New Hampshire, campus. The NCAA has long maintained that the
Continue ReadingBy JESSE BEDAYN and COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A county coroner reported suspicions about bodies being poorly treated by a Colorado funeral home more than three years before nearly 200 decomposing bodies were discovered inside a decrepit building in October, according to newly unsealed court documents that raise questions about how the
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