Associated Press stories, Page 474
Man who set off explosion at California courthouse had a criminal case there
SANTA MARIA, Calif. — A 20-year-old man tossed an explosive device into the California courthouse where he was about to be arraigned on a gun charge and the explosion left five people with minor injuries and shut down the court complex and other nearby city buildings, police said. The explosion...
Oklahoma executes a man for a 1992 killing despite board recommending his life be spared
McALESTER, Okla. — Oklahoma executed a man Thursday for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner after the governor rejected a recommendation from the state’s parole board to spare his life. Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and was...
Top aide for North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is resigning, adding to staff separations
RALEIGH — The top aide to North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson within state government is quitting, a state official said Wednesday, marking another staff separation from the Republican nominee for governor following a CNN report stating he made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website’s message board....
New York City mayor Eric Adams has been indicted, sources say
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted by a grand jury on federal criminal charges, according to two people familiar with the matter. The indictment detailing the charges against Adams, a Democrat, was still sealed late Wednesday, according to the people, who spoke with The Associated Press on...
10th death reported in Boar’s Head deli meat listeria outbreak
A 10th person has died in the listeria outbreak that shuttered a Boar’s Head deli meat plant, federal health officials said Wednesday. At least 59 people in 19 states have been sickened by the bacteria first detected in liverwurst made at the Jarratt, Virginia, plant. Illnesses were reported between late...
Anthony Richardson focused on improving accuracy following slow start for Colts
INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson tries to ignore the glaring numbers everyone else is talking about. He has the lowest completion percentage and second-lowest passer rating of any NFL starter after three games, and he leads the league with six interceptions. No, this is not how the former...
Judge approves $600 million settlement for residents near fiery Ohio derailment
A federal judge on Wednesday approved a $600 million class-action settlement that Norfolk Southern railroad offered to everyone who lived within 20 miles of last year’s disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Judge Benita Pearson gave the deal final approval after a hearing where the lawyers who negotiated it with...
Secret Service investigating report that agent groped Harris staff member
A U.S. Secret Service agent has been accused of groping and sexually harassing a member of Vice President Kamala Harris’ official staff during a trip last week, according to three people familiar with the matter. The Secret Service office of professional responsibility is investigating a misconduct allegation involving an employee,...
Speaker Johnson demands Zelenskyy remove Ukraine’s ambassador to U.S. after Pennsylvania visit
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson is calling on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to fire his country’s ambassador to the U.S. as Republicans criticize the war-torn leader’s visit to a swing-state Pennsylvania site producing munitions for the Russia-Ukraine war as a political stunt. The Republican Johnson’s demand Wednesday came as...
Congress passes temporary bill to avoid shutdown as lawmakers punt spending decisions to December
WASHINGTON — Congress on Wednesday passed a temporary measure that keeps government agencies funded into December, avoiding a shutdown for now while punting final spending decisions until after the Nov. 5 election. The Senate approved the measure by a vote of 78-18 shortly after the House easily approved it. The...
Pennsylvania bakery known for its election cookie poll is swamped with orders
HATBORO — A suburban Philadelphia bakery’s cookie “poll” that started during the 2008 presidential campaign as a joke between the owners and their customers has grown into much more. Lochel’s Bakery in Hatboro is swamped with orders. People are driving from a couple hours away to buy the cookies in...
Judge: Fluoride in drinking water poses enough risk to merit new EPA action
NEW YORK — A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water because high levels could pose a risk to the intellectual development of children. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added...
Former Houston officer convicted of murder in deaths of couple during drug raid
HOUSTON — A former Houston police officer was convicted Wednesday of murder in the deaths of a couple during a 2019 drug raid that revealed systemic corruption problems within the police department’s narcotics unit. A jury found Gerald Goines guilty of two counts of murder in the January 2019 deaths...
Steelworkers lose arbitration case against U.S. Steel in their bid to derail sale to Nippon
An arbitration board has ruled that U.S. Steel may proceed with its proposed acquisition by Nippon Steel, a deal that faces strong opposition from its workforce. The board, which was jointly chosen by U.S. Steel and the United Steelworkers to decide disputes between them, said Wednesday that U.S. Steel has...
Pope expels bishop, others from a Peru movement after Vatican uncovers abuses
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis took the unusual decision Thursday to expel 10 people — a bishop, priests and laypeople — from a troubled Catholic movement in Peru after a Vatican investigation uncovered “sadistic” abuses of power, authority and spirituality. The move against the leadership of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae,...
Funds are cutting aid for women seeking abortions as costs rise
Organizations that help pay abortion costs are capping how much they can help as travel costs rise and the wave of “rage giving” that fueled them two years ago has subsided. Abortion funds, which have operated across the U.S. for decades, in many cases as volunteer groups, ramped up their...
CrowdStrike executive apologizes to Congress for July global tech outage
WASHINGTON — An executive at cybersecurity company CrowdStrike apologized in testimony to Congress for sparking a global technology outage over the summer. “We let our customers down,” said Adam Meyers, who leads CrowdStrike’s threat intelligence division, in a hearing before a U.S. House cybersecurity subcommittee Tuesday. Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike has...
UNLV’s starting QB says he will no longer play over ‘representations’ that ‘were not upheld’
LAS VEGAS — UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka, a transfer who has led the Rebels to a 3-0 start, announced on social media Tuesday night he will not play in any more games this season, alluding to an unkept agreement struck during his recruitment to the school. NCAA redshirt rules allow...
Helene strengthens to a Category 4 hurricane as it nears Florida’s Gulf CoastVideo
CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. — Hurricane Helene strengthened into a Category 4 storm ahead of its expected landfall on Florida’s northwest coast Thursday night as forecasters warned that the enormous system could create a “nightmare” storm surge and bring dangerous winds and rain across much of the southeastern U.S. Helene prompted hurricane...
Reality TV star Julie Chrisley to be re-sentenced in bank fraud and tax evasion case
ATLANTA — A federal judge was set to re-sentence reality TV star Julie Chrisley on Wednesday after an appeals court ordered a new sentence for her conviction on bank fraud and tax evasion charges. Chrisley and her husband, Todd Chrisley, gained fame on their show “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed...
California Gov. Newsom signs bills to bolster gun control
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several gun control measures Tuesday, including one that allows the court to consider stalking and animal cruelty as grounds to restrict access to firearms. The state already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. The new laws signed by...
Hezbollah fires missile at Tel Aviv as Israel activates reserve troops in response to rising tension
Hezbollah hurled dozens of projectiles into Israel early Wednesday, including a missile aimed at Tel Aviv that was the militant group’s deepest strike yet, and the Israeli military said it would activate reserve troops in response to the rising tensions. The Israeli military said it intercepted the surface-to-surface missile, which...
Missouri executes man for 1998 killing of a woman despite her family’s calls to spare his life
BONNE TERRE, Mo. — A Missouri man convicted of breaking into a woman’s home and repeatedly stabbing her was executed Tuesday over the objections of the victim’s family and the prosecutor, who wanted the death sentence commuted to life in prison. Marcellus Williams, 55, was convicted in the 1998 killing...
Secret Service failures before Trump’s Butler rally shooting were ‘preventable,’ Senate panel finds
WASHINGTON — Multiple Secret Service failures ahead of the July rally for former President Donald Trump where a gunman opened fire were “foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt that day,” according to a bipartisan Senate investigation released Wednesday. Similar to the agency’s own...
Department of Justice sues Visa, alleges the card issuer monopolizes debit card markets
NEW YORK — The U.S. Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa, alleging that the financial services behemoth uses its size and dominance to stifle competition in the debit card market, costing consumers and businesses billions of dollars. The complaint filed Tuesday says San Francisco-based Visa penalizes merchants...
