Ohio family reaches $7M settlement in fatal police shooting of Casey Goodson Jr.
The family of an Ohio man who was shot and killed by a former sheriff’s deputy will receive $7 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit over the December 2020 shooting. The Franklin County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the settlement late last month. Casey Goodson Jr., 23, was...
Hunter Biden reportedly sought U.S. government help for Ukrainian gas company Burisma
WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden asked the U.S. ambassador to Italy for help regarding an energy project a Ukrainian gas company was pursuing while his father was vice president, according to The New York Times. Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, wrote a letter to the ambassador in 2016 seeking...
Wisconsin voters reject GOP-written ballot measures, U.S. Senate race set with Hovde’s primary win
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin voters on Tuesday rejected Republican-authored ballot questions that would have limited the governor’s power to spend federal money that comes to the state for such things as disaster relief, a big win for Democrats who mobilized against them. In Wisconsin’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, Republican...
Hidden report reveals how workers got sick while cleaning up Ohio derailment site
The creeks around East Palestine, Ohio, were so badly contaminated by last year’s disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment that some workers became sick during the cleanup. Workers who reported headaches and nausea — while shooting compressed air into the creek bed, which releases chemicals from the sediment and water — were...
WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads
LONDON — The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent....
NASA still deciding whether to keep 2 astronauts at space station until next year
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA said Wednesday it’s still deciding whether to keep two astronauts at the International Space Station until early next year and send their troubled Boeing capsule back empty. Rather than flying Boeing’s Starliner back to Earth, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams would catch a ride on...
Harris campaign’s new $90 million in battleground ads in August aims to sharpen contrast with Trump
WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is launching a $90 million advertising effort over the next three weeks to introduce the Democrat to voters and sharpen the contrast with Republican Donald Trump. The media buy marks her campaign’s largest-yet investment in messaging to voters with just 2 1/2 months until...
Presented with rise in border crossings, Kamala Harris chose a long-term approach to the problem
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, watching tens of thousands of migrants from Central America reach the U.S.-Mexico border just a few months into his administration, tapped his second-in-command to help address the influx — a decision that has exposed Vice President Kamala Harris to one of her biggest political liabilities....
Ukraine says it has taken more ground and prisoners during its advance into Russia border region
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces pushed on with their major cross-border advance into Russia’s Kursk region for a second week Wednesday, claiming that they took more ground, captured more Russian prisoners and destroyed a bomber in attacks on military airfields. Assault troops advanced 1 to 2 kilometers (about a mile)...
Judge rejects Donald Trump’s latest demand to step aside from hush money criminal case
NEW YORK — Donald Trump has lost his latest bid for a new judge in his New York hush money criminal case as it heads toward a key ruling and potential sentencing next month. In a decision posted Wednesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan declined to step aside and said Trump’s...
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the progressive ‘Squad,’ wins Democratic primary in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the progressive House members known as the “Squad” and a sharp critic of how Israel has conducted the war in Gaza, has won her primary race in Minnesota. Omar successfully defended her Minneapolis-area 5th District seat against a repeat challenge from...
Longest-held Russian dissident freed in swap says ‘colors get brighter by the day’ in his new life
BERLIN — Andrei Pivovarov knows there are about 1,000 hours in 42 days. Doing the math in his head and quietly marking milestones left in his sentence helped the Russian opposition politician survive more than three years in prison, much of it spent in complete isolation. “You have no one...
Ernesto becomes a hurricane after pummeling northeast Caribbean and knocking out power in the region
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Ernesto strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday as it dropped torrential rain on Puerto Rico and left half of all customers in the U.S. territory without power as it threatened to become a major storm en route to Bermuda. The storm was located about 180 miles...
Americans give Harris an advantage over Trump on honesty and discipline, an AP-NORC poll finds
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris has a perceived advantage over former President Donald Trump on several leadership qualities such as honesty, a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds, although Americans are slightly more likely to trust Trump on the economy and immigration. Nearly half...
Tim Walz leans into labor background at first solo campaign stop in Los AngelesVideo
LOS ANGELES — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz launched his first solo campaign stop as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Tuesday by leaning into his union background and championing workers in a speech to a labor group in Los Angeles. The event comes exactly one week since Harris, the Democratic...
U.S. approves $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel amid threat of wider Middle East war
WASHINGTON — The United States has approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles, the State Department announced Tuesday. Congress was notified of the impending sale, which includes more than 50 F-15 fighter jets, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or AMRAAMs,...
Death Valley’s scorching heat kills 2nd man this summer
LOS ANGELES — California’s Death Valley National Park has claimed another life in its second heat-related death of the summer, park officials said Monday. On Aug. 1, a day where temperatures reached nearly 120 degrees, bystanders saw a man stumble back from the Natural Bridge Trailhead, a one-mile roundtrip trail,...
Tropical Storm Ernesto batters northeast Caribbean, aims at Puerto Rico as it strengthensVideo
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Ernesto battered the northeast Caribbean on Tuesday as it took aim at Puerto Rico, where officials closed schools, opened shelters and moved dozens of the U.S. territory’s endangered parrots into hurricane-proof rooms. Ernesto is expected to become a hurricane overnight Tuesday as the...
Biden announcing $150 million in research grants as part of his ‘moonshot’ push to fight cancerVideo
NEW ORLEANS — President Joe Biden is zeroing in on the policy goals closest to his heart now that he’s no longer seeking a second term, visiting New Orleans on Tuesday to promote his administration’s “moonshot” initiative aiming at dramatically reducing cancer deaths. The president and first lady Jill Biden...
Auto workers union seeks NLRB investigation of Trump, Musk comments about firing striking workersVideo
DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union has filed unfair labor practice charges against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk after the two discussed on social media about Musk supposedly firing striking workers. In documents filed Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board, the union alleges...
Trial begins in case of Florida woman who fatally shot Black neighbor during dispute
OCALA, Fla. — A Florida jury will determine whether a 60-year-old white woman was justified when she fired through the door of her central Florida apartment a year ago, killing a Black mother during an ongoing dispute over neighborhood children. In opening statements on Tuesday, jurors were told that shortly...
Want a Pa. liquor license? 20 available in PLCB auction
A stockpile of 20 expired restaurant liquor licenses in Pennsylvania are up for auction. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board opened bidding on Tuesday as part of its 13th auction since the passage of Act 39, a 2016 law that made sweeping changes to liquor sales in the state. The auction...
West Virginia dentist charged with invasion of privacy after camera found in employee bathroom, police say
WEIRTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia dentist faces charges after police said a concealed camera allegedly was found in his office’s employee bathroom. Dr. Jeremy Michael Crow turned himself in at the Weirton Police Department on Monday. Crow, 45, of Washington, Washington County, was charged with 39 counts of misdemeanor...
Initiative to enshrine abortion rights in Missouri constitution qualifies for November ballot
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri voters will decide in November whether to guarantee a right to abortion with a constitutional amendment that would reverse the state’s near-total ban on the procedure. The secretary of state’s office certified Tuesday that an initiative petition received more than enough signatures from registered voters...
Fraud trial of George Santos to begin next month with an anonymous jury
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — The federal fraud trial against former U.S. Rep. George Santos, slated to start in a matter of weeks, is coming into focus after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that jurors will have their identities kept secret from the public. They won’t, however, be required to fill...
