Trump to meet with senior Japanese official after court session Tuesday in hush money trial
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump is meeting with another foreign leader while he’s in New York for his criminal hush money trial. The presumptive GOP nominee will host former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso at Trump Tower Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on...
What to know in the Supreme Court case about immunity for former President Trump
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has scheduled a special session to hear arguments over whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted over his efforts to undo his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. The case, to be argued Thursday, stems from Trump’s attempts to have charges against him...
Starbucks takes on the federal labor agency before the U.S. Supreme Court
After Starbucks fired seven workers who were trying to unionize their Tennessee store, a U.S. government agency obtained a court order forcing the company to rehire them. Now, Starbucks wants the Supreme Court to curb the government’s power in such cases. On Tuesday, justices are scheduled to hear Starbucks’ case...
Study: Women hospitalized for alcohol use nearly doubled during pandemic
Hospitals admitted nearly twice as many women ages 40-64 for alcohol abuse during the pandemic. That’s the latest findings from a new study published in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Authored by researchers from multiple schools — including Atlanta’s Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University — the study...
Oklahoma police say 5 found dead in home, including 2 children
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City police called to a home on the city’s southwest side Monday discovered the bodies of five people, including at least two children, authorities said. All five victims had injuries consistent with homicide, said police Sgt. Gary Knight. “This wasn’t a carbon monoxide situation or anything...
Suspect arrested in break-in at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ home, police say
LOS ANGELES — Police in Los Angeles arrested a suspect following a break-in at the home of Mayor Karen Bass early Sunday, officials said. The suspect was arrested shortly after smashing a window to get inside of Getty House while it was occupied, the Los Angeles Police Department said in...
Oprah Winfrey, Dwayne Johnson pledged $10M for Maui wildfire survivors. They raised almost $60 million
Lana Vierra misses the swing set at her Lahaina home, which was reduced to ashes in the wildfires that swept through her community last summer. “Multiple generations went through there playing in my front yard,” she said. “Just with the animals and the turtles and the deer and goats that...
Police, federal agents stop yacht off Miami-Dade with 30 Haitian migrants on board
MIAMI — Miami-Dade County police marine patrol officers stopped a yacht near Key Biscayne last Friday that turned out to be a human smuggling boat with more than 30 people from Haiti on board, the department, state fish and wildlife police and federal agents said. Dade officers stopped the 60-foot...
Arizona judge declares mistrial in the case of a rancher accused of fatally shooting a migrant
PHOENIX — An Arizona judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of a rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border. The decision came after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision after more than two full days of deliberation in trial...
‘Miracle’ weight-loss drugs could have reduced health disparities. Instead they got worse
LOS ANGELES — The American Heart Association calls them “game changers.” Oprah Winfrey says they’re “a gift.” Science magazine anointed them the ” 2023 Breakthrough of the Year.” Americans are most familiar with their brand names: Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound. They are the medications that have revolutionized weight loss and...
New government heat risk tool sets magenta as most dangerous level
WASHINGTON — Forget about red hot. A new color-coded heat warning system relies on magenta to alert Americans to the most dangerous conditions they may see this summer. The National Weather Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday — Earth Day — presented a new online...
Biden will send Ukraine air defense weapons, artillery once Senate approves, Zelenskyy says
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday the U.S. will send badly needed air defense weaponry once the Senate approves a massive national security aid package that includes $61 billion for Ukraine. Zelenskyy said in a posting on X that Biden also assured him that...
Feds say prehistoric lake sturgeon not endangered, despite calls from conservationists
MADISON, Wis. — Lake sturgeon don’t need Endangered Species Act protections, federal wildlife officials announced Monday, saying that stocking programs have helped the prehistoric fish return to areas where they had vanished. The decision ends the Arizona-based Center of Biological Diversity’s petition filed in May 2018 asking the U.S. Fish...
U.S., Philippine forces launch combat drills in disputed South China Sea
MANILA, Philippines — American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower near the disputed South China Sea that has alarmed Beijing. The annual exercises by the longtime treaty allies will run until May 10 and involve more than 16,000 of...
Philly DA withdraws arrest warrant for Democratic lawmaker Kevin Boyle
Philadelphia Democratic state Rep. Kevin Boyle is no longer facing imminent arrest by Philadelphia Police Department after new information has come forward to indicate the protection from abuse order that was the basis of an arrest warrant was no longer in effect. At a late Monday afternoon news conference, Philadelphia...
Papua New Guinea leader takes offense after Biden implies his uncle was eaten by cannibals there
MELBOURNE, Australia — Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape accused Joe Biden of disparaging the South Pacific island nation by implying that an uncle of the U.S. president had been eaten by “cannibals” there during World War II. Biden’s comments offended a key strategic ally as China moves to...
Europe is the fastest-warming continent, at nearly twice the average global rate, report says
NAPLES, Italy — Europe is the fastest-warming continent and its temperatures are rising at roughly twice the global average, two top climate monitoring organizations reported Monday, warning of the consequences for human health, glacier melt and economic activity. The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s climate agency, Copernicus,...
Heavy rainstorms kill 4 in southern China; 10 people missing
BEIJING — Heavy rainstorms that swept across southern China over the weekend killed at least four people in riverside cities, while a search was underway for 10 others missing, state media said Monday. The official Xinhua news agency said three people died in Zhaoqing city while one rescuer died in...
Baltimore leaders accuse ship’s owner and manager of negligence in Key Bridge collapse
BALTIMORE — The owner and manager of the massive container ship that took down the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month should be held fully liable for the deadly collapse, according to court papers filed Monday on behalf of Baltimore’s mayor and city council. The two companies filed a petition...
Pro-Palestinian protests sweep U.S. college campuses following mass arrests at Columbia
NEW YORK — Columbia canceled in-person classes, dozens of protesters were arrested at Yale and the gates to Harvard Yard were closed to the public on Monday as some of the most prestigious U.S. universities sought to diffuse campus tensions over Israel’s war with Hamas. The various actions followed the...
West Virginia confirms first measles case since 2009
CHARLESTON — A West Virginia hospital has confirmed the first known case of measles in the state since 2009, health officials said Monday. The Monongalia County Health Department said WVU Medicine alerted officials Sunday that an adult patient living in the county tested positive for the viral infection. Health officials...
Local election workers fear threats to their safety as November nears. One group is trying to help
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The group gathered inside the conference room, mostly women, fell silent as the audio recording began to play. The male voice, clearly agitated, railed against what he thought had been fraud that cost former President Donald Trump reelection four years ago. “You’re gonna pay for it,”...
Man who attacked police after storming U.S. Capitol with Confederate flag gets over 2 years in prison
WASHINGTON — A Kentucky man who stormed the U.S. Capitol while carrying a Confederate battle flag was sentenced on Monday to more than two years in prison for pepper spraying two police officers in the face, partially blinding them for hours during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Isreal Easterday was...
Supreme Court to decide if government can regulate ‘ghost guns’
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will decide whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can regulate so-called “ghost gun” kits that can be assembled into a working firearm. The Biden administration asked the justices to overturn a lower court decision that tossed out a rule meant to curb...
No charges yet in weekend crash that killed 2 siblings at Michigan birthday party
BERLIN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Investigators need more time to collect information before charges can be filed in the deaths of two young siblings who were killed by a suspected drunken driver at a child’s weekend birthday party, a Michigan prosecutor said Monday. “We expect to make a charging decision” on...
