At least 68 killed in central Gaza in airstrike, adding to weekend’s bloodshedVideo
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza — At least 68 people were killed by an Israeli strike in central Gaza, health officials said Sunday, while the number of Israeli soldiers killed in combat over the weekend rose to 15. Associated Press journalists at a nearby hospital watched frantic Palestinians carry the dead, including...
With the Supreme Court on sideline for now, Trump’s lawyers press immunity claims before lower court
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump was acting within his role as president when he pressed claims about “alleged fraud and irregularity” in the 2020 election, his lawyers told a federal appeals court in arguing that he is immune from prosecution. The attorneys also asserted in a filing late Saturday night that...
A man is killed and a woman injured in a ‘targeted’ afternoon shooting at Florida shopping mallVideo
OCALA, Fla. — Authorities in central Florida issued an arrest warrant Sunday for a 39-year-old man accused of fatally shooting another man at a shopping mall two days before Christmas in which police say the victim was “targeted.” As of Sunday afternoon, the suspect hadn’t been located, and the Ocala...
Students with hearing loss, visual impairment tour Westmoreland Advanced Technology Center
Nearly 30 middle and high school students with hearing loss and visual impairments toured the Westmoreland County Community College’s Advanced Technology Center in East Huntingdon recently to experience the classrooms and labs. Burrell, Derry Area, Greater Latrobe, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield Area, Kiski Area, Ligonier Valley, New Kensington-Arnold, Norwin, Southmoreland and...
Inmate dies after he was found unresponsive at highly scrutinized West Virginia jail
BEAVER, W.Va. — An inmate at a West Virginia jail scrutinized in lawsuits citing inmate deaths and alleging poor living conditions was pronounced dead Friday morning, officials said. Correctional officers at Southern Regional Jail found the 24-year-old man unresponsive in his cell and attempted life-saving measures, according to a Division...
Dixie Chicks co-founder Laura Lynch dead at 65 after head-on collision
Laura Lynch, a founding member of the Chicks — formerly the Dixie Chicks — has died in a car accident in Texas. She was 65. The musician died following a highway collision outside of El Paso on Friday, her cousin, Mike Lynch, told TMZ. The Texas Department of Public Safety...
Biden says presidents can be subject to criminal prosecution
President Joe Biden said he “can’t think of one” reason presidents should receive absolute immunity from prosecution, as Republican front-runner Donald Trump has claimed. Biden made the comment in response to a reporter’s question Saturday before departing the White House for Camp David, where he will spend Christmas. The Supreme...
Alabama woman with rare double uterus gives birth to two children
DORA, Ala. — An Alabama woman with two uteri and two cervixes has given birth to two babies after carrying one of them in each uterus. Kelsey Hatcher of Dora, about 28 miles northwest of Birmingham, gave birth to two girls Wednesday and Thursday after a combined 20 hours of...
1 killed in shooting at Florida shopping mall
OCALA, Fla. — A man died in a shooting at a shopping mall in central Florida two days before Christmas in which the victim was apparently “targeted” for the attack, police said. Ocala police Chief Mike Balken told reporters Saturday evening the man was killed after he was shot multiple...
SpaceX launch sends up booster flying for record 19th time
ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX sent up another Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral early Saturday with a first-stage booster flying for a record 19th time. The Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 6-32 mission with 23 Starlink satellites launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:33 a.m. This marked a record...
Israel and Hamas measures get a look as most U.S. state legislatures meet for first time since Oct. 7
Most U.S. state legislatures will reconvene in January for the first time since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel sparked a war in Gaza and protests worldwide — and they’re preparing to take action in response, symbolic and concrete. Legislatures in at least eight states that were in session late...
North Dakota lawmaker made homophobic remarks to officer during DUI stop, bodycam footage shows
BISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota lawmaker who serves on a panel that handles law enforcement legislation made homophobic and anti-migrant remarks to a police officer who arrested him on a charge of driving drunk, body camera footage shows. Republican state Rep. Nico Rios of Williston also was charged with...
Trump says he’s eager to debate Biden in 2024, even if controversial commission plans events
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump says he is eager to debate President Joe Biden, even if the debates are sponsored by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. And he says he is open to debating a single Republican rival if a serious challenger emerges after the New Hampshire...
Bidens make traditional pre-Christmas visit to children’s hospital
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden joined his wife, first lady Jill Biden, on Friday for a Christmas season visit to Children’s National Hospital to meet young patients and their families. The first lady read the children “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” as the president waved and flashed smiles at the...
Vatican to publish never-before-seen homilies by Pope Benedict XVI during his 10-year retirement
ROME — The Vatican next year will publish a collection of never-before-seen homilies delivered by the late Pope Benedict XVI during his private Sunday Masses, most of them penned during his 10-year retirement, officials said Saturday. The consecrated women who tended to Benedict during his pontificate and retirement recorded the...
Czech Republic marks a day of mourning for the victims of its worst mass killing
PRAGUE — The Czech Republic came to a standstill at noon Saturday as people across the country observed a minute of silence for the victims of its worst mass killing that left 14 dead and questions about the shooter’s motive. National flags on public buildings flew at half-staff and bells...
Paramedics were convicted in Elijah McClain’s death. That could make other first responders pause
BRIGHTON, Colo. — Two Denver-area paramedics were convicted Friday for giving a fatal overdose of the sedative ketamine to Elijah McClain in 2019 — a jury verdict that experts said could have a chilling effect on first responders around the country. The case involving the 23-year-old Black man’s death was...
Wisconsin Supreme Court orders new legislative maps in redistricting case brought by Democrats
MADISON, Wis. — The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned Republican-drawn legislative maps Friday and ordered that new district boundary lines be drawn as Democrats had urged in a redistricting case they hope will weaken GOP majorities. The ruling comes less than a year before the 2024 election in a battleground...
Dreaming of a white Christmas? Alaska may be your best bet, as U.S. ski resorts see rain, not snow
GILFORD, N.H. — For most Americans dreaming of a white Christmas, this year’s prospects aren’t good. Although parts of the Rockies and Midwest already have snow or could get a fresh dusting by Monday, other parts of the country that normally are coated in white this time of year still...
Supreme Court says no, for now, to plea to rule quickly on whether Trump can be prosecuted
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Friday that it will not immediately take up a plea by special counsel Jack Smith to rule on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted for his actions to overturn the 2020 election results. The issue will now be decided by the U.S....
Tape reveals Donald Trump pressured Michigan officials not to certify 2020 vote, a new report says
Donald Trump pressured two election officials not to certify 2020 vote totals in a key Michigan county, according to a recording of a post-election phone call disclosed in a new report by The Detroit News. The former president’s 2024 campaign neither confirmed nor denied the recording’s legitimacy, insisting in a...
FDA says fake Ozempic shots are being sold through some legitimate sources
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has seized “thousands of units” of counterfeit Ozempic, the diabetes drug widely used for weight loss, that had been distributed through legitimate drug supply sources. The FDA and the drug’s maker, Novo Nordisk, are testing the shots. They do not yet have...
Czechs mourn 14 dead and dozens wounded in the worst mass shooting in the country’s history
PRAGUE — People in the Czech capital were trying to come to grips Friday with the worst mass shooting in the country’s history that left 14 dead and dozens wounded inside a university building. The shooter is also believed to have killed his father earlier in the day and a...
Biden is pardoning thousands convicted of marijuana charges on federal lands and in Washington
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is making thousands of people who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia eligible for pardons, the White House said Friday, in his latest round of executive clemencies meant to rectify racial disparities in...
1 injured in shooting at a Virginia hospital; suspect in custody
RICHMOND, Va. — Police said one person was injured at a Richmond hospital when a man who had come into the hospital for a mental health evaluation began shooting. Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards told reporters that a 911 call came in at 4:11 a.m. of shots fired at Chippenham...
