Louisiana lawyer: Abortion bill could subject women to homicide charge
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana House committee voted to make abortion a crime of homicide for which a woman ending her pregnancy could be charged, along with anyone helping her. The bill also declares that any federal law, regulation or court ruling that allows abortion is void and that any...
Karine Jean-Pierre to be next White House press secretaryVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday named Karine Jean-Pierre to be the next White House press secretary, with incumbent Jen Psaki set to leave the role next week. Biden is also bringing back longtime Democratic strategist Anita Dunn as his senior adviser. She had served in the Biden White...
Bird flu takes unheard-of toll on bald eagles, other birds
OMAHA, Neb. — Bird flu is killing an alarming number of bald eagles and other wild birds, with many sick birds arriving at rehabilitation centers unsteady on their talons and unable to fly. “It’s quite a sight to see an eagle with a six-foot wingspan having uncontrollable seizures because of...
Pa. not short on proposed laws concerning abortion
HARRISBURG — At least 18 bills directly relating to abortion are pending in either the Pennsylvania House or Senate, including two proposed constitutional amendments that could strengthen potential bans. Most remain dormant in committee since being introduced in the 2021-22 legislative session, however, the outcome of the Mississippi abortion case...
Senate to vote next week on protecting abortion rights
WASHINGTON — The Senate will vote next week on legislation that would codify abortion rights into federal law as Democrats mount their response to the Supreme Court’s leaked draft decision that would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. The procedural vote, scheduled for Wednesday, will mostly be symbolic and...
Once conflicted, Biden embraces role as abortion defender
WASHINGTON — Soon after being elected to the U.S. Senate, Joe Biden was pulled aside by a Democratic colleague who wanted to know how he was going to vote on abortion. Biden explained that while he was personally opposed to abortion and would resist federal funding for the procedure, he...
Death toll rises to 26 in central China building collapse
BEIJING — The death toll jumped Thursday to 26 from the collapse last week of a residential and commercial building in central China, state media reported. Ten other people have been rescued from the wreckage in the city of Changsha, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The 10th survivor, an...
Walgreens, Florida settle opioid costs lawsuit for $683M
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Walgreens pharmacy chain has reached a $683 million settlement with the state of Florida in a lawsuit accusing the company of improperly dispensing millions of painkillers that contributed to the opioid crisis, state officials said Thursday. State Attorney General Ashley Moody said the deal was...
Next battle over access to abortion will focus on pills
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — It took two trips over state lines, navigating icy roads and a patchwork of state laws, for a 32-year-old South Dakota woman to get abortion pills last year. For abortion-seekers like her, such journeys, along with pills sent through the mail, will grow in importance if...
President declares disaster in New Mexico wildfire zone
LAS VEGAS — Firefighters slowed the advance of the largest wildfire in the U.S. as heavy winds relented Wednesday, while President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration that brings new financial resources to remote stretches of New Mexico devastated by fire since early April. U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez announced...
AP analysis finds growing number of poor, high-hazard dams
More than 2,200 dams built upstream from homes or communities are in poor condition across the U.S., likely endangering lives if they were to fail, according to an Associated Press analysis. The number of high-hazard dams in need of repairs is up substantially from a similar AP review conducted just...
WHO reports nearly 15M deaths associated with covid
LONDON — The World Health Organization is estimating that nearly 15 million people were killed either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years, more than double the official death toll of 6 million. Most of the fatalities were in Southeast Asia,...
Alabama’s new transgender care felony faces federal test
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal judge will hear arguments Thursday on a challenge to Alabama’s plan to outlaw the use of gender-affirming medications to treat transgender youth. U.S. District Judge Liles Burke has scheduled a hearing on a request to block the law’s enforcement while it’s challenged in court. The...
‘Seemed like goodbye’: Mariupol defenders make their stand
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian fighters in the tunnels underneath Mariupol’s pulverized steel plant held out against Russian troops Thursday in an increasingly desperate and perhaps doomed effort to deny Moscow what would be its biggest success of the war yet: the complete capture of the strategic port city. The bloody...
Donations pouring in for abortion rights organizations
Abortion advocacy groups said they saw their donations grow exponentially after a draft opinion leaked revealing that the U.S. Supreme Court soon intended to reverse its landmark Roe v. Wade decision. The reproductive-rights group NARAL Pro Choice America on Tuesday said it received a 1,403% spike in donations in the...
Attacks dominate Pennsylvania’s Senate GOP primary debate
HARRISBURG — What could be the final primary debate between Republicans running for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat devolved into a string of attacks over China, abortion and more as the candidates stretched Wednesday night for any perceived advantage in a wide-open and expensive race. In many cases, the five...
Pa. state police trooper charged after receiving steroids in the mail
A state trooper was arrested Wednesday accused of having steroids sent to his Chester County home. Trooper Joseph W. Czachorowski is suspended without pay pending the resolution of the charges, state police announced. Czachorowski came under suspicion when a U.S. postal inspector intercepted a parcel addressed to him and got...
Donald Trump Jr. meets with Jan. 6 committee
WASHINGTON — The oldest son of former President Donald Trump has met with the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to two people familiar with the matter. The interview Tuesday with Donald Trump Jr. comes as the bipartisan House committee moves closer to...
Oath Keeper from North Carolina pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy
WASHINGTON — A North Carolina man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring with other members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group to forcefully halt the peaceful transfer of power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. William Todd Wilson, 44, is the third Oath Keepers member to plead guilty...
Arizona officials blast Attorney General Mark Brnovich for election report
PHOENIX — Republican officials who oversee elections in Maricopa County issued a blistering retort Wednesday to GOP Attorney General Mark Brnovich accusing the state’s top lawman of abusing his position and misleading the public about the 2020 election to advance his U.S. Senate campaign. The county officials issued a nine-page...
Fox chews through fence, kills 25 flamingos, duck at National Zoo
WASHINGTON — Zookeepers at the National Zoo made a macabre discovery this week, when they entered the outdoor enclosure that housed 74 flamingos. A wild fox from neighboring Rock Creek Park had apparently chewed a hole in the metal mesh fencing and wreaked havoc, killing 25 flamingos and injuring three...
Georgia man charged with murder after daughter dies in hot car
SNELLVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia man was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday when his 8-month-old daughter died after she was left in a hot car while he went to retrieve a gun from the police department and ended up getting arrested, authorities said. Davied Japez McCorry Whatley, 20, went to...
As U.S. poised to restrict abortion, other nations ease access
BOGOTA, Colombia — As women in the United States find themselves on the verge of possibly losing the constitutional right to abortion, courts in many other parts of the world have been moving in the opposite direction. That includes in a number of traditionally conservative societies — such as recently...
WHO: Covid continues to decline, except in Americas, Africa
GENEVA — The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the number of newly reported coronavirus cases and deaths globally continued to fall in the last week, continuing a decline that first began in March. In its weekly report on the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said there were about 3.8...
Kansas gamer pleads guilty for role in fatal ‘swatting’ case
WICHITA, Kan. — A Kansas man has pleaded guilty to his role in a hoax call that led to a fatal shooting of an innocent bystander by Wichita police in 2017. Shane Gaskell, 23, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to wire fraud in case that drew national attention to...
