WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy shrank from April through June for a second straight quarter, contracting at a 0.9% annual pace and raising fears that the nation may be approaching a recession. The decline that the Commerce Department reported Thursday in the gross domestic product — the broadest gauge of the economy — followed a 1.6% annual drop from January…
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill designed to encourage more semiconductor companies to build chip plants in the United States passed the Senate on Wednesday as lawmakers raced to finish work on a key priority of the Biden administration. The $280 billion measure, which awaits a House vote, includes federal grants and tax breaks for companies that construct their chip facilities in the U.S. The legislation also…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by a hefty three-quarters of a point for a second straight time in its most aggressive drive in three decades to tame high inflation. The Fed’s move will raise its key rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, to a range of 2.25% to 2.5%, its…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The last two former Minneapolis police officers who were convicted of violating George Floyd’s civil rights during his May 2020 killing were sentenced Wednesday in federal court to three and 3 1/2 years — penalties that a judge said reflected their level of culpability in a case that sparked worldwide protests as part of a…
WASHINGTON (AP) — After isolating for five days with mild symptoms, President Joe Biden tested negative for COVID-19 and swiftly arranged a Rose Garden appearance on Wednesday to talk about his bout with a virus that has killed millions of people around the world and disrupted daily life for more than two years. Biden planned to discuss his infection and his administration’s progress against the…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The last two former Minneapolis police officers to be sentenced in federal court for violating George Floyd’s civil rights are scheduled to learn their penalties Wednesday, which could set in motion another round of plea deal discussions in state court over a killing that sparked a reckoning on racial injustice. J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is returning to Washington on Tuesday for the first time since leaving office, delivering a speech hours after his Vice President Mike Pence, a potential 2024 rival, exhorted Republicans to stop looking backward. Trump’s appearance in the nation’s capital — his first trip back since Jan. 20, 2021, when President Joe Biden was sworn into office despite Trump’s…
(AP) — Choco Taco, a favored poolside treat for generations, will soon be no more after owner and ice cream maker Klondike decided to discontinue the summer treat. “Over the past 2 years, we have experienced an unprecedented spike in demand across our portfolio and have had to make very tough decisions to ensure availability of our full portfolio nationwide,”…
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline plunged 32 cents over the past two weeks to $4.54 per gallon. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday that the continued decline comes as crude oil costs also fall. “Further drops at the pump are likely as the wholesale gasoline price cuts continue making their…
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Joe Biden continues to recover from his coronavirus infection, the White House plans to hold a summit on Tuesday to discuss developing a new generation of vaccines that could more effectively guard against contagious variants. The summit, which involves top administration officials, scientists and pharmaceutical executives, comes as the country faces a surge of infections from BA.5, a…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Tom Nelson, a candidate who tried to position himself as the most progressive in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate, announced Monday he dropped out of the contest to face Republican incumbent Ron Johnson in November. Nelson, the Outagamie County executive, threw his support to Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is in a tight race with…
LONDON (AP) — The expanding monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries is an “extraordinary” situation that qualifies as a global emergency, the World Health Organization chief said Saturday, a declaration that could spur further investment in treating the once-rare disease and worsen the scramble for scarce vaccines. A global emergency is WHO’s highest level of alert but the designation does not necessarily…
A clinic escort outside WE Health Clinic in Duluth, Minn., awaits the arrival of patients, Thursday, July 7, 2022. The clinic escorts protect patients from protesters as they approach and enter the clinic. (AP Photo/Derek Montgomery) DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – Inside northern Minnesota’s only abortion clinic in Duluth, patients from Wisconsin and Texas sit among Minnesotans. They are the leading…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House announced Friday that the U.S. is sending an additional $270 million in security assistance to Ukraine, a package that will include additional medium range rocket systems and tactical drones. The latest tranche brings the total U.S. security assistance committed to Ukraine by the Biden administration to $8.2 billion, and is being paid for through $40 billion in…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump was convicted on Friday of contempt charges for defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Bannon, 68, was convicted after a four-day trial in federal court in Washington on two counts: one for refusing to appear for…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t allow the Biden administration to implement a policy that prioritizes deportation of people in the country illegally who pose the greatest public safety risk. The court’s order Thursday leaves the policy frozen nationwide for now. The vote was 5-4 with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown…
WASHINGTON (AP) — For more than a year, President Joe Biden’s ability to avoid the coronavirus seemed to defy the odds. When he finally did test positive, the White House was ready. It set out to turn the diagnosis into a “teachable moment” and dispel any notion of a crisis. “The president does what every other person in America does every day, which is he…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee is headed back to prime time for its eighth hearing — potentially the final time this summer that lawmakers will lay out evidence about the U.S. Capitol insurrection and President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Thursday’s hearing is expected to focus on what Trump was doing in the White House as the…
NEW YORK (AP) — An unvaccinated young adult from New York recently contracted polio, the first U.S. case in nearly a decade, health officials said Thursday. Officials said the patient, who lives in Rockland County, had developed paralysis. The person developed symptoms a month ago and did not recently travel outside the country, county health officials said. It appears the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The right to use contraceptives would be inscribed into law under a measure that Democrats pushed through the House on Thursday, their latest campaign-season response to concerns a conservative Supreme Court that already erased federal abortion rights could go further. The House’s 228-195 roll call was largely along party lines and sent the measure to the Senate, where its…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former Minneapolis police Officer Thomas Lane has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on a federal civil rights charge for his role in the killing of George Floyd. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced Lane on Thursday for his February conviction of depriving Floyd of medical care as he lay dying under Officer…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former Minneapolis police Officer Thomas Lane is hoping for a sentence Thursday that could let him go free after as little as two years in prison for his role in the killing of George Floyd. His attorney, Earl Gray, has argued that the rookie was the least culpable of the four officers involved in Floyd’s death under…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus as new variants challenge the nation’s efforts to resume normalcy after two and a half years of pandemic disruptions. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden was experiencing “mild symptoms” and has begun taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug…
SOMERSET, Mass. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced modest new steps to combat climate change and promised more robust action to come, saying, “This is an emergency and I will look at it that way.” The president stopped short, though, of declaring a formal climate emergency, which Democrats and environmental groups have been seeking after an influential Democratic senator quashed hopes for…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a renewed push to protect same-sex marriage in federal law on Wednesday after a surprising number of House Republicans helped pass landmark legislation in that chamber. Some GOP senators are already signaling support. The legislation started as an election-season political effort to confront the new Supreme Court majority after the court overturned abortion access…
MINNESOTA (AP) — Minnesota state government employees who are unvaccinated for COVID-19 are no longer required to take weekly tests for the virus in order to stay in the workplace. The requirement that went into effect in September 2021 meant thousands of employees took tests each week. Those that didn’t comply were subjected to suspensions or other discipline. A state…
(AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed for the fifth consecutive month in June as higher mortgage rates and rising prices kept many home hunters on the sidelines. Existing home sales fell 5.4% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.12 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That’s lower than what economists…
BOULDER CITY, Nev. (AP) — A transformer exploded Tuesday at Hoover Dam, producing a cloud of thick, black smoke and flames that were quickly extinguished. No one was hurt and electricity continued to flow from one of the nation’s largest hydroelectric facilities, authorities said. “There is no risk to the power grid,” according to Jacklynn L. Gould, the federal Bureau…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Filmmaker Steven Spielberg, the most commercially successful director of all time, donated $20,000 to Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ reelection campaign, a tally released Tuesday showed. Spielberg and his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, were among 31 people who gave Evers the maximum $20,000 donation allowed under law, according information from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Those 31…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Jan. 6 committee, has tested positive for COVID-19, but the panel will still hold its prime-time hearing on Thursday, according to a spokesman for the panel. Thompson, D-Miss., announced Tuesday that he tested positive for the virus on Monday and is experiencing mild symptoms. Thompson, 74, said he will be isolating for…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved legislation Tuesday to protect same-sex and interracial marriages amid concerns that the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade abortion access could jeopardize other rights criticized by many conservative Americans. The vote was 267-157, with dozens of Republican joining Democrats for passage. With a robust but lopsided debate, Democrats argued intensely in favor of…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two former White House aides are expected to testify at the House Jan. 6 committee’s prime-time hearing Thursday as the panel examines what Donald Trump was doing as his supporters broke into the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the plans. Matthew Pottinger, former deputy national security adviser, and Sarah Matthews, a former press aide, are expected to…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A former Minneapolis police officer who is one of four ex-officers convicted of violating George Floyd’s civil rights is scheduled to be sentenced this week. Prosecutors have asked a federal judge to sentence Thomas Lane to between 5 1/4 to 6 1/2 years in prison on Thursday for his role in the restraint that killed Floyd…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said Monday he plans to retire by the end of President Joe Biden’s term in January 2025. Fauci, 81, was appointed director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1984, and has led research in HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, Ebola, Zika and the coronavirus. He has advised seven…
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white gunman charged with killing 10 Black people in a racist mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket pleaded not guilty Monday to federal hate crime charges that could be punishable by the death penalty. Payton Gendron was indicted last week on hate crimes and weapons counts. The plea was entered in court by Gendron’s attorney,…
GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP) — Authorities say the person who shot five people at a suburban Indianapolis shopping mall, killing three of them, before a shopper shot and killed him was a 20-year-old local man. Greenwood Police Chief James Ison said at a news conference Monday that Jonathan Sapirman, of Greenwood, began firing after leaving a bathroom at the Greenwood Park…
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — A damning report and hours of body camera footage further laid bare the chaotic response to a mass shooting at a Uvalde elementary school, where hundreds of law enforcement officers massed but then waited to confront the gunman even after a child trapped with the shooter called 911. The findings of an investigative committee released Sunday were…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The number of people who died of drug overdoses in Minnesota climbed by more than 20% last year. State Department of Health records show at least 1,286 people in Minnesota died of overdoses in 2021. And, most of the deaths were caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which saw a 32% increase in fatal overdoses…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden seemed to bow Friday to Sen. Joe Manchin’s demand for a slimmed-down economic package, telling Democrats to quickly push the measure through Congress so families could “sleep easier” and enjoy the health care savings it proposes. Biden’s statement came hours after Manchin, the West Virginian who is one of Congress’ more conservative Democrats, said…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Several dozen people gathered for a vigil outside a Minneapolis apartment building where police fatally shot a man during an hourslong standoff that began with gunfire before officers arrived. Family members and friends on Thursday night mourned the death of Andrew Tekle Sundberg, a 20-year-old who police said fired gunshots from his apartment in a standoff that began Wednesday…
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — President Joe Biden said he raised the murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the beginning of his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday. “I said, very straightforwardly, for an American president to be silent on an issue of human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who I am,” Biden said….
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has voted to restore abortion rights nationwide in Democrats’ first legislative response to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The bill has little chance of becoming law, with the necessary support lacking in the 50-50 Senate. Yet voting marks the beginning of a new era in the debate as lawmakers, governors and legislatures grapple with…
NEW YORK (AP) — Ivana Trump, who formed half of a publicity power couple in the 1980s as the first wife of former President Donald Trump and mother of his oldest children, has died in New York City, her family announced Thursday. She was 73. “I am very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, of which there…
JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid stood side-by-side Thursday and declared they would not allow Iran to become a nuclear power. They parted ways, though, on how to get there. Biden, in a joint news conference after a one-on-one meeting with the Israeli leader, said he still wants to give diplomacy a chance. Moments earlier, Lapid insisted that words…
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo supermarket where 10 Black people were killed by a white gunman is set to reopen its doors to the public Friday, two months after the racist attack. A moment of silence and prayer will be held Thursday at Tops Friendly Market to honor the victims, employees and community impacted by the May 14 mass shooting, with a…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A court ruling that struck down most of Minnesota’s restrictions on abortion as unconstitutional will speed the process for clinics and patients, though providers are still studying all the implications of how the landscape will change as a result. Two key points of Monday’s ruling are expected to have the most immediate impacts. Judge Thomas Gilligan overturned Minnesota’s mandatory 24-hour waiting…
JERUSALEM (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday opened his first visit to the Mideast since taking office by offering anxious Israeli leaders strong reassurances of his determination to stop Iran’s growing nuclear program, saying he’d be willing to use force “as a last resort.” The president’s comments came in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 taped before he left Washington and…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin doctor has purchased two clinical buildings in northern Illinois where he plans to offer abortion pills as early as this week at one location and surgical abortions within six months at the other site. The move comes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights last month. That led abortion providers in Wisconsin…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Surging prices for gas, food and rent catapulted U.S. inflation to a new four-decade peak in June, further pressuring households and likely sealing the case for another large interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, with higher borrowing costs to follow. Consumer prices soared 9.1% compared with a year earlier, the government said Wednesday, the biggest yearly increase…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Tuesday that it killed a leader of the Islamic State group in Syria in a drone strike. U.S. Central Command said in a news release that Maher al-Agal was killed Tuesday and an unidentified senior official in the Islamic State group was seriously injured. The Pentagon said there were no civilian casualties, though it wasn’t possible…
