WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is beginning to put its stamp on gun legislation in response to mass shootings in Texas and New York by 18-year-old assailants who used semi-automatic rifles to kill 31 people, including 19 children. The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Thursday to advance legislation that would raise the age limit for purchasing certain semi-automatic…
TULSA, Oklahoma (AP) — Three people were killed Wednesday in a shooting at a Tulsa medical building on a hospital campus, a police captain said. Capt. Richard Meulenberg confirmed the number of dead. Meulenberg said the shooter also was dead. It was unclear how the shooter died or what prompted the deadly assault. “Officers are currently going through every room…
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A jury awarded Johnny Depp more than $10 million on Wednesday in his libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, vindicating his stance that Heard fabricated claims that she was abused by Depp before and during their brief marriage. The jury also found Heard was defamed by a lawyer for Depp who accused her of creating a detailed…
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A grand jury on Wednesday charged the white 18-year-old accused of fatally shooting 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket with domestic terrorism motivated by hate and 10 counts of first-degree murder. Payton Gendron, who has been in custody since the May 14 shooting, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Erie County Court. The 25-count indictment also…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Hundreds of students walked out of class Tuesday and gathered in downtown Minneapolis to demand state legislators adopt tougher gun laws in the wake of last week’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The Star Tribune reported the students walked out around 12:30 p.m. and gathered in Gold Medal Park. They demanded officials create a statewide…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Thousands of people in Minnesota and South Dakota are without electrical power as the region recovered from storms and tornadoes that left damaged buildings, trees and roadways. The National Weather Service says in a preliminary report there were four tornadoes on Monday in western Minnesota, along with wind gusts and large hail. More than 37,000 people were…
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — It should have been the first day of a joyous week for Robb Elementary School students — the start of summer break. Instead, the first two of 19 children slain inside a classroom were being remembered at funeral visitations. The gathering for 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza was at Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home on Monday in Uvalde, Texas,…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as soaring inflation takes a bite out of Americans’ pocketbooks. The meeting Tuesday will be the first since Biden renominated Powell to lead the central bank and comes weeks after his confirmation for a second term by the Senate. The White House said the…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The failed search for a new University of Minnesota-Duluth chancellor cost $166,000. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Thursday that University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel announced on Monday that none of the three finalists invited for interviews got the job. The university began a national search for a new Duluth chancellor in November after Lendley Black announced…
TAFT, Okla. (AP) – Authorities say one person was killed and seven were injured in a shooting early Sunday at an outdoor festival in eastern Oklahoma. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that two juveniles were among those shot at the Memorial Day event near Taft, about 10 miles southeast of Tulsa. The agency reports that…
FILE – Law enforcement personnel stand outside Robb Elementary School following a shooting, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. When the gunman arrived at the school, he hopped its fence and easily entered through an unlocked back door, police said. He holed himself up in a fourth-grade classroom where he killed the children and teachers. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File) STEFANIE…
NEW YORK (AP) – Airline travelers are not only facing sticker shock this Memorial Day weekend. They’re also dealing with a pileup of flight cancellations. According to the website FlightAware, more than 1,200 flights were canceled as of 2 p.m EDT on Saturday. That followed more than 2,300 cancellations on Friday. Delta Air Lines suffered the most, with more than…
MINNEAPOLIS – The Minneapolis City Council has approved $1.2 million in legal settlements with two people injured by police during protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of officers in 2020. Minnesota Public Radio reports that settlements with St. Paul resident Virgil Lee Jackson Jr. and Nashville freelance photographer Linda Tirado mean the city has agreed to…
A family pays their respects next to crosses bearing the names of Tuesday’s shooting victims at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Thursday, May 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) UVALDE, Texas (AP) — It was 11:28 a.m. when the Ford pickup slammed into a ditch behind the low-slung Texas school and the driver jumped out carrying an AR-15-style rifle….
(AP Photo) MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has issued an executive order barring price gouging on baby formula. The governor issued the order Thursday. The order declares that a period of “abnormal economic disruption” exists in Wisconsin and prohibits wholesalers and retailers in the state from charging “unreasonably excessive prices,” defined in administrative code as prices more…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin’s top legislative Republican says he is open to the idea of arming teachers following the latest school shooting in Texas, while he dismissed as “disingenuous” an offer from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to find common ground. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told The Associated Press on Thursday that finding ways to better protect schools, including with…
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – About 400 workers at Planned Parenthood offices in five Midwestern states plan to unionize. The move comes as their employer deals with the potential loss of business in states where abortions may become illegal if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Ashley Schmidt is a training and development specialist for Nebraska and western…
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman’s rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team. “Go in there! Go in…
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The gunman who massacred 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas had warned on social media minutes before the attack that he had shot his grandmother and going to shoot up a school, the governor said Wednesday. Salvador Ramos, 18, used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in the bloodbath Tuesday at Robb Elementary…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Food and Drug Administration faced bipartisan fury from House lawmakers Wednesday over months of delays investigating problems at the nation’s largest baby formula plant that prompted an ongoing shortage. FDA Commissioner Robert Califf laid out a series of setbacks in congressional testimony that slowed his agency’s response, including a COVID-19 outbreak at the…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lamenting a uniquely American tragedy, an anguished and angry President Joe Biden delivered an urgent call for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman shot and killed at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school. Biden spoke Tuesday night from the White House barely an hour after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A candlelight vigil to honor George Floyd’s memory at the intersection where he died was among the remembrances scheduled for Wednesday’s second anniversary of the Black man’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Activists planned the vigil, along with a rally at the governor’s residence in St. Paul, for the two-year anniversary of Floyd’s death…
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 18 children, officials said, and the gunman was dead. The death toll also included three adults, according to state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who said he was briefed by state police on the fatalities. But it was not immediately clear whether that number…
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Fourteen children and one teacher were killed in a shooting at a Texas elementary school Tuesday, and the 18-year-old gunman was dead, Gov. Greg Abbott said Abbott said a local man opened fire at at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 85 miles west of San Antonio. ”He shot and killed, horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order on policing on Wednesday, the second anniversary of George Floyd’s death, according to three people familiar with the matter. The order would require federal law enforcement to review and revise policies on use of force, and it would restrict the flow of surplus military equipment to local police. In addition,…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A slew of candidates hoping to win the Minnesota congressional seat vacated by the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn get their first test before voters on Tuesday. The winners of Republican and Democratic primaries will meet in August to determine who will finish the last few months of Hagedorn’s term. The stakes are likely higher than…
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed broadly higher Monday, an upbeat start to the week on Wall Street after seven weeks of declines that nearly ended the bull market that began in March 2020. The S&P 500 rose 1.9%, with technology and financial sector stocks doing much of the heavy lifting for the benchmark index. The Dow Industrial Average rose…
TOKYO (AP) — President Joe Biden said Monday the U.S. would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan, declaring the commitment to protect the island is “even stronger” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was one of the most forceful presidential statements in support of Taiwan’s self-governing in decades. Biden, at a news conference in Tokyo, said “yes” when asked…
(AP) — Three doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine offer strong protection for children younger than 5, the company announced Monday. Pfizer plans to give the data to U.S. regulators later this week in a step toward letting the littlest kids get the shots. The news comes after months of anxious waiting by parents desperate to vaccinate their babies, toddlers and…
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A military plane carrying enough specialty infant formula for more than half a million baby bottles arrived Sunday in Indianapolis, the first of several flights expected from Europe aimed at relieving a shortage that has sent parents scrambling to find enough to feed their children. President Joe Biden authorized the use of Air Force planes for the effort, dubbed…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz said early Monday that he wants to call a short special session after the divided Minnesota Legislature blew a deadline for passing a package of tax cuts and new spending using the state’s massive budget surplus. “We’re about 90 to 95% of the way there,” Walz told reporters after the deadline of 11:59 p.m….
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota lawmaker couldn’t find common ground on several budget bills Friday as the end of their legislative season rapidly approached. Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said tax committee chairs have made “fantastic progress” on a $4 billon tax relief bill, echoing Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller’s comments Thursday that a deal…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A disorderly conduct conviction can’t disqualify someone from obtaining a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday in a unanimous decision that could dramatically broaden who can carry hidden firearms, knives and stun guns. The court found that disorderly conduct isn’t a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence under federal…
CHICAGO (AP) — Two people are dead and another eight wounded following a shooting near a fast food restaurant just blocks from Chicago’s famed Magnificent Mile shopping district that sent bystanders scattering, authorities said. The shooting happened about 10:40 p.m. Thursday near a McDonald’s on the city’s Near North Side. One person was taken into custody and a weapon was…
(AP) — President Joe Biden’s approval rating dipped to the lowest point of his presidency in May, a new poll shows, with deepening pessimism emerging among members of his own Democratic Party. Only 39% of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s performance as president, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Research, dipping from already negative ratings…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — An effort to ban “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ youth won a majority in the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate on Thursday, but it didn’t get enough votes on a procedural maneuver to advance to a full debate on the bill’s merits. With little advance warning, Democratic Sen. Scott Dibble, of Minneapolis, tried to pull his bill out of a…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A proposal to legalize sports betting survived a test Thursday amid lawmakers’ efforts to pull together the pieces of a package to spend the Minnesota’s enormous budget surplus with just days remaining in the legislative session. The bill, authored by Republican Sen. Roger Chamberlain, of Lino Lakes, would allow tribal casinos and the state’s two…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate overwhelmingly approved a $40 billion infusion of military and economic aid for Ukraine and its allies on Thursday as both parties rallied behind America’s latest, and quite possibly not last, financial salvo against Russia’s invasion. The 86-11 vote gave final congressional approval to the package, three weeks after President Joe Biden requested a smaller $33 billion version and after a…
WASHINGTON (AP) — A closely divided House approved legislation Thursday to crack down on alleged price gouging by oil companies and other energy producers as prices at the pump continue to soar. A bill backed by House Democrats would give President Joe Biden authority to declare an energy emergency that would make it unlawful to increase gasoline and home energy…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Food and Drug Administration told lawmakers Thursday that a shuttered baby formula factory could be up and running as soon as next week, though he sidestepped questions about whether his agency should have intervened earlier at the plant at the center of the national shortage. FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf faced a bipartisan grilling from House…
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for jobless aid last week, but the total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits is at a 53-year low. Applications for unemployment benefits rose by 21,000 to 218,000 for the week ending May 14, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time applications generally track the number of layoffs. The four-week average for claims, which smooths…
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white man accused of killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket appeared briefly in court Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on a first-degree murder charge. Assistant district attorney Gary Hackbush said the indictment of Payton Gendron, 18, was handed up Wednesday. Gendron, wearing orange clothing and mask, was silent throughout the proceeding…
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas, as he faces mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant. The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to…
NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 1,000 points Wednesday, as big earnings misses by Target and other major retailers stoked investors’ fears that surging inflation could cut deeply into corporate profits. The broad sell-off erased gains from a solid rally a day earlier, the latest volatile day-to-day swing for stocks in recent weeks amid…
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Nearly 1,000 last-ditch Ukrainian fighters who had held out inside Mariupol’s pulverized steel plant have surrendered, Russia said Wednesday, as the battle that turned the city into a worldwide symbol of defiance and suffering drew toward a close. Meanwhile, the first captured Russian soldier to be put on trial by Ukraine on war-crimes charges pleaded guilty to killing…
(AP) — The U.S. Soccer Federation reached milestone agreements to pay its men’s and women’s teams equally, making the American national governing body the first in the sport to promise both sexes matching money. The federation announced separate collective bargaining agreements through December 2028 with the unions for both national teams on Wednesday, ending years of often acrimonious negotiations. The…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd. As part of the plea deal, Thomas Lane will have a count of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder dismissed. Lane, along with J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, has already been convicted on federal…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday underscored the Federal Reserve’s determination to keep raising interest rates until there is clear evidence inflation is steadily falling — a high-stakes effort that carries the risk of causing an eventual recession. The Fed’s increases in its benchmark short-term rate typically lead, in turn, to higher borrowing costs for consumers and businesses,…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis has agreed to pay $1.5 million to a man who said police used excessive force when he was arrested during the protests that followed George Floyd’s death in 2020, according to court documents filed Tuesday. Jaleel Stallings, 29, also alleged in his federal lawsuit that several of his constitutional rights were violated. The judgment accepted by Stallings states that the…
DETROIT (AP) — Nearly 43,000 people were killed on U.S. roads last year, the highest number in 16 years as Americans returned to the highways after the pandemic forced many to stay at home. The 10.5% jump over 2020 numbers was the largest percentage increase since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began its fatality data collection system in 1975. Transportation Secretary…
