January 9, 2024 3:40 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Doctors say Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has prostate cancer and his recent secretive hospitalization was for surgery and later to treat a urinary tract infection related to that operation. The 70-year-old Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Dec. 22 and underwent surgery to treat the cancer. Austin developed the infection a week later. Senior administration and defense officials were not told for days about his hospitalization or his cancer. Meanwhile, the White House has sent agencies a memo outlining specific notification procedures. (Photo: AP)
January 9, 2024 3:36 pm
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A crippling fuel leak has forced a U.S. company to give up on landing a spacecraft on the moon. Astrobotic Technology’s lander began leaking fuel shortly after Monday’s launch from Florida. The spacecraft also encountered problems with its solar panel. The company said Tuesday that the goal now is to keep the lander operating as long as possible in space, in order to learn as much as possible for its next mission. A second lander from a Houston company is due to launch next month. Only four countries have successfully landed on the moon.
January 9, 2024 7:19 am
Sports Facility, LLC, the parent company of the Washington Wild Things, has named Christine Blaine as their Chief Executive Officer. Blaine was actually the very first employee of the baseball club when it was brought to Washington back in 2001. Blaine initially served as Director of Marketing and Communication and most recently served as Vice President of Corporate Partnerships. She will continue to work with corporate partnerships in her new role but will also oversee other departments at Wild Things Park. Sports Facility, LLC owner Stu Williams says “Chris is an essential member of our staff and any success the organization has is in part due to her efforts”.
January 9, 2024 5:10 am
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Authorities say an explosion at a historic Texas hotel on Monday injured 21 people and trapped some in the basement before they were found by rescue crews. One person was in critical condition. Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman Craig Trojacek says investigators are confident the blast was “some kind of gas explosion.” He says the blast flung doors and entire sections of wall onto the road in front of the 20-story hotel, where rescue crews found several people trapped in the basement. The Sandman Signature in the heart of downtown Fort Worth was undergoing construction. The hotel is in a busy area of downtown about one block from the Fort Worth Convention Center.
January 9, 2024 5:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump says a president “has to have immunity.” But federal appeals court judges in Washington are expressing deep skepticism that he is immune from prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden. On Tuesday Trump returned to the federal courthouse in Washington for his appeal of charges against him. The three-judge panel also questioned whether they had jurisdiction to consider the appeal at this point in the case, raising the prospect that Trump’s appeal could be dismissed. During lengthy arguments, the judges repeatedly pressed Trump’s lawyer to defend claims that Trump was shielded from criminal charges.
January 9, 2024 5:09 am
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal investigators are learning more about how a door panel flew off an Alaska Airlines jetliner last week. National Transportation Safety Board officials said Monday that the door panel slid up before flying off the plane. And they’re looking into whether four bolts that were supposed to help hold the panel in place might have been missing when the plane took off. Those comments came after Alaska Airlines and United Airlines reported finding loose parts in the panels — or door plugs — of some other Boeing 737 Max 9 jets. The findings are putting more pressure on Boeing to address safety concerns. The aircraft maker has called an online meeting for all employees Tuesday to talk about safety.
January 9, 2024 5:07 am
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — A group of armed, masked men in Ecuador launched an audacious attack on a television station during a live broadcast and so revealed the country’s spiraling violence in the wake of an apparent recent prison escape. The imprisoned leader of a drug gang mysteriously vanished from his cell in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Sunday, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency. On Tuesday, thousands of viewers tuned in to TC Television watched live as the men threatened presenters and studio hands with firearms and what appeared to be sticks of dynamite. Sounds resembling shots were audible, as well as pleas and moans of pain.
January 9, 2024 5:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump says a president “has to have immunity.” But federal appeals court judges in Washington are expressing deep skepticism that he is immune from prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden. On Tuesday Trump returned to the federal courthouse in Washington for his appeal of charges against him. The three-judge panel also questioned whether they had jurisdiction to consider the appeal at this point in the case, raising the prospect that Trump’s appeal could be dismissed. During lengthy arguments, the judges repeatedly pressed Trump’s lawyer to defend claims that Trump was shielded from criminal charges.
January 9, 2024 5:06 am
An Israeli drone strike hit a car Tuesday morning in southern Lebanon, killing three people inside it, security officials in the area and the state news agency said. The strike, about 6 miles from the border with Israel, came a day after a similar attack killed a commander with the militant Hezbollah group. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on an urgent mission aimed primarily at preventing the Israel-Hamas conflict from spreading into a regional war. He said Monday that Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey would consider participating in post-conflict reconstruction and governance of Gaza. The United Nations humanitarian office says the intensifying Israeli offensive in central and southern Gaza has had “devastating consequences.”
January 9, 2024 5:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Black, white, Hispanic and Asian adults in the U.S. largely agree that the government should focus on the economy and foreign policy issues in 2024, but recent polling shows that views diverge on some high-profile topics, including racism and immigration. That’s according to two recent polls by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and AAPI Data. About 7 in 10 adults across backgrounds name economic issues. Black adults are less likely than others to call immigration a top priority, and white adults are especially likely to name issues related to politics.
