January 4, 2023 3:48 pm
BOSTON (AP) – The mastermind of the nationwide college admissions bribery scheme that ensnared celebrities, prominent businesspeople and other parents has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. Rick Singer’s punishment is the longest sentence handed down in the sprawling scandal that exploded into newspapers headlines in 2019. Singer pleaded guilty nearly four years ago to paying off entrance exam administrators and coaches to get often undeserving students into elite schools with inflated test scores and bogus athletic credentials. He also helped authorities build the case against dozens of others by secretly recording phone calls and meetings with wealthy parents who paid huge sums to get their kids into the school of their choice.
February 23, 2022 3:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon has approved the deployment of 700 unarmed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., as the city prepares for trucker convoys that are planning protests against pandemic restrictions beginning next week. The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the request from the District of Columbia government and the U.S. Capitol Police. The Pentagon says the troops will be used to assist with traffic control. Four hundred Guard members from the District of Columbia Guard will be joined by 300 Guard members from other states. The convoys follow the recent Canadian truckers’ protest of government pandemic restrictions.
March 30, 2021 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky are making impassioned pleas to Americans not to let their guard down in the fight against COVID-19. Walensky warned on Monday of a potential “fourth surge” of the virus and spoke of a “recurring feeling … of impending doom.” Biden said the virus will get worse, not better “if we let our guard down now.” He said that “people are letting up on precautions, which is a very bad thing.” Walensky spoke of hope but added, “Right now, I’m scared.”
June 1, 2020 4:18 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Minnesota’s governor says a man who drove his semitrailer into the midst of thousands of protesters on a Minneapolis freeway was confused. Authorities say it appeared no one was hurt when the driver rolled onto the Interstate 35W freeway near downtown Minneapolis on Sunday. Gov. Tim Walz said Monday that the driver got ahead of officials who were closing the freeway and became confused. The governor noted the driver braked as he rolled past the crowd. Officials estimate 5,000 to 6,000 people were on the freeway. Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said nothing indicates the driver was intentionally targeting protesters.
August 11, 2019 7:51 am
PLUM, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania man whose 3-year-old daughter drowned last week is now facing charges after police say he left his two young children alone in the pool to go inside and make a drink. According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday, 27-year-old Charles Mitchell told officers he returned to the backyard Aug. 1 to find his daughter submerged in the deep end of the pool and pulled her out and started CPR. Mitchell has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment. No attorney is listed in court documents. Police say he told them his 4-year-old son wanted to swim but his daughter didn’t, so he put a life vest on his son and his daughter stayed outside while he left for five minutes to fix a ginger ale mixed with an apple-flavored alcohol. They say he later changed his statement to say it was only ginger ale.
September 24, 2024 5:01 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — With its larger-than-usual half-point cut to its key interest rate last week, the Federal Reserve underscored its belief that it’s all but conquered inflation after three long years. The public at large? Not so much. Consumer surveys show that most Americans remain unhappy with the economy, still bruised by an inflation rate that hit a four-decade high two years ago as the economy rebounded from the pandemic recession. Yet in the view of some economists, the shift toward steadily lower borrowing rates could eventually boost consumer sentiment. Inflation has sunk for more than two years and is nearly back down to the Fed’s 2% target. Though that means overall prices are still rising, they’re doing so much more slowly.
November 27, 2023 5:17 am
(AP) – A man pleaded not guilty to attempted murder Monday in connection with the weekend shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont — an attack that is being investigated as a possible hate crime. The three young men were shot and injured Saturday while walking near the University of Vermont campus. Forty-eight-year-old Jason Eaton was arrested Sunday and made a brief court appearance from jail Monday. He’s charged with three counts of attempted murder. The U.S. Justice Department and state officials are also investigating whether the shooting was a hate crime. Protests have been widespread and tensions have escalated in the U.S. as the death toll rises in the Israel-Hamas war.
January 4, 2023 12:12 pm
WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) – Authorities say a school bus crash in West Virginia sent 15 children to the hospital. Officials told news outlets that the students were taken to Wheeling Hospital as a precaution after the bus crashed Wednesday morning. Ohio County Sheriff Tom Howard told WTRF-TV that there were no serious injuries. The sheriff’s office said the bus went into a ditch and the students aboard were tossed around. Ohio County Schools spokesman Gabe Wells told The Intelligencer that the crash happened around 6:30 a.m. and video from the bus will be reviewed. The sheriff’s office is investigating what caused the crash.
February 23, 2022 3:18 am
MOSCOW (AP) – The East-West faceoff over Ukraine has escalated dramatically, with Russian lawmakers authorizing President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside his country and President Joe Biden and European leaders responding by slapping sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks. Both leaders signaled that an even bigger confrontation could lie ahead. Putin has yet to unleash the force of the 150,000 troops massed on three sides of Ukraine, while Biden held back on the toughest sanctions that could cause economic turmoil for Russia but said they would go ahead if there is further aggression. The sanctions underscored the urgency felt by Western nations to blunt the conflict.
March 30, 2021 4:21 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The teenager who shot the widely seen video of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer charged in his death testified Tuesday that Derek Chauvin “just stared at us” and didn’t react to bystander pleas. Eighteen-year-old Darnella Frazier said Chauvin and another officer on the scene put their hands on their Mace when bystanders wanted to intervene. She says she began recording because “it wasn’t right, he was suffering, he was in pain.” Earlier, a man who was among onlookers shouting at Chauvin to get off Floyd last May says he called 911 to report a murder after Floyd was removed by paramedics. Prosecutors led off their case by playing portions of Frazier’s video, which sent waves of outrage around the globe.
