Free beer, pot and doughnuts. Savings bonds. A chance to win an all-terrain vehicle. Places around the U.S. are offering incentives to try to energize the nation’s slowing vaccination drive and get Americans to roll up their sleeves. These relatively small corporate promotion efforts have been accompanied by more serious...
Lodi Man Who Drove Truck Through Protesters Pleads to Gun Charges
A California man who drove a pickup truck through a crowd protesting the death of George Floyd last year has agreed to plead guilty to federal firearms offenses, the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday. No one was hurt in the incident at an intersection in Pasadena but the...
Palestinian Leader Delays First Elections in 15 Years
JERUSALEM (AP) — President Mahmoud Abbas announced early Friday that the first Palestinian elections in 15 years will be delayed, citing a dispute with Israel to call off a vote in which his fractured Fatah party was expected to suffer another embarrassing defeat to the Hamas militant group. Hamas slammed...
Idaho Lawmaker Accused of Rape Resigns After Ethics Ruling
BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho lawmaker accused of rape by a 19-year-old legislative intern has resigned after an ethics committee found he should be formally censured. The investigation into Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger began in March after a young staffer reported he raped her in his apartment after the two...
Statues to Hatchet-Wielding Colonist Reconsidered
BOSTON — The fierce monuments honor an English colonist who, legend has it, slaughtered her Native American captors after the gruesome killing of her baby. But the statues to Hannah Duston — one in Massachusetts where she grips a hatchet and another in New Hampshire where she clutches a bundle...
California Senate Dems Propose $3.4 Billion for Drought
SACRAMENTO — Mired in yet another drought that threatens drinking water, endangered species of fish and the state's massive agriculture industry, Democrats in the California Senate on Thursday detailed a $3.4 billion proposal designed to gird the state for a new crisis on the heels of a deadly and disruptive...
US Vows Again to Ban Menthol Flavor in Cigarettes, Cigars
WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators pledged again Thursday to try to ban menthol cigarettes, this time under pressure from African American groups to remove the mint flavor popular among Black smokers. FDA to Propose Banning of Multiple Flavors The Food and Drug Administration has attempted several times to get rid...
AP FACT CHECK: Biden Skews Record on Migrants; GOP on Virus
WASHINGTON — Taking a swipe at his predecessor, President Joe Biden gave a distorted account of the historical forces driving migrants to the U.S. border, glossing over the multitudes who were desperate to escape poverty in their homelands when he was vice president. In his speech to Congress on Wednesday...
Harris, Pelosi Make History Seated Behind Biden at Speech
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made history Wednesday as the first women — one of them Black and Indian American — to share the stage in Congress during a presidential address. Biden Notes Historic Development President Joe Biden noted the historic development at the...
Nebraska’s Football Success Hinges on Former Clovis West Star
Adrian Martinez will be a rare four-year starting quarterback at Nebraska this fall and yet, for all his experience, he is one of the team's biggest mysteries. He was among the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country as a freshman in 2018 and appeared on Heisman Trophy candidate lists the...