KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is doubling down on his faltering invasion by declaring martial law in four illegally annexed Ukrainian regions. In addition, he set the stage Wednesday for draconian new restrictions and crackdowns throughout Russia. The drastic escalation appeared to be prompted by the threat of more stinging battlefield defeats,…
FLORISSANT, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri school board has decided to shut down a grade school that sits near a contaminated creek after a study funded by law firms involved in a class-action lawsuit found high levels of radioactive material inside the school. Contamination was found in classrooms, the playground and elsewhere at Jana Elementary…
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has dismissed one of two legal claims Kevin Spacey faces from actor Anthony Rapp. Rapp says Spacey made a sexual advance on him in his apartment in the 1980s when he was 14 years old. A federal judge threw out the claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress Monday…
FLORISSANT, Mo. (AP) — Environmental investigation consultants have found significant radioactive contamination at an elementary school in suburban St. Louis where nuclear weapons were produced during World War II. The report by Boston Chemical Data Corp. has confirmed fears about contamination at Jana Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District in Florissant. The report is…
CHICAGO (AP) — Federal prosecutors say AT&T Illinois has agreed to pay a $23 million fine to resolve a probe into its alleged illegal efforts to influence former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Federal prosecutors in Chicago also say Madigan has been indicted in the case. In a news release on Friday they say that…
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Police say a 15-year-old boy fatally shot two people in the streets of a neighborhood in North Carolina’s capital city, then fled toward a walking trail, where he killed three more people and wounded two others. Raleigh police Chief Estella Patterson said Friday that the suspect is hospitalized in critical condition…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A retired St. Louis priest faces sentencing in January after admitting that he possessed thousands of images containing child pornography. James T. Beighlie pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to two counts of possession of child pornography. He is 72. Federal prosecutors say that in May 2021, colleagues of Beighlie found…
The U.S. is about to offer updated COVID-19 booster shots to kids as young as 5. The tweaked boosters rolled out last month for Americans 12 and older — shots designed to target the currently spreading omicron variants. On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized kid-size versions for 5- to 11-year-olds. There’s one more…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Ancient Mars may have had an environment capable of harboring an underground world teeming with microscopic organisms. That’s according to French scientists who published their findings Monday. They’re quick to note, however, that if these simple life forms did exist, they would have altered the Martian atmosphere so profoundly that…
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The mother of an Iranian teenager is disputing official claims that her daughter fell to her death from a high building. Nasreen Shakarami says her teenage daughter was killed by repeated blows to the head as part of Iran’s crackdown on anti-hijab protests roiling the country. Shakarami also said…