WASHINGTON (AP) — Liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring, giving President Joe Biden an opening he has pledged to fill by naming the first Black woman to the high court. The 83-year-old Breyer has been a pragmatic force on a court that has grown increasingly conservative in recent years, trying to forge majorities…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A man who St. Louis police union officials say was released from jail after being diagnosed with COVID-19 is back in jail. Interim Public Safety Director Dan Isom said Monday that the man’s release was a poor decision and that an internal investigation has begun. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The world’s biggest and most powerful space telescope has reached its final destination 1 million miles away. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope fired its rocket thrusters Monday, one month after launching on a quest to behold the dawn of the universe. The maneuver put the $10 billion observatory into orbit…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Opening statements have begun in the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights. J. Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are the other three officers who were at the scene May 25, 2020, as Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd’s neck to the ground…
With abortion access increasingly restricted across much of the South and Midwest, two Illinois clinics near St. Louis on Friday announced a new logistics center to help abortion seekers get to their clinics. Activists on both sides are convinced the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling is imperiled, with nearly two dozen states likely to impose…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Louie Anderson, whose four-decade career as a comedian and actor included his unlikely and Emmy-winning performance as mom to twin adult sons in the TV series “Baskets,” has died at age 68. Anderson’s publicist Glenn Schwartz says the comedian died Friday in Las Vegas. The publicist had said earlier this week…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri says he has tested positive for COVID-19. Cleaver, who represents a Kansas City-area district, announced the breakthrough infection in a statement released Wednesday evening. Cleaver said he is fully vaccinated and also received a booster vaccine, which he credits for keeping his…
For many Jewish leaders, the hostage standoff in a Texas synagogue was all too familiar. They’ve seen a rise in antisemitism and high-profile synagogue attacks. An initial FBI statement said the attack was “not specifically related to the Jewish community,” but the agency later clarified that the community was targeted. Survivors said the captor voiced…
KEMMERER, Wyoming (AP) — A tiny Wyoming town faces transformation when a company started by Bill Gates builds a new type of nuclear power plant there. Bellevue, Washington-based TerraPower plans to launch its Natrium reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming, in the latter part of this decade. The reactor would be cooled by molten sodium instead of…
ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden says Americans must commit to the unfinished work of Martin Luther King Jr., delivering jobs and justice and protecting what he calls “the sacred right to vote, a right from which all other rights flow.” Biden’s remarks Monday were among many by politicians acknowledging unmet needs for racial equality…