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…
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…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — COVID-19 infections are rising in Missouri nursing homes as the highly contagious omicron variant surges. New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows cases among nursing home staff ballooned to 1,261, up from a peak of 981 last fall. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the 895…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Heavy snow spread across a large swath of the Midwest, where travel conditions deteriorated and scores of schools closed or moved to online instruction. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for parts of Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa and Illinois, where forecasters were expecting up to 10 inches of fresh…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says U.S. intelligence officials have determined a Russian effort is underway to create a pretext for its troops to further invade Ukraine, and Moscow has already prepositioned operatives to conduct “a false-flag operation” in eastern Ukraine. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the intelligence findings show Russia is…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Prices paid by U.S. consumer jumped 7% in December from a year earlier, the highest inflation rate since 1982 and the latest evidence that rising costs for food, gas, rent and other necessities are heightening the financial pressures on America’s households. Inflation has spiked during the recovery from the pandemic recession as…