NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Country giant Merle Haggard, who celebrated outlaws, underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride in such hits as “Okie From Muskogee” and “Sing Me Back Home,” died Wednesday at 79, on his birthday. Haggard’s manager, Frank Mull, said the country icon died in Palo Cedro, California, of pneumonia. A masterful…
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman’s comment to a Milwaukee TV station that Wisconsin’s newly enacted voter ID law will “make a little bit of a difference” in helping the GOP in November has sparked retorts on social media. WTMJ-TV reports that a link to a video of Grothman’s comment had been retweeted…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Hillary Clinton is questioning Bernie Sanders’ ability to get things done. The Democratic presidential candidate’s comments came after a drubbing by Sanders in Wisconsin on Tuesday. The two are pivoting to upcoming contests in New York and Pennsylvania. Clinton Wednesday is telling the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia that people are “hungry…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Republican lawmakers have advanced measures in about a dozen states this year that could strengthen protections for those who refuse for religious reasons to provide services to gay couples. The bills could benefit court clerks, photographers, florists, bakers, wedding-hall operators and others who say gay matrimony goes against their beliefs.…
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi’s governor has signed a law that allows public and private businesses to refuse service to gay couples based on the employers’ religious beliefs. Gov. Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1523 on Tuesday, despite opposition from gay-rights groups and some businesses. Some conservative and religious groups support the bill. The measure’s…
WASHINGTON (AP) – A published report says Donald Trump would force Mexico to pay for a border wall, if elected president, by cutting off billions of dollars in remittances by immigrants living in the U.S. The report, in Tuesday’s Washington Post, cites a two-page memo sent by the Republican presidential front-runner outlining how he would…
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — A member of the Icelandic government says embattled Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson will resign amid the controversy over his offshore holdings. Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told Icelandic broadcaster RUV that Gunnlaugsson was stepping down as leader of the country’s coalition government. Opposition lawmakers say Gunnlaugsson’s offshore holdings amounted to…
