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NEW YORK (AP) — A judge decried New York City’s problems with electric and gas-powered bikes on Wednesday as he sentenced the electric scooter rider who crashed into “Gone Girl” actor Lisa Banes to one to three years in prison for his manslaughter conviction.
A twister roaring out of the early morning darkness ripped through a small Alabama community, killing two during an outbreak of tornadoes in the South. The deadly storm that struck Flatwood, Alabama, early Wednesday was one of dozens of tornadoes kicked up by a severe storm front that swept from east Texas across several Southern states over two days. Tornadoes destroyed several buildings and toppled trees in Mississippi and Alabama. A 39-year-old woman and her 8-year-old-son were killed in Flatwood when a large tree fell on their mobile home. Tornadoes also damaged homes, destroyed a fire station and ripped the roof off an apartment complex in Mississippi.
Four lion cubs that were orphaned during the war in Ukraine have arrived safely at a Minnesota animal sanctuary that has pledged to provide them a permanent home. A male cub named Taras and three females named Stefania, Lesya and Prada, who are all between four and five months old, spent the last three weeks at the Poznan Zoo in Poland. The International Fund for Animal Welfare says they were born at Ukrainian breeding facilities during the war and then orphaned at a few weeks old. It says their arrival Tuesday marked the final step in an arduous journey after they survived sporadic bombings and drone attacks. Their new home is The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, north of Minneapolis.
Indiana’s Republican attorney general has asked the state medical licensing board to discipline an Indianapolis doctor who has spoken publicly about providing an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled from Ohio after its more-restrictive abortion law took effect. The complaint alleges Dr. Caitlin Bernard violated state law by not reporting the girl’s child abuse to Indiana authorities and violated patient privacy laws by telling a reporter about the girl’s treatment. That account sparked a national political uproar in the weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Bernard maintains the girl’s abuse had already been reported to Ohio police before the doctor ever saw the child.
NEW YORK (AP) — Besides eating turkey and visiting with family, sports on television occupied the time of many Americans over the Thanksgiving weekend.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Yale University is accused in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday of discriminating against students with mental health disabilities, including pressuring some to withdraw from the prestigious institution and then placing “unreasonable burdens” on those who seek to be re…
HOUSTON (AP) — A man who has been accused of illegally having a gun at the time that rapper Takeoff was fatally shot last month following a private party at a downtown Houston bowling alley has been charged in connection with the case, authorities said Wednesday.
The New York-based Center for Jewish History is launching a project offering DNA testing kits for free to Holocaust survivors and their children. It's an effort to help possibly find family connections torn apart in World War II. Genealogists say the advent of DNA technology has opened up a new world of possibilities in addition to the paper trails and archives that exist. The center had allocated an initial $15,000 for the DNA kits in this initial pilot effort, which would cover about 500 of them. It says efforts could be ramped up further if there is enough interest.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — City Council members in Portland, Oregon, have voted to allocate $27 million of the city's budget to build a network of designated camping areas for homeless people, approving a fiercely disputed budget measure as the city tries to address its homelessness crisis.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A suicide prevention net on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge that is already years behind schedule will cost about $400 million, more than double its original price, because of problems sparked by the government agency that manages the span, the lead contractors allege.
It’s the middle of the afternoon and Jada Williams begins a live stream on Instagram. In a heartbeat, more than 1,000 of her 671,000 followers join the broadcast and begin typing in questions and comments. Williams does her best to follow along as the comments and questions scroll past. She laughs and interacts with fans, whether the topic is her basketball career or what shoes and clothes she should wear on an upcoming trip. If there’s a face of the bold new frontier of name, image and likeness at the high school level, it might as well be the 17-year-old Williams, who is a senior point guard at San Diego’s La Jolla Country Day.
Some high school athletes are banking big bucks thanks to changes that allow them to accept major endorsement deals. California has become the trendsetter among the 19 states that let high school athletes profit from their name, image and likeness without affecting their eligibility to play in college. Among them is Jada Williams, who was a social media star and a talented point guard when she moved with her mother from a Kansas City suburb to San Diego. She wanted to play basketball for a high school powerhouse and parlay her online prowess into endorsement deals. Now the 17-year-old is pulling in six figures a year from six major endorsement deals.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California man received a jail sentence after admitting he stole an Olympic gold medal belonging to a member of the 2020 U.S. Women’s Volleyball Team.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A former Florida tax collector whose arrest led to a federal investigation of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz learns this week how much prison time he gets on charges of sex trafficking a minor and identity theft, but not before trying to convince a judge that his cooperation in se…
NEW YORK (AP) — Philadelphia and Oakland County, Michigan, are joining the small list of U.S. localities that are looking for signs of polio infections in sewage, U.S. health officials said Wednesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — The long-rumored memoir-policy book by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is coming out next year. The HarperCollins imprint Broadside will release “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival" on Feb. 28.
The Rolling Stones plan to release what they’re calling their “ultimate live greatest hits album” with appearances by Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Gary Clark Jr. and The Black Keys. “GRRR Live!” will release in February and features some of the band’s greatest hits, including “Start Me Up,” “Gimme Shelter,” “Sympathy For the Devil” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” The 24-track collection will be released on Feb. 10 in vinyl, CD, DVD, digital and Blu-ray formats. The album contains songs recorded live on Dec. 15, 2012, at New Jersey’s Prudential Center. Shown on pay-per-view in 2012, the concert has not otherwise been available to fans until now.
Matthew McConaughey, Mila Kunis, Jennifer Hudson and “Abbott Elementary” creator and star Quinta Brunson have been named People magazine’s 2022 “People of the Year.” The magazine unveiled its annual list Wednesday with Editor in Chief Wendy Naugle explaining this year’s honorees were selected because of their efforts to help others. McConaughey was chosen for his advocacy efforts after the Uvalde school shooting rocked his hometown. Kunis was lauded for her fundraising for Ukraine, where she was born. Hudson and Brunson was honored for her inclusive daytime talk show, while Brunson was selected for her work on “Abbott Elementary."
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has visited the memorial outside a gay club where five people were killed in a shooting attack last week. He solemnly walked Tuesday past flowers, crosses and photos of the victims. Polis is the first openly gay man elected a governor in the U.S., back in 2018. He picked up a piece of pink chalk and drew a heart and wrote “We remember” on the pavement outside Club Q in Colorado Springs — an LGBTQ gathering place. The motive for the Nov. 19 attack there remains under investigation and one person is in custody. Polis later visited a brewery and hugged its owner — the man who tackled the shooting suspect.
The masked man of Broadway is going out strong. “The Phantom of the Opera” — Broadway’s longest-running show — has postponed its final performance by eight weeks, pushing its closing curtain from February to April after at spike in ticket demand. Last week, the show raked in an eye-popping $2,2 million with a full house. The musical, a fixture on Broadway since 1988, weathering recessions, war and cultural shifts, will now play its final performance on Broadway on April 16. When it closes, it will have played 13,981 performances. Producers said there would be no more postponements. The closing of “Phantom” would mean the longest running show crown would go to “Chicago.”
