U.S. News

A Michigan man is the first person to face charges under the state’s new law requiring gun owners to keep weapons in locked storage containers around minors. The case is bringing attention to similar state laws across the U.S. and prosecutors’ determination of when to bring criminal charges using them. The debate is particularly sharp in Michigan, where prosecutors in …

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate and House of Delegates on Thursday each passed their own proposed version of the next two-year state budget, documents lawmakers will start to work from to fashion a compromise spending plan to send to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Both chambers signed off on amendments to the 2024-2026 budget Youngkin first proposed in …

SEATTLE (AP) — Prosecutors in Washington state said Wednesday they will not file felony charges against a Seattle police officer who struck and killed a graduate student from India while responding to an overdose call — a case that attracted widespread attention after another officer was recorded making callous remarks about it. Officer Kevin Dave was driving 74 mph (119 …

LAUREL, Miss. (AP) — At least 21 people were injured in a massive multi-vehicle crash early Wednesday on U.S. Hwy 84 in southeastern Mississippi, fueled by extreme fog conditions, authorities said. No deaths were reported. The crash happened near the U.S. 84 intersection with Ben Pitts Road, WDAM-TV reported. The Jones County Sheriff’s Department said around 20 vehicles were involved, …

MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) — As temperatures plunged on Mount Washington and ferocious winds made it near impossible to see, hiker Cole Matthes began to drift away from the trail. Then he hit a patch of snow-covered ice and slid hundreds of feet down a ravine. His fall Saturday sparked a rescue mission that would last 11 hours, utilize the mountain’s …

DENVER (AP) — An American founder of a Haitian orphanage who is accused of sexually abusing four boys there more than a decade ago has been ordered to be sent from Colorado to Florida to face prosecution. Michael Geilenfeld, 71, was arrested in Colorado on Jan. 20 after being indicted in Florida, accused of traveling from Miami to Haiti between …

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Police Department’s progress in complying with an 11-year-old reform agreement has “accelerated dramatically,” a federal judge said Wednesday, but she gave no indication when she would feel comfortable relaxing court oversight of the department. Judge Susie Morgan’s comments in an afternoon hearing appeared to mark a softening of tensions between the court and …

MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) — As temperatures plunged on Mount Washington and ferocious winds made it near impossible to see, hiker Cole Matthes began to drift away from the trail. Then he hit a patch of snow-covered ice and slid hundreds of feet down a ravine. His fall Saturday sparked a rescue mission that would last 11 hours, utilize the mountain’s …

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gay rights advocates pushed back Wednesday against a Republican-sponsored measure to broaden Kentucky’s religious freedom law, claiming it threatens to undermine community-level “fairness ordinances” meant to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination. The measure, House Bill 47, won approval from the House Judiciary Committee, but some supporters signaled a willingness to make revisions to the bill as …

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted Tuesday to reject four of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ appointees, including a member of the state’s natural resources policy board and a former lieutenant governor who was to serve on a hospital governing board. That brings to 13 the number of Evers appointees that the Senate has rejected, which has the …