Month: June 2023

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York has received a critical federal approval for its first-in-the-nation plan to charge big tolls to drive into the most visited parts of Manhattan, part of an effort to reduce traffic, improve air quality and raise funds for the city’s public transit system. The program could begin as

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s former lieutenant governor and longtime civic leader Richard Ravitch has died at the age of 89. Ravitch was best known for steering New York through the fiscal crisis of the 1970s and helping to stabilize the MTA in the early 1980s. He remained an

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico says it has arrested the former head of a federal anti-kidnapping unit in connection with the disappearance of 43 students in 2014. Gualberto Ramírez was head of the anti-kidnapping unit for the attorney general’s office when the students went missing. The interior department said he faces charges of disappearance, torture

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press California has cited two Northern California mushroom farms for health and safety violations and proposed more than $165,000 in potential fines five months after a farmworker killed seven people in back-to-back shootings on the farms in Half Moon Bay. Chunli Zhao, who had worked at the farms, is charged with

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City will add the festival of Diwali to the list of public school holidays in recognition of the growth of the city’s South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities. Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday that Diwali will join celebrations including Rosh Hashana and Lunar New Year as a day off for

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — James Meredith knew he was putting his life in danger in the 1960s by pursuing what he believes was his mission from God: conquering white supremacy in the segregated state of Mississippi. Leading up to his 90th birthday Sunday, the civil rights icon urged people

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Prosecutors say they are seeking the death penalty against a man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death late last year. Bryan Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of murder in connection with the deaths at a rental house near the Moscow,

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in New York City gave preliminary approval Monday to a $290 million deal that JPMorgan Chase reached with sex victims of financier Jeffrey Epstein. Judge Jed S. Rakoff praised lawyers on both sides for working out the deal announced earlier this month. He called it a “really fine

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida man who dubbed himself the “Wolf of Airbnb” has pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge for defrauding landlords and cheating a government pandemic program. Konrad Bicher entered the plea Monday in Manhattan federal court, admitting he gained about $2 million illegally. He agreed

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Police say four people found dead in a burned down Little Rock house were killed by gunshot wounds, including one self-inflicted. Little Rock Police on Monday released the cause of death for the four people found in the charred remains of a house in southwest Little Rock early Friday morning.

By MANUEL RUEDA Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s president has handed out 86 medals to soldiers, Indigenous volunteers and others who helped rescue four children who spent 40 days on their own in the jungle after a plane crash. President Gustvao Petro on Monday described the search as an example of how Western