Religion News Service (RNS) — When Patita Pavana Das was a sophomore at Indiana State University, he considered his life pretty typical: geoscience student by day, partaker in the school’s party culture by night. But as he learned more about the Earth’s billion-year history, Das, now 28, felt a nagging sense of dissatisfaction — a
Continue Reading Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump wants to turn the lights out on daylight saving time. In a post on his social media site Friday, Trump said his party would try to end the practice when he returns to office. He called daylight saving time “inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday said it would take up a business-backed appeal that could make it easier to challenge federal regulations, acting in a dispute related to California’s nation-leading standards for vehicle emissions. The justices agreed to hear an appeal filed by fuel producers who object to a waiver
Continue Reading AP Technology Writer A 7-year-old rivalry between tech leaders Elon Musk and Sam Altman over who should run OpenAI and prevent an artificial intelligence “dictatorship” is now heading to a federal judge as Musk seeks to halt the ChatGPT maker’s ongoing shift into a for-profit company. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued
Continue Reading Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has expressed “deep concern” at the recent decision by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to ban women from medical education. That could leave millions of women and girls without health care in the future. The council on Friday criticized “the increasing erosion” of human rights under the Taliban,
Continue Reading Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A pair of conservative groups are challenging a new Maine law that limits donations to political action committees that spend independently in candidate elections. The federal complaint filed on Friday was expected. Supporters of the recently approved referendum fully expected a legal showdown over caps on individual contributions to
Continue Reading Associated Press Taylor Swift has made a surprise stop at a Kansas City children’s hospital, shocking parents and patients alike as she laughed with them, posed for photos and exchanged gifts. The visit to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City on Thursday came one day before her 35th birthday and fresh off her Eras Tour.
Continue Reading Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers urged a judge again Friday to throw out his hush money conviction, balking at the prosecution’s suggestion of preserving the verdict by treating the case the way some courts do when a defendant dies. They called the idea “absurd.” The Manhattan district attorney’s office is
Continue Reading GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — The largest seafood distributor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and two of its managers have been sentenced on federal charges of mislabeling inexpensive imported seafood as local premium fish. This comes weeks after Mary Mahoney’s Old French House restaurant and its co-owner were sentenced in the same scheme. On Wednesday, Quality
Continue Reading BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian authorities say they have arrested a suspected British drug trafficker they characterized as “invisible” due to the low-key lifestyle that they said allowed him to remain anonymous while working for a cartel. Authorities on Friday announced the arrest a day earlier of Christopher Neil, whom they accused of working for
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a new religious rights case over whether a Catholic charitable organization must pay Wisconsin’s employment tax. The justices on Friday said they will review a divided state Supreme Court ruling that refused to grant an exemption to the Catholic Charities Bureau, based
Continue Reading AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paula Abdul and former “American Idol” producer Nigel Lythgoe have agreed to settle a lawsuit in which she alleged he sexually assaulted her in the early 2000s when she was a judge on the show. Abdul filed a notice of settlement of the case in Los Angeles Superior
Continue Reading Associated Press Texas has sued a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas, launching one of the first challenges in the U.S. to shield laws that Democrat-controlled states passed to protect physicians after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit on Thursday in Collin
Continue Reading Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has transported out of Syria an American who had disappeared seven months ago into former President Bashar Assad’s notorious prison system and was among the thousands released this week by rebels, U.S. officials said Friday. Travis Timmerman, 29, was flown to Jordan on a U.S. military helicopter,
Continue Reading AP Entertainment Writer Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek are reuniting for a new four-episode run of “Malcolm in the Middle” for Disney+ — 25 years after the beloved sitcom first launched. The show ran for seven seasons starting in 2000 and was hailed for looking at ordinary life through the eyes of an
Continue Reading AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — How many roads must a man walk down to play Bob Dylan? Quite a few, at least, if you’re Timothée Chalamet. Off and on for some six years, Chalamet has been obsessively working toward his performance in “A Complete Unknown.” He has visited Dylan’s childhood home, learned how
Continue Reading Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Three African leaders seeking to head the African Union have detailed their plans for regional security amid conflicts and political coups while strongly advocating for inter-Africa trade. The race for chairperson debate was held Friday in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Kenya’s Raila Odinga, Djibouti’s Mahamoud Ali Youssouf and Madagascar’s
Continue Reading Associated Press TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Phil Murphy has asked the Biden administration to put more resources into an investigation of mysterious drone sightings that have been reported in New Jersey and nearby states. Murphy, a Democrat, made the request in a letter Thursday, noting that state and local law enforcement remain “hamstrung”
Continue Reading FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — An Atlanta man has been arrested and charged with fraud after George Mason University’s men’s basketball team was forced to cancel a trip to the Bahamas earlier this year after it paid for travel that was never actually booked. Charges against 44-year-old Maurice Smith, CEO of the Eugene Toriko travel agency,
Continue Reading Associated Press CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — When the elected prosecutor in Missouri’s largest county leaves his job for a seat in Congress next month, an appointed replacement will take his spot. The question is: Which one? Democratic St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and Republican Gov. Mike Parson have each named an appointee for the
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