National & World Headlines

  • An Iowa task force has completed its search for survivors at the site of a partially collapsed Davenport apartment building without finding three missing people who are feared dead, authorities said Friday. The focus has shifted to shoring up the structure so recovery efforts can begin. Rick Halleran, the task force’s Cedar Rapids division chief, said the search for survivors was completed Thursday evening after electrical equipment connected to the building was controlled. Officials said Friday the building has been unstable and needed to settle before further action could take place. Halleran said, “We do what the building tells us to do."

    6 mins ago
  • Customers of Chase’s online banking services have seen double transactions, fees and payments in their accounts. But by late Friday the bank said it had fixed the glitch. Numerous Chase customers had posted on social media that their rent or bill payments were taken out of their accounts twice and reported hold times with customer service approaching more than an hour. The New York-based bank is one of the country’s largest financial institutions with millions of online customers.

    9 mins ago
  • Churchill Downs will suspend racing on Wednesday and move the remainder of its spring meet to Ellis Park to conduct a “top-to-bottom” review of safety and surface protocols in the wake of 12 horse fatalities the past month at the home of the Kentucky Derby. A release stated that no single factor has been identified as a potential cause for the fatalities or pattern detected, but it decided to relocate the meet “in an abundance of caution.”

    11 mins ago
  • The chief diversity officer of the nation’s oldest state-supported military college has turned in her resignation amid a debate over the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Jamica Love started the job at the Virginia Military Institute in July 2021. That was a month after a report found that VMI had failed to address institutional racism and sexism. Love’s hiring has been part of recent efforts toward diversity, equity and inclusion at the school. However, some conservative alumni have criticized the direction the school is taking. Love's resignation was announced Thursday by the school's superintendent. She declined to comment in an email on Friday.

    12 mins ago
  • The Biden administration is withdrawing hundreds of square miles in New Mexico from oil and gas production for the next 20 years on the outskirts of Chaco Culture National Historical Park that tribal communities consider sacred. The action Friday by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is intended to protect cultural and historic resources that tribal communities consider sacred. The order will apply only to public lands and federal mineral rights within a 10-mile radius. President Joe Biden initially proposed this ban in November 2021 at the White House Tribal Nations Summit. Navajo Nation leaders are concerned about economic consequences of the decision.

    12 mins ago
  • A man who spent nearly 21 years in prison for the deaths of two Michigan hunters has filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million for wrongful convictions. Jeff Titus filed the suit Friday, just a day after a prosecutor dropped murder charges against him and ruled out a second trial. Titus’ convictions were thrown out in February based on newly discovered evidence. His lawyer, Wolf Mueller, says it’s a key threshold to get compensation from the state. Earlier this year, authorities acknowledged that Titus’ rights were violated in 2002 when his trial attorney wasn’t given a police file with details about another suspect. That suspect was serial killer Thomas Dillon of Ohio, who targeted hunters and others outdoors.

    14 mins ago
  • A long stretch of New Jersey's Garden State Parkway has reopened as firefighters work to contain a 5,000-acre forest fire. The blaze broke out Wednesday night in the Bass River State Forest, along the border of Burlington and Ocean counties in southern New Jersey. The state Forest Fire Service says it's now 80 percent contained and no longer threatening any structures or residential areas. Roughly 40 people were evacuated Thursday from a camping area as a precaution. That site remained shuttered Friday. Most of New Jersey also has air quality warnings due to smoke from major wildfires in Canada.

    16 mins ago
  • Deal approved, Biden will address budget, debt agreement from Oval Office Friday evening Justice Department says it won’t charge Pence over handling of classified documents DeSantis wraps up 1st early states tour as candidate with…

    17 mins ago
  • MLB Saturday American League FAVORITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE at BOSTON -115 Tampa Bay -105 at CHICAGO WHITE SOX -154 Detroit +130 Seattle -112 at TEXAS -104 at HOUSTON -132 LA Angels +112 at BOSTON -115…

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  • A Utah-based bus company says the state of Nevada has “declared war” on its interstate travel services, seized one of its commercial vans and falsely accused it of operating unsafe vehicles. Nevada transportation officials argue the Salt Lake Express is engaged in an illegal scheme to evade regulation of its bus lines within the state by making quick trips across the California border at stops with no customers during treks to Las Vegas. The conflict has landed in federal court in Reno. It involves routes stretching from Nevada’s high desert into a California RV park in the mountains near Lake Tahoe and Death Valley nearly 400 miles away.

    18 mins ago
  • Catholic devotees in Bolivia are preparing for one of the country’s biggest religious celebrations this weekend at a time when the church in this Andean country has been rocked by an increasing number of sex abuse scandals. The faithful who are gearing up for the Jesus of the Great Power festival Saturday insist that cases of abuse that have come to light in recent weeks would not affect the folk-religious festival in La Paz, which fuses together Catholic and local Indigenous traditions. Tens of thousands of people will descend on the capital Saturday wearing colorful garb to dance to thousands of musicians playing traditional Indigenous music in a demonstration of their faith.

    21 mins ago
  • Donald Trump’s lawyers are demanding that the judge in his New York City criminal case step aside, echoing the former president’s complaints that he’s “a Trump hating-judge” with a family full of “Trump haters.” Trump's lawyers said Friday that Judge Juan Manuel Merchan has shown anti-Trump bias in previous cases related to the businessman-turned-politician. They also say he has a conflict of interest arising from his daughter’s work for some of Trump’s Democratic rivals. The decision on recusal is up to Merchan himself, and judges seldom exit cases over such requests. A message seeking comment was left with Merchan. A court spokesperson said “it would be inappropriate for any further comment” since the case is pending.

    26 mins ago
  • Stocks rushed higher after a strong report on the U.S. job market eased Wall Street's worries about a possible recession. The S&P 500 jumped 1.5% Friday, while the Dow soared 701 points. The rally brought the S&P 500 nearly 20% above a low hit in October. It's on the edge of entering a new bull market. The rally built after a report showed unexpectedly strong hiring last month. At the same time, increases for workers’ pay slowed. That could mean the economy remains strong enough to avoid a recession without adding too much upward pressure on inflation.

    29 mins ago
  • An appeals court says an anti-discrimination lawsuit involving Native American hair can go to trial in New Mexico. The American Civil Liberties Union alleges that an English teacher in Albuquerque cut off the end of one girl's braids and asked another if she was wearing a “bloody Indian” costume during a Halloween event in class. A lower court that dismissed the suit, saying schools don't qualify as public accommodations under the state's civil rights law. The New Mexico Court of Appeals overruled that, ordering the case to be heard on its merits. Outrage over the girls' treatment propelled legislation prohibiting discrimination based on hairstyle or religious head garments.

    30 mins ago