U.S. News

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring on an overcast Friday morning at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania, the scene of the largest and best-known Groundhog Day celebration in the United States. The annual event is a tongue-in-cheek ritual in which Phil’s handlers, members of a club with roots in the late 19th century, reveal whether the groundhog …

MIAMI (AP) — It was a plan the United States knew from the start would arguably violate international law. The Associated Press obtained a secret 2018 memo detailing a covert operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that sent undercover operatives into Venezuela to surreptitiously record and build drug-trafficking cases against the country’s leadership. The sting was part of a …

EUDORA, Ark. (AP) — The police chief in Eudora, Arkansas, has been arrested and charged with kidnapping. The felony kidnapping charge stems from Police Chief Michael Pitts’ actions in October 2023, Arkansas State Police said in a statement. “Chief Pitts denies the allegations and we intend to defend the case vigorously,” his attorney, Russell Wood, told The Associated Press on …

NEW YORK (AP) — This New York love story begins with a criminal act of sabotage. Under cover of darkness a year ago Friday, someone breached a waist-high fence and slipped into the Central Park Zoo. Once inside, they cut a hole through a steel mesh cage, freeing a majestic Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco who had arrived at the zoo …

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The NAACP is seeking a federal investigation of deaths in Florida’s second-largest county jail system, saying the Broward Sheriff’s Office does not adequately monitor inmates or provide them with proper medical treatment and mental health services. Marsha Ellison, the civil rights group’s Broward County president, stood with the relatives of some of the 21 inmates …

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — In a story published Jan. 31, 2024, about a court ruling about Florida’s efforts to deactivate pro-Palestinian student groups, The Associated Press erroneously reported the judge’s name. He is Judge Mark Walker, not Mark Warner. ___ A federal judge refused to take action against Florida on Wednesday in a lawsuit challenging an order to deactivate pro-Palestinian …

WASHINGTON (AP) — El presidente Joe Biden emitió un decreto el jueves que sanciona a los colonos israelíes en Cisjordania acusados de atacar a palestinos en el territorio ocupado, imponiendo vedas financieras y prohibiciones de otorgar visas en principio a cuatro individuos. Esos colonos participaron de actos de violencia, amenazas e intentos de destruir u ocupar propiedades palestinas, según el …