Tag Archives: General news

HELSINKI (AP) — Alexander Stubb was sworn in Friday as Finland’s new president and said that the Nordic country “is facing a new era” after becoming a NATO member — something he will demonstrate by making his first foreign trip to inspect the military alliance’s drill in neighboring Norway’s Arctic region. The 12-day NATO exercise is called Nordic Response and …

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s prisons secretary will retire next week as his embattled agency continues to struggle with overcrowded institutions, a glaring shortage of guards and allegations of inhumane conditions. Gov. Tony Evers announced Friday that Department of Corrections Secretary Kevin Carr will step down on March 8. Evers appointed him to the position in 2018. “The past five …

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS plans to go after 125,000 high-income earners who did not file tax returns going back to 2017 — and the agency says hundreds of millions of dollars of unpaid taxes are involved in these cases. Beginning this week, the IRS will start sending out noncompliance letters to more than 25,000 people who earn more than …

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal agents searched two properties owned by a top adviser to New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday. An FBI spokesperson confirmed that agents carried out morning raids at two Bronx addresses, which records show are owned by Winnie Greco, a former fundraiser for Adams who now serves as his director of Asian affairs. The …

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — The board overseeing North Carolina’s public university system will require schools to get approval to change athletic conferences, which most notably could impact any potential move by Atlantic Coast Conference members North Carolina and North Carolina State. The system’s board of governors approved the measure Thursday. It comes amid another wave of realignment set to …

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Bidding to resume Louisiana executions after a 14-year pause, the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature gave final passage to a bill Thursday to add electrocution and the use of nitrogen gas as means of administering the death penalty. The legislation comes one day after the country’s most recent execution in Texas and a failed attempt in Idaho, …

BEIRUT (AP) — Austria’s foreign minister on Thursday urged Israel and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group against escalating the conflict along the volatile Israel-Lebanon border and expressed hope for a pause in the fighting in Gaza in time for the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in March. The Middle East has witnessed enough devastation and cruelty, Austrian Foreign …

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — A bill which criminalizes LGBTQ+ people in Ghana and their supporters drew international condemnation Thursday after it was passed by parliament, with the United Nations calling it “profoundly disturbing” and urging for it not to become law. In a statement, Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner, said the bill broadens the …

PHOENIX (AP) — Republicans in swing state Arizona are broadcasting a tough border stance with legislation aimed at punishing migrants who enter the United States illegally. The proponent of one bill has suggested it would lawfully allow property owners to shoot and kill migrants criminally trespassing on their property. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is expected to veto the trespassing bill …

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s Republican-dominant House on Thursday advanced legislation that would allow the state’s tourism public records to remain secret and hidden from the public eye. The bill, proposed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, would allow the head of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development to exempt any public records for 10 years deemed “sensitive” by both the …