U.S. News

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — For more than four decades, the people of Portland, Maine, awoke on Valentine’s Day to find large and small red hearts festooning storefronts, statues, parking garages and some of the city’s biggest landmarks. That tradition was imperiled by the death of the so-called Valentine’s Day Bandit last spring. But the bandit’s admirers responded with plenty of …

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee would be the latest state to make it illegal for an adult to help a minor get an abortion without parental consent under legislation that advanced Tuesday inside the GOP-controlled Statehouse. The proposal stems from the growing push among anti-abortion advocates to get states to implement abortion bans and convince them to find ways for …

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has filled two legislative seats, one of them empty for months as she sought and awaited a state Supreme Court opinion on legislator conflicts of interest. Last fall, Noem had asked the high court to weigh in on legislator conflicts of interests related to state contracts after a state senator resigned her seat and agreed …

HOUSTON (AP) — A woman in a trenchcoat opened fire with a long gun Sunday inside celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Texas, sending worshippers rushing to find safety while two off-duty officers confronted and killed the shooter. Two other people were shot and injured, including a 5-year-old boy who was in critical condition. The violence erupted shortly before the …

FRANKLIN, Maine (AP) — An 88-year-old man died when an all-terrain vehicle driven by his grandson broke through ice and plunged into a lake, officials said Saturday, the latest in a string of incidents linked to treacherous ice conditions in the state. The grandson managed to escape and climb back onto the ice Friday evening, but Floyd Hardison, of Waltham, …

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — Two people died when their car was struck by another car that was being chased by police near St. Louis. The accident happened Friday afternoon in East St. Louis, Illinois. Names of the victims have not been released. Illinois State Police said a Cahokia Heights, Illinois, officer saw a speeding car and tried to …

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors filed two murder charges against an Indianapolis man Friday following the stabbing deaths days apart of two women in their 50s. Shannon Lassere, 58, was found dead on Jan. 27 and Marianne Weis, 52, on Feb. 1 on the city’s far east side, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said. They were found dead within a block …

NEW YORK (AP) — A man accused of stalking Taylor Swift after being spotted multiple times outside the singer’s Manhattan townhouse was found unfit to stand trial and will be committed to state custody for psychiatric treatment, attorneys said Friday. David Crowe, 33, was arrested three times late last month in front of the pop star’s home in Manhattan’s exclusive …

Louisiana prosecutors have quietly dismissed charges against state police troopers who were recorded beating a Black motorist and hoisting him to his feet by his hair braids before bragging in text messages that the “whoopin’” would give the man “nightmares for a long time.” The violent 2020 arrest of Antonio Harris was among a series of beatings of Black men …

WASHINGTON (AP) — La vicepresidenta estadounidense Kamala Harris criticó el viernes el informe de un fiscal especial del Departamento de Justicia sobre el mal manejo de documentos clasificados por parte de Joe Biden que generó dudas sobre la memoria del presidente. Harris dijo que el informe estaba “motivado políticamente” y era “arbitrario”, mientras que la Casa Blanca indicó que el …