A court ruled embryos are children. These Christian couples agree yet wrestle with IVF choices (2024)

CHICAGO — A former state child welfare caseworker on Thursday was sentenced to six months in jail and 30 months of probation for child endangerment in the case of AJ Freund, a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy who was beaten to death in 2019.

Florida’s highest court has rejected an effort by a suspended state attorney to get reinstated after she was removed from office last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Florida Supreme Court justices voted 6-1 Thursday to deny a petition from former State Attorney Monique Worrell of the 9th Judicial Circuit, which serves metro Orlando. The majority of justices said they disagreed with her arguments that DeSantis’ reasons were too vague or that the suspension infringed on her lawful exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Five of the justices were appointed by DeSantis. It was the Republican governor's second suspension of a Democratic prosecutor.

Dutch final exit poll suggests big gains for Wilders' far right and tight race with center left group for EU elections.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Longtime Central Florida political operative Eric Foglesong, a key player in the 2020 scheme to use “ghost” candidates to promote GOP politicians, pleaded no contest to campaign finance-related charges on Thursday.

A woman found dead last year in a mountain community was the victim of the first documented fatal black bear attack on a human in California. The death occurred in the Sierra Nevada town of Downieville. Sierra County sheriff's deputies making a welfare check in November found bear signs and the remains of 71-year-old Patrice Miller in a house. KCRA-TV reported Wednesday that Sheriff Mike Fisher said it initially appeared Miller had died of other causes. But the autopsy determined she was killed by the bear. A bear trapped on the property was euthanized and DNA testing found it was responsible.

Whether to count more than 1,900 mail ballots cast in one New Jersey county will be up to a judge after their envelopes were unsealed prematurely and members of the local election board deadlocked on how to proceed. The circ*mstances that led to the envelopes being unsealed early are in dispute. Superior Court Judge Michael J. Blee will hear arguments Friday in Atlantic City. The decision could affect the outcome of the Democratic primary in the race for the state’s 2nd Congressional District.

The amount of talent on the San Francisco 49ers’ offense can be staggering at times. The Niners have five skilled position players who have been first- or second-team All-Pros the past three seasons, an MVP finalist in quarterback Brock Purdy and the best left tackle in football in All-Pro Trent Williams. The biggest questions are on the other spots on the offensive line. But coach Chris Foerster sees no need to invest heavily in those spots. Foerster says he was a big advocate for drafting a receiver in the first round instead of upgrading the line.

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is poised to offer protesters at the Democratic National Convention a route near the United Center to potentially settle a federal lawsuit claiming the city of Chicago is violating protesters’ First Amendment rights by blocking plans to march …

CHICAGO — A downtown alderman is calling for a earlier teen curfew after a group attacked a Streeterville couple last Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron says France will provide Ukraine with its Mirage combat aircraft.

The New Orleans Saints are continuing to test the bounds of Taysom Hill's versatility under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Hills says that at age 33 it's been exciting to be presented with new challenges and to have his value affirmed by the opportunities Kubiak is providing. Kubiak traveled to Utah earlier this offseason to visit with the former BYU quarterback. Hill says those conversations helped motivate him to attend all the voluntary offseason practices so far. Hill has been lining up as a halfback, fullback and tight end, as well as an outside and slot receiver. Coach Dennis Allen says the Saints also intend to continue using Hill on designed quarterback runs.

A fire at a displacement camp in eastern Congo has destroyed around 50 makeshift tents, leaving dozens of families without shelter. On Wednesday afternoon, the tents were reduced to ashes at the Mugunga displaced people camp near the provincial capital Goma. The cause of the fire is unknown. The same camp was hit by bomb attacks in early May which killed at least 18 people and injured 32 others, according to the United Nations.

A North Dakota judge has denied a preliminary injunction as three families challenge the state’s law banning gender-affirming care for kids. He also clarified Wednesday that a grandfather clause does allow children to continue their treatment if they were receiving such medical care before the law took effect in April 2023. The plaintiffs had called that exception unconstitutionally vague. The families and a doctor filed suit last September. Supporters say protecting children is the goal of the ban, which was signed by Republican Gov. Doug Burgum after it was overwhelmingly approved by the GOP-led Legislature. Opponents say the law is harmful to transgender youth.

Thursday

A Texas family got a brief scare when a nibble from a giraffe turned a 2-year-old's safari visit into an airborne adventure. Paisley Toten was in the open bed of a pickup truck on June 1 when her family drove through the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. Visitors can see exotic animals and feed some of them from their car. The family stopped to feed a giraffe when it grabbed Paisley’s shirt with its mouth and lifted her several feet. Paisley’s mother shouted, prompting the giraffe to drop the toddler into her arms unhurt. Video of the encounter went viral.

Prince Harry has been given permission to appeal the British government's rejection to provide him with police protection in the U.K. The Court of Appeal gave the Duke of Sussex the go-ahead to challenge a ruling earlier this year in the High Court. A judge in February ruled that a government panel’s decision to limit his security after he quit as a working member of the royal family was not unlawful, irrational or unjustified. The legal battle began more than four years ago when Harry argued his family needed armed security because of hostility toward them and relentless news media hounding.

Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks sees the big picture when he thinks about America’s future — with or without former President Donald Trump in the White House.

North Carolina Republican lawmakers have reached a compromise on a bill that would have removed protections for people who wear masks in public for health reasons. The new version of the bill includes language that allows people to wear a mask in public to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. The state Senate passed the bill on Thursday after Senate Democrats withheld their vote. The state House did not cast its vote for the bill yet and expects to vote next Tuesday. Republicans supporters say the legislation was prompted in part by the widespread use of masks by those protesting on college campuses against Israel’s war in Gaza.

Kentucky's governor says electric vehicles have ignited enough momentum from job growth and investments to steer past any roadblocks from former President Donald Trump and other critics. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press that EV-related jobs are springing up nationwide. He says the growth in the industry should be enough to overcome the political backlash. Electric vehicles are a big contributor to Kentucky’s record pace of economic development. EVs have also become an issue in the presidential campaign. Democratic President Joe Biden promotes electric vehicles as a part his clean-energy agenda. Trump calls it a “radical plan.”

The White House is calling on hospital executives, doctors, and other health care leaders to take bolder steps to prevent gun violence by gathering more data about gunshot injuries and routinely counseling patients about safe use of firearms.

LOS ANGELES — Federal agents arrested 36 people, including a U.S. Border Patrol agent, allegedly linked to a California-based drug, firearms and money laundering network tied to the Sinaloa Cartel.

The Republican backers of three initiatives that could change important state policies are suing to keep each measure’s fiscal impact from appearing on the November ballot. But lawyers for the state say the budget implications must be disclosed to voters. Analysts say that if the initiatives pass, they could reduce funding for education and environmental projects by billions of dollars. And the initiative focusing on the state’s long-term care insurance program could potentially shut down that program. A newly passed disclosure law requires the state attorney general detail how funding or services could be affected by a ballot initiative that repeals, imposes or changes any tax or fee, or state revenue.

LOS ANGELES — Rebecca Grossman should receive consecutive life sentences in the murders of two brothers run down in a Westlake Village crosswalk because she shows no remorse and refuses to accept responsibility for the fatal crash, prosecutors say.

U.S. antitrust enforcers have decided to investigate the roles Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI have played in the artificial intelligence boom, according to people familiar with the pending actions. The Department of Justice will launch an investigation of chipmaker Nvidia, while the Federal Trade Commission will scrutinize close business partners Microsoft and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, according to two people who were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigations and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Emboldened by President Joe Biden’s push for tougher scrutiny of Big Tech’s business practices, officials have signaled that they’ve been watching out for monopolistic behavior in the rapidly advancing industry of generative AI products.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., June 6, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Scientology Network’s VOICES FOR HUMANITY, the weekly series presenting heroic change makers from a variety of faiths, cultures and nations, working to uplift their communities, announces a new episode featuring human rights advocate …

A steady, largely effective adaptation of the 2022 novel by A.M. Shine, writer-director Ishana Night Shyamalan’s “The Watchers” stars Dakota Fanning as an American working in a pet shop in Galway, Ireland, vaping her current life away.

A judge has expunged the misdemeanor convictions of a St. Louis couple who waved guns at racial injustice protesters outside their mansion in 2020. And now they want their guns back. Attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey filed a request in January to have the convictions wiped away. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Judge Joseph P. Whyte wrote in an order Wednesday that the purpose of an expungement is to give people who have rehabilitated themselves a second chance. Immediately after the judge’s ruling, Mark McCloskey demanded that the city return the two guns seized as part of his 2021 guilty plea to misdemeanor assault. Republican Gov. Mike Parson pardoned the couple weeks later.

TORONTO & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 6, 2024--

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

The heat wave that continues to scorch California's interior pushed temperatures across the state into the triple digits Wednesday, setting a few daily records.

It's been 80 years since Christian Lamb helped rescue France from Nazi tyranny. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron kissed her on both cheeks and pinned the nation’s highest honor to her lapel. Lamb spent the months before D-Day alone in a tiny room in central London drawing the detailed maps that guided landing craft to the beaches of Normandy as Allied forces began their invasion of occupied France on June 6, 1944. The work was so secret she didn’t even tell her husband. Now 103 and seated in a wheelchair, Lamb took center stage when Macron awarded her the Legion d’Honneur during British ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Doris Burke will become the first woman to serve as a game analyst on television for a championship final in one of the four major professional U.S. sports leagues when the Dallas Mavericks meet the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Burke, who joined ESPN in 1990, has covered the finals since 2009. She was a sideline reporter for ABC’s coverage from 2009 to 2019 before working as an analyst on ESPN Radio for the past four finals. Burke knows this year’s assignment is different.

Two more people have been charged in the sports betting scandal that prompted the NBA to ban former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter for life. Timothy McCormack and Mahmud Mollah join two other men as defendants in a federal wire fraud case about wagers allegedly based on tips from a player about his plans to exit two games early. McCormack's lawyer said Thursday that “no case is a slam-dunk.” Mollah's attorney declined to comment. Prosecutors haven’t publicly named Porter in connection with the case, and they've declined to comment on whether Porter is under investigation.

Wearing a World War II uniform and carrying mementos from two members of the Greatest Generation, U.S. Rep. Keith Self will parachute into France on Friday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

- Bringing the community together this summer and throughout the year -

The Los Angeles Lakers’ reported plan to offer a massive contract to UConn coach Dan Hurley is the latest twist in the monthlong race to replace Darvin Ham. Former NBA player J.J. Redick and ex-Charlotte coach James Borrego are also reported candidates. The 17-time NBA champion franchise was knocked out of the first round of the current playoffs, but the Lakers have nicely filled the void of hoops drama during the week before the NBA Finals with steady leaks about the progress of their quest for a coach who can entice LeBron James to finish his career in purple and gold.

A Navy veteran of World War II is being mourned after his death en route to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Friends say Robert “Al” Persichitti of Fairport, New York, fell ill on a stop in Germany last week and died in a hospital. He was 102. A longtime friend, the Rev. William Leone, says Persichitti had been to other World War II remembrances before and was excited about the latest trip. Persichitti enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and later sailed on the USS Eldorado to the Pacific, taking part in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Coco Gauff thinks it’s about time that tennis moved into the 21st century and relied on video replay technology at all events, the way many other sports do. The 20-year-old American was not thrilled about the chair umpire’s ruling that went against her during a French Open semifinal loss to Iga Swiatek. And Gauff made that quite clear to the official. Early in the second set of Swiatek’s victory, the four-time major champion hit a serve that initially was called out at around the same time as Gauff was swinging to hit a return, which landed out. The call on the serve itself was reversed to “In,” and Tourte awarded the point to Swiatek. Gauff said that was unfair because she thought she was affected by the original “Out” call.

NEW YORK — A high ranking NYPD Internal Affairs official pressured an active duty lieutenant to withdraw his account of sexual harassment and retaliation by senior mayoral adviser Timothy Pearson, a new lawsuit alleges.

Jaap van Zweden is ending his tenure as the New York Philharmonic music director after six seasons, the orchestra’s shortest since Pierre Boulez from 1971-77. The 63-year-old Dutchman is conducting three performances of Mahler’s Second Symphony through Saturday for his Lincoln Center finale, then leading the orchestra on the road for five concerts in China from June 27 to July 3 and three performances at Vail, Colorado, from July 17-20. Gustavo Dudamel takes over in the fall of 2026, when he leaves the Los Angeles Philharmonic.