Supreme Court sets April arguments over whether Trump can be prosecuted for election interference
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he interfered with the 2020 election, calling into question whether his case could go to trial before the November election. While the court set a course for a quick resolution, it maintained a hold on preparations for a trial focused on Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss. The court will hear arguments in late April, with a decision likely no later than the end of June. That timetable is much faster than usual, but assuming the justices deny Trump’s immunity bid, it’s not clear whether a trial can be scheduled and concluded before the November election.
Wildfire grows into one of largest in Texas history as flames menace multiple small towns
CANADIAN, Texas (AP) — A cluster of wildfires scorched the Texas Panhandle on Wednesday, including a blaze that grew into one of the largest in state history, as flames moved with alarming speed and blackened the landscape across a vast stretch of small towns and cattle ranches. An 83-year-old grandmother from the tiny town of Stinnett was the lone confirmed fatality. However, authorities have yet to make a thorough search for victims and have warned the damage to some communities is extensive. Known as the Smokehouse Creek Fire, the largest blaze expanded to more than 1,300 square miles (3,370 square kilometers) and jumped into parts of neighboring Oklahoma.
Food aid reaches north Gaza for first time in weeks. Israeli hostages’ families push for release
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Aid convoys carrying food reached northern Gaza this week, Israeli officials said Wednesday, the first major delivery in a month to the devastated, isolated area, where the U.N. has warned of worsening starvation among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israel’s offensive. The increasing alarm over hunger across Gaza has fueled international calls for a cease-fire as the U.S., Egypt and Qatar work to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas for a pause in fighting and the release of some of the hostages seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack. Mediators hope to reach an agreement before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts around March 10.
McConnell will step down as the Senate Republican leader in November after a record run in the job
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November. McConnell, who turned 82 last week, announced his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, the chamber where he looked in awe from its back benches in 1985 when he arrived and where he grew increasingly comfortable in the front row seat afforded the party leaders. “One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said.
Appellate judge refuses to halt Trump’s $454 million fraud penalty while he appeals
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appellate judge on Wednesday refused to halt collection of Donald Trump’s $454 million civil fraud penalty while he appeals, leaving the former president less than a month to pay the staggering sum or secure a bond covering the full amount he owes. Judge Anil Singh of the state’s mid-level appeals court rejected Trump’s offer of a $100 million bond, though he did give Trump leeway that could help him secure the necessary bond before New York Attorney General Letitia James seeks to enforce the judgment starting March 25. Singh granted a stay pausing part of Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb.
The Supreme Court appears torn about a Trump-era ban on a gun accessory known as bump stocks
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appeared torn Wednesday about a challenge to a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, a gun accessory that allows semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns and was used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The high court is weighing whether the Trump administration followed federal law when it reversed course and banned bump stocks after a gunman in Las Vegas attacked a country music festival with assault-style rifles in 2017. Many of the weapons were equipped with bump stocks and high-capacity magazines. More than 1,000 rounds were fired into the crowd in 11 minutes, killing 60 people and injuring hundreds more.
Hunter Biden in defiant deposition blasts GOP, insists he did not involve his father in business
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden was defiant Wednesday in a closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill, blasting a Republican impeachment inquiry into his father and the family’s business affairs as a “house of cards” built on “lies” as he faced a battery of probing questions from lawmakers. “For more than a year, your Committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad,” Hunter Biden said in an opening statement obtained by The Associated Press. He accused Republicans of trafficking in “innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism” and insisted, “I did not involve my father in my business.” After the nearly seven-hour deposition wrapped, an attorney for the president’s son told reporters that during the testimony Republicans “produced no evidence that would do anything to support the notion that there was any financial transactions that involved Hunter with his father.
Humorously morose comedian Richard Lewis, who recently starred on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ dies at 76
NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Lewis, an acclaimed comedian known for exploring his neuroses in frantic, stream-of-consciousness diatribes while dressed in all-black, leading to his nickname “The Prince of Pain,” has died. He was 76. Lewis, who revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2023, died at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday night after suffering a heart attack, according to his publicist Jeff Abraham. A regular performer in clubs and on late-night TV for decades, Lewis also played Marty Gold, the romantic co-lead opposite Jamie Lee Curtis, in the ABC series “Anything But Love” and the reliably neurotic Prince John in “Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men In Tights.” He re-introduced himself to a new generation opposite Larry David in HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” kvetching regularly.
How Chinese science fiction went from underground magazines to a Netflix blockbuster
CHENGDU, China (AP) — For a few days in October 2023, the capital of the science fiction world was Chengdu, China. Fans traveled from around the world as Worldcon, sci-fi ’s biggest annual event, was held in the country for the first time. It was a rare moment when Chinese and international fans could get together to celebrate the arts without worrying about the increasingly fraught politics of China’s relationship with the West or Beijing’s tightening grip on expression. For Chinese fans like Tao Bolin, an influencer who flew from the southern province of Guangdong for the event, it felt like the world finally wanted to read Chinese literature.
Caitlin Clark’s 33-point game moves her past Lynette Woodard for the major college scoring record
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark has another career record on her astounding resume: the most points by any major college women’s player to ever take the court. Iowa’s superstar guard scored 33 points to lead the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes to a 108-60 romp of Minnesota, pushing her past Lynette Woodard on the all-time list with 3,650 points. Clark left little doubt she’d get there by dribbling left off a screen and swishing a 3-pointer from the top of the key just 13 seconds into the game. She swished her first four 3-pointers, three of them from extra deep, and had 15 points in the first 3:18 of the game.
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