WASHINGTON (AP) — House and Senate GOP negotiators neared agreement Monday on a budget blueprint that would enable Republicans controlling Congress to more easily target President Barack Obama’s signature health care law while delivering an almost $40 billion budget boost to the Pentagon. The emerging plan relies on deep cuts to domestic agency budgets and … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s a disturbance in the force of the tradition-bound Senate and her name is Patty Murray. The Washington state Democrat, once famously dubbed “just a mom in tennis shoes,” is the reason behind an uncomfortable power standoff between two men who intend to lead the Democrats after Minority Leader Harry Reid retires. … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — ESPN is suing Verizon in an escalating clash over how the popular sports channel is being sold in a discounted pay-TV package. The complaint filed Monday in New York’s state Supreme Court alleges Verizon is breaching its contract with ESPN, owned by Walt Disney Co., by unbundling the sports channel … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Loretta Lynch was sworn in Monday as the 83rd U.S. attorney general, the first African-American woman to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement official. Speaking before family members, Justice Department lawyers and supporters, Lynch said her confirmation as attorney general showed that “we can do anything” and pledged that the agency … Continue reading
LACEY, Wash. (AP) — A teacher is being hailed as a hero after tackling a student who fired two shots into the air at a Washington state high school. Police say no one was injured after a 16-year-old shot toward the ceiling in the school commons before classes began Monday at North Thurston High … Continue reading
It will surely stand as one of the most peculiar and possibly ironic entries in a director’s filmography that in between Joss Whedon’s two “Avengers” films there reads “Much Ado About Nothing”: a low-budget, black-and-white Shakespeare adaption sandwiched between two of the most gargantuan blockbusters ever made. In “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Whedon (and … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Mayor Bill de Blasio, under fire from some fellow Democrats for not immediately endorsing Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, didn’t back off his stance Tuesday, saying he needed to “hear what the vision is” before giving her his blessing. De Blasio, who has close ties to Clinton and her husband, … Continue reading
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican White House prospect Jeb Bush kicked off a speech to business leaders on Tuesday with a series of personal recollections, saying he’s his “own person.” The former Florida governor, who’s the son of ex-President George H.W. Bush and the brother of ex-President George W. Bush, brought his all-but-declared 2016 presidential … Continue reading
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Crocs plastic shoes left tread marks that helped link a 22-year-old Fairbanks man to downtown burglaries, authorities said. The owner of a building where break-ins occurred provided surveillance footage to police, who posted it on the department’s Facebook page. Roland Huntington Grace’s name was among several mentioned by tipsters, according … Continue reading
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says it has a pretty good idea who visited the destination last year: 45-year-old married people making $40,000 or more, with one-third of them coming from neighboring California. That’s the portrait of the average Las Vegas tourist developed after surveying 300 travelers at … Continue reading
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A statement from the last man to talk to Walter Scott, more details about the arrest of the officer charged and action by South Carolina lawmakers are the latest developments in the case of a black man shot and killed by a white North Charleston Police officer. The April 4 slaying … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — After a night of heavy drinking and sex in 2012, two Vassar College students traded Facebook messages suggesting the encounter was consensual. “I’m really sorry I led you on,” the woman wrote, adding, “I had a wonderful time last night.” A year later, the woman went to Vassar officials … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald’s says it’s raising pay for workers at company-owned U.S. restaurants, making it the latest employer to sweeten worker incentives in an improving economy. The fast-food chain owns about 10 percent of its more than 14,300 U.S. restaurants, representing about 90,000 workers. The rest are run by franchisees and McDonald’s said … Continue reading
ATLANTA (AP) — A group of former Atlanta educators convicted in a test cheating scandal were locked up in Fulton County jails Thursday as they await sentences that could send them to prison for years. In one of the nation’s largest cheating scandals of its kind, the 11 defendants were convicted Wednesday of racketeering for … Continue reading
12:00 a.m. (2100GMT, 5 p.m. EDT) Kenya’s National Disaster Operations Center says all students are now accounted for at Garissa University College where 147 people were killed in an attack by Islamic extremists. The disaster center tweeted that all the surviving students have been located and are being evacuated from the college. Seventy-nine were injured … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 