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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Education is criticizing a proposal floated by a top Tennessee Republican lawmaker to cut off federal K-12 funds, describing the proposal as “political posturing. ” “Our students need more — not less — to support their academic recovery and address the youth mental health crisis,” a department spokesperson told The Associated Press. “This political posturing will impede the basic education of young […]

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In the latest chapter in Mexico’s love-fest with Cuba, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel will be awarded Mexico’s highest medal when he visits the southern Mexico city of Campeche on Saturday. The Friday edition of the Mexican government’s official gazette said Díaz-Canel will be awarded the “Order of the Aztec Eagle,” presumably with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador placing it around his neck during the Cuban […]

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina police released body camera footage on Friday that shows the arrest of a man who died after officers repeatedly used stun guns on him. Darryl Tyree Williams, 32, died at a hospital after being confronted and handcuffed by officers in a south east Raleigh neighborhood early Jan. 17, according to the report by Police Chief Estella Patterson. One of the videos begins […]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will soon take control of Walt Disney World’s self-governing district after Senate Republicans approved a bill Friday punishing the company over its opposition to the law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.” The legislation, which now awaits the governor’s signature, would require DeSantis to appoint a five-member board to oversee the government services it provides in the company’s sprawling properties in Florida. The […]

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and the state’s Republican attorney general are investigating whistleblower complaints against a transgender health center for children, the officials announced Thursday. Hawley and Attorney General Andrew Bailey publicly announced their investigations of Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital after they say the whistleblower went public with her allegations. The state Social Services Department, state licensing agency and Washington University […]

NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden apparently won’t be giving a pregame interview for the Super Bowl, which is being broadcast by Fox on Sunday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday that Biden had been “looking forward” to an interview with the little-known streaming service Fox Soul, but that Fox opted out. Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A presidential interview during the […]

MADRID (AP) — Carlos Saura, Spain’s celebrated filmmaker whose career spanned over seven decades during which he earned three Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film has died. He was 91. Spain’s Cinema Academy said Saura died Friday, a day before he was to receive an honorary Goya award for his prolific career. Saura was a popular director among arthouse cinema enthusiasts. He had earned international recognition for his […]

MOSCOW (AP) — A court in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on Thursday rescheduled for March 15 the hearing of a request by the country’s Culture Ministry to close down Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s local branch, called Radio Azattyk. Radio Azattyk’s website was blocked in Kyrgyzstan in October 2022 and its bank accounts frozen under national money laundering laws, over a video report about clashes on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in the Batken […]

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Some 222 inmates considered by many to be political prisoners of the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega were on their way to Washington on Thursday after an apparently negotiated mass release, family members and a former diplomat said. Neither government confirmed the release. Arturo McFields, Nicaragua’s former ambassador to the Organization of American States, said the U.S. State Department confirmed to him that 222 prisoners […]