Tag Archives: associated press

Georgia officials picked up a key congressional endorsement Monday as they seek a federal study on whether the shipping channel to the Port of Savannah should be deepened again following a harbor expansion that was completed in 2022 and cost nearly $1 billion. U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said …

More than a decade ago, the death of 600 migrants and refugees in two Mediterranean shipwrecks near Italian shores shocked the world and prompted the U.N. migration agency to start recording the number of people who died or went missing as they fled conflict, persecution or poverty to other countries. Governments around the world have repeatedly pledged to save migrants’ …

Bulgarian customs officials confiscated about 370 pounds of cocaine from a ship transporting bananas from Ecuador, prosecutors said Tuesday. District prosecutor Georgi Chinev said the drugs were hidden in a fruit container on the cargo ship Madison 2, which also made a stopover in Malta. He valued the cocaine at $6.8 million. According to the head of the customs agency, …

The IRS is warning taxpayers that they may be leaving more than $1 billion on the table. The federal tax collector said Monday that roughly 940,000 people in the U.S. have until May 17 to submit tax returns for unclaimed refunds for tax year 2020, which total more than $1 billion nationwide. The average median refund is $932 for 2020. …

A Maryland Senate panel voted Monday night to support a Republican nominee to the state elections board to replace a previous board member who resigned this year when he was charged with participating in the January 2021 rioting at the U.S. Capitol. The vote by the Senate Executive Nominations Committee sends the nomination of Diane Butler to the full Senate …

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy plans to sign legislation passed days ahead of a funding application deadline that aims to increase internet download speeds for rural schools. Under the bill, HB193, schools would be able to get grants to increase download speeds to 100 megabits per second, a four-fold increase over what is currently available in state law, the Anchorage Daily …

The world’s governments have agreed they want to triple renewable energy by 2030, a goal laid out at the U.N. climate summit in December. But right now, the post-pandemic global economy is throwing up obstacles that will need to be overcome if the goal is going to be met. Here are the big hurdles to solar, wind and other renewable …

Legislation in Washington state known as the strippers’ bill of rights, which advocates say includes the most comprehensive statewide protections in the nation, was signed into law on Monday. Gov. Jay Inslee signed the measure, which creates safer working conditions for people in the adult entertainment industry and makes it possible for the clubs to sell alcohol. “Strippers are workers, …

For years, pinning down the source of a bill in the Kansas Legislature could be a chore for lawmakers’ constituents. Committees sponsor almost 85% of the proposals, so finding the group or lobbyist responsible could require questioning multiple lawmakers or, in recent years, reviewing YouTube videos of meetings. But this year, the Kansas House is making it a little easier …

Lawmakers with Poland’s ruling pro-European Union coalition launched a rare process Tuesday to bring the central bank chief before a special court on allegations of acting against the country’s financial interests. The result could ban him from political life. Critics of the effort suggested that the ruling coalition was going too far in its attempts to reverse the actions of …