U.S. News

Arguments over eliminating South Dakota’s food tax resumed this month — a top issue in recent years that quickly ended Monday with the Senate’s defeat of a ballot proposal for voters. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Reynold Nesiba proposed a November 2024 ballot measure for voters to lower the food tax to zero and to repeal a four-year sales tax cut …

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A second defendant has pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque after the 2022 election, the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday. Demetrio Trujillo pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy, election interference and firearms-related charges, officials said. The 42-year-old …

Kansas is poised to expand an income tax credit for goods and services purchased from companies and nonprofits employing disabled workers, a year after a debate over how much the state should buck a national trend against paying those workers below the minimum wage. A bill approved by the Legislature this week with broad bipartisan support would increase the total …

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee only plans to participate for one year in a federal program that gives low-income families $40 per child per month to pay for food while school is out, the governor’s office said Friday. Tennessee is among 35 states, all five U.S. territories and four tribes that have opted into the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program, …

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana lawmakers’ plan to prioritize legislation that would make child care more available and affordable is largely on track as they near a key deadline in this year’s legislative session, though Democrats warn that financial support in the state’s next budget would be essential to meeting those goals. The Legislature would need to pass bills through at …

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A second contractor said Thursday that it has reached a $25 million settlement over its role in Flint, Michigan’s lead-contaminated water scandal. The class-action litigation agreement includes payments of $1,500 for individual minors, according to Boston-based Veolia North America. The company says the agreement will resolve claims made on behalf of more than 45,000 Flint residents. …

NEW YORK (AP) — In the early hours of New Year’s Day in 1987, a French tourist was mugged while walking with his wife through Times Square. The man, 71-year-old Jean Casse, struck his head on the pavement. He was pronounced dead soon after. Within days, police hauled in a pair of young Brooklyn residents, 19-year-old Eric Smokes and 16-year-old …

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Duke Energy Corp. subsidiaries for North Carolina and South Carolina have offered to regulators an adjusted electricity production proposal that the utilities say responds to surging demand projections while still reaching for future greenhouse gas reduction targets. Duke Energy said the update to a recent Carolinas Resource Plan, filed on Wednesday with both states, incorporates new …

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A group of employees and teachers from a Kentucky middle school who bought a $1 million Powerball winning ticket tucked it in a math textbook for safekeeping before claiming the prize this week. The group of 30 educators, some retired, met at Rector A. Jones Middle School in northern Kentucky near Cincinnati and have been playing …