Target faces renewed backlash after stocking Halloween costume with ‘minstrel show features’
Retailer Target pulled a children’s Halloween costume from its shelves Monday after widespread social media backlash, apologizing for selling a garment critics said evoked racist minstrel caricatures. Critics say the costume, along with its promotional image of a Black child modeling the get-up, is reminiscent of caricatures from Jim Crow-era minstrel shows that embedded stereotypes […]
A Montana man killed 8 relatives, including 4 kids, at Sunday dinner, family says
BILLINGS, Mont. | A man killed eight of his relatives, including four children, as they gathered for Sunday dinner at a home outside Billings, Montana, weeks after his parents asked him to move out, a family member told The Associated Press. Brad Ireland, whose former wife and two children were among the dead, identified the […]
Dolly Parton built a better world, with rhinestones and songs
NEW YORK | There are few inalienable truths: Everyone was born, everyone will die, and everyone loved Dolly Parton. Larger-than-life at 5-foot-nothing, the country star, actor, philanthropist, entrepreneur and theme park enthusiast who died Tuesday, transcended celebrity in rhinestones and fringe. She was embraced by fans across gender, race and class, embodying a mythology typically […]
In a divided America, the left and right unite to oppose artificial intelligence data centers
MURDOCK, Neb. | In rural eastern Nebraska, a technology revolution could rise from fields of corn and soybean in the form of new data centers to power the artificial intelligence boom. But just like around many parts of the country, opposition has been building in ways that defy typical partisan boundaries. Conservative farmers and the […]
ICE agent charged with shooting in Minnesota could be released from Texas jail
BROWNSVILLE, Texas | An ICE agent charged in Minnesota with firing his gun through a house door, striking a man in his leg, and then lying to justify the shooting, could walk out of a South Texas jail on Thursday if a federal judge does not intervene. Christian Castro, an agent for U.S. Immigration and […]
A women’s shelter for refugees in Poland fights for survival as anti-Ukrainian sentiment rises
KRAKOW, Poland | When Nastya Podorozhnya’s relatives fled the war in Ukraine for neighboring Poland, volunteers welcomed them with open arms. Podorozhnya, 29, was already living in Poland when the war began. But days before Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, she rushed back to Ukraine to help her sister and nieces get out. […]
Economists don’t expect reopening the US to Mexican cattle imports to reduce high beef prices
The U.S. reopened a border crossing in Arizona to cattle from Mexico on Monday as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce record-high beef prices, though economists doubt the move will mean much to grocery store shoppers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said concerns about the New World screwworm’s spread […]
How the No. 2 pencil became a uniquely American school supply staple
For generations of Americans, a sharpened No. 2 pencil has represented childhood and coming of age. Still a fixture of back-to-school shopping lists, it outlines a child’s first letters, erases their mistakes and lets them doodle in the margins when they daydream. For decades, sweaty hands clutched the ridged yellow wood on test day. “Bring […]
How to reset your child’s sleep schedule for back-to-school season
NEW YORK | After a summer of vacations and late nights, it’s time to set those back-to-school alarms. A good night’s sleep helps students stay focused and attentive in class. Experts say it’s worth easing kids back into a routine with the start of a new school year. “We don’t say ‘ get good sleep […]
Sentencing set for polygamous leader convicted of abuse in Arizona after girls discovered in trailer
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. | A polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sex involving children is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday on separate state convictions for hauling girls through a community in northern Arizona in an unventilated trailer. Samuel Bateman, 50, was convicted of three child abuse counts stemming from an […]