Day: December 31, 2022

ATLANTA (AP) — Pulse was more than a safe space for Brandon Wolf and his friends. The nightclub was a haven for members of Orlando, Florida’s LGBTQ community — a place to be themselves without fear. “It’s probably the first place I ever held hands with somebody I had a crush on,” Wolf said. “Without looking over my shoulder first, it’s one of the first places I ever wore my skinniest pair of jeans without being afraid of what someone might call me.” On June 12, 2016, a gunman targeting the club’s patrons killed 49 people there, including two of Wolf’s best friends, and wounded 53. “It’s left such a hole in our hearts,” Wolf said. After mass shootings, the loss felt by marginalized groups already facing discrimination is compounded. Some public health experts say the risk for mental heal...

Investors found few, if any, places to safely put their money in 2022, as central banks in the U.S. and around the globe raised interest rates for the first time in years to fight surging inflation, stoking fear of a global recession. Uncertainty about how far the Federal Reserve and other central banks would go in the fight against inflation sparked a return of volatility. Large swings in stocks were common on Wall Street as the Fed raised its key interest rate seven times and signaled more hikes to come in 2023. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s strict COVID-19 policies also contributed to inflation and roiled the global economy as well as markets in Asia, Europe and the U.S. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index had its worst start to a year since 1970. By June, t he...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Landslides of rock and mud closed roadways Friday across California as heavy rains kicked off what will be a series of storms poised to usher in the new year with downpours and potential flooding across much of the state and multiple feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada. The atmospheric river storm, a long and wide plume of moisture pulled in from the Pacific Ocean, began sweeping across the northern part of the state Friday and was expected to bring more rain through Saturday, according to the National Weather Service in Sacramento. A winter storm warning was in effect into Sunday for the upper elevations of the Sierra from south of Yosemite National Park to north of Lake Tahoe, where as much as 5 feet (1.5 meters) of snow is possible atop the mountains, the Natio...

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri judge has ruled that a pardon from the governor doesn’t mean the St. Louis lawyer and his wife who gained national attention for waving guns at racial injustice protesters in 2020 should get back the weapons they surrendered and fines they paid after guilty pleas last year. Mark McCloskey sued last year to have returned a Colt AR-15 rifle and a Bryco .380-caliber pistol that he and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, surrendered when they pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the confrontation with protesters. McCloskey said he was entitled to the guns and remitted fines because Republican Gov. Mike Parson pardoned him and his wife weeks after their guilty pleas. On Wednesday, Circuit Judge Joan Moriarty ruled that the pardon had no bearing on the plea agreement, ...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has has died, the Vatican announced Saturday. He was 95. A statement from Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said: “With pain I inform that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesia Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be released as soon as possible.”