TEHRAN, Iran — At a trendy restaurant in Iran’s capital, customers sip Coca-Cola through bending straws as waiters bring caddies to their tables full of Heinz ketchup and two types of Tabasco sauce. Welcome to dining in the Islamic Republic, brought to you by America. Whether at upscale restaurants or corner stores, American brands such [...]
With about one in five Ohioans requiring a state-issued occupational license in order to work, a Springfield legislator believes it’s time to make more clear exactly which criminal offenses should disqualify an applicant for such a license. Rep. Kyle Koehler, the Republican sponsor of the Fresh Start Act, noted many occupational licensing boards automatically disqualify [...]
PHOENIX — A congressional committee is investigating whether the U.S. Interior Department helped an Arizona developer and supporter of President Donald Trump get a crucial permit after a wildlife official said the housing project would threaten habitat for imperiled species. U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, [...]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The battle between California lawmakers and ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft heated up Wednesday as Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon offered harsh words laced with expletives for businesses in the gig economy. “They use a lot of really cute words basically to describe the same old (expletive) that they’ve been [...]
Barbara Lee supported Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid, helping him score one of his most decisive victories that year when he dominated the New Hampshire primary. But as he wages another bid for the White House, Lee is looking at a different candidate. “I like him, I like his ideas,” the 66-year-old retired massage therapist [...]
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon’s “Prime Day” is back, and so is the temptation to shop and overspend on stuff you don’t need. The made-up holiday, first held in 2015, has become one of Amazon’s busiest shopping days, offering discounts on gadgets, TVs and other goods. But it’s also a way for Amazon to get [...]
During the span of working for four decades in the senior living field Eleanor Alvarez often noticed patients with Alzheimer’s disease were not placed in the more upscale part of the facility and it often came with the impression that such patients don’t know where they are. “That’s so wrong,” Alvarez repeated twice. “They’re still [...]
NEW YORK (AP) — Financier Jeffrey Epstein awaits a bail hearing after pleading not guilty this week to sex trafficking charges in a case brought a decade after he secretly cut a deal with prosecutors to dispose of nearly identical allegations. Epstein is accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages [...]
ORLANDO, Fla. — Legal wrangling has surrounded the U.S. census count for decades, culminating in this year’s fight over adding a citizenship question. Most challenges have centered on correcting mistakes counting underrepresented populations such as minorities in the official census, which determines how many congressional seats each state gets and how hundreds of billions of [...]