VOLLEYBALL | Brooke Fatzinger and Mia Weaver earn District Player of the Year honors

Associated Press
Florida pursues charge against suspect in Trump assassination attempt for a crash after his arrest
Florida authorities announced Wednesday that they're pursuing a criminal case against a man accused of trying to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump for a car crash that occurred after law enforcement stopped traffic to catch him. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said she obtained an arrest warrant for Ryan Wesley Routh, who already is being held on federal charges in the assassination attempt.
USA TODAY
Archaeological discovery of amulet shows evidence of early spread of Christianity
Archaeologists uncovered a nearly 1,800-year-old amulet that offers new insight into the early spread of Christianity across the Roman Empire.
USA TODAY
Researchers find binary stars orbiting near Milky Way's supermassive black hole
International researchers recently spotted a pair of stars orbiting around one another in surprisingly close proximity to Sagittarius A*.
USA TODAY
An odorless gas has been blamed for even more deaths: How to stay safe
Carbon monoxide poisoning kills more than 400 people each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CBS News
Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by 0.25 percentage points
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday moved to lower its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points. Here's what to know.
USA TODAY
Criminal charges dropped against whistleblower cop
Criminal charges have been dropped against Javier Esqueda, a retired police sergeant who leaked video of officers slapping and cursing at a Black man.
Associated Press
New York man finds mastodon jaw while gardening in his backyard
Scholars are hailing the discovery of a fossilized mastodon jaw discovered by a man who spotted two giant teeth while gardening at his upstate New York home this year. The mastodon jaw and some other bone fragments were found in late September in a backyard near Scotchtown, a hamlet about 70 miles (112 kilometers) northwest of New York City, officials from the New York State Museum said. The owner of the backyard does not want to be identified, said Robert Feranec, the state museum's director of research and collections and curator of Ice Age animals.
Associated Press
Gov. Andy Beshear says Democrats should set partisanship aside, work to meet people's needs
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday that Democrats should be thinking less about partisan politics and more about meeting people's everyday needs as they chart a comeback strategy after last month's crushing election losses. Beshear, who has won three statewide elections in deeply red Kentucky and has been mentioned as a potential contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, said the party should work on things like good-paying jobs, health care, schools, roads and bridges and public safety. “These are the core areas the American people need help on, and that’s where we as Democrats should be, but that’s where every Republican should be, too,” Beshear said during a sit-down interview at the Kentucky Capitol.
Associated Press
Atlantic City mayor indicted for allegedly asking his daughter to recant claims that he abused her
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. has been indicted on a witness tampering charge for allegedly asking his daughter to recant claims she made to law enforcement officials that he abused her, prosecutors said Wednesday. The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said the indictment was handed down Tuesday by a grand jury. The indictment asserts that in September 2024, six months after being charged with abusing her, Small asked her to do him a favor and “twist up” the story she told police about alleged abuse.
USA TODAY
Cars pile up on Louisiana's Causeway Bridge after thick fog blankets region: Video
More than 40 vehicles were involved in a series of crashes that caused the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge to close in both directions Tuesday.
USA TODAY
Ban on military insurance funding transgender care for kids set to become law after Senate passage
Democratic senators tried to kill the measure that would ban the military's health insurance program from funding trans care for children of servicemembers.
AFP
Stone tablet engraved with Ten Commandments sells for $5 million
A stone tablet carrying engravings of the Ten Commandments sold for $5 million at auction on Wednesday, Sotheby's announced.The New York auction house had expected it to sell for $1-2 million.
Associated Press
Wisconsin police go quiet on school shooting as search for answers continues
Wisconsin police did not plan any public updates Wednesday into the extremely rare religious school shooting that killed a teacher and a student and wounded six others, a day after the city’s mayor chastised reporters and urged them to leave victims alone. Police have been tight-lipped about why a 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian Christian School shot and killed a fellow student and teacher on Monday, before shooting herself. Madison’s police chief released the name of the shooter, Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, hours after the shooting on Monday.
USA TODAY
19 detained for alleged home invasion at apartment Trump claimed Venezuelan gang took over
Nineteen people were detained for a home invasion at an Aurora, Colorado apartment that Donald Trump said was being taken over by a Venezuelan gang.
NBC News
House Republicans say Liz Cheney should be investigated over Jan. 6 committee work
A Republican chairman said the FBI should investigate former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., over her involvement in the probe from the last Congress of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Associated Press
Oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments sells for over $5M
The New York-based auction house said the final price exceeded the presale estimate of $1 million to $2 million and followed more than 10 minutes of “intense bidding” during the global competition. “A tangible link to ancient beliefs that have profoundly shaped global religious and cultural traditions, it serves as a rare testament to history,” the auction house said.
Associated Press
The fate of the first-ever White House Gender Policy Council is uncertain in Trump's administration
During the transition period between President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, there has been at least some coordination on West Wing affairs. The first-of-its kind office was an effort to drive policy that would make life better for women and girls in the U.S. and in the world. It was formed through an executive order by Biden in September 2021, and members of his Cabinet have representatives on the council.
Associated Press
Former New Orleans priest, 93, is sentenced to life in prison for raping boy decades ago
A judge sentenced a 93-year-old former Catholic priest Wednesday to spend the rest of his life behind bars for raping a teenage boy decades ago. Lawrence Hecker had pleaded guilty to charges including first-degree rape and aggravated kidnapping moments before jury selection was scheduled to begin in his trial this month. Hecker's sentence comes as the Archdiocese of New Orleans deals with fallout from a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits and allegations that church leaders had long ignored predatory priests, leading to a long-running bankruptcy proceeding.
Reuters
Kennedy ticks off easy wins in US Senate tour, tougher meetings on top health job ahead
Halfway through Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s two dozen meetings at the U.S. Senate this week, no Republicans have signaled their intention to block confirmation of President-elect Donald Trump's pick for the top U.S. health job. Kennedy, whose nomination to run the Department of Health and Human Services has raised concerns among both Democratic and Republican lawmakers over his anti-vaccine stance, has met with some of Trump's closest allies in the Senate, seen as easier to win over than some more skeptical members of the party. The meetings have been "really productive, really good," Kennedy told reporters on Tuesday as he dashed through the Senate hallways from one meeting to the next.
AFP
US Congress passes defense bill banning gender care for minors
The US Congress approved its mammoth annual defense budget on Wednesday, raising troops' pay while blocking funding of some gender-affirming care for transgender children of service members.But talks over the 1,800-page-plus text were complicated by a last-minute Republican intervention to prevent the military's health program from covering gender-affirming care for children of service members if it results in "sterilization."

Latest Stories