Winning numbers drawn in ‘Numbers Evening’ game

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republicans’ quest to resume executions in South Carolina overcame another hurdle Thursday. The state Senate Corrections and Penology Committee approved a bill that would shield the identities of the companies that dispense the drug cocktail used to execute people on death row. The full Senate must now take up the latest effort in the state’s search for a method of capital punishment. South Carolina has gone nearly 12 years without an execution. Recent sessions have seen futile attempts to begin executing the state’s death row prisoners — who now total 35 condemned people, including one man whose sentence dates back to 1983, according to a Feb. 2 South Carolina Department of Corrections list. South Carolina’s last batch of lethal injection drugs have not been replenished since the supply expired in 2013. In lieu of that method, Gov. Henry McMaster in 2021 signed a law giving condemned prisoners the choice between death by a newly created firing squad or the electric chair.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The official who oversaw the conversion of North Carolina’s Medicaid agency to managed care will retire from state government at the end of the month, the state health department said on Thursday. Dave Richard, the deputy secretary for Medicaid for the last eight years,...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota utilities would be obligated to transition to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 to step up the fight against climate change under a bill speeding through the Legislature. The bill was slated for a final vote on the Senate floor Thursday night after passing...

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut needs safeguards on state government’s use of artificial intelligence including algorithms at child welfare and other agencies to prevent discrimination and increase transparency, an advisory panel to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said Thursday. The Connecticut Advisory Committee to the federal commission called on state lawmakers to pass laws regulating such systems, which have sparked concerns in other parts of the country. The problem, critics say, is algorithms can use flawed data that can disproportionately identify minorities, low-income families, disabled people and other groups when agencies make decisions on removing children from homes, approving health, housing and other benefits, where to concentrate law enforcement and assigning children to schools, among other uses. “The state of Connecticut makes thousands of decisions that impact the lives and civil rights of residents every day,” said David McGuire, chair of the Connecticut Advisory Committee. “When the state uses an algorithm residents should know which agency is using the algorithm, the reason it is being used, and assurances that the algorithm is fair.”

MARATHON, Fla. (AP) — A conch living underwater in a Florida Keys aquarium’s touch tank confirmed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction Tuesday of six more weeks of winter weather. The “mollusk meteorologist” emerged from its shell at Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters and saw its shadow, just as Phil did earlier that day in Pennsylvania , the tourist attraction’s president Ben Daughtry said. “Our mollusk meteorologist concurred with Punxsutawney Phil and saw its shadow and is predicting six more weeks of winter in the north,” Daughtry said. The folklore surrounding Punxsutawney Phil means that when he sees his shadow, another six weeks of winter weather is on tap for the U.S. An annual event in Punxsutawney, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh, originated from a German legend about a furry rodent. The gathering annually attracts thousands.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Winter weather brought ice to a wide swath of the United States on Tuesday, canceling more than 1,700 flights nationwide and snarling highways. At least two people died on slick roads in Texas and two law officers in the state were seriously injured, including a deputy who was pinned under a truck, authorities said. As the ice storm advanced eastward on Tuesday, watches and warnings stretched from the western heel of Texas all the way to West Virginia. Several rounds of mixed precipitation — including freezing rain and sleet — were in store for many areas through Wednesday, meaning some regions could be hit multiple times, the federal Weather Prediction Center warned. Emergency responders rushed to hundreds of auto collisions across Texas and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott urged people to stay off the roads. Authorities said one person in Austin was killed in a predawn pileup Tuesday. A 45-year-old man also died Monday night after his SUV slid into a highway guardrail near Dallas in slick conditions and rolled down an embankment, according to the Arlington Police Department.

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 2, 2023-- Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC (Coke Florida) is celebrating Black History Month 2023 with an expanded focus on education, digital literacy, and economic empowerment by partnering with community-based organizations, Florida Black Expo, and the Jim Thorpe Invitational Golf Tournament. Throughout the month, Coke Florida will invest more than $150,000 through laptop donations, computer lab upgrades, and integrated technology training for hundreds of Florida students. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230202005883/en/ Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC (Coke Florida) celebrates Black History Month 2023 with an expanded focus on education, digital literacy, and economic empowerment. Throughout the month, Coke Florida will invest more than $150,000 through laptop donations, computer lab upgrades, and integrated technology training for hundreds of Florida students. This year brings Coke Florida’s Black History Month investments to more than $650,000. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Three men have been arrested on accusations that they clashed with police officers during separate incidents at the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Federal prosecutors announced charges Wednesday against men from Vermont, Illinois and Pennsylvania — more than two years after the riot that halted the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Nearly 1,000 people across the U.S. have been charged with federal crimes in the Capitol attack and new arrests are still happening nearly every week. William Nichols, 41, of Manchester, Vermont, was identified through a number of open-source videos and police body-camera images that showed him struggling with police officers outside the Capitol building, prosecutors said. According to court papers, Nichols is seen in the footage engaging in “violent interactions” with police officers. He is seen “wielding a large circular shield” to hit officers, in one case causing an officer to lose his balance, an affidavit states. In another instance, he is seen using the shield to hit and push several officers, it says.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Some Kentuckians who signed up for Medicaid during the COVID-19 pandemic will soon have to shop around to maintain health insurance coverage, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday. The Democratic governor said his administration intends to help people through the transition. “This is a big job,”...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Bus drivers in Alaska’s second-largest school district went on strike after delivering students to classes on Tuesday, citing unfair labor practices. The near-unanimous strike was called against Durham School Services after members received what Teamsters Local 959 described in a statement as the company’s...

CINCINNATI (AP) — New details emerged Thursday at the trial of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder on the use of the state plane scheduled to bring state lawmakers back to Columbus to vote on the now-tainted nuclear bailout legislation at the heart of Ohio’s largest ever corruption case.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina has joined a growing list of states considering bans on gender-affirming medical procedures for transgender minors. A bill filed late Wednesday in the state House would ban hormone treatments and surgeries for anyone younger than 18 and make it illegal for medical professionals to help a minor “present or appear in a manner that is inconsistent with the minor’s sex.”

WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan woman who walks to work every day made a huge discovery outside a gas station last month. Dianne Gordon has walked more than two miles to her job at VC Fresh Marketplace in White Lake Township since her car broke down last year. She was on her way home Jan. 21 when she stopped at a BP station for a snack and saw a bag containing almost $15,000 and wedding cards on the ground,

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said in a private conversation that expanding Medicaid to people working low-wage jobs would be in the best interest of the state, but that he refuses to support the policy for political reasons, a former chancellor of the University of Mississippi said Thursday.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by environmental groups that challenged how the nation’s largest public utility signs up local power providers for two-decade contracts. On Wednesday, a ruling by U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Parker in Memphis sided with the Tennessee Valley...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced plans to block state colleges from having programs on diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory in his latest step onto the front lines of the nation’s culture wars. The Republican governor debuted the proposal as part of a larger, higher education legislative package that is expected to be taken up by the GOP-controlled statehouse when its regular session begins in March. The second-term governor, who is widely expected to launch a 2024 White House bid in the late spring or early summer, has emerged as a fierce...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Texas executes inmate convicted of fatally shooting Dallas police officer after high speed chase nearly 16 years ago.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A civil rights group in New Orleans is pointing to two federal lawsuit settlements as examples of how civil litigation can hold police accountable for violent tactics in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ death in Memphis. The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana said Thursday it had settled a lawsuit stemming from the 2020 arrest in New Orleans of Michael Celestine, a Black man who said he was threatened with a gun and required hospitalization after police used a Taser on him as he fled what the ACLU called an unjustified stop and search. ...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state agency that represents Alaskans who cannot afford their own attorneys intends this month to stop taking clients facing serious felony charges in parts of southwest and western Alaska due to staffing shortages. Samantha Cherot, head of the Alaska Public Defender Agency, notified the...

KENSINGTON, Ga. (AP) — Three people were found dead in a northwest Georgia house on Monday from suspected drug overdoses. Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson tells the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the most likely cause of death was from smoking or inhaling fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Dried psychedelic...