North America

CHICAGO (AP) — A popular actor steps out onto the street and is brutally reminded that, despite his fame and wealth, places still exist where the color of his skin and sexual orientation put him in danger.

That was the story that ricocheted around the world after Jussie Smollett, a Black and openly gay actor, reported to Chicago police that he was the victim of a hate crime.

Nearly three years later, Smollett is about to stand trial on charges that he staged the whole thing.

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — University of Maine researchers are trying to produce potatoes that can better withstand warming temperatures as the climate changes.

Warming temperatures and an extended growing season can lead to quality problems and disease, Gregory Porter, a professor of crop ecology and management, told the Bangor Daily News.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Hondurans will choose a successor to deeply unpopular President Juan Orlando Hernández on Sunday in elections that could oust his National Party after 12 years in power.

The candidate most likely to do this is Xiomara Castro of the leftist Liberty and Re-foundation party. The former first lady is making her third bid for the presidency and is the only one of 13 opposition candidates with a chance to beat Hernández’s handpicked successor, Nasry Asfura, a folksy Tegucigalpa mayor.

(AP) --- Residents in Washington state were preparing for possible flooding as “atmospheric rivers” once again threatened parts of the Northwest, which saw heavy damage from extreme weather earlier this month.

People in the small communities of Sumas and Everson in northwest Washington were asked to voluntarily evacuate Saturday night, The Bellingham Herald reported. Both towns near the Canadian border saw extreme flooding from the previous storm.

An emergency alert said road closures in the area could start early Sunday morning.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation is soaring, businesses are struggling to hire and President Joe Biden’s poll numbers have been in free fall. The White House sees a common culprit for it all: COVID-19.

Biden’s team views the pandemic as the root cause of both the nation’s malaise and his own political woes. Finally controlling COVID-19, the White House believes, is the skeleton key to rejuvenating the country and reviving Biden’s own standing.

MEXICO CITY, Nov 27 (NNN-EFE) — Clashes took place in Mexico City on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women as thousands marched to condemn gender violence, which kills at least 10 women a day in the country.

“In Mexico, ten women continue to disappear every day, and every minute and we find them raped or murdered,” María del Carmen Volante, whose daughter Pamela disappeared four years ago after attending a concert on the outskirts of the capital, told Efe.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation is soaring, businesses are struggling to hire and President Joe Biden’s poll numbers have been in free-fall. The White House sees a common culprit for it all: COVID-19.

Biden’s team views the pandemic as the root cause of both the nation’s malaise and his own political woes. Finally controlling COVID-19, the White House believes, is the skeleton key to rejuvenating the country and reviving Biden’s own standing.

DENVER (AP) — Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota called Friday for House leaders to take “appropriate action” against Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert for using anti-Muslim language in describing a recent encounter she had with Omar at the U.S. Capitol.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders demanded Boebert retract her comments.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Three people were shot and wounded Friday during an apparent fight between two groups at a North Carolina mall crowded with shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving, the police chief said.

Authorities said in the late afternoon that one person was detained and there was no further threat to the public. A bystander described “mass hysteria” on one of the busiest shopping days of the year as shoppers ducked into stores for cover or ran for the exits.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday recommended an overhaul of the nation’s oil and gas leasing program to limit areas available for energy development and raise costs for oil and gas companies to drill on public land and water.

The long-awaited report by the Interior Department stops short of recommending an end to oil and gas leasing on public lands, as many environmental groups have urged. But officials said the report would lead to a more responsible leasing process that provides a better return to U.S. taxpayers.