Despite Demand, New Housing Starts Falter In West Michigan

By HOLLY RAMER STRATHAM, N. H. (AP) — A group of mice is called a nest, but what do you call 1,000 of them in one animal shelter? “Crippling,” said Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is scrambling to care for an overwhelming influx of rapidly reproducing rodents. It all started Monday when a man arrived saying he wanted to give up 150 mice.

By LISA RATHKE Ben & Jerry’s has sued its parent company Unilever accusing it of silencing the ice cream maker from making statements in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war. The complaint, filed Wednesday in federal court in New York, says the multinational conglomerate has failed to adhere to its contractual obligations with Ben & Jerry’s by threatening to dismantle the company’s independent board, sue board members, intimidate personnel and censor the company “from publicly voicing support for peace and refugee rights,” the lawsuit states. London-based Unilever said in a statement that it rejects the claims made by Ben & Jerry’s social mission board.

By MATTHEW DALY and CHRIS MEGERIAN WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s choice to head the Interior Department, will also lead a newly created National Energy Council that will seek to establish U. S. “energy dominance” around the world. Burgum, in his new role, will oversee a panel that crosses all executive branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump said in a statement.

By LARRY NEUMEISTER NEW YORK (AP) — Three daughters of Malcolm X have accused the CIA, FBI, the New York Police Department and others in a $100 million lawsuit Friday of playing roles in the 1965 assassination of the civil rights leader. In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, the daughters — along with the Malcolm X estate — claimed that the agencies were aware of and were involved in the assassination plot and failed to stop the killing. At a morning news conference, attorney Ben Crump stood with family members as he described the lawsuit, saying he hoped federal and city officials would read it “and learn all the dastardly deeds that were done by their predecessors and try to right these historic wrongs.” The NYPD and CIA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

By TARA COPP, MICHELLE R. SMITH and JASON DEAREN WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Hegseth, the Army National Guard veteran and Fox News host nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Defense, was flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member due to a tattoo on his bicep that’s associated with white supremacist groups. Hegseth, who has downplayed the role of military members and veterans in the Jan.

Confronted with complaints that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration broke election laws, Florida’s Office of Election Crimes and Security did not even bother with the cursory “nothing-to-see-here” argument. Things never got that far. The office’s director, a DeSantis appointee, determined that all the governor’s men are exempt. The dismissal of election law complaints about whether the governor’s office violated state law to defeat amendments 3 and 4 got lost in the run-up to the Nov.