Associated Press

Associated Press

Trump heads to a competitive New York district to sell his tax law as voters sour on the economy

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is heading to a toss-up congressional district in New York on Friday to test his midterm message on the economy, even as voters largely disapprove of his stewardship of it. Trump will travel to the Hudson Valley area to appear with Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is up for […]
3 months ago

Rubio embarks on another mission to ease tensions with allies during NATO meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on his latest mission to assuage nervous U.S. allies in Europe about the Trump administration’s intentions with NATO or at least put a friendlier face on whipsawing changes and uncertainty about American troop reductions. Rubio will attend a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Sweden on Friday […]
3 months ago

SpaceX tries to launch a bigger version of Starship but hits a series of last-minute problems

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX got within a half-minute of launching its newest and biggest Starship on a test flight Thursday evening before a cascade of problems halted the countdown. The 407-foot (124-meter) rocket was poised to begin a space-skimming journey from Texas extending halfway around the world. But issues cropped up with the […]
3 months ago

Trump says he’s sending 5,000 more troops to Poland, stirring confusion about US presence in Europe

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday said the U.S. will send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, stirring confusion following weeks of changing statements from Trump and his administration about reducing — not increasing — the American military footprint in Europe. The Trump administration has said it was reducing levels in Europe by […]
3 months ago

House rejects Smithsonian women’s museum bill after GOP bans ‘biological men’ from exhibits

WASHINGTON (AP) — What started as widely backed proposal to locate a new Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the National Mall devolved into a partisan fight Thursday after Republicans revised the legislation to ensure no transgender people are included in the exhibits. The House rejected the bill, 204-216, an outcome that leaves next steps […]
3 months ago

Charges dropped against activists in Chicago immigration crackdown amid grand jury misconduct claims

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago’s top federal prosecutor abandoned a closely watched case Thursday against four activists who protested outside a federal building during last year’s immigration crackdown in the city, after a judge scrutinized allegations of grand jury misconduct by the prosecutor’s office. U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros announced the decision to dismiss the remaining charges […]
3 months ago

Newsom’s office warns Californians to avoid Chevron this holiday weekend, citing high gas prices

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is in a spat with a major oil company over who is to blame for the state’s high gas prices, with the Democratic governor’s office urging drivers not to fill up at Chevron stations over Memorial Day weekend. “Pro tip: unbranded gas comes from the same refineries, […]
3 months ago

Texas board faults Camp Mystic leader for inaction during deadly flood

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas board has suspended the nursing license of Camp Mystic’s co-director in a scathing order that accused her of not helping children evacuate during last year’s catastrophic floods that killed 25 girls and two teenage counselors. It’s one of the state’s first actions against a member of the family that […]
3 months ago

Judges in Maine and Wisconsin dismiss Justice Department’s attempts to force turnover of voter rolls

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to compel the states to hand over detailed voter registration information. U.S. District Judge James Pederson in Wisconsin said the state’s voter registration list is not a record that can be requested under […]
3 months ago

Ex-girlfriend of boy band member charged with trying to hire a hitman to kill him

The former girlfriend of a member of the boy band Why Don’t We has been charged with trying to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill him as part of a custody dispute over their now 7-year-old daughter, prosecutors said. Gabriela Gonzalez, a 24-year-old with a large social media following, was charged Tuesday […]
3 months ago

Takeaways from the Democratic National Committee’s long-awaited autopsy report on 2024 election

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s never a good sign when a report comes with a big red disclaimer at the top of each page, but that’s what happened on Thursday when the Democratic National Committee belatedly released its controversial autopsy report on the 2024 election. “This document reflects the views of the author, not the DNC,” […]
3 months ago

UN council urged to use ‘every means at its disposal’ to press Hamas to disarm

UNITED NATIONSto (AP) — The official overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to use “every means at its disposal” to press Hamas to disarm, warning that every act of violence in the Palestinian territory risks “unraveling” the agreement. Nickolay Mladenov, high representative of the Board of Peace, an […]
3 months ago

Colorado Democrats censure governor for conspiracy theorist sentence commutation

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Colorado Democrats voted overwhelmingly to censure one of their own, Gov. Jared Polis, for commuting the prison sentence of Tina Peters, the election conspiracy theorist who amplified President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that mass fraud caused his 2020 election loss. About 90% of the state party’s roughly 700 Central Committee […]
3 months ago

Rubio doubtful of diplomacy with Cuba as Trump raises new threat of military action

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and America’s top diplomat on Thursday again raised the specter of U.S. military intervention in Cuba, a renewed threat that takes on greater weight a day after the administration announced criminal charges against the island’s former leader, Raúl Castro. Trump said previous U.S. presidents have considered intervening in Cuba […]
3 months ago

The Trump administration expands its use of AI in the hunt for healthcare fraud

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday announced it is supercharging its use of artificial intelligence to police how states and other recipients of federal health dollars are auditing their programs. The move is intended to tamp down risks of fraud and save the government money. The department […]
3 months ago

Two men charged with creating AI-generated porn under new law targeting ‘deepfakes’

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors have charged two men with using artificial intelligence to create nude videos and photos of female celebrities under a newly enacted law meant to halt the spread of deepfake pornography. Cornelius Shannon, 51, and Arturo Hernandez, 20, were both arrested Tuesday for generating sexually explicit AI content that drew […]
3 months ago

Mexico will discuss drug trafficking and migrant deaths during visit by US security official Mullin

MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that she hopes to strengthen bilateral security cooperation during U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s visit to Mexico, including on issues of combating drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and arms trafficking, and to facilitate intelligence sharing. Mullin arrives in the capital for a two-day visit following tensions […]
3 months ago

US sanctions Lebanese lawmakers, security officials over Hezbollah influence

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of Hezbollah-affiliated parliamentarians, state security officials, and allies of the militant group were hit with U.S. sanctions Thursday, for allegedly seeking to preserve the Iran-backed group’s influence over Lebanese state institutions and obstruct disarmament efforts. It’s the first time Washington has sanctioned sitting Lebanese state security officials, one from the […]
3 months ago

Through much of the American experience, blue jeans have been a common thread

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When Americans want to show their patriotism, they often don red, white and blue clothing, or sometimes even drape themselves in the U.S. flag. But if you truly want to embody the country’s zeitgeist, just slip on your favorite blue jeans. You probably already own at least one pair, just like […]
3 months ago

A look at the SpaceX IPO by the numbers

Elon Musk is all about big numbers — billions, trillions – and you can find them sprinkled throughout an extraordinary document he just filed to take his rocket maker public. Running more than 250 pages, the prospectus for his SpaceX stock debut shows spending at a massive scale — greater than the economic output of […]
3 months ago

Howard Fendrich, award-winning AP national sports writer and tennis expert, dies at 55

Howard Fendrich, a national sports writer for The Associated Press whose persistent reporting and detail-rich prose brought readers inside dozens of taut Grand Slam tennis finals, record-breaking Olympic moments and harrowing trips down Alpine ski slopes, has died. He was 55. Fendrich died Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his wife Rosanna Maietta said. […]
3 months ago

Colorful ‘Greetings from’ postcards reflected American innovation, idealism

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Greetings from Concord, New Hampshire. Postcards emblazoned with “Greetings from” a state, city or tourist attraction advertise more than just the tiny scenes squeezed into 3D letters. They also reflect American innovation and idealism in both their production and popularity. So-called large-letter postcards weren’t new when a German immigrant named Curt […]
3 months ago

Trump says he’s postponing signing an executive order on AI out of concern it would hurt AI industry

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump called off a Thursday signing ceremony for a new order on artificial intelligence because he worried it could dull America’s edge on AI technology. Trump said he was postponing the signing because he didn’t like what he saw in the order’s text. He announced the change hours before the […]
3 months ago

Lawmakers warn data protection rules don’t protect key sites, including White House and CIA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration spent almost a year crafting regulations to block U.S. adversaries from buying commercial data gathered from cell phones at the federal government’s most sensitive locations. The resulting rules, however, have a few gaps. Left off the list of 736 sensitive locations were the White House, Congress and the CIA’s […]
3 months ago