National News

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he meets with NASA's Artemis II astronauts Victor Glo...

Trump order aims to help more people get retirement savings plans in time for new federal match

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday calling for a new government website where people in the United States can find and compare private-sector retirement savings accounts, aiming to help millions of workers whose employers do not offer such plans. The order is intended to help more people gain […]
4 months ago
FILE - Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves delivers his State of the State address to the Missi...

Reeves establishes Mississippi office for Rural Health Transformation Program funds

Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday announced he’s creating an office to oversee distribution of hundreds of millions of federal dollars aimed at improving rural healthcare. The new office will be overseen by the governor and led by certified public accountant Richard Grimes. Reeves also unveiled a website he said will provide the public with a […]
4 months ago

Truck driver last seen at a Florida rest stop is found dead in Georgia

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The FBI is investigating the death of a truck driver whose body and semitrailer were found in different areas of southeastern Georgia hours after he was last seen alive at a Florida rest stop. Alejandro Jacomino Gonzalez, 41, went missing while heading to Miami with a shipment of vehicles he picked […]
4 months ago
FILE - Michigan State's logo hangs on Spartan Stadium before the start of an NCAA college football ...

Man charged with possessing meth lab chemicals in Michigan State building

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University scrambled to relocate some final exams after police said they discovered a man inside the school’s largest academic building with household substances that could be used to run a methamphetamine lab. The 31-year-old man was charged Wednesday with malicious destruction of property and possessing substances to operate […]
4 months ago
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends an event on health care affordabi...

Trump administration appeals court order in effort to cut vaccine recommendations for kids

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration is appealing a judge’s order as it tries to cut the number of vaccines recommended for every child in the United States. The appeal filed Wednesday was a delayed response to a March 16 court order that blocked the decision by President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. […]
4 months ago
(AP Illustration)Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS...

From grading papers to decoding jargon, here are some ways people are putting AI to work

NEW YORK (AP) — Artificial intelligence is permeating workplaces, changing the nature of jobs of every stripe. Teachers are using it to create lesson plans and grade papers. Marketing professionals are harnessing it to work a room and learn about the needs of potential clients. Product managers are asking AI to serve as an interpreter […]
4 months ago
Adam Hamilton, a Methodist mega-church pastor from Kansas, talks to voters as he wraps up a U.S. Se...

The pastor of the nation’s largest Methodist church is running for the US Senate in Kansas

LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — The pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the U.S. launched a campaign Thursday for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas, upending the race in a normally Republican state as the GOP’s small majority seems less secure than it was a year ago. The Rev. Adam […]
4 months ago
A cow, right, scratches on the support beam of a solar panel Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in ...

Solar ranch in Tennessee aims to prove grazing cattle under the panels is a farmland win-win

CHRISTIANA, Tenn. (AP) — From a distance, the small solar farm in central Tennessee looks like others that now dot rural America, with row upon row of black panels absorbing the sun’s rays to generate electricity. But beneath these panels is lush pasture instead of gravel, enjoyed by a small herd of cattle that spends […]
4 months ago
Jessica Mann, right, arrives for Harvey Weinstein's trial in criminal court, followed by Manhattan ...

Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers question his accuser at his rape retrial

NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein ‘s lawyers questioned his accuser at his rape retrial Thursday, making clear they planned to explore her conflicted feelings and complex history with the onetime Hollywood powerbroker. It’s the third time Jessica Mann has had to answer his lawyers’ questions in a New York court. But different attorneys are […]
4 months ago
U.S. Secret Service agents respond on stage during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday,...

Man accused of trying to kill Trump at correspondents’ gala is set to return to court

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who authorities say tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with guns and knives and tried to kill President Donald Trump will appear Thursday in court as a judge decides whether Cole Tomas Allen will remain behind bars while awaiting trial. In pressing for Allen’s continued detention, prosecutors […]
4 months ago
Mark Sanford, former congressman and South Carolina governor, takes questions from reporters as he ...

Mark Sanford quits latest bid for Congress and says he’ll set up a debt-focused nonprofit instead

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Mark Sanford, the Republican former South Carolina congressman and governor whose political ascendency was stalled by a 2009 affair, has ended his latest bid for public office, saying that he’s quitting the race to reclaim his former coastal district to set up a nonprofit to address the national debt, his signature […]
4 months ago

Louisiana congressional primaries suspended as a result of Supreme Court ruling, state officials say

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s congressional primaries won’t be going forward as scheduled in May, as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a majority Black congressional district, the state’s top elected officials said Thursday. Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a joint statement that Wednesday’s […]
4 months ago
FILE - An advertisement for prediction market platform Kalshi hangs at 13th and L Streets in northw...

Prediction markets say they’re different from sportsbooks. Gambling addicts say it’s all the same

The soccer coach had blocked himself from sportsbooks by the time he found prediction markets. The tax accountant said he “got the same high” on those platforms that he got from gambling. “That was how I relapsed — with Kalshi and Polymarket. I lost a bunch of money.” The rapid growth of prediction markets has […]
4 months ago
Heather Grady plants a kale seedling in her yard Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Denver. (AP photo/Brit...

Here’s how to grow your own food with less water, even in a drought

DENVER (AP) — A few raindrops fell as Heather Grady gingerly transplanted beet seedlings into the earth, but the sky refused to release enough moisture to ease her worries about a dry winter that’s left reservoirs low. With most of Colorado in drought, Grady and her husband Terrance began discussing how they could conserve more […]
4 months ago
Gas prices are displayed at a gasoline station, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/D...

U.S. economy grew 2% from January-March, recovering from federal shutdown; Iran war clouds outlook

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy accelerated at the start of 2026, expanding at a modest 2% pace from January through March after recovering from last fall’s 43-day federal government shutdown. But the outlook is clouded by the Iran war. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods […]
4 months ago
Luciano V. replaces the fuel nozzel after filling the tank of their 1999 Mazda Miata at an Astro ga...

Key inflation gauge jumps to highest level in 3 years as Iran war spikes gas prices

WASHINGTON (AP) — A key inflation measure jumped in March as gas prices soared, the latest sign that the Iran war is pushing up the cost of living and delaying any interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. An inflation gauge monitored by the Fed rose 0.7% in March from February, up slightly from the […]
4 months ago
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appears before a House Committee on Armed Services business meeti...

The Latest: Hegseth faces a second day of Democrats grilling him over the Iran war

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will face a second day of grilling from Democrats on Capitol Hill, with senators getting their first opportunity on Thursday to confront or praise the Pentagon chief over his handling of the Iran war. Hegseth battled with Democrats — and some Republicans — a day earlier during a nearly six-hour House […]
4 months ago
FILE - A Union Pacific worker walks between two locomotives that are being serviced in a railyard i...

Union Pacific argues for its $85B acquisition of Norfolk Southern in new railroad merger application

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific hopes the new application it filed Thursday will be enough to persuade regulators that its $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern would be good for the country. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board rejected Union Pacific’s initial application because regulators wanted more details about how the deal would affect the […]
4 months ago
FILE - The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen which displays the C...

Teens embrace social media and influencers for news but remain skeptical

NEW YORK (AP) — Teenagers are more inclined than their elders to get news from nontraditional sources such as social media and influencers, heralding a generational shift in how people seek out information. A national study by the Media Insight Project finds 36% of U.S. adults say they get news from social media at least […]
4 months ago
FILE - President Lyndon B. Johnson holds the signed document of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as he...

Supreme Court hollows out a landmark law that had protected minority voting rights for 6 decades

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Lyndon B. Johnson knew the legislation he was about to sign was momentous, one that took courage for certain members of Congress to pass since the vote could cost them their seats. To honor that, he took the unusual step of leaving the Oval Office and going to Capitol Hill for […]
4 months ago
Storm clouds form over a public park as thunderstorms approaches the region, Saturday, April 25, 20...

You’re probably paying more for insurance lately. A new study suggests federal action to cut costs

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new analysis suggests Americans are being overcharged by $150 billion annually to insure their homes, autos and businesses — and it proposes federal guardrails so that a public beset by affordability pressures could see savings. The analysis by the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how insurers […]
4 months ago
A giant statue of Nipper the dog sits atop a building in the warehouse district in Albany, N.Y., Tu...

Nipper, stay! The future of a beloved dog statue on a New York warehouse is up in the air

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Albany loves its giant dog statue. Nipper, a 28-foot (9-meter) tall white dog with black ears has sat conspicuously atop a warehouse for almost seven decades — recreating the famous image of a terrier listening attentively to a phonograph that was long used by electronics and communications company RCA. Over time, […]
4 months ago

David Allan Coe, who wrote ‘Take This Job and Shove It’ and other country hits, dies at 86

David Allan Coe, the country singer-songwriter who wrote the working class anthem “Take This Job and Shove It″ and had hits with “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” and “The Ride” among others, has died. He was 86. Coe’s wife confirmed his death to Rolling Stone on Wednesday. Whether he was labeled outlaw […]
4 months ago
Joseph Lawler, right, works with fellow traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursd...

Oil prices whipsaw while US stocks glide near their record heights

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices whipsawed and surged toward their highest levels since the war with Iran began, only for the leaps to quickly vanish. The U.S. stock market is gliding higher early Thursday following more strong profit reports from big companies like Alphabet and Amazon. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and inched closer […]
4 months ago