National News

FILE - New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul arrive at a press conferenc...

New York governor pitches a new tax on pricey pied-à-terres

NEW YORK (AP) — For months, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has resisted calls to increase taxes on the wealthy, beating back progressives who have hounded her from Manhattan to Puerto Rico bellowing chants of “tax the rich.” Now she is pitching a compromise. The moderate Democrat says she will push to create a new […]
7 months ago
Michael Rapino, chief executive officer and president of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., arrives at...

Jury finds that Ticketmaster and Live Nation had an anticompetitive monopoly over big concert venues

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury has found that concert giant Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues, dealing the company a loss in a lawsuit over claims brought by dozens of U.S. states. A Manhattan federal jury deliberated for four days before reaching its decision Wednesday in […]
7 months ago
Aaron Ford, attorney general of Nevada, speaks at a press conference in Las Vegas, on Wednesday, Ap...

Roblox gaming platform reaches $12 million settlement with Nevada enhancing youth protections

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The interactive gaming platform Roblox will implement increased protections for young users and pay more than $12 million to the state of Nevada in what state Attorney General Aaron Ford on Wednesday called a first-of-its-kind agreement. “This settlement will create a safer environment for our children online, and I hope that […]
7 months ago
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahm...

Justice Jackson chides Supreme Court conservatives over ‘oblivious’ pro-Trump emergency orders

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme CourtJustice Ketanji Brown Jackson has delivered a sustained attack on her conservative colleagues’ use of emergency orders to benefit the Trump administration, calling the orders “scratch-paper musings” that can “seem oblivious and thus ring hollow.” The court’s newest justice, Jackson delivered a lengthy assessment of roughly two dozen court orders issued […]
7 months ago
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., listens during a news conference after a policy lunch...

Senate Republicans again reject effort to halt Trump’s Iran war

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday rejected the latest Democratic attempt to halt President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, turning aside a resolution that would require the U.S. to withdraw forces from the conflict until Congress authorizes further action. The 47-52 vote was the fourth time this year that the Senate has voted […]
7 months ago
FILE - Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought testifies during a Senate Appropriat...

Trump’s budget director defends White House plan for massive boost in military spending

WASHINGTON (AP) — An effort to ramp up U.S. weapons production and build more ships, planes and drones will require a massive upfront investment, President Donald Trump’s budget director told a House committee Wednesday. The testimony from Russell Vought jump-starts the White House’s push to increase defense spending to nearly $1.5 trillion in the next […]
7 months ago
Camp Mystic night watchman Glenn Juenke testifies during a hearing on a suit against Camp Mystic in...

Camp Mystic security guard says an early evacuation order could have saved lives

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The security guard at Camp Mystic the night of last year’s deadly flood acknowledged Wednesday that if a general evacuation order came early in the storm, lives could’ve been saved. Glenn Juenke, who helped move some girls to a two-story building before getting trapped inside a cabin himself, also saved a […]
7 months ago

New York City apartment building workers set to vote on whether to go on strike

NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of New York City apartment building doorpersons, superintendents and other workers were set to vote Wednesday on whether to walk off the job in the coming days, after contract negotiations snagged over issues including health care and pensions. A strike would be the first in 35 years and would affect […]
7 months ago

Homeland Security worker and another woman are killed in a series of Atlanta-area attacks

ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta man has been charged in a string of attacks over a matter of hours that left two women dead and a man in critical condition. One of the women, Lauren Bullis, worked for the Department of Homeland Security, and her killing on Monday led Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin to issue […]
7 months ago

Mount Holyoke’s corpse flower blooms again, drawing crowds to its ‘rotting flesh’ stench

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (AP) — One person entered the lush, green Victorian-era greenhouse and smelled rotting eggs. Another said the odor evoked the memory of dissecting a dead bird. A third compared it to a stinky diaper baking in the sun. “I was expecting it to smell bad, but it smelled genuinely like rotting flesh,” […]
7 months ago
FILE - Mississippi State Auditor Shad White speaks at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Miss...

Auditor demands private prison company pay $7.4M to Mississippi, calls for AG to enforce

A private prison company must pay $7.4 million to Mississippi for failing to maintain enough staff to ensure the safety of prisoners and prison employees, State Auditor Shad White said on Monday. The demand, which White said is among the largest civil demands in the history of his office, targets Management & Training Corporation, a […]
7 months ago
FILE - Revelers take part in SantaCon, Dec. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinso...

Popular NYC SantaCon charity fundraiser was more con than Claus, authorities say

NEW YORK (AP) — A SantaCon charity fundraiser that floods New York City with inebriated young people in red and white Santa costumes every holiday season was true to its name: a con, federal authorities said as they arrested its organizer. Stefan Pildes, 50, of Hewitt, New Jersey, was arrested on Wednesday and awaited an […]
7 months ago
In this image taken from video provided by Oklahoma television station KFOR, authorities block off ...

Dramatic video shows Oklahoma high school principal tackle, disarm gunman as students flee

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Newly released video shows a high school principal in Oklahoma tackling and disarming a former student who entered the lobby of the school and began firing a pistol. Pauls Valley High School Principal Kirk Moore was shot in the leg during the April 7 attack, but managed to wrestle the suspect […]
7 months ago
Bay of Pigs veteran Francisco J. Hernandez points out fellow Brigade 2506 members he knew personall...

Veterans mark the 65th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Invasion with a new museum in Miami

MIAMI (AP) — Manuel Portuondo was still a teenager in 1960 when his family, like thousands of others, fled Cuba for Miami, following the culmination of the Cuban Revolution a year earlier. Soon after, while still attending school, Portuondo learned of a military force of Cuban refugees being organized by the United States government. He […]
7 months ago
An uprooted tree rests on a home following a severe storm Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Ann Arbor, ...

Thunderstorms rip across Michigan damaging 2 ice arenas, other structures

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Powerful storms ripped through parts of Michigan overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning, damaging two ice arenas and other structures, and uprooting trees near the University of Michigan’s main campus. National Weather Service crews were surveying damage in places including Ann Arbor to determine if one or more tornadoes touched down, […]
7 months ago
FILE - The Douglas County Google Data Center complex is seen, Friday, March 6, 2026, in Lithia Spri...

The data center boom meets resistance in Maine as lawmakers pass a yearlong moratorium

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine is set to impose the nation’s first statewide moratorium on energy-hungry data centers in a sign of growing political opposition to tech giants’ massive structures that have stoked fears about blackouts, rising electricity bills and voracious water needs. The legislation arose in a state that isn’t necessarily a destination for […]
7 months ago
FILE - Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud introduces Vice President Joe Biden at the Robin...

University of Michigan’s next president has brain cancer so won’t take job

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The next president at the University of Michigan said Wednesday he can’t take the job because of brain cancer. Kent Syverud, chancellor at Syracuse University, said he received the diagnosis after not feeling well last week. “I am currently undergoing treatment at the University of Michigan. … I am aware […]
7 months ago

Typhoon flipped over cars and ripped away roofs on US islands in the Pacific Ocean

The super typhoon in the Pacific Ocean that hammered the Northern Mariana Islands, flipped over cars, toppled utility poles and ripped away tin roofs. So far, there have been no reports of deaths. Authorities were just beginning to assess the damage left behind by Super Typhoon Sinlaku, which first hit the islands Tuesday night local […]
7 months ago
FILE - The Ravenswood Generating Station, which uses natural gas to support the city's electricity ...

As energy costs rise, some states back off ambitious climate goals

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Seven years ago, New York lawmakers set ambitious goals for slashing greenhouse gas emissions with clarion calls about saving the future. Now, with slow progress made and political realities shifting, Gov. Kathy Hochul is seeking a delay, saying she wants to save consumers money. Times have “ radically changed,” Hochul said, […]
7 months ago
FILE - Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, right, and President Donald Trump look over a docume...

Trump threatens to fire Powell if the Fed Chair decides to stay on after his term ends next month

President Donald Trump has again threatened to fire Jerome Powell if the Federal Reserve Chair decides to stay on the central bank’s governing board after his term as chair expires next month. “Well then I’ll have to fire him, OK?” Trump told Fox Business in an interview that aired Wednesday when reminded that Powell has […]
7 months ago
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks during a fireside chat with CP...

FDA to weigh easing limits on unproven peptides favored by RFK Jr. and other MAHA figures

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration will hold a meeting this summer to consider easing restrictions on more than a half dozen peptide injections, a group of unapproved therapies that have become popular among wellness influencers, fitness gurus and celebrities. The meeting announcement Wednesday follows repeated pledges by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy […]
7 months ago
FILE - Ground up plastics that Alterra Energy receives from recycling facilities, move along a conv...

EPA may ease regulation of chemical plastic recycling, and environmentalists worry

The Environmental Protection Agency is reconsidering whether facilities that recycle plastic chemically should be held to the same strict air pollution standards as incinerators. The possible change is alarming environmental advocates who say it would lead to more dangerous pollution spewing into communities, with fewer or no checks at the federal level. The plastics industry […]
7 months ago
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks with reporters outside of the US Capitol, Wed...

House Democrats will try anti-corruption message to gain traction against Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — Days after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was ousted by an opposition campaign with an anti-corruption message, Democrats want to try the same playbook against President Donald Trump before the midterm elections. House Democrats will announce Wednesday what they call a task force to overhaul ethics rules and protect access to the […]
7 months ago
Glorianna Davenport, founder of the Living Observatory, overlooks a stream cutting through Tidmarsh...

How a retired cranberry bog helped change the game for wetland restoration

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Glorianna Davenport looks out at hundreds of acres of protected wetlands that were once her family’s cranberry farms. In her hands are laminated pictures of striking red cranberry bogs fed by razor-straight water channels. It’s hard to believe the land where she stands — full of sinuous streams, wildlife, moss and […]
7 months ago