ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A federal judge who blocked the creation of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” for compensating President Donald Trump’s political allies wasn’t swayed by a government attorney’s assurances Friday that the administration has abandoned the concept. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia didn’t rule from the bench on the government’s request […]
NEW YORK (AP) — America: land of possibility. And also: land of suckers. Our enduring belief that anything is possible — whether based in reality or not — has helped the nation become the world’s largest economy. It has also led us to fall head over heels for hucksters and charlatans, again and again. If […]
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Research scientist Ashish Rajurkar kneels in the dirt, lifting a large clod of soil tangled around a soybean plant. He knocks away pieces of earth from the plant’s roots, which slope straight down instead of out to the side like typical soybean plants. Researchers hope roots like these could help crops […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has struggled to pass major legislation this year, putting off debates on annual spending, defense, cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. But in its final weeks in session as the midterm elections approach, the Senate can agree on doing one thing — addressing college sports. The Senate voted twice this week to move […]
The top official at the U.S. Postal Service has said the agency has stopped work on developing a controversial computer system that was central to President Donald Trump’s effort to limit mail voting after the Supreme Court rejected his executive order this week. Also, a federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide […]
President Donald Trump came to battleground North Carolina doubling down on a tantalizing and implausible midterm promise. “If we win,” he said, “we’re going to get you $5,000. So that’s it. Very simple.” The Republican candidates who spoke at the rally had nothing to say about it. Their silence reflects a broader pattern. About a […]
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — An immigration officer who is accused of shooting a Venezuelan man during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis early this year, and then lying to investigators about what happened, is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court on Friday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro faces a federal count of […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Todd Blanche is blurring traditional boundaries between politics and federal law enforcement with recent speeches at political events that mark a sharp departure from norms meant to protect the Justice Department from the appearance of partisan bias. Blanche took the stage this week at an event for a Republican Senate […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance is headed to Iowa for the second time this year to campaign for Republican majorities in Congress as he lays the groundwork for his own political ambitions. Vance will be the headliner Friday at a midterm rally in Council Bluffs, on the western edge of the once-Republican stronghold […]
Jon Stewart says he never really decided to focus his charity efforts on first responders and their families. It just happened. The award-winning host of “The Daily Show” said he wanted to feel useful and support people who dedicated their lives to helping others. “These aren’t the X-Men,” Stewart told The Associated Press. “They’re not […]
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The deadly collapse of a multistory building in Gaza has drawn new attention to the hardships facing Palestinians there nearly a year after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas promised to kickstart reconstruction. But as talks faltered, plans for rebuilding stalled. Many residents have since moved back into some […]
As President Donald Trump tries to convince voters that Democrats have let crime run amok, he’s digging into the country’s political past to reference one of the most controversial campaign advertisements that relied heavily on racist tropes. During a campaign stop Wednesday in Gastonia, North Carolina, to stump for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, […]
HENRICO, Va. (AP) — In-person voting for this year’s midterm elections began Friday, ushering in the final six weeks for Americans to decide which party they trust to lead Congress through a cost-of-living crisis, a prolonged war in Iran and other pressing issues. Election administrators say they are prepared and confident the vote will be […]
Watching her staff happily hand out free meals for hundreds of residents outside their Wailua commercial kitchen, food truck co-owner Kelly Kakalia felt fulfilled. It was the day after Hurricane Lowell finished knocking out power, washing out roads and felling trees across Kauai, and Kakalia was focused on her community, not sales. The island where […]
BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday struck down a 2025 order from the Trump administration that cut hundreds of millions of dollars in teacher-training money. U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts wrote in her order that the Education Department’s directive violated federal law and was arbitrary and capricious. In February 2025, the […]
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s attorney general said Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security may have violated several state laws after a whistleblower accused its employees of misrepresenting themselves on voter lookup tools to hunt for noncitizen voters. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Attorney General Jay Jones demanded that DHS confirm […]
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The world is deeply divided and the U.N.’s most powerful body is paralyzed when it comes to ending conflicts. But there’s a way forward. So says the United Nations’ top official. On his way out of office at year’s end after nearly a decade, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres — known for […]
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana jury convicted a woman of negligent homicide on Thursday in the death of a Telemundo television reporter who had been visiting New Orleans to cover the Super Bowl, according to the Jefferson Parish district attorney’s office. Danette Colbert, 49, was also convicted of racketeering, as was her accomplice, 35-year-old […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top official at the U.S. Postal Service said Thursday that the agency has stopped work on developing a controversial computer system that was central to President Donald Trump’s effort to limit mail voting after the Supreme Court rejected his executive order this week. “There’s an injunction so we’re not doing anything,” […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tensions are mounting between the Pentagon and Congress over the flow of information to lawmakers about the U.S. military’s priorities, with both Democrats and Republicans accusing a Defense Department leader of being frustratingly opaque. Some senators from both parties say they were left deeply unsettled Thursday after the Pentagon’s top policy adviser, […]
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire judge on Thursday dismissed the latest petition for a new trial from Pamela Smart, who is serving life in prison for orchestrating the murder of her husband by her teenage student more than three decades ago. Smart, 59, was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The driver of an SUV who slammed into a Los Angeles bus will face murder charges, the district attorney said Thursday. The crash killed at least two people and injured six others in a prelude to a second deadly tragedy: the fiery crash of a TV news helicopter that was covering […]
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Inadvertently killing endangered animals while logging a forest or building a dam would no longer be considered illegal under a new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act by federal officials, marking a sea change by President Donald Trump’s administration in how the landmark environmental law is enforced. A directive sent to […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave the keynote address Thursday at a conference of an anti-vaccine activist group he once chaired, telling the hundreds in attendance that they had a friend in President Donald Trump’s White House. It was Kennedy’s first time appearing at the Children’s Health Defense […]
