National News

$1.6B Powerball jackpot to be drawn Monday, but the odds still aren’t in your favor

Powerball will be drawing its winning lottery numbers Monday night for a record 46th time since its last jackpot was claimed, as a string of failed sweepstakes ballooned the top prize to $1.6 billion. So far, it’s the 5th-largest jackpot in U.S. history after more than three months without a Powerball winner. The game’s long […]
9 months ago
FILE - The U.S. Department of Justice building in Washington, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Mag...

The Trump administration is suing the District of Columbia over its gun laws

The Trump administration is suing the local government of Washington, D.C., over its gun laws, alleging that restrictions on certain semiautomatic weapons run afoul of Second Amendment rights. The U.S. Department of Justice filed its lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, naming Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department and outgoing Chief of […]
9 months ago
Four Illinois members of Congress left to right; Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill., Rep. Delia Ramirez,...

Illinois members of Congress are latest to tour immigration facilities after judge’s ruling

BROADVIEW, Ill. (AP) — Four Illinois Democrats toured a federal immigration center outside Chicago on Monday, the latest members of Congress allowed inside immigration facilities after a judge last week lifted Trump administration limits on lawmaker visits. Six months after they were denied access, U.S. Reps. Danny Davis, Delia Ramirez, Jonathan Jackson and Jesús “Chuy” […]
9 months ago
FILE - Former CIA Director John Brennan arrives for a meeting at the Capitol in Washington, May 21,...

Ex-CIA director John Brennan wants ‘favored’ Trump judge kept away from Justice Department inquiry

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for former CIA Director John Brennan want the Justice Department to be prevented from steering an investigation of him and other former government officials to a “favored” judge in Florida who dismissed the classified documents case against President Donald Trump. The request Monday is addressed to U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga, […]
9 months ago
FILE - Mud and debris is strewn on Fryman Road during an atmospheric river Feb. 5, 2024, in Studio ...

What’s an atmospheric river? AP explains the weather phenomenon

Atmospheric rivers are massive plumes of moisture carried across the sky that can dump heavy rains or snow over land. Here’s a look at the phenomenon: Where do atmospheric rivers come from? Atmospheric rivers generally form in tropical regions, where warm temperatures can cause water vapor to rise into the atmosphere, according to the National […]
9 months ago
FILE - Jeanette Vizguerra, center, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in a church to avoid immigrati...

Colorado immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra can be released on bond, advocates say

DENVER (AP) — Supporters of a prominent Colorado immigration and labor activist say an immigration judge has ruled that she can post bond and be released after spending nine months in detention. The judge issued a written ruling Sunday allowing Jeanette Vizguerra to post $5,000 bond, said Jennifer Piper of the American Friends Service Committee, […]
9 months ago

Search is on for 3 inmates, including a murder suspect, who escaped from a Georgia jail

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — Three inmates — including one who was being held on a murder charge — have escaped from a county jail just east of Atlanta, authorities said. The breakout happened early Monday morning at the DeKalb County Jail and was discovered during a routine security check, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said. […]
9 months ago
People arrive for a funeral service for Brown University shooting victim Ella Cook, Monday, Dec. 22...

Hundreds mourn Brown University sophomore Ella Cook, killed in campus shooting

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A Brown University sophomore who was killed in an attack at the Rhode Island university was remembered Monday as “smart, confident, curious, kind, principled, brave,” at a funeral in her home state of Alabama. Hundreds gathered at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in downtown Birmingham to remember Ella Cook, 19. […]
9 months ago
FILE - National Park Service Ranger Betty Reid Soskin smiles during an interview at the Rosie the R...

Betty Reid Soskin, oldest National Park Service ranger, dies at 104

RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) — Betty Reid Soskin, who rose to national fame as the oldest National Park Service ranger and used the spotlight to talk about the African American experience during World War II, has died. She was 104. Her family and the park service announced her death through social media, saying she was surrounded […]
9 months ago
Two men walk past a business in downtown Lexington, Neb., Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas ...

Takeaways from AP’s report on a beef plant closure that threatens to unravel a small Nebraska town

LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — A small town in rural Nebraska is losing its biggest employer, a Tyson Foods’ beef plant, which will be laying off 3,200 workers next month in a town of around 11,000 people. Lexington, Nebraska, is expected to lose hundreds of families who will be forced to move away in search of […]
9 months ago
People take photos while walking through the San Francisco Botanical Garden's Winter Cathedral exhi...

Golden Gate Park’s dazzling holiday light display brings joy to the season

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new night-time holiday display featuring music, colors and more than a million twinkling lights in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is delighting children and adults. There are towering peonies and fields of lights on the mile-long ( 1.6-kilometer) illuminated trail at the city’s Botanical Garden. Artists created whimsical water lilies […]
9 months ago
FILE - Shelves display bottles of bourbons for sale at a Pennsylvania fine wine and spirits store, ...

Cloudy future for bourbon has Jim Beam closing Kentucky distillery for a year

Bourbon maker Jim Beam is halting production at one of its distilleries in Kentucky for at least a year as the whiskey industry navigates tariffs from the Trump administration and slumping demand for a product that needs years of aging before it is ready. Jim Beam said the decision to pause bourbon making at its […]
9 months ago
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Saturday, Dec....

Trump holds an event with Rubio and Hegseth during vacation as tensions with Venezuela mount

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump is gathering with top national security officials on Monday, a meeting that comes as the U.S. Coast Guard steps up efforts to interdict oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Republican administration’s escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government. Secretary of […]
9 months ago
President Donald Trump displays an executive order reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug...

NSA employee sues Trump administration over order on transgender rights and two ‘immutable’ genders

A transgender employee of the National Security Agency is suing the Trump administration and seeking to block enforcement of a presidential executive order and other policies the employee says violate federal civil rights law. Sarah O’Neill, an NSA data scientist who is transgender, is challenging President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day executive order that required the […]
9 months ago

College student deported during Thanksgiving travel describes ICE officer’s intimidation

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A Massachusetts college student who was deported while trying to visit family for Thanksgiving said an immigration officer told her it wouldn’t matter if she spoke to a lawyer, she was going to be removed from the country anyway. Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a 19-year-old freshman at Babson College, was flown […]
9 months ago

Families demand justice as Colorado judge reviews plea deals for funeral home owners

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge will consider on Monday whether to accept the latest plea agreements for two former funeral home owners accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies in a bug-infested building. The previous plea agreements that called for up to 20 years in prison for Carie and Jon Hallford were rejected by […]
9 months ago
The Paramount Pictures water tower is seen in Los Angeles, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, with the Hollyw...

Larry Ellison guarantees $40.4 billion in Paramount’s hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery

Paramount is sweetening its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with an “irrevocable personal guarantee” from Larry Ellison, who is putting up billions of dollars to back the deal for his son’s company. On Monday, Skydance-owned Paramount announced that Larry Ellison — the founder of Oracle and father of Paramount CEO David Ellison — […]
9 months ago
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters following the weekly policy lunch...

Schumer urges Senate to take legal action over Justice Department’s staggered Epstein files release

NEW YORK (AP) — The Senate’s top Democrat urged his colleagues Monday to take legal action over the Justice Department’s incremental and heavily redacted release of records pertaining to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution that, if passed, would direct the Senate to file or join lawsuits aimed […]
9 months ago
Steam rises from chimneys during the night shift at the Tyson Foods' beef plant in Lexington, Neb.,...

A small town’s American Dream is at risk. What happens when its biggest employer shuts down?

LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — On a frigid day after Mass at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in rural Nebraska, worshippers shuffled into the basement and sat on folding chairs, their faces barely masking the fear gripping their town. A pall hung over the room just as it hung over the holiday season in Lexington, Nebraska. “Suddenly […]
9 months ago

Trump administration pauses 5 offshore wind projects on the East Coast

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday it is pausing leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the East Coast due to unspecified national security risks identified by the Pentagon. The pause is effective immediately and will give the Interior Department, which oversees offshore wind, time to work with the Defense […]
9 months ago
As prisoners stand looking out from a cell, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a...

“60 Minutes” holds off on airing critical piece on Trump deportation policy

AP Media Writer (AP) — CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday didn’t air a planned story on Trump administration deportations of immigrants to El Salvador, pulling it only hours before airtime at the direction of new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. The story, where correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi spoke to deportees who had been sent to El Salvador’s […]
9 months ago

Flash flooding in northern California leads to soaked roads, water rescues and one death

REDDING, Calif. (AP) — Heavy rain and flash flooding soaked roads in northern California, leading to water rescues from vehicles and homes and at least one confirmed death, authorities said. In Redding, police said they received numerous calls for stranded motorists on Sunday who tried to drive through flooded areas. One person in Redding died, […]
9 months ago
FILE - An instacart logo and an instacart webpage are seen in New York, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Ri...

Instacart ends a program where users could see different prices for the same item at the same store

NEW YORK (AP) — Instacart said Monday that it’s ending a program where some customers saw different prices for the same product ordered at the same time from the same store when using the delivery company’s service. The program was meant to help grocers and other retailers learn more about what kinds of prices customers […]
9 months ago
Chuck Dietrick poses for a portrait at his home in Anna, Texas, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/...

Most US adults aren’t making year-end charitable contributions, new AP-NORC poll finds

NEW YORK (AP) — Most Americans aren’t making end-of-year charitable giving plans, according to the results of a new AP-NORC poll, despite the many fundraising appeals made by nonprofits that rely on donation surges in the calendar’s final month to reach budget targets. The survey, which was conducted in early December by The Associated Press-NORC […]
9 months ago