National News

Delivery vans bearing the logo sit during a protest staged as part of a countrywide National Day of...

US Postal Service issues new rule for mail ballots, but its impact on the midterms is uncertain

The U.S. Postal Service has unveiled new requirements for mail ballots less than two weeks before some states begin sending them, but the regulation will take effect only if the Supreme Court allows President Donald Trump’s order restricting voting by mail to go forward. The final regulation was issued Friday night, but may end up […]
2 days ago
FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom attends the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointe...

Newsom returns to a defining California fight: Who pays for wildfire damage?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The bookends of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s nearly eight years in office have been defined by a crucial question: Who should cover the cost of damage from wildfires caused by utility equipment? The most destructive wildfire in state history, a blaze that killed 85 people and destroyed more than 18,000 buildings […]
2 days ago

8-year-old Louisiana girl dies from a rare brain-eating amoeba found in warm freshwater

An 8-year-old girl in Louisiana has died after being infected by an extremely rare brain-eating amoeba that is found in warm freshwater, her family says. Lillian Smart died over the weekend after being diagnosed with an infection from Naegleria fowleri, according to Kyle Roberts, a spokesperson for her family. Health authorities describe it as a […]
2 days ago
No. 2 pencils and a mock SAT test form are arranged for a photo in Phoenix, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.(...

How the No. 2 pencil became a uniquely American school supply staple

For generations of Americans, a sharpened No. 2 pencil has represented childhood and coming of age. Still a fixture of back-to-school shopping lists, it outlines a child’s first letters, erases their mistakes and lets them doodle in the margins when they daydream. For decades, sweaty hands clutched the ridged yellow wood on test day. “Bring […]
2 days ago
FILE - The One Franklin Square Building, home of The Washington Post newspaper, is seen June 21, 20...

Washington Post ordered to reinstate Black opinion writer fired after Charlie Kirk posts

An arbitrator has ordered The Washington Post to reinstate a Black opinion writer fired over social media posts about violent white men following last year’s killing of Charlie Kirk. The ruling Thursday said the newspaper did not have sufficient cause to terminate Karen Attiah, who at the time was the last Black full-time member of […]
2 days ago
tariffs canada US trade war...
Associated Press

US and Canada fall deeper into a trade war with new tariffs as talks collapse and blame is spread

The U.S. and Canada fell deeper into a trade war Saturday marked by angry recriminations and new tariffs that are expected to raise prices for products in both countries.
2 days ago

Firefighters are trying to stop a fast-moving Nevada wildfire from spreading to homes in Reno

RENO, Nevada (AP) — A wildfire that mushroomed over the weekend in the Sierra Nevada foothills spread perilously close to neighborhoods in Reno, Nevada, forcing authorities to urge more than 90,000 residents to leave their homes. The out-of-control fire has already burned some homes, but there’s concern that shifting winds could push the flames into […]
2 days ago
FILE - The Bug Fire burns near Doyle in unincorporated Lassen County, Calif., Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Ph...

The world inches toward catastrophic climate events: ‘Bigger shocks are on the way’

NEW YORK (AP) — In the opening scene of American writer Kim Stanley Robinson’s “The Ministry for the Future,” a heat wave combined with a breakdown of the electrical grid in India kills 20 million people. The devastation causes the world’s nations to unite to combat climate change. Scientists have long warned that the world […]
3 days ago
FILE - Cows are fenced in before being displayed at a cattle auction in Hermosillo, Sonora state, M...

Economists don’t expect reopening the US to Mexican cattle imports to reduce high beef prices

The U.S. plans to reopen a border crossing in Arizona to cattle from Mexico on Monday as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce record-high beef prices, though economists doubt the move will mean much to grocery store shoppers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said concerns about the New World […]
3 days ago
The Pentagon is seen from the Washington Monument, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Pho...

US strikes another boat in eastern Pacific, killing two, Pentagon says

U.S. forces have struck another vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing two people the Pentagon says were trafficking drugs. The U.S. Southern Command announced the strike in a social media post early Monday. The death toll from the Trump administration’s campaign of bombing boats off Latin America’s Caribbean coast and in the eastern Pacific now […]
3 days ago
Andrew Giordano, plant and tree health care specialist, installs copper lightning rod cable in the ...

Preservationists are working to extend the life of a rare Revolutionary War ‘witness tree’

EUTAW SPRINGS, S.C. (AP) — Standing beneath the spreading branches of a massive live oak, historian Garrison Marcoux tries to imagine what this scarred, struggling tree saw 245 years ago. Did one of the British soldiers encamped at this South Carolina crossroad near the end of the Revolutionary War sit in the oak’s shade to […]
3 days ago
Christina Bohannan, Democratic candidate for U.S. House, speaks during the Scott County Democrats A...

Third time the charm? Democrat Christina Bohannan tries again in pivotal US House race in Iowa

COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa (AP) — It may have seemed out of place for a university professor from the liberal enclave of Iowa City to be holding court at a roadside bar and grill in a rural county where Republican Donald Trump won overwhelmingly two years ago. But that’s part of Christina Bohannan’s long learning curve […]
3 days ago
Giles Sims, who is getting a 90-hour bachelor of applied science in communication from Ensign Colle...

3-year college degrees grow more popular in the US, saving time and cash. But critics aren’t sold

Giles Sims, 34, was sick of getting passed over for jobs because he didn’t have a college degree. But with a wife and a widowed mother to help support, he needed a quick solution. So the laid-off web developer turned to one of a growing number of three-year degree programs. “I can’t afford to be […]
3 days ago
FILE - This booking photo provided by the Macon County, Ill., Jail in January 2025, shows Sean Gray...

Sean Grayson, former Illinois deputy convicted of killing Sonya Massey, dies in prison, lawyer says

CHICAGO (AP) — Sean Grayson, a former Illinois sheriff’s deputy whose fatal shooting of Sonya Massey inside her home became a flashpoint over police use of force, died Sunday while serving a 20-year prison sentence. Grayson’s attorney, Daniel Fultz, confirmed that his client died earlier Sunday but declined to provide any further details. Grayson, 32, […]
3 days ago

Police investigate after 5 bodies found in rural area outside Portland, Oregon

FOREST GROVE, Ore. (AP) — The bodies of five people were found on a rural property outside Portland and authorities said Sunday it was being investigated as a quintuple homicide. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said authorities initially responded early Saturday to reports of a vehicle fire at a property in Forest Grove, about 30 […]
3 days ago
FILE - President Donald Trump tees off during the opening ceremony for the Trump International Golf...

Trump is heading to his golf course in Ireland to watch the Irish Open golf tournament next month

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to visit Ireland next month to attend the Irish Open golf tournament at his golf course in Doonbeg in County Clare on the country’s Atlantic coast, according to a White House official. The trip is the most recent example of how the president blurs the line between official […]
3 days ago
In this photo courtesy of Katherine Delgado shows her step-father Luis Manuel Aviles, left, and her...

He was waiting for his son to return from the USS Lincoln. Then Border Patrol arrested him.

When Luis Manuel Aviles was arrested by immigration authorities, his son was entering his ninth month on the USS Abraham Lincoln with the Navy — a vessel that set a U.S. military record for uninterrupted time at sea, stirring concerns about supply shortages and deteriorating mental health among soldiers. Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, was arrested […]
3 days ago
FILE - Jared Kushner waits to walk into the ring after the lightweight championship bout at UFC Fre...

Jared Kushner meets with Democratic leader Jeffries with House control at stake in November

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and outside adviser Jared Kushner met privately recently in New York, a signal that the White House is seeking ways to work with Democrats if they wrest majority control from Republicans in the midterm elections. The meeting, first reported Sunday by The […]
3 days ago

Tropical Storm Moke carrying more rain toward hurricane-damaged Hawaii

HONOLULU (AP) — Tropical Storm Moke was swirling past Hawaii on Sunday, close enough to dump heavy rain on Big Island communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Lala. The National Hurricane Center located Moke’s center about 310 miles (500 kilometers) south of Hilo Sunday morning. Its top sustained winds were around 45 mph (75 kph), […]
3 days ago

Wildfire approaches Reno, Nevada, forcing thousands to evacuate their neighborhoods

RENO, Nevada (AP) — The fast-growing Hawk Fire spread from the Sierra foothills toward the center of Reno early Sunday, growing to more than 10,500 acres. Nearly 14,000 homes were ordered evacuated, and the “G0 NOW” zone reached the edge of the University of Nevada campus. Washoe County, Nevada emergency officials opened the Reno-Sparks Convention […]
4 days ago
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks to reporters after speaking at the South Caro...

Buttigieg returns to South Carolina to court the Black voters who stalled his first White House run

ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) — The last time Pete Buttigieg was giving a political speech in South Carolina, it was to mark a distant finish in the state’s primary that effectively ended his campaign for president. Returning this weekend as he mulls a second run for the White House, Buttigieg set out to reintroduce himself to […]
4 days ago
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands in action during sprint race at the Formula One D...

Dutch Grand Prix sees a potential path back to F1 amid Middle East uncertainty

The Dutch Grand Prix is bidding goodbye to Formula 1 on Sunday but its organizers say it could potentially “serve as an alternative venue” in the future amid continuing uncertainty over next year’s schedule. Already this year, the security situation in the Middle East following the outbreak of the Iran war has meant Bahrain’s race […]
4 days ago

Iran’s president says US memorandum is best path out of stalled war, and other Middle East news

Iran’s president on Sunday defended a memorandum of understanding with the United States as the best way out of a stalled war while the new head of the Islamic Republic’s top security body took a more defiant stance, warning of retaliation if neighbors join U.S. threats to further sanction Tehran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on […]
4 days ago
A customer walks into Beaver's Mini Mart in Beavercreek, Ohio, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jul...

Buc-ee’s chain draws outcry in Ohio for launching fight over a mini mart’s beaver logo

BEAVERCREEK, Ohio (AP) — A lip-licking alligator, a smiling moose and a hat-wearing bear are among the many cartoon animals to have found themselves in the crosshairs of Buc-ee’s, the popular Texas convenience store chain that has a penchant for protecting its buck-toothed beaver. But now Buc-ee’s has set off a Buckeye backlash across Ohio […]
4 days ago