National News

Signs are posted on a chain link fence around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Friday, June 26,...

A Reflecting Pool that has long enticed visitors now gains police scrutiny under Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is many things. Murky. Peaceful. Stinky. The backdrop for protests, vigils, celebrations and stunning sunrise photos. Beset by gnats and algae. Scenery for a run. A key part of the capital’s carefully designed monumental core. The location of an iconic scene in “Forrest Gump.” One thing it’s […]
2 months ago
FILE - Seabiscuit leads local horse Aneroid by a nose in the Brooklyn Handicap at the Aqueduct race...

Final stretch: NYC’s last horse track, Aqueduct, ending live races

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s last horse racing track, where Seabiscuit, Man O’ War, Secretariat and other legendary thoroughbreds graced the winner’s circle during the sport’s heyday, is on its final stretch. After more than 130 years, the once grand Aqueduct track is set to run its last live races this weekend. The […]
2 months ago
Venezuelan police search for survivors through the rubble in La Guaira, Venezuela, Friday, June 26,...

Older buildings and substandard construction left Venezuela vulnerable to earthquakes

Older buildings, substandard construction and geography left many neighborhoods in Venezuela vulnerable to strong earthquakes like the ones that struck the country this week. Engineers and other experts said the back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday were among the most intense to hit the country in more than a century, leveling buildings and leaving more than 900 […]
2 months ago
Dan Sullivan, who has filed to run for U.S. Senate in Alaska, poses for a photo Friday, June 26, 20...

Man with same name as US Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible for Alaska’s primary ballot, judge rules

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible for the August primary and can appear on the ballot, a judge ruled Friday. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews’ ruling overturns a June 15 decision by Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher to […]
2 months ago
Bottles of medications sit on shelves at the Stormont Vail Retail Pharmacy in Topeka, Kan., Tuesday...

States seek to lower drug prices by targeting the companies that manage them for health plans

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — As consumers worry about medication costs, states are trying to lower drug prices by reining in big companies that oversee prescription coverage for health insurers. Some of those companies, called pharmacy benefit managers, also own pharmacies, and one of them, CVS, has spent millions of dollars fighting the regulations. Affordability is […]
2 months ago
FILE - U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., speaks to media during an election night wat...

Trump-backed Letlow faces Fleming in Louisiana GOP Senate runoff

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s preferred candidate for U.S. Senate in Louisiana is looking to clinch the GOP nomination Saturday and deliver another win for the president, who has sought to replace Republicans who cross him with hand-picked loyalists. U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, who was endorsed by Trump, and state Treasurer John […]
2 months ago

Dangerous weather hampers firefighters and leads to fireworks bans in western US

Hot, dry and windy conditions are fueling a fast-moving wildfire in Utah, forcing the governor to declare an emergency and restrict fireworks as critical weather across the West gives way to mounting concerns that anything could cause a spark. Firefighters are facing more challenges on the ground from what fire managers and experts call unprecedented […]
2 months ago
This image made from video taken on March 25, 2018 and provided by Connecticut Department of Correc...

Newly released video shows Connecticut prison officers striking inmate before he died

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut prison inmate J’Allen Jones was suffering a mental health crisis in 2018 when correctional officers struck him multiple times, stripped him naked, put a spit bag over his head and sprayed pepper spray at his face shortly before he died. Video of the series of events was released Friday by […]
2 months ago
FILE - Hildale, Utah, sits at the base of Red Rock Cliff mountains, with its sister city, Colorado ...

Polygamous sect leader convicted of abuse charges after girls found in trailer on Arizona highway

PHOENIX (AP) — A polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sex involving children was convicted Friday on state child abuse charges after girls were found in an unventilated trailer he was hauling through Arizona. Someone alerted authorities about the trailer in 2022 after seeing small fingers reaching through gaps […]
2 months ago
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks in the Oval Office of the White House during an executive ord...

Complaint seeks answers on Scouting America’s transgender policy after Pentagon deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — A gay rights activist is suing the Department of Defense to answer a simple question: Did Scouting America actually agree to ban transgender members in a deal with the Pentagon? James Dale, who filed a complaint in a New York City federal court Thursday, alleges that both sides have provided conflicting answers, […]
2 months ago
FILE - Shoppers walk through Saks Fifth Avenue, Jan. 16, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Anne D'Innocen...

Saks officially emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with less debt and a new name

NEW YORK (AP) — Saks Global, the parent company of Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, officially emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday with fewer stores, less debt, a more focused strategy to pamper the affluent — and a new name. The company said Friday that the new entity will be called Exemplar […]
2 months ago
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, center talks to Vitinha during the men's national soccer team World C...

World Cup what to know: Round of 32 to be finalized after final 6 matches of group play

The World Cup knockout rounds are almost here. The field for the Round of 32 will be finalized on Saturday following more than two weeks of competition across three countries. While majority of the field is set, there are still some spots up for grabs with six group-stage matches remaining, leaving some teams jockeying for […]
2 months ago
FILE - US. Attorney Daniel Rosen speaks during a press conference May 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP...

A Minnesota man accused in a $250M fraud scheme has been taken into custody in Somalia

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Authorities say a Minnesota man charged with helping to orchestrate a $250 million fraud scheme has been taken into custody in Somalia. Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, 42, of Burnsville, Minnesota, was taken into custody Thursday in Mogadishu, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said in a news release. Court documents do not show if Eidleh […]
2 months ago
iran (2)...

US strikes Iran to respond to attack on ship that Trump says violated ceasefire

The U.S. struck Iran on Friday in response to a drone attack a day earlier on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
2 months ago
In this image from video provided by Sheilia Milledge, Paigelynne Gonyea, right, is presented with ...

Election worker says federal officers confronted her at polls over social media post criticizing ICE

A poll worker said two federal officers visited her at a voting location during New York’s primaries to confront her about a social media post she’d written criticizing the ICE officer who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. Paigelynne Gonyea said the confrontation happened Tuesday while she was working at a polling place in Syracuse. […]
2 months ago

New Mexico opens criminal probe of DEA after agents allowed fentanyl shipments to hit streets

New Mexico’s attorney general on Friday opened a criminal investigation to determine whether U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law by allowing hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach the streets of Albuquerque. The extraordinary inquiry comes less than a week after The Associated Press reported that DEA agents repeatedly monitored — but […]
2 months ago
FILE - Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin, testifies to the Senate Appropriat...

Appeals court rejects Trump EPA bid to abandon rule restricting deadly soot pollution

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday rejected the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to abandon a Biden-era rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel is a setback for the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda and its repeated efforts to boost coal, a reliable but polluting […]
2 months ago
FILE - Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks at the National Action Network (NAN) C...

Buttigieg was briefly separated from his children after police say he was target of false report

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was the target of an anonymous report that police determined was false and that he says forced him to spend a night away from his four-year-old twins. Buttigieg wrote in a Substack post that a Michigan State Police officer told him they found nothing to substantiate the […]
2 months ago
Kristin Bride, right, mother of 16-year-old Carson Bride, who died by suicide after being cyber-bul...

The US lags other countries in social media restrictions for kids, but a reform push is growing

Amy Neville describes Kristin Bride as her “soulmate.” But the day that forged their bond — June 23, 2020 — was the worst of each of their lives. Both Bride and Neville lost their teen sons that day. Their kids lived a thousand miles apart and never met, but they both died from harms related […]
2 months ago
President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's policy conference at the...

A Trump commission urges ‘bridges’ between church and state in sweeping draft report

A new report by a Trump administration commission suggests replacing the idea of separating church and state with the idea of building bridges between them. The assertion — challenging a longstanding concept in American law — comes amid a raft of recommendations in a draft report of the Religious Liberty Commission, released Friday afternoon. The […]
2 months ago
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with members of the media before departing for Bahrain I...

Israel and Lebanon sign framework agreement with US in ‘first step’ toward peace, Rubio says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio along with Israel and Lebanon’s ambassadors announced a framework agreement Friday that was described as a first step toward peace following months of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The officials did not share details on the agreement that was signed by Yechiel Leiter, […]
2 months ago

Fear grips Haitian communities after Supreme Court ruling unwinds protection from deportation

MIAMI (AP) — A 35-year-old nurse in Kentucky prepared her will. The single mother named a legal guardian for her four children and transferred her properties into their names. She felt like she needed to prepare for death — in case she gets deported back to Haiti, a country she fled at 9 years old. […]
2 months ago
FILE - LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, speaks on a panel about threats t...

Black women’s non-profit awards grants to local Southern groups as part of joy-filled tour

Organizations supporting Black women and girls across the American South can expect a bit more joy — and more money — this summer following a new round of grants. The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium will grant $350,000 to two dozen Southern community organizations working in thirteen states. The grants will fund organizations that […]
2 months ago
CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman talks to CEO of Google DeepMind Demis Hassabis, not seen, on the sidelines...

OpenAI limits its latest ChatGPT product to Trump-approved customers during cybersecurity review

ChatGPT maker OpenAI said Friday it is restricting the release of its new artificial intelligence model at the request of President Donald Trump’s administration, the latest in an unprecedented government vetting of AI products that could pose cybersecurity risks. OpenAI said its new AI product, called GPT-5.6 Sol, would only be available for now to […]
2 months ago