National News

FILE - A year after prescribed burn operations by the U.S. Forest Service sparked the Calf Canyon/H...

Grand Canyon blaze shows how managing a fire can go suddenly sideways

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. land managers are racing the clock as hotter, drier weather raises the risk of wildfires in the nation’s overgrown forests with each passing year. One tool is to use the flames from lightning-sparked wildfires when conditions allow or to plan prescribed fires for other times of the year to clear […]
1 year ago
FILE - Members of the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors listen to members of the public...

Federal utility backs off Tennessee gas plant site after John Rich says he enlisted Trump’s help

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The nation’s largest public utility says it is looking at other sites for a new natural gas power plant after its preferred location in Tennessee drew heavy public scrutiny, including from country musician John Rich. The Tennessee Valley Authority announced Tuesday that the Cheatham County site is no longer its preferred […]
1 year ago
FILE - Former President Donald Trump drinks a Diet Coke during the ProAm of the LIV Golf Team Champ...

Trump says Coca-Cola will use real sugar in its US flagship drink. The company isn’t confirming that

WASHINGTON (AP) — Make American Coke Great Again? President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Coca-Cola has agreed to use real cane sugar in its flagship soft drink in the U.S. at his suggestion — though the company didn’t confirm such a move. Any switch from high-fructose corn syrup in Coke sold in the United States […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump arriving before speaking at a ceremony to sign the "Halt All Lethal Traffick...

Trump tries to blame others as tensions rise around handling of Epstein case

President Donald Trump is countering criticism of the Justice Department’s failure to release much-hyped records around the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, trying to place blame on former government officials. On Tuesday, he accused former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as former FBI Director James Comey, of making up such documents. “I […]
1 year ago
FILE - Demonstrators holds up a banner during a citizenship rally outside of the Supreme Court in W...

Federal judge says she would block Trump’s birthright citizenship order nationwide

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland could soon become the second to block President Donald Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship from taking effect nationwide, if an appeals court were to allow it. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said in an opinion Wednesday that she would grant class action status on behalf of […]
1 year ago
FILE - Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks with former television journalist Gretchen Carlson, no...

Whitmer says ‘massive economic uncertainty’ is to blame on semiconductor project failure in Michigan

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Plans to build a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Michigan have fallen through and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday that “massive economic uncertainty” is to blame. Bringing the company to Michigan was a key goal for Whitmer, a Democrat and potential 2028 presidential candidate who is in her final years as […]
1 year ago
A person is detained by federal agents outside an immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits federal ...

Federal lawsuit seeks to stop ICE agents from arresting people at immigration courts

A group immigrants and legal advocates filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday that seeks to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from arresting migrants who appear at immigration courts for previously scheduled hearings and placing them on a fast-track to deportation. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department […]
1 year ago

Puppies rescued from flood-stricken Texas arrive at Chicago shelter

CHICAGO (AP) — Nine puppies from parts of Texas submerged by catastrophic flooding that killed at least 132 people arrived Wednesday at the no-kill shelter PAWS Chicago, joining dozens of puppies that had already arrived. The critters landed by plane at Waukesha Airport in Wisconsin then made a three-hour journey by van to Chicago. This […]
1 year ago

Federal court says Arkansas can enforce ban on critical race theory in classrooms

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Arkansas can enforce its ban on critical race theory in classrooms, ruling the First Amendment doesn’t give students the right to compel the state to offer its instruction in public schools. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated […]
1 year ago
One of sexual assault survivor Kate-Lynn (first name only), wipes his face after talking to media d...

Survivors’ lawyers say Illinois has one of nation’s worst records on sex abuse in juvenile detention

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois has one of the nation’s worst problems with child sex abuse at juvenile detention centers, attorneys representing more than 900 survivors who have filed lawsuits said Wednesday. Dozens of complaints, including several filed this week in Chicago, allege decades of systemic abuse of children by the employees of detention facilities. Similar […]
1 year ago
This photo provided by DukeHealth shows surgeon Joseph Turek during pediatric heart surgery in Durh...

Researchers try new ways of preserving more hearts for transplants

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two university hospitals are pioneering new ways to expand lifesaving heart transplants for adults and babies — advances that could help recover would-be heart donations that too often go unused. The new research aims to overcome barriers for using organs from someone who dies when their heart stops. Called DCD, or donation […]
1 year ago
FILE - Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear delivers his State of The Commonwealth address in the House chamb...

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear tells South Carolina Democrats his record is a red state success story

Democrats can win back disaffected voters by addressing their everyday concerns to counter the anticipated fallout from President Donald Trump’s budget-and-policy package, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday as he began a tour of South Carolina. Offering blunt advice to fellow Democrats in the traditionally early primary state, Beshear said the national party should take […]
1 year ago
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrives for a news conference where she announced that most...

First the shoes went back on. Now, at US airport security, more liquid in carry-ons may be at hand

WASHINGTON (AP) — Travelers giddy about being able to keep their shoes on while walking through TSA checkpoints at the airport again may have something else to look forward to: changes to how much liquid they can carry. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday during a conference hosted by “The Hill” that she is […]
1 year ago
FILE - Brian Littrell, of the Backstreet Boys, attends a meeting with fans for the presentation of ...

Backstreet Boys’ Brian Littrell sues Florida sheriff’s office over beach trespassers

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell says a local Florida sheriff’s office isn’t doing enough to protect his multimillion-dollar beachfront property from trespassers and is asking a judge for an order commanding deputies to do so. The petition filed last month by Littrell’s company in a Florida Panhandle county touches on a […]
1 year ago
This photo combination shows, from left, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen taking part in a panel discussion...

Nebraska sues neighboring Colorado over how much water it’s drawing from the South Platte River

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska is suing Colorado over the amount of water it draws from the South Platte River, the latest in a long history of water rights disputes between the states that have been left increasingly dry by climate change. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and state Attorney General Mike Hilgers held a news […]
1 year ago
The home of Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan is seen on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Arcadia, Calif., w...

Authorities take custody of 21 kids in California while surrogate moms claim couple misled them

Twenty-one children are in the custody of a California child-welfare agency while authorities investigate a Los Angeles-area couple and whether they misled surrogate mothers around the country. Fifteen children were removed from the couple’s opulent home in Arcadia after an abuse allegation in May, and another six living elsewhere were also located, Arcadia police Lt. […]
1 year ago

California Republican lawmakers launch campaign to require voter ID

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Two California Republican state lawmakers launched a campaign Wednesday to place a measure on the 2026 ballot that would require voter identification and proof of citizenship at the polls. The proposal would require the state to verify proof of citizenship when a person registers to vote, and voters would have to […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump and Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa speak in the Oval Off...

Trump hosts Gulf leaders at White House as new violence raises questions about progress toward peace

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hosting a pair of Arab Gulf leaders at the White House on Wednesday as violence between Israel and Syria renewed doubts about his pledge to impose peace on the Middle East. Trump held a meeting in the Oval Office with Bahrain’s crown prince and was set to have […]
1 year ago
In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, Russian...

Faced with geopolitics and trade war, US companies in China report record-low new investment plans

WASHINGTON (AP) — American companies in China are reporting record-low new investment plans for this year and declining confidence in profits, while uncertainty in U.S.-China relations and President Donald Trump’s tariffs have become their top concerns, according to a business survey released Wednesday. The companies are also challenged by China’s slowing economy, where weak domestic […]
1 year ago
FILE - Florence Makumene holds HIV medication that she received through funding from the U.S. Presi...

PEPFAR keeps millions of people with HIV alive and may be spared from Trump spending cuts

The program known as PEPFAR is one of the most effective and popular U.S. foreign aid projects in history, and the government says it has saved the lives of over 25 million people around the world with HIV. But despite years of bipartisan support, PEPFAR has faced a severe threat as the Trump administration dismantles […]
1 year ago
A Martian meteorite, weighing 54.388 lbs. (24.67 kg), said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth...

Largest piece of Mars on Earth fetches meteoric $5.3 million at New York auction

The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth was sold for just over $5 million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York on Wednesday, while a juvenile dinosaur skeleton went for more than $30 million. The 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock named NWA 16788 was discovered in the Sahara Desert in […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Kha...

Trump says he’s “highly unlikely” to fire Fed’s Powell after floating that idea in private

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was “highly unlikely” to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a public statement made less than 24 hours after suggesting in a private meeting that he was leaning in favor of dismissing the head of the nation’s central bank. Trump confirmed that in a White […]
1 year ago
This GOES-19 GeoColor satellite image taken Wednesday, July 16, 2025 at 12:46 EDT and provided by t...

Gulf Coast braces for flooding as storm system builds into possible tropical depression

The weather system moving across the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday was showing a greater chance of becoming a tropical depression as it moves toward the northern Gulf Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. The system has a 40% chance of becoming a tropical depression as it moves west over the Gulf toward southeastern Louisiana […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khal...

Trump’s bid to claw back $9B in foreign aid and public broadcasting funds nears Senate vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s request to cancel about $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting spending is nearing passage in the Senate, an action that would have a tiny impact on the nation’s rising debt but could have major ramifications for future spending fights in Congress. Spending bills generally need bipartisan support […]
1 year ago