National News

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Wenatchee Police Department shows Travis Caleb Decker, wh...

Federal authorities end Idaho search for suspect in kids’ deaths after finding look-alike hiker

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal authorities in Idaho say they have ended a search in the Sawtooth National Forest after determining it was all case of mistaken identity. The search began Saturday after the U.S. Marshals Service Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force said a family reported they saw a man who looked like Travis Decker, […]
1 year ago

Alabama utility commission allowed to hike prices behind closed doors, judge rules

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s utility regulators can continue to hold closed-door meetings to determine price hikes, in an apparent departure from common practices in neighboring states, a circuit court judge ruled. The decision on Monday rejected a lawsuit filed by Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of Energy Alabama, a nonprofit that advocates for […]
1 year ago

Former West Virginia officers sentenced to decades in prison for their role in deadly inmate assault

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Two former West Virginia correctional officers were sentenced to decades in prison on Wednesday for their roles in an assault that resulted in the death of an inmate. Mark Holdren, 41, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Johnathan Walters, 33, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the […]
1 year ago
FILE - Jasmine North, federal public defender mitigation investigator, speaks with Ralph Leroy Menz...

Utah judge schedules execution by firing squad for a man with dementia

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge on Wednesday set an execution date for a man with dementia who has been on death row for 37 years, even as his lawyers file appeals and argue his condition is worsening. Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, is set to be executed Sept. 5 for abducting and killing […]
1 year ago
FILE - Senior Pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress addresses attendees at First Baptist Church Dallas during ...

A surprise IRS move on political endorsements leaves faith leaders and experts divided

WASHINGTON (AP) — A surprise move by the IRS that would allow pastors to back political candidates from the pulpit without losing their organization’s tax-exempt status is drawing praise from conservatives and even some progressive religious groups but concern from other leaders of faith, along with tax and legal experts. A 1954 provision in the […]
1 year ago
North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein speaks to reporters after a Council of State meeting at t...

North Carolina governor vetoes another set of bills, including one on guns in private schools

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Josh Stein cleared his desk Wednesday of the deluge of bills passed to him from the North Carolina General Assembly last month, three of which he vetoed. Stein topped off his veto total at 14 for this year’s legislative session. One of the vetoes prolongs the extensive battle between […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump, center, speaking during a cabinet meeting with from l-r., Homeland Security...

FACT FOCUS: Trump misrepresents facts about wind power during Cabinet meeting

President Donald Trump expressed his disdain for wind power during a meeting with his Cabinet recently, calling it an expensive form of energy that “smart” countries don’t use. His comments on Tuesday contained false and misleading information about the use of wind power in the United States and around the world, and came on the […]
1 year ago

Allen G. Hassenfeld, former CEO of Hasbro and whose family founded the iconic toy maker, dies at 76

AP Business Writer (AP) — Alan G. Hassenfeld, a renowned philanthropist and former CEO of iconic toy company Hasbro Inc., the maker of G.I. Joe and Play-Doh, has died. He was 76, according to the toy company. Hasbro, the nation’s second largest toy company behind Mattel, declined to offer more details. Hassenfeld’s family foundation, Hassenfeld […]
1 year ago
Damage is seen after Israeli airstrikes targeted the port in Hodeida, Yemen, Tuesday, July 8, 2025....

More than 17 million people in Yemen are going hungry, including over 1 million children, UN says

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — More than 17 million people in conflict-torn Yemen are going hungry, including over a million children under the age of 5 who are suffering from “life-threatening acute malnutrition,” the United Nations humanitarian chief said Wednesday. Tom Fletcher told the U.N. Security Council that the food security crisis in the Arab world’s […]
1 year ago
Former Portland Trail Blazer Ben McLremore, who was convicted July 3, 2025, of raping a woman, is p...

Ex-NBA player Ben McLemore sentenced to over 8 years in prison for rape

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon judge on Wednesday sentenced former NBA player Ben McLemore to over eight years in prison, a week after a jury found him guilty of raping a woman at a 2021 party at the home of a then-teammate. The ex-Portland Trail Blazer was sentenced to 100 months in prison by […]
1 year ago
FILE - A sign is seen outside a clinic with the South Plains Public Health District, Feb. 23, 2025,...

U.S. measles cases surpass 2019 count, while Missouri is latest state with an outbreak

The U.S. is having its worst year for measles spread since 1991, with a total of 1,288 cases nationally and another six months to go. But in Gaines County, Texas, which was once the nation’s epicenter for measles activity, health officials said they are no longer seeing ongoing measles transmission. The U.S. Centers for Disease […]
1 year ago
FILE - People vote, Nov. 5, 2024, in Oak Creek, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)Credit: ASSOCIATED ...

New lawsuit seeks to redraw Wisconsin’s congressional maps before 2026 midterms

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A new lawsuit seeking to redraw Wisconsin’s congressional district boundary lines was filed on Tuesday, less than two weeks after the state Supreme Court declined to hear a pair of other lawsuits that asked for redistricting before the 2026 election. The latest lawsuit brought by a bipartisan coalition of business leaders […]
1 year ago
FILE - A voter leaves a polling location after voting Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 in Rutledge, Ga. (AP Ph...

A Georgia election with few voters: Turnout is ‘miserably low’ in the race for utility regulator

ATLANTA (AP) — Every time the door swings open this week at the county courthouse in the tiny south Georgia town of Statenville, six election workers have a moment to hope that someone is coming to vote. “Anybody that comes in pretty much has to walk by our office,” said Renee Church, the elections supervisor […]
1 year ago
FILE - Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian t...

US issues sanctions against UN investigator probing abuses in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it is issuing sanctions against an independent investigator tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza. The State Department’s decision to impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the […]
1 year ago
A U.S. Supreme Court police officer stands watch as anti-abortion protesters rally outside of the S...

Supreme Court keeps hold on Florida immigration law aimed at people in the US illegally

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to allow Florida to enforce an immigration law making it a crime for people who are living in the U.S. illegally to enter the state. The high court’s action will keep the law on hold while a legal challenge continues. The court did not explain its […]
1 year ago
Bryan Bedford, President Donald Trump's nominee to run the Federal Aviation Administration, testifi...

Senate confirms new FAA administrator at a time of rising concern about air safety

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Bryan Bedford to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, putting him in charge of the federal agency at a precarious time for the airline industry after recent accidents, including the January collision near Washington, D.C. that killed 67 people. Bedford was confirmed on a near party-line vote, […]
1 year ago

Editorial Roundup: United States

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: ___ July 3 The Washington Post on One Big Beautiful Bill and a potential debt crisis The odds of a federal debt crisis just got more daunting. On Thursday, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill, a sweeping piece of legislation that threatens to leave […]
1 year ago

Wisconsin elections commission says former Madison clerk broke laws

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A “confluence of errors” including unlawful actions by the former clerk in Wisconsin’s capital city led to nearly 200 absentee ballots not being counted in the November presidential election, an investigation by the state elections commission released Wednesday concluded. Maribeth Witzel-Behl resigned as Madison city clerk in April amid investigations by […]
1 year ago
FILE - Amazon employees load packages on carts before being put on to trucks for distribution for A...

Customers seeking deals gave Amazon’s Prime Day and competing sales a solid start

NEW YORK (AP) — The first day of Amazon’s Prime Day event and competing retail sales that kicked off on Tuesday drove solid online spending compared to a year earlier, according to two data sources. Adobe Digital Insights, which tracks visits to e-commerce sites, reported that U.S. consumers spent $7.9 billion at online stores on […]
1 year ago
FILE - A girl holds a hand over her eyes during a vigil for Stephen Perkins outside Decatur, Ala. C...

Alabama attorney general pushes for trial of an ex-officer accused of fatally shooting an armed man

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A former Alabama police officer charged with murder for shooting an armed Black man in the man’s front yard during a dispute with a tow-truck driver shouldn’t be granted immunity before going to trial, the state’s attorney general says. In a court brief filed late Tuesday, Attorney General Steve Marshall said […]
1 year ago
FILE - Students cross the campus of Dartmouth College, March 5, 2024, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Ro...

Republicans urge US universities to cut ties with Chinese-backed scholarship program

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are urging seven U.S. universities to cut ties with a Chinese scholarship program that lawmakers call a “nefarious mechanism” to steal technology for the Chinese government. In letters to Dartmouth College, the University of Notre Dame and five other universities, leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist […]
1 year ago
Smoke fills the sky as firefighters battle the Rancho Fire in Laguna Beach, Calif., on Monday, July...

13-year-old suspected of setting off fireworks that sparked Southern California wildfire

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A 13-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of setting off fireworks that sparked a wildfire this week in coastal Southern California, forcing the evacuations of about a hundred canyon homes, authorities said. Crews with air support protected residences from the Rancho Fire as flames raced through dry brush Monday afternoon […]
1 year ago

Police investigating death of Maine paddleboarder as a homicide after discovery of body

UNION, Maine (AP) — Police in Maine are investigating the death of a paddleboarder near a campground in rural Maine as a homicide and asking the public for help finding the killer. The body of Sunshine Stewart, 48, of Tenants Harbor, Maine, was found Thursday on Crawford Pond in Union. The manner of death was […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump waves to the media after exiting Air Force One, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., ...

Trump sends out tariff letters to 6 more countries but he avoids major US trade partners

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump sent out tariff letters to six smaller U.S. trading partners on Wednesday with a pledge to announce import taxes on other countries later in the day. None of the countries targeted in the first batch of letters — the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Libya and Iraq — is a […]
1 year ago