National News

A candlelight vigil for former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, who were fatally...

Photos of candlelight vigil honoring slain Minnesota lawmaker and her husband

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Hundreds gathered outside Minnesota’s Capitol for a candlelight vigil honoring former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were fatally shot at their home. Governor Tim Walz, visibly moved, comforted mourners as the couple’s son, Colin, placed a photo of his parents at a growing memorial filled with […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he meets with members of the Juventus soccer club in...

Trump’s latest judicial pick is someone that Joe Biden almost nominated

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans to tap Chad Meredith, a former state solicitor general in Kentucky, for a federal judgeship in the state — a move that could face objections from Sen. Rand Paul, who opposed the nomination three years ago. Meredith was the starring player in a bit of […]
1 year ago
Karen Read, center, waves to supporters after she was found not guilty of second-degree murder on W...

Key takeaways from the acquittal of Karen Read in her Boston police officer boyfriend’s death

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — Karen Read walked out of court a free woman after more than three years and two trials over the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, who was found on the lawn of a fellow officer’s home after a night of heavy drinking. Prosecutors said Read hit O’Keefe with […]
1 year ago
FILE - Drug Enforcement Administration agents on June 13, 2016, in Florida. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Se...

Longtime DEA informant charged in alleged scheme to extort high-level cocaine traffickers

MIAMI (AP) — A drug informant who helped the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration build some of its biggest cases has been arrested and charged with scheming to extort major cocaine traffickers facing extradition from Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Jorge Hernández, 57, was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday with one count of conspiring […]
1 year ago
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz attend a candlelight vigil for former House Speaker ...

Hundreds gather to remember prominent Minnesota lawmaker and husband slain in their home

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Hundreds of people, some clutching candles or carrying flowers to lay in front of a memorial, gathered outside Minnesota’s Capitol on Wednesday evening for a vigil to remember a prominent state lawmaker and her husband who were gunned down at their home. As a brass quintet from the Minnesota Orchestra […]
1 year ago
Harvard University researcher Kseniia Petrova, 30, departs the John Joseph Moakley United States Co...

Government says Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryos brought ‘biological materials’

BOSTON (AP) — Attorneys argued over whether a Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryos brought “biological materials” into the U.S. in a court hearing Wednesday. Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist conducting cancer research for Harvard Medical School, appeared in Massachusetts federal court Wednesday for a probable cause hearing, where government and defense attorneys argued […]
1 year ago
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) at NFL football minicamp in Berea, Ohio, Wednesda...

Browns rookie QB Shedeur Sanders ticketed after police say he drove 101 mph in Cleveland suburb

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders is accused of driving a pickup truck 101 mph (163 kilometers per hour) on a suburban Cleveland interstate earlier this week. The Strongsville Police Department stopped Sanders at about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday in a 60 mph (97 kilometers per hour) zone on Interstate 71 near the […]
1 year ago
FILE - The Gibson Power Plant operates April 10, 2025, in Princeton, Ind. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bicke...

Scientists warn that greenhouse gas accumulation is accelerating and more extreme weather will come

WASHINGTON (AP) — Humans are on track to release so much greenhouse gas in less than three years that a key threshold for limiting global warming will be nearly unavoidable, according to a study to be released Thursday. The report predicts that society will have emitted enough carbon dioxide by early 2028 that crossing an […]
1 year ago
FILE - Vehicles are parked outside the Fulton County Jail, April 11, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Ka...

Former Georgia jail guard abused inmates with Taser and lied about it, authorities say

ATLANTA (AP) — A former Fulton County jail guard has been indicted on federal civil rights charges after prosecutors said she used her Taser abusively against three inmates and then lied to cover it up. Khadijah Solomon, a 47-year-old Fairburn resident, pleaded not guilty to the six-count indictment in federal court in Atlanta on Tuesday […]
1 year ago

Michigan, environmental groups challenge federal order to keep power plant open

DETROIT (AP) — Environmental groups and Michigan’s attorney general filed separate challenges Wednesday against a federal order that is keeping a coal-fired power plant open this summer. The environmental coalition said there’s no energy emergency that would justify keeping Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell plant alive in Ottawa County, near Lake Michigan. The U.S. Energy Department […]
1 year ago
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres addresses the United Nations General Assembly, Monday, June...

Iran executed at least 975 people last year, the highest number since 2015, UN report says

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran carried out executions at “an alarming rate” last year with at least 975 people killed, the United Nations chief said in a report that also cited other human rights abuses, from barriers to freedom of expression to the use of torture and arbitrary detention. U.N. deputy human rights commissioner Nada […]
1 year ago
FILE - Ball State and South Florida play an NCAA college football game at Raymond James Stadium, Sa...

Florida officials let public universities free up millions to pay student-athletes

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s public universities can free up $22.5 million a year to compensate student-athletes under an emergency rule approved by a state board Wednesday ahead of a landmark legal settlement allowing schools to pay their players through licensing deals. The sprawling $2.8 billion antitrust settlement, going into effect July 1, allows schools […]
1 year ago
FILE - Los Angeles Lakers President Jeanie Buss dances in her seat to music as she attends the NBA ...

Buss family to sell controlling stake of Lakers to Mark Walter for $10B valuation, AP source says

The Buss family has agreed to sell the controlling stake of the Los Angeles Lakers to TWG Global CEO Mark Walter, doing so with a franchise valuation of $10 billion — the most ever for a professional sports franchise, a person with knowledge of the agreement said Wednesday. As part of the deal, Jeanie Buss […]
1 year ago
Karen Read hugs lawyer Alan Jackson after a not guilty verdict of second-degree murder is read in N...

Photos of Karen Read’s dramatic courtroom moment after acquittal on murder charge

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — Karen Read was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe. The jury convicted her of a lesser charge of drunken driving, however. Supporters erupted in cheers outside the courthouse as the verdict was read. Read, leaving with her […]
1 year ago
An adult New World screwworm fly sits at rest in this undated photo. (Denise Bonilla/U.S. Departmen...

The US plans to open a fly factory in Texas as part of its fight against a flesh-eating parasite

The U.S. government plans to open what amounts to a fly factory by the end of the year, announcing its intent Wednesday to breed millions of the insects in Texas near the border with Mexico as part of an effort to keep a flesh-eating parasite from infesting American cattle. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said sterile […]
1 year ago
This aerial photo taken June 17, 2025, in Glastonbury, Conn. shows the home of Mary Notarangelo, a ...

Retired detective found dead in hoarding conditions in Connecticut, months after she went missing

GLASTONBURY, Conn. (AP) — Mary Notarangelo lived a reclusive life in her later years, according to the few people who had contact with her. The retired police detective tended to her many birds at her Connecticut home and posted videos of them on social media, including one accompanying her on a trip to a local […]
1 year ago
FILE - A man uses a cell phone in New Orleans, Aug. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)Credit: AS...

Trump administration removing 988 hotline service tailored to LGBTQ+ youth in July

The 988 National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline will stop providing tailored support options to LGBTQ+ youth and young adults on July 17, according to a statement on a federal agency’s website. The decision preempts the Trump administration’s 2026 budget proposal to cut funding for 988’s LGBTQ+ youth and young adult services, and is raising alarm […]
1 year ago
Mario Guevara, the metro Atlanta-based Spanish-language reporter, covers a protest against immigrat...

ICE takes custody of Spanish-language journalist arrested at Georgia protest

U.S. immigration authorities said Wednesday they have detained a Spanish-language journalist, who will face deportation proceedings following his arrest on charges of obstructing police and unlawful assembly while covering a weekend protest outside Atlanta. Mario Guevara was turned over by police to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody three days after he was jailed in […]
1 year ago
FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gestures as he and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, answer questions afte...

Three more DeSantis allies to take the helm of public universities in Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The state board that oversees Florida’s public universities has confirmed three more allies of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to become university presidents. It’s a move supporters say will grant the schools the political capital to secure critical state funding and navigate a rapidly shifting legal landscape, and one that critics see […]
1 year ago

Families of trans kids worry about what’s next after Supreme Court rules on gender-affirming care

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A U.S. Supreme Court decision Wednesday upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors is leaving transgender children and their parents uncertain and anxious about the future. The court handed President Donald Trump’s administration and Republican-led states a significant victory by effectively protecting them from at least some of the legal […]
1 year ago
Beachgoers leave during a missile alert from Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (...

US starts evacuating some diplomats from its embassy in Israel as Iran conflict intensifies

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has begun evacuating nonessential diplomats and their families from the U.S. embassy in Israel as hostilities between Israel and Iran intensify and there is the possibility that the United States could become directly involved in the conflict. Two U.S. officials said a government plane evacuated a number of diplomats […]
1 year ago
FILE - A worker wearing a mask walks past a Boeing 737 Max 9 as it is prepared for a flight from Re...

NTSB urges quick fix on some plane engines to prevent smoke from filling cabin after a bird strike

Safety experts recommended Wednesday that the engines on Boeing’s troubled 737 Max airplanes and some Airbus models be modified quickly to prevent smoke from filling the cockpit or cabin after a safety feature is activated following a bird strike. The problem detailed by the National Transportation Safety Board emerged after two bird strikes involving Southwest […]
1 year ago
FILE - Chinese students wait outside the U.S. Embassy for their visa application interviews, in Bei...

US resumes visas for foreign students but demands access to social media accounts

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department said Wednesday it is restarting the suspended process for foreigners applying for student visas but all applicants will now be required to unlock their social media accounts for government review. The department said consular officers will be on the lookout for posts and messages that could be deemed hostile […]
1 year ago
Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster holds up a ceremonial copy of a bill he signed changi...

Under a hot summer sun, South Carolina’s governor says energy law will keep air conditioners humming

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Under the hot South Carolina summer sun, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster held a ceremonial bill signing for a law he and other supporters said will make sure the rapidly growing state has the energy to run air conditioners and anything else well into the future. McMaster signed the bill into law […]
1 year ago