National News

State can’t use medication evidence to counter insanity defense in fatal crash, Georgia court says

ATLANTA (AP) — In the prosecution of a Georgia woman who caused a fatal car crash while suffering a psychotic break, the state cannot use evidence that she had stopped taking some of her psychiatric medications to counter her insanity defense, the state’s highest court ruled Wednesday. Michelle Wierson was driving her Volkswagen Tiguan at […]
1 year ago

Man charged in Connecticut mall shooting that wounded 5

A 19-year-old man was charged with assault and weapons crimes after he allegedly shot five people at a Connecticut mall during a dispute, authorities said Wednesday. Tajuan Washington, who was free on $20,000 bail on unrelated motor vehicle charges, drove to police headquarters under police surveillance and surrendered following Tuesday’s shooting at the Brass Mill […]
1 year ago
Sean Diddy'Combs, far left, and attorney Marc Agnifilo, right, sit at the defense table during witn...

Judge quickly rejects mistrial request at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge immediately rejected a defense request for a mistrial on Wednesday at the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, after his attorneys said prosecutors tried to imply to a jury that the music mogul interfered with the investigation into rapper Kid Cudi’s firebombed Porsche in 2012. Although such […]
1 year ago
FILE - In this photo combo Ohio Supreme Court justice Pat Fischer, left, speaks during the Fairfiel...

Ohio Supreme Court’s Pat Fischer launches 2026 bid to oust court’s lone Democrat, Jennifer Brunner

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Voters will again see two sitting Ohio Supreme Court justices pitted against each other in 2026, after Justice Pat Fischer announced a bid Wednesday to unseat Justice Jennifer Brunner with two years left on his current term. The seven-member high court holds final sway over the fate of many state laws […]
1 year ago

Delta flight delayed because 2 pigeons sneaked aboard a plane in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two pigeons sneaked aboard a Delta airlines plane, delaying the flight twice. The airline confirmed that the pigeons got aboard a flight Saturday that was leaving Minneapolis for Madison, Wisconsin. A passenger who shot video of another man using his jacket to capture one of the birds told news outlets that the […]
1 year ago

Woman in coma after violent break-in at California home of Beanie Babies billionaire, officials say

MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — A 42-year-old Nevada man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and kidnapping after a woman was violently attacked during a break-in last week at a Southern California mansion owned by the Beanie Babies billionaire Ty Warner, according to authorities and court documents. The victim, named in a criminal complaint as […]
1 year ago
FILE - This undated photo provided by Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shows...

Gov. DeSantis signs law imposing tougher penalties for abandoning pets during disasters

ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Legislation signed into law Wednesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will impose tougher penalties on people who abandon pets during natural disasters, a measure inspired by the rescue of a dog left in floodwaters during Hurricane Milton. With the 2025 hurricane season starting next week, the governor also signed […]
1 year ago
FILE - Women and children migrants walk with a larger group of migrants through Tapachula, Chiapas ...

217 days and counting: Trump’s rules slow the release of migrant children to their families

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dressed in a pink pullover, the 17-year-old girl rested her head in her hands, weighing her bleak options from the empty room of an shelter in Poughkeepsie, New York. During a video call into an immigration courtroom in Manhattan, she listened as a lawyer explained to a judge how new regulations imposed […]
1 year ago

Ohio divorce lawyer pleads not guilty in 2013 fatal stabbing of client

CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio divorce attorney accused of fatally stabbing a client more than a decade ago in a plot to delay her trial pleaded not guilty Wednesday to aggravated murder and kidnapping charges. Bail was set at $2 million for Gregory J. Moore, 51, who is also charged with murder and conspiracy in […]
1 year ago
Elon Musk looks on as President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the O...

A judge refuses to toss states’ lawsuit against Elon Musk and DOGE

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency of illegally accessing government data systems, canceling government contracts and firing federal employees. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled Tuesday that 14 states can proceed with their claims against Musk and DOGE. The states, through their attorneys general, sued in […]
1 year ago
Elon Musk looks on as President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the O...

Elon Musk criticizes Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill,’ a fracture in a key relationship

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk is criticizing the centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, a significant fracture in a partnership that was forged during last year’s campaign and was poised to reshape American politics and the federal government. The billionaire entrepreneur, who supported Trump’s candidacy with at least $250 million and has worked for […]
1 year ago
This cover image released by St. Martin's Press shows "Stand" by Cory Booker. (St. Martin's Press v...

Sen. Cory Booker expands upon historic Senate floor speech for new book, ‘Stand’

NEW YORK (AP) — Sen. Cory Booker has expanded upon his historic Senate floor speech from last month into an upcoming book. “Stand” will be published Nov. 11, St. Martin’s Press announced Wednesday. In April, the New Jersey Democrat made headlines by delivering the country’s longest continuous Senate floor speech — just over 25 hours. […]
1 year ago
Summer Dean, 27, poses for a portrait, Friday, May 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa...

Philanthropy wants to build Gen Z’s confidence in institutions. Will youth empowerment foster trust?

NEW YORK (AP) — Gen Z is disillusioned with major institutions and the philanthropic sector knows it. The generation tends to lack faith in the political, economic and social structures expected by their predecessors to safeguard their futures. Born out of the idea that young people distrust institutions because they don’t feel served or included, […]
1 year ago
President Donald Trump listens during the 157th National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington Natio...

The Latest: Trump administration to cut $100 million in federal contracts for Harvard

The Trump administration has asked federal agencies to cancel contracts with Harvard University worth about $100 million, intensifying the president’s clash with the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s campaign against the legal profession hit another setback Tuesday as a federal judge The ruling in favor of WilmerHale marks the third time […]
1 year ago
FILE - Tamara Lanier attends a news conference near the Harvard Club, on March 20, 2019, in New Yor...

After a 15-year battle, Harvard agrees in settlement to relinquish early photos of slaves

BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University will relinquish 175-year-old photographs believed to be the earliest taken of enslaved people to a South Carolina museum devoted to African American history as part of a settlement with one of the subjects’ descendants. The photos of the subjects identified by Tamara Lanier as her great-great-great-grandfather Renty, whom she calls […]
1 year ago
Conservationists band roughly 4-week-old peregrine falcon chicks with metal tags on their ankles at...

US peregrine falcons adapt well to city living as their coastal cousins struggle with bird flu

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) — After rebounding in recent decades due to conservation efforts, the number of once-imperiled peregrine falcons in the U.S. has been dropping again in some places due to the bird flu that has decimated other avian populations in recent years. Although falcons in coastal parts of the country have been hit hard, […]
1 year ago
FILE - This April 18, 2022 photo provided by Mohave County shows orchards near Kingman, Ariz. where...

Arizona’s rural groundwater deal stalls as legislative session nears end

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s governor and the GOP-controlled Legislature are at odds over regulating groundwater pumping in the state’s rural areas — and time is running out. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs stood with local Republican leaders at the start of this year’s session, optimistic that Republicans in the Legislature would embrace her proposal to create […]
1 year ago
FILE - Ricky Leath, an outreach specialist with the City of Miami, talks with Bei Zhao, right, as h...

Get ready for several years of killer heat, top weather forecasters warn

WASHINGTON (AP) — Get ready for several years of even more record-breaking heat that pushes Earth to more deadly, fiery and uncomfortable extremes, two of the world’s top weather agencies forecast. There’s an 80% chance the world will break another annual temperature record in the next five years, and it’s even more probable that the […]
1 year ago
FILE - A border marker, between the United States and Canada is shown just outside of Emerson, Mani...

Men face prison for human smuggling after an Indian family of 4 died on the US-Canada border

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — More than three years after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to cross into the U.S. along a remote stretch of the Canadian border in a blizzard, two men face sentencing in Minnesota on Wednesday on human smuggling charges for their roles what prosecutors call an international […]
1 year ago

Asian shares are mostly higher after S&P 500 rallies 2%

Asian shares were mostly higher on Tuesday after President Donald Trump’s decision to delay a 50% tariff on goods coming from the European Union sparked a rally on Wall Street. U.S. futures were little changed and oil prices rose. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.5% to 37,918.86 and traders were awaiting the outcome of an auction […]
1 year ago
CORRECTS SOURCE This image provided by the Arkansas Department of Corrections shows Grant Hardin, a...

What we know about the escape of a former police chief and convicted killer in Arkansas

CALICO ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Officials scoured Arkansas’ rugged Ozark Mountains for a former police chief and convicted killer who escaped from prison over the weekend. Grant Hardin, who briefly served as police chief for the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, was serving a decades-long sentence for murder and rape. Known as […]
1 year ago
FILE - People swim in the lagoon in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort in Honolulu on Satu...

Hawaii’s governor signs new hotel tax legislation to help cope with climate change

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s governor signed legislation Tuesday that boosts a tax imposed on hotel room and vacation rental stays in order to raise money to address eroding shorelines, wildfires and other consequences of climate change. The signing, which comes nearly two years after a Maui wildfire killed 102 people and wiped out almost all […]
1 year ago
FILE - Transgender activist Cecilia Gentili poses for a photo at the offices of the Oxford Universi...

Dealer gets 19 years in prison for providing drugs that killed prominent NYC transgender activist

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City drug dealer who admitted providing the fentanyl-laced heroin that killed a prominent transgender activist was sentenced Tuesday to 19 years in federal prison, prosecutors said. Michael Kuilan, 45, of Brooklyn, was also ordered to pay $24,482 in restitution and forfeit $30,000 and a seized firearm. “Cecilia Gentili […]
1 year ago

5 people shot and wounded at a Connecticut mall, police say

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — Five people have been shot and wounded at a mall in Connecticut, police said Tuesday. Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said officers responded to the Brass Mill Center for reports of a disturbance at around 4:40 p.m. He said all victims were being treated at local hospitals, though he declined to […]
1 year ago