National News

Cuba says US sanctions are blocking its efforts to open the economy to private investment

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States has demanded that Cuba open up to private investment, and Cuba has passed sweeping reforms to encourage just that. So Cuba’s U.N. ambassador says he wants to know why Washington keeps piling on sanctions that stymie the very economic opening it has sought for decades. Ambassador Ernesto Soberón […]
6 days ago
Amanda Bickerstaff, CEO of AI for Education, speaks at Academic Magnet High School during the Charl...

Schools are starting to teach AI literacy. For many, that means helping kids see chatbots’ flaws

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Artificial intelligence chatbots have become the bane of teachers everywhere, but to prepare for the new school year, a group of educators in Charleston, South Carolina, packed into a high school auditorium and talked about inviting AI into the classroom. The teachers and principals watched as an instructor prompted an […]
7 days ago
U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., speaks with reporters after a debate with U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman,...

President Trump to stump for Sen. Darline Graham days ahead of South Carolina’s GOP Senate runoff

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to South Carolina on Friday to make a last-minute appeal for Sen. Darline Graham, his chosen candidate to replace her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, ahead of a Republican runoff next week. Voters will decide Tuesday whether Graham or Rep. Ralph Norman […]
7 days ago
Vice President JD Vance smiles during a roundtable event in the Eisenhower Executive Office Buildin...

Vance will campaign at the Ohio steel plant where his grandfather once worked

MIDDLETOWN, OHIO (AP) — Vice President JD Vance will return to his hometown Friday to campaign for Republican candidates at the same steel plant where his grandfather used to work. Vance is set to speak at the Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works facility, which was known as Armco Steel when his grandfather James Vance worked there for […]
7 days ago
FILE - The National Transportation Safety Board logo and signage are seen at a news conference at N...

Charter plane carrying 8 crashes near remote radar site in western Alaska, NTSB says

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A charter plane carrying eight people crashed Thursday near a remote radar site in western Alaska, a federal official said. Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region chief, said two pilots and six passengers were on board. He did not immediately have details on their status. The plane took […]
7 days ago

Storms and possible tornadoes pummel the Northeast US, flooding roads and damaging beaches

NEW YORK (AP) — Heavy rain and winds pounded the Northeast U.S. on Thursday as storms tore through a beach on Long Island, flooded a major New York freeway and knocked out power in parts of Delaware’s capital city. Photos and video shared on social media show debris thrown in the air and pummeling rain […]
7 days ago
The exterior of the Kennedy Center is seen, Friday, July 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Sc...

Federal court is asked to block Kennedy Center from returning Trump’s name to building

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Joyce Beatty made an emergency request on Thursday that a federal court block the Kennedy Center from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building. The Trump-aligned board at the Kennedy Center voted earlier this month to inscribe the president’s name on the venue’s facade so it would read “The John […]
7 days ago

Jury says New York Times defamed Alabama basketball player with incorrect story about shooting

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama jury on Thursday awarded $9.25 million in damages after finding that the New York Times defamed a college basketball player by incorrectly reporting that he was at the scene of a fatal shooting in Tuscaloosa. Kai Spears, who played for the University of Alabama men’s team, sued the Times […]
7 days ago
Duane Davis appears in court during his murder trial, related to the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac S...

Jurors hear ‘Keffe D’ say his nephew fired fatal shots at Tupac Shakur in 1996 drive-by shooting

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jurors on Thursday heard Duane “Keffe D” Davis tell detectives in 2008 that his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson fired the shots that killed Tupac Shakur. Davis, who said in the interview that he was also in the car with Anderson is accused of orchestrating the 1996 killing of the 25-year-old […]
7 days ago

Investigators probe a dramatic midair crash as a landing plane hits hovering police helicopter

CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — Investigators are working to understand why a small plane veered to the side while landing at a rural airport and crashed into a hovering Pennsylvania State Police helicopter, a federal official said Thursday. Aaron McCarter, investigator-in-charge with the National Transportation Safety Board, said there is not an immediate explanation for Wednesday’s […]
7 days ago
State Sen. Aisha Wahab, a Democratic candidate for Congress in California's 14th district, speaks d...

California lawmaker Aisha Wahab wins special election to succeed Eric Swalwell in Congress

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmaker Aisha Wahab secured victory Thursday in a special election to serve the rest of former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s House term, which ends in January. Swalwell, a Democrat who was running for California governor, ended his campaign and resigned from Congress in April after he was accused of sexual assault […]
7 days ago
FILE - The Harvard Medical School is seen Aug. 18, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)C...

Harvard agrees to $53 million settlement over body parts stolen and sold by former morgue manager

BOSTON (AP) — Harvard Medical School says it agreed to pay $53 million to settle class action lawsuits by relatives of body donors whose remains were sold on the black market by its former morgue manager. Harvard Medical School Deans George Q. Daley and Bernard S. Chang announced the development in a letter to the […]
7 days ago
A person prays before receiving a free boxed lunch at City Life Center in Gary, Ind., Thursday, Aug...

‘Survival mode’: Indiana residents endure a ninth day without power

GARY, Ind. (AP) — Tens of thousands of residents in northwest Indiana were in survival mode Thursday as they endured a ninth day without power, throwing out spoiled food, lining up for hot meals and searching for places to charge their phones. In Gary, Indiana, schools remained closed after the deadly Aug. 11 storm downed […]
7 days ago
FILE - Gen. Christopher LaNeve, vice chief of staff of the Army, testifies at the Capitol in Washin...

Army will shut down a unit in Europe focused on learning drone warfare

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Army unit based in Europe that was specializing in drone warfare has been directed to end its efforts to learn and use the battlefield technology and return to being a traditional infantry battalion, officials said Thursday. For more nearly a year, soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade have been experimenting and […]
7 days ago
FILE - A microbiologist points out an isolated E. coli growth on an agar plate at the Washington St...

Alfalfa sprouts linked to food poisoning illnesses in Minnesota and Wisconsin

NEW YORK (AP) — Minnesota health officials are warning consumers not to eat certain brands of alfalfa sprouts that have been tied to an unusual outbreak involving different disease-causing bacteria. Officials say 23 people in Minnesota have become ill with either E. coli or salmonella infections, with two of them hospitalized. Three had salmonella, and […]
7 days ago
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with technology leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the...

Investigators examining foes of Trump seek interviews related to Mar-a-Lago search, AP sources say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department investigators have sought to interview law enforcement officials related to the FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of a Florida-based inquiry aiming to establish a conspiracy against the Republican president, multiple people familiar with the matter said Thursday. The requests for interviews, made in recent weeks, suggest […]
7 days ago

New York woman charged in plot to set off explosives at state Capitol, kill lawmakers, FBI says

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An Albany woman who authorities said had been plotting to bomb the New York state Capitol building in an effort to kill lawmakers because she believed laws were being passed that were an affront to Islam is facing a federal terrorism charge. Authorities said Thursday that Jessica Bowie, 35, of Albany, […]
7 days ago
FILE - Michael Cohen speaks during a news conference announcing his new radio show in New York, Jul...

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer-turned-enemy, is hosting the president on his radio show

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to appear Thursday on the radio show of his former fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen, making a public reunion with the man who once called him a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain” and testified against him both in court and before Congress. Cohen, who served prison time for his role in […]
7 days ago
FILE - Cars drive past data centers, July 16, 2023, in Ashburn, Va. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)Cr...

Trump keeps embracing data centers even as they become toxic in midterm races

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump, speaking alongside cryptocurrency leaders at the White House this week, made a statement that Republican and Democratic candidates alike wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole. “If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant […]
7 days ago
FILE - A sign stands outside the main gate of Fort Stewart, Ga., Aug. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum...

One Army unit is offering 4 bonus days off to play Grand Theft Auto for soldiers who reenlist

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A U.S. Army unit is offering its troops a special bonus if they reenlist soon: four extra days off timed around the November release of the video game Grand Theft Auto VI. Commanders of the 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, believe free time to indulge in the […]
7 days ago
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives with Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, not sh...

US ramps up Cuba sanctions and detentions of Americans returning from the island

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is increasing pressure on Cuba by imposing more economic penalties on industries in the heavily sanctioned socialist country and broadening enforcement of laws that bar Americans who visit the island from dealings with government-owned or -affiliated businesses. The Treasury and State departments are announcing Thursday that they are […]
7 days ago
(AP Illustration / Peter Hamlin)Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS...

As workplace surveillance grows, experts say it’s good to know the ways your employer is watching

NEW YORK (AP) — College administrators read an adjunct professor’s comments to students on personal essays. Managers told a pharmacist to spend less time with patients after tracking the number and length of her appointments. Scanners on a warehouse conveyor belt monitored the pace of workers to ensure they inspected hundreds of items per hour. […]
7 days ago
FILE - An Omaha police car drives on Dec. 8, 2007, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)Cre...

Omaha’s largest public school district stops officers from using electric shock gloves

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police officers at Omaha’s largest public school district will no longer use gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks, after the superintendent asked to halt the program this week, the mayor said. Omaha Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Ray requested Tuesday that police assigned to the schools, known as school resource officers, […]
7 days ago
FYI - Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., talks with reporters after holding a town hall meeting in Sacra...

Federal agents seize devices from ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell in sexual misconduct probe, AP source says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents seized electronic devices from former Rep. Eric Swalwell and searched his Washington home as part of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the ex-Democratic congressman from California, according to a person familiar with the matter. Swalwell’s devices were seized at the San Francisco airport on Saturday and federal […]
7 days ago