National News

FILE - This image taken from video provided by Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord, N.H., sh...

A judge rejects Pamela Smart’s latest bid for a new trial in 1990 accomplice to murder case

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire judge on Thursday dismissed the latest petition for a new trial from Pamela Smart, who is serving life in prison for orchestrating the murder of her husband by her teenage student more than three decades ago. Smart, 59, was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began […]
6 days ago

Driver who slammed into LA bus before news helicopter crash to face murder charges, prosecutor says

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The driver of an SUV who slammed into a Los Angeles bus will face murder charges, the district attorney said Thursday. The crash killed at least two people and injured six others in a prelude to a second deadly tragedy: the fiery crash of a TV news helicopter that was covering […]
6 days ago
FILE - A northern spotted owl flies after a mouse jumping off the end of a stick in the Deschutes N...

Trump administration allows inadvertent killing of endangered species

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Inadvertently killing endangered animals while logging a forest or building a dam would no longer be considered illegal under a new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act by federal officials, marking a sea change by President Donald Trump’s administration in how the landmark environmental law is enforced. A directive sent to […]
6 days ago
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. waves after speaking at the Republican co...

Kennedy tells anti-vaccine activists they have a friend in Trump’s White House

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave the keynote address Thursday at a conference of an anti-vaccine activist group he once chaired, telling the hundreds in attendance that they had a friend in President Donald Trump’s White House. It was Kennedy’s first time appearing at the Children’s Health Defense […]
6 days ago
FILE - The UN flag flies on a stormy day at the United Nations during the United Nations General As...

Russia and China veto US proposal for UN experts to keep monitoring sanctions on Iran

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia and China vetoed a United Nations resolution Thursday that would have authorized U.N. experts to keep monitoring sanctions that were reimposed against Iran last year over its nuclear program. The U.N. Security Council sanctions are still in effect, which freeze Iran’s assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalize […]
6 days ago

Michigan authorities advise shelter in place after small plane crash in Grand Traverse County

BLAIR TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities in Michigan are advising residents to shelter in place after a small plane crashed in Grand Traverse County. There was no immediate word on any injuries, and the cause of the Thursday afternoon crash was not known. Witnesses reported hearing a loud crash, and images posted to social media […]
6 days ago
FILE - Former Connecticut deputy budget director Konstantinos "Kosta" Diamantis, left, accompanied ...

Ex-Connecticut official flees to Greece before sentencing for corruption

A former senior budget official for Connecticut’s Democratic governor is now a fugitive in Greece after fleeing the U.S. by boat and plane ahead of his sentencing for corruption, his lawyer and prosecutors told a federal judge on Thursday. Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, 70, also sent his attorney a 10-page email accusing Gov. Ned Lamont of […]
6 days ago
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stands with Costa Rica's Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar Rivera, not s...

US approves visas for top Iranian leaders to attend UN high-level meeting even with sides at war

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has approved visas for top Iranian officials, including the president and foreign minister, to attend next week’s U.N. General Assembly high-level meeting in New York even as the two countries are locked in a stalemated war. The State Department said Thursday that it had approved visas for Iran’s “core […]
6 days ago
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Kevin Warsh speaks during a news conference at the Federal Reserve i...

Why the Federal Reserve is lifting rates now, and what it means

WASHINGTON (AP) — About six weeks ago, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh announced that a divided central bank was keeping its key interest rate unchanged. But on Wednesday, the Fed’s rate-setting committee unanimously agreed to a rate hike, and nearly all policymakers signaled that a second increase later this year would likely be appropriate. So […]
6 days ago
FILE - This undated file photo provided by U.S. Central Command, shows Abu Zubaydah, date and locat...

Man accused of ties to bin Laden and tortured after 9/11 has 20-year Guantanamo detention reviewed

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A man initially accused of being a high-profile al-Qaida figure and who was tortured in CIA custody appeared Thursday at a hearing to review his detention at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he has been held for 20 years without charges. A U.S. government official said […]
6 days ago
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro gets into a car surrounded by news rep...

ICE officer charged in non-fatal shooting arrested by Minnesota authorities

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal immigration officer charged with shooting and wounding a Venezuelan man in January and lying about the circumstances to investigators was to appear Thursday before a Minnesota judge after state authorities arrested him ahead of a separate hearing in federal court. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro faces state and […]
6 days ago
This photo taken with a smartphone shows Steve Perry, of Kansas City, holding a sign in opposition ...

Appeals court weighs Trump-backed Missouri congressional map despite Supreme Court block

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Thursday was considering an attempt to resurrect new Missouri congressional districts backed by President Donald Trump, even though the U.S. Supreme Court blocked those districts from being used in the November election. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard […]
6 days ago
This handout photo released by Norwegian economic crime investigators on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, ...

A tip about a swerving van leads police to 66,000 US silver coins in a fraud case

On a yearslong hunt for thousands of U.S. silver coins squirreled away in Norway, police investigating a money laundering case finally got a lucky break: A tip about a van swerving on a highway outside Oslo last year. When officers pulled the vehicle over for inspection, in Baerum, west of the capital, in April 2025, […]
6 days ago
Barricades are installed in front of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Wednesday,...

Kennedy Center says building closed temporarily due to ‘acute risks to public safety’

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top official at the Kennedy Center said Thursday that he closed the iconic performing arts center temporarily due to “acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration” of the aging building. Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s executive director and chief operating officer, said in a federal court filing that […]
6 days ago

Former US Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, a ‘workhorse’ who shaped water policy, dies at 84

PHOENIX (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, a longtime Republican lawmaker from Arizona who shaped landmark water policies in the U.S. West and guided the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, has died. He was 84. Kyl died Wednesday night from a neurological disorder, said Gordon James, a communications professional who is longtime […]
6 days ago
Bright Angel Canyon, middle left, the scene of flash floods, meets with the Colorado River in the G...

Body found in Grand Canyon was missing hiker, wife says, bringing flood death toll to 3

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Human remains found in the Grand Canyon this week were those of the last remaining person missing after the deadly flash flooding in late August, the victim’s wife said Thursday. The discovery of Timothy Allen Smith brought the death toll to three from flooding that devastated the Phantom […]
6 days ago

Cases of Black people found hanged in the US South are a reminder of nation’s lynching history

The death of a Black Mississippi woman found hanging from a tree has stirred distressing memories of the grim history of lynchings across the U.S. South. The body of Tasia Fortune, 29, was found behind an abandoned home in Jackson, the state capital, on Aug. 3. Jarques Ratliff, 51, who is also Black, pleaded not […]
7 days ago
FILE - Portraits of Presidents Donald Trump and Theodore Roosevelt hang above the Department of Lab...

Claims for unemployment benefits drop to 196,000, lowest since mid-July as layoffs remain low

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week, another sign that layoffs remain rare and most Americans enjoy job security. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims slid to 196,000, the fewest since mid-July and down from 206,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which […]
7 days ago
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Gastonia Municipal Airport, Wednesday,...

The Latest: Trump says EU allowing Canada as associate member could be a ‘hostile act’

President Donald Trump suggested that the European Union allowing Canada to become an associate member could be a “hostile act” and threatened to respond to the proposed move by imposing more tariffs on the bloc. Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home to campaign for the midterm elections, but not without a scathing rebuke […]
7 days ago
FILE - Democratic Ohio Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, a former three-term U.S. senator, speaks at ...

Ohio voters rejected Sherrod Brown. Two years later, are they ready to give him a second chance?

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — In the wood-paneled basement of a union hall, retirees sat in folding chairs last week as they recalled how miles of steel mills and plentiful jobs had slowly disappeared. “We told our children to get your education, get out, and don’t come back,” said Al Antonelli, who has been a member […]
7 days ago
This photo taken with a smartphone shows Steve Perry, of Kansas City, holding a sign in opposition ...

Redistricting moved 1 in 10 Americans into a new House district, report finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study. A report by Protect Democracy found that 34.8 million people — about one in 10 Americans — […]
7 days ago
Samba Diallo, right, wears his daraa, a traditional robe worn in his homeland, Mauritania, after ea...

PHOTO ESSAY: A small town on Cincinnati’s outskirts is among those transformed by immigration surge

An old building in Lockland, Ohio, bustles every Friday afternoon, the sound of hammering old bicycle tires mixing with laughter and conversation that switches from English to the West African language Pular. The shop, called Bikes and Stuff, offers free bikes to anyone willing to help refurbish one, and it has become the center of […]
7 days ago
A Venezuelan mother sits with her daughter among food trucks Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Midvale, Ut...

Many Venezuelan immigrants shun Florida and turn to smaller cities in Utah, elsewhere

MIDVALE, Utah (AP) — Snow-covered mountains ringing a valley of wide, free-flowing roads remind Venezuelan transplants that the growing suburbs south of Salt Lake City offer what Miami can’t. One million Venezuelans were released into the United States after crossing the Mexican border during a record immigration surge, and many shunned Miami and other longtime […]
7 days ago
Khalidou Sy, a Mauritanian immigrant, talks in the backyard of his family's home in Lockland, Ohio,...

African asylum seekers find home in unlikely new American melting pots

LOCKLAND, Ohio (AP) — He keeps his American clothes in the closet: jeans, T-shirts, a hard hat for his job at a meatpacking plant. He folds his African clothes — including the blue robe he had shipped from home, the one he jokes makes him look like a king — and tucks them into a […]
7 days ago