Top General News
Final jurors seated for Trump's hush money case, with opening statements set for Monday
NEW YORK (AP) — The final jurors were seated Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, and an appellate judge rejected the former president’s latest bid to halt the case as a hectic day in court set the stage for opening statements to begin Monday. The panel of New Yorkers who...
The Latest | Opening statements in Trump hush money trial set for Monday after latest appeal fails
NEW YORK (AP) — Opening statements in Donald Trump's hush money case are set to begin next week after a jury of 12 people and six alternates was seated Friday. The seating of the jury sets the stage for weeks of testimony in a case charging Trump with falsifying business records to suppress...
Israel, Iran play down apparent Israeli strike. The muted responses could calm tensions -- for now
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and Iran on Friday both played down an apparent Israeli airstrike near a major air base and nuclear site in central Iran, signaling the two bitter enemies are ready to prevent their latest eruption of violence from escalating into a full-blown regional war. ...
Ukraine, Israel aid advances in rare House vote as Democrats help Republicans push it forward
WASHINGTON (AP) — With rare bipartisan momentum, the House pushed ahead Friday on a foreign aid package of $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian support as a robust coalition of lawmakers helped it clear a procedural hurdle to reach final votes this weekend. Friday’s vote...
Tennessee Volkswagen employees overwhelmingly vote to join United Auto Workers union
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Employees at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly voted to join the United Auto Workers union Friday in a historic first test of the UAW’s renewed effort to organize nonunion factories. The union wound up getting 2,628 votes, or...
Biden administration restricts oil and gas leasing in 13 million acres of Alaska's petroleum reserve
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Biden administration said Friday it will restrict new oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres (5.3 million hectares) of a federal petroleum reserve in Alaska to help protect wildlife such as caribou and polar bears as the Arctic continues to warm. The...
Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a lobby restroom
WASHINGTON (AP) — One woman miscarried in the lobby restroom of a Texas emergency room as front desk staff refused to check her in. Another woman learned that her fetus had no heartbeat at a Florida hospital, the day after a security guard turned her away from the facility. And in North Carolina,...
BNSF Railway says it didn't know about asbestos that's killed hundreds in Montana town
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — BNSF Railway attorneys told a Montana jury Friday that the railroad should not be held liable for the lung cancer deaths of two former residents of an asbestos-contaminated Montana town, one of the deadliest sites in the federal Superfund pollution program. ...
Chicago's response to migrant influx stirs longstanding frustrations among Black residents
CHICAGO (AP) — The closure of Wadsworth Elementary School in 2013 was a blow to residents of the majority-Black neighborhood it served, symbolizing a city indifferent to their interests. So when the city reopened Wadsworth last year to shelter hundreds of migrants without seeking...
Not a toddler, not a parent, but still love 'Bluey'? You're not alone
PHOENIX (AP) — A small blue dog with an Australian accent has captured the hearts of people across the world. She's the title character of “Bluey,” a kids' program consisting of seven-minute episodes that have enraptured children and adults alike. This week's release of its...
Latest General News
Record Store Day celebrates indie retail music sellers as they ride vinyl's popularity wave
PHOENIX (AP) — Special LP releases, live performances and at least one giant block party are scheduled around the U.S. Saturday as hundreds of shops celebrate Record Store Day during a surge of interest in vinyl and the day after the release of Taylor Swift's latest album. There...
Haiti's former capital seeks to revive its hey-day as gang violence consumes Port-au-Prince
CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti (AP) — They call it Okap, home to Haiti’s kings, emancipated slaves and revolutionaries. Sitting on the shimmering north coast, the city of Cap-Haïtien was abandoned as a capital during the waning years of the French colonial era and again when the Kingdom of...
The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?
ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation's first legal marijuana stores in 2014, Sam Ward Jr. was on electronic home detention in Spokane, where he had been indicted on federal drug charges. He would soon be off to prison to serve the lion's share of a four-year...
Melania Trump, long absent from campaign, will appear at a Log Cabin Republicans event in Mar-a-Lago
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Former first lady Melania Trump will attend a fundraiser Saturday for the Log Cabin Republicans, an advocacy group for LGBTQ+ members of the GOP, in a rare political appearance after months of being absent from her husband's campaign. The event at the...
A man escaped Sudan's bloody civil war. His mysterious death in Missisippi has sparked suspicion
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — As a child, Dau Mabil escaped war-torn Sudan and built a new life in Mississippi. This month, fishermen found the body of the 33-year-old Mabil floating in a river, prompting calls for a federal investigation into his disappearance and death. Mabil, who lived...
New NHL team marks coming-of-age moment for Salt Lake City as a pro sports hub
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — To casual sports fans and people outside northern Utah, it may look like an NHL team fell into Salt Lake City’s lap in the span of two weeks. But local organizers say the Arizona Coyotes ' relocation to Utah is the product of a yearslong effort to beckon...
Lawsuits under New York's new voting rights law reveal racial disenfranchisement even in blue states
FREEPORT, N.Y. (AP) — Weihua Yan had seen dramatic demographic changes since moving to Long Island's Nassau County. Its Asian American population alone had grown by 60% since the 2010 census. Why then, he wondered, did he not see anyone who looked like him on the county's local...
Soar, slide, splash? It’s skiers’ choice as spring’s wacky pond skimming tradition returns
GILFORD, N.H. (AP) — A costumed skier races down a slope, hits a pond and hydroplanes halfway across. He pirouettes and then plunges into the icy water before jumping up and waving to the cheering crowd. It's the wacky spring tradition of pond skimming, and it's happening this...
Trump forced to listen silently to people insulting him as he trades a cocoon of adulation for court
NEW YORK (AP) — He seems "selfish and self-serving,” said one woman. The way he carries himself in public "leaves something to be desired," said another. His “negative rhetoric and bias," said another man, is what is “most harmful." Over the past...
The NBA playoffs are finally here. And as LeBron James says, 'it's a sprint now'
There’s a 64-win team in Boston that ran away with the league’s best record. The defending champions in Denver, a group that won 57 games. A fearless young bunch in Oklahoma City, whose No. 1 seed was no fluke. A trio of Villanova alums in New York, who turned the Knicks into a real contender....
