Top General News

Michael Cohen pressed on his crimes and lies as defense attacks key Trump hush money trial witness

May. 16, 2024 17:51 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's lawyers accused the star prosecution witness in his hush money trial of lying to jurors, portraying Trump fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen on Thursday as a serial fabulist who is bent on seeing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee behind bars. ...

White House blocks release of Biden audio as Republicans move ahead with Garland contempt charge

May. 16, 2024 17:36 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Thursday blocked the release of audio from President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel about his handling of classified documents, arguing that Republicans in Congress only wanted the recordings “to chop them up” and use them for political...

Texas governor pardons ex-Army sergeant convicted of killing Black Lives Matter protester

May. 16, 2024 18:38 PM EDT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a full pardon Thursday for a former U.S. Army sergeant convicted of murder for fatally shooting an armed demonstrator in 2020 during nationwide protests against police violence and racial injustice. Abbott announced the pardon...

Aid for Gaza will soon flow from pier project just finished by US military, Pentagon says

May. 16, 2024 18:08 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Thursday that humanitarian aid will soon begin flowing onto the Gaza shore through the new pier that was anchored to the beach and will begin reaching those in need almost immediately. Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters that the...

House votes to require delivery of bombs to Israel in GOP-led rebuke of Biden policies

May. 16, 2024 19:38 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House delivered a rebuke to President Joe Biden Thursday for pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel, passing legislation that seeks to force the weapons transfer as Republicans worked to highlight Democratic divisions over the Israel-Hamas war. Seeking to...

Lawyer for family of slain US Air Force airman says video and calls show deputy went to wrong home

May. 16, 2024 20:00 PM EDT

STONECREST, Ga. (AP) — A lawyer for the family of Roger Fortson said Thursday that police radio traffic and the body camera footage of the Florida sheriff’s deputy who killed the Black U.S. Air Force airman reinforce their assertion that the deputy was directed to the wrong apartment while...

Slovak authorities charge 'lone wolf' with assassination attempt on the prime minister

May. 16, 2024 14:03 PM EDT

BANSKA BYSTRICA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovak authorities charged a man Thursday with attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Robert Fico, saying he acted alone in a politically motivated attack that left the longtime leader in serious but stable condition. Fico’s pro-Russia views...

Supreme Court sides with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, spurning a conservative attack

May. 16, 2024 13:08 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a conservative-led attack that could have undermined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The justices ruled 7-2 that the way the CFPB is funded does not violate the Constitution, reversing a lower court and drawing...

Justice Department formally moves to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug in historic shift

May. 16, 2024 15:59 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday formally moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic shift in generations of U.S. drug policy. A proposed rule sent to the federal register recognizes the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledges it has...

US prisoners are being assigned dangerous jobs. But what happens if they are hurt or killed?

May. 16, 2024 15:14 PM EDT

PHOENIX (AP) — Blas Sanchez was nearing the end of a 20-year stretch in an Arizona prison when he was leased out to work at Hickman’s Family Farms, which sells eggs that have ended up in the supply chains of huge companies like McDonald’s, Target and Albertsons. While assigned to a machine...

Latest General News

House Republicans ditch their day jobs to stand with Trump, while legislating languishes

May. 16, 2024 20:09 PM EDT

Leaving Washington behind, prominent far-right House Republicans who have repeatedly thrown this Congress into chaos showed up Thursday at Donald Trump’s hush money trial to do what they do best. They stood outside Trump Tower filming their support for the indicted former...

PEN America, facing ongoing criticism over its response to the Mideast war, gathers for annual gala

May. 16, 2024 20:06 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — With guests including Paul Simon and Seth Meyers, PEN America gathered Thursday night for its annual gala, a dressed-up, high-profile event raised even higher because some wondered if it would be held at all. The literary and human rights organization has faced...

Donor and consultant convicted again of trying to bribe North Carolina's insurance commissioner

May. 16, 2024 20:01 PM EDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A major North Carolina political donor and his associate have been convicted a second time of attempting to bribe the state’s insurance commissioner to secure preferential regulatory treatment for his insurance business. A federal jury convicted insurance...

Lawyer for family of slain US Air Force airman says video and calls show deputy went to wrong home

May. 16, 2024 20:00 PM EDT

STONECREST, Ga. (AP) — A lawyer for the family of Roger Fortson said Thursday that police radio traffic and the body camera footage of the Florida sheriff’s deputy who killed the Black U.S. Air Force airman reinforce their assertion that the deputy was directed to the wrong apartment while...

US Coast Guard says Texas barge collision may have spilled up to 2,000 gallons of oil

May. 16, 2024 19:59 PM EDT

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — Early estimates indicate up to 2,000 gallons of oil may have spilled into surrounding waters when a barge carrying fuel broke free from a tugboat and slammed into a bridge near Galveston, Texas, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday. The barge crashed into a...

Psychedelic therapy and workers' rights bills fail to advance in California's tough budget year

May. 16, 2024 19:54 PM EDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — As California faces a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, lawmakers must make tough decisions about which of the more than 1,000 measures still alive in the Legislature this year will not make the cut. On Thursday, they stopped hundreds of bills from...

Former Connecticut budget official arrested, pleads not guilty to bribery and extortion charges

May. 16, 2024 19:44 PM EDT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A former top official in Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont's budget office allegedly extorted private contractors into paying him thousands of dollars in bribes as he oversaw large blocks of state money for school construction projects, federal authorities said Thursday. ...

Police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment at DePaul University in Chicago

May. 16, 2024 19:42 PM EDT

CHICAGO (AP) — Police began dismantling a pro-Palestinian encampment early Thursday at DePaul University in Chicago, hours after the school's president told students to leave the area or face arrest. Officers and workers in yellow vests cleared out tents and camping equipment at...

Gunman's family told deputy before Maine's deadliest shooting that they hadn't removed his weapons

May. 16, 2024 19:41 PM EDT

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Police have said repeatedly in the aftermath of Maine’s deadliest shooting that officers thought the gunman's family had been taking his weapons away. Testifying before an investigative committee on Thursday, the gunman’s sister-in-law suggested that law...

What to know about how much the aid from a US pier project will help Gaza

May. 16, 2024 19:40 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S.-built pier is in place to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea, but no one will know if the new route will work until a steady stream of deliveries begins reaching starving Palestinians. The trucks that will roll off the pier project installed Thursday...