Long a Republican state, Louisiana is redder than ever under new governor

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana has long been reliably red. The Bayou State has voted for the Republican candidate in every presidential election since 2000, with residents overwhelmingly supporting Donald Trump during the past two, and the GOP has held a majority in the statehouse for years. ...

Louisiana becomes first state to allow surgical castration as punishment for child molesters

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana has become the first state where judges can order offenders guilty of certain sex crimes against children to undergo surgical castration under a bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Tuesday. While the punishment of surgical...

Democrats put a spotlight on more than 1 million pensions saved under a 2021 law

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the general election nears, Democrats are keen to remind union voters in Pennsylvania that pensions for many workers have been preserved as part of a coronavirus pandemic-era aid package that keeps on giving. As of Friday, the White House said, more than 1...

The Supreme Court upholds a gun control law intended to protect domestic violence victims

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal gun control law that is intended to protect victims of domestic violence. In their first Second Amendment case since they expanded gun rights in 2022, the justices ruled 8-1 in favor of a 1994 ban on firearms for people...

North Carolina governor vetoes masks bill largely because of provision about campaign finance

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Despite changes made to North Carolina's masking bill to quell concerns over the removal of a pandemic-era health exemption, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said he vetoed the legislation on Friday mostly for a different reason: a campaign finance provision tacked on to the end...

Namibian court overturns and declares unconstitutional a law criminalizing gay sex between men

WINDHOEK, Namibia (AP) — A court in Namibia on Friday overturned and declared unconstitutional a colonial-era law criminalizing gay sex between men in a victory for LGBTQ campaigners in the southern African nation. Three judges in the High Court in the capital, Windhoek, said in a...

The Supreme Court upholds a gun control law intended to protect domestic violence victims

An ex-gun lobbyist is revising New Zealand's gun laws, tightened after the 2019 mosque attack

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government will overhaul the tighter gun laws introduced after a deadly mass shooting by a white supremacist five years ago, because they put excessive burdens on gun owners who feel vilified by law enforcement and the public, the lawmaker leading...

Thousands in Kenya demonstrate against proposed new taxes

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Thousands of mostly young people demonstrated Thursday in Kenya’s capital and across the country against new tax proposals by the administration of President William Ruto in its annual budget legislation. The protests brought Nairobi’s central business...

New York state prisons violate solitary confinement rules, judge says

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York's state prison system has been holding inmates in solitary confinement for too long, in violation of state law, a state judge ruled this week. State Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant said in a decision filed Thursday that the state Department of...