How Trump's impeachment differs from a criminal trial

WASHINGTON (AP) — Yes, it's a trial — but the Senate's impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump won't resemble anything Americans have seen on Court TV. In Trump's trial, the Senate will serve as both judge and jury. The Republicans who control the chamber can forge their own rules if...

Ex-US Rep. Collins gets over 2 years in insider trading case

NEW YORK (AP) — The first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump to be president was sentenced Friday to two years and two months in federal prison after admitting he helped his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a drug trial by a small pharmaceutical company had...

Alabama court won't reconsider Confederate monument ruling

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday refused to reconsider a ruling that prohibits Birmingham from obscuring, or taking down, a Confederate monument in a city park. Justices turned down a rehearing request without comment. The court in November ruled that Birmingham violated a...

Virginia's highest court upholds weapons ban at gun rally

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia's highest court on Friday upheld a ban on firearms at an upcoming pro-gun rally in the state's capital, an event that authorities feared could erupt in violence at the hands of armed extremists. The Virginia Supreme Court's decision came a day after gun-rights groups sued to...

Virginia Supreme Court upholds weapons ban for pro-gun rally next week, rejecting appeal from gun-rights groups

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Supreme Court upholds weapons ban for pro-gun rally next week, rejecting appeal from gun-rights groups.

Appeals court rules against convict over gender pronouns

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A transgender convict has lost a federal appeal to have her name changed in court records — and to have the appeals court refer to her with feminine pronouns. The case of Norman Varner — now Katherine Nicole Jett — divided a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit...

Court to look anew at health care law birth control rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will consider allowing the Trump administration to enforce rules that allow more employers to deny insurance coverage for contraceptives to women. The justices agreed Friday to yet another case stemming from President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, this time about...

Ex-Guantanamo commander convicted of lying about man's death

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A former commander of the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay was convicted Friday of interfering with an investigation into the death of a civilian with whom the commander had fought and argued over his affair with the man's wife. A federal jury in Jacksonville convicted Navy Capt....

Appeals court won't rehear Mississippi 15-week abortion case

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal appeals court said Friday that it will not reconsider its ruling that Mississippi's law banning most abortions after 15 weeks is unconstitutional. The 2018 state law remains blocked and Mississippi's only abortion clinic remains open. The owner has said the clinic d oes...

Lawyers: ICE arrests trans migrant woman month after release

One month after winning her release from immigration detention, a transgender woman from El Salvador with several illnesses was arrested and taken back to the same jail because the U.S. government is appealing the judge's decision, the woman's lawyers said Friday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...