AP National News

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — America’s only rare earths mine heard from anxious companies soon after China responded to President Donald Trump’s tariffs this month by limiting exports of those minerals used for military applications and in many high-tech devices. “Based on the number of phone calls we’re receiving, the

By SARA CLINE and KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press JENA, La. (AP) — Amid rural Louisiana’s crawfish farms, towering pine trees and cafes serving po’boys, nearly 7,000 people are waiting at immigration detention centers to learn whether they will be expelled from the United States. If President Donald Trump’s administration has its way, the capacity to

By SAFIYAH RIDDLE Associated Press/Report For America MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers approved a slew of bills on Thursday that would expand the use of Christian texts in public schools and limit protections for LGBTQ+ students, in lockstep with a national conservative agenda that has divided statehouses across the country. Three bills led to

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione was indicted Thursday on a federal murder charge in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a required step as prosecutors work to make good on the Trump administration’s order to seek the death penalty for what it called a

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is drastically shrinking the workforce and mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, eviscerating an agency created after the Great Recession with the goal of protecting Americans from fraud, abuse and deceptive practices. The plan, which is being challenged by an employee union, is

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer The Associated Press and the Trump administration returned to a courtroom Thursday — and will be in another on Friday — as part of the high-stakes battle over who can control which journalists are able to question the president. Lawyers argued before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court

By JAIMIE DING and ANDREW DALTON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez’s bid for shorter sentences and a shot at freedom has again been delayed due to disputes among prosecutors and the brothers’ lawyers. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic on Thursday set a new hearing for May 9 to

By MARYCLAIRE DALE and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The arsonist who broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s residence while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his extended family slept upstairs on the first night of Passover encountered little resistance as he scaled a security fence, smashed windows with a hammer, ignited two Molotov cocktails

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday provided new details about the arson fire early Sunday that prompted his family’s evacuation from the governor’s official residence in Harrisburg, recounting how wife and four kids and their two dogs — Bo and Bentley — were awakened by state

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s claim that it can’t do anything to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison and return him to the U.S. “should be shocking,” a federal appeals court said Thursday in a blistering order that ratchets up

By The Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A gunman opened fire Thursday at Florida State University, killing two people and wounding at least six others, police said. The 20-year-old gunman is the son of a sheriff’s deputy whose former service weapon was used in the shooting, authorities said. The two people who died were

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A shooting on the Florida State University campus on Thursday left multiple victims, and police took a suspect into custody, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The university issued an active shooter alert at midday near the student union. At least six people have been hospitalized, including

By KATE PAYNE and DAVID FISCHER Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The 20-year-old son of a sheriff’s deputy opened fire Thursday at Florida State University with his mother’s former service weapon, killing two men and wounding at least six others, investigators said. Officers quickly arrived and shot and wounded the shooter after he refused

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday kept on hold President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship but agreed to hear arguments on the issue in May. Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the U.S. illegally has been halted nationwide

By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — The student who shot four students when he opened fire at a Dallas high school this week was in and out of the building in less than two minutes and is believed to have been targeting a specific student, the school district police chief said Thursday. The

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens more people were screened Thursday as potential jurors for Harvey Weinstein’s New York rape retrial, but the selection wrapped up for the week with several slots still to be filled. The panel started taking shape Wednesday, when five women and four men were picked for

By ANNIE MA, FATIMA HUSSEIN and ALIA WONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to block the university from enrolling international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status. The moves raise the stakes of the showdown between the White House and the

By ALEXA ST. JOHN Associated Press Mike Summers was eager to install solar at his home in Ohio for years, and after he finally replaced his aging roof this year, his solar contractor swung into action. His system — including 19 panels and a battery backup — went up this week, and Summers considers himself

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD AP Political Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the fight for the U.S. House, Democrats are hoping pop rock star power will help oust a long-serving Republican east of Los Angeles as the party looks to regain control of the chamber and slow President Donald Trump’s agenda. Tim Myers, a Grammy-nominated

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Crews scrambled to restore power to Puerto Rico on Thursday after a blackout hit the entire island, affecting the main international airport, hospitals and hotels filled with Easter vacationers. The outage that began past noon Wednesday left 1.4 million customers without electricity and more

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI and KRISTIN M. HALL Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Damian Felipe Jimenez has many dreams about his future — he could be a restaurant owner, a scientist or maybe something else. As he works through sixth grade, he knows education will be critical in making his dreams a reality, but he’s

By JANIE HAR and OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Democrats nationally may be in turmoil, but liberals in San Francisco are hopeful the new mayor’s collaborative approach will help solve entrenched problems in a city recently known for its bitter infighting and chaotic streets. Daniel Lurie, an heir to the the

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A 30-year-old community service program that sends young adults to work on projects across the U.S. was the latest target of the Trump administration ‘s campaign to slash government spending. AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps informed volunteers Tuesday that they would exit the program early

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT Associated Press The Trump administration issued an order Wednesday to stop construction on a major offshore wind project to power more than 500,000 New York homes, the latest in a series of moves targeting the industry. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt construction on Empire

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A power blackout hit all of Puerto Rico on Wednesday as the heavily Catholic U.S. territory prepared to celebrate the Easter weekend. All 1.4 million customers were affected, Hugo Sorrentini, spokesman for Luma Energy, which oversees the transmission and distribution of power, told The

By TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press The Trump administration plans to eliminate habitat protections for endangered and threatened species in a move environmentalists say would lead to the extinction of critically endangered species because of logging, mining, development and other activities. At issue is a long-standing definition of “harm” in the Endangered Species Act, which has

By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press A California law firm notified the city of Pocatello, Idaho, on Wednesday of its intention to file a federal wrongful death lawsuit on the behalf of the family of Victor Perez, a 17-year-old boy with intellectual disabilities who was shot multiple times by four police officers. Perez, who was described

By ADAM GELLER AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The showdown between the Trump administration and Harvard University is spotlighting bare-knuckled politics and big dollar figures. But in the battle of the moment, it’s easy to lose sight of a decades-long alliance between the U.S. government and the nation’s most prominent universities, forged to

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York police sergeant was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison in a U.S. case about China’s pursuit of critics abroad, a sentence that came after two members of Congress urged the judge to spare him from time behind bars. Michael McMahon was

By AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that children in the U.S. are being diagnosed with autism at an “alarming rate,” promising on Wednesday to conduct exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may cause the developmental disorder. His call comes the day after the Centers