AP National News

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal appeals court that already has said private individuals and groups cannot sue under a key part of the federal Voting Rights Act went even further Wednesday toward blocking lawsuits over alleged racial bias in voting in seven Midwest states. But its decisions may not

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Harvard University is putting up $250 million of its own money to continue research efforts amid a federal funding freeze imposed by the Trump administration, but the school’s president warns of “difficult decisions and sacrifices” to come. The university joins a growing number of colleges moving

By MORIAH BALINGIT AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday told Congress the Trump administration would not cut funding for Head Start, after layoffs at the agency and funding freezes raised fears the six-decade-old program would be radically downsized. In an appearance before a Senate

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Canadian man who drove the getaway truck in the biggest gold theft in Canadian history has pleaded guilty to a federal firearms charge after he sneaked into the United States, where he was caught trying to smuggle out 65 guns, authorities said Wednesday. Durante King-Mclean faces up to 15 years

By MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to weaken limits on some harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water roughly a year after the Biden administration finalized the first-ever national standards. The Biden administration said last year the rules could reduce PFAS exposure for millions of people. It was part

By OLIVIA DIAZ, KENDRIA LaFLEUR and BEN FINLEY Associated Press ALVARADO, Texas (AP) — A Georgetown University scholar from India who was arrested in the Trump administration’s crackdown on foreign college students was released from immigration detention Wednesday after a federal judge’s ruling. Badar Khan Suri will go home to his family in Virginia while

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer More than 1,000 Starbucks baristas at 75 U.S. stores have gone on strike since Sunday to protest a new company dress code, a union representing the coffee giant’s workers said Wednesday. Starbucks put new limits starting Monday on what its baristas can wear under their green aprons. The dress

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge charged with helping a man who is in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration agents who were trying to detain him at her courthouse filed a motion to dismiss the case Wednesday, arguing that there’s no legal basis for it. Attorneys for Milwaukee

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press A hotline between military and civilian air traffic controllers in Washington, D.C., that hasn’t worked for more than three years may have contributed to another near miss shortly after the U.S. Army resumed flying helicopters in the area for the first time since January’s deadly midair collision between a passenger

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge agreed Wednesday to temporarily block the Trump administration from stripping Foreign Service employees of their collective bargaining rights. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman granted a federal labor union’s request for a preliminary injunction that, while its lawsuit against the government is pending, stops the

By MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it plans to weaken limits on some “forever chemicals” in drinking water that were finalized last year, while maintaining standards for two common ones. The Biden administration set the first federal drinking water limits for PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, finding they

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The R&B singer Cassie testified Wednesday that Sean “Diddy” Combs raped her when she ended their decade-long relationship, after he locked her in a life of physical abuse by threatening to release degrading sexual videos of her. Addressing the Manhattan courtroom for

By MIKE STOBBE and GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press There were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. That’s down 27% from the

By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI Associated Press Some 100,000 commuters who work in New Jersey and New York City could soon be scrambling for other ways to reach their destinations if New Jersey Transit engineers walk off the job early Friday. NJ Transit — the nation’s third largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the

By TONI DUNCAN of Rochester Institute of Technology and NADIA LATHAN of The Associated Press ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — In 2020, following ferocious wildfires across Southern California, Jasmin Singer and her wife, Moore Rhys, decided they had had enough of Los Angeles. They packed their bags and moved to New York state. They debated between

By TRÂN NGUYỄN Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is facing a $12 billion deficit that Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to help close by freezing enrollment in a state-funded health care program for immigrants living in California without legal status. Newsom announced the deficit and his plans to cover it Wednesday as he outlined

By JAIMIE DING and CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge’s ruling made Lyle and Erik Menendez eligible for parole, but they still face multiple hurdles in their fight to be released from prison nearly three decades after they were convicted of murdering their parents in 1989. Los Angeles County Superior Court

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press The recent chronic delays and cancellations at New Jersey’s largest airport have highlighted the shortage of air traffic controllers and the aging equipment they use, which President Donald Trump’s administration wants to replace. The Federal Aviation Administration is working on a short-term fix to the problems at the Newark airport

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Barbara, a Cuban emigre 30 weeks into a high-risk pregnancy, is dealing with the additional stress of not knowing for sure that her baby girl will be an American citizen. “It scares me a lot that my baby will be born without citizenship because she would not

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News can get access to some internal documents at the voting-technology company Smartmatic as part of its effort to defend itself against a $2.7 billion civil defamation lawsuit over its coverage of claims of voting fraud during the 2020 presidential election, a New York appeals

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Brazilian scientist who pushed back against chemical fertilizers and researched biologically based approaches to more robust food production has been honored with this year’s World Food Prize, the organization announced Tuesday. Microbiologist Mariangela Hungria’s research helped her country become an agricultural powerhouse, an accomplishment

By SEJAL GOVINDARAO and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s governor on Tuesday signed legislation to create an alert system for Native Americans who have gone missing in the state, a measure that won unanimous approval from lawmakers in the wake of the disappearance and death of a San Carlos Apache teen.

By JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America A rock climber who fell hundreds of feet descending a steep gully in Washington’s North Cascades mountains survived the fall that killed his three companions, hiked to his car in the dark and then drove to a pay phone to call for help, authorities said Tuesday. The surviving

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal grand jury indicted a Wisconsin judge Tuesday on charges she helped a man in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration authorities looking to arrest him as he appeared before her in a local domestic abuse case. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan’s arrest and

By SCOTT BAUER and MEAD GRUVER Associated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) — Hannah Dugan, the Milwaukee judge charged with helping a man evade federal immigration authorities, is known for running a strict courtroom and being a familiar face in the community, particularly at interfaith events. Dugan was arrested last month at the Milwaukee County courthouse, and

By LEA SKENE Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — Flooding in rural western Maryland forced the evacuation of an elementary school Tuesday afternoon as water began to breach the second floor, according to local officials. Homes and businesses in downtown Westernport were also inundated with floodwaters after hours of heavy rain. Officials reassured the public that

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is cutting another $450 million in grants to Harvard University a day after the Ivy League school pushed back against government allegations that it’s a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism. In a letter to Harvard on Tuesday, a federal antisemitism task force

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — A judge on Tuesday struck down Michigan’s 24-hour waiting period before an abortion, saying it conflicts with a voter-approved amendment that locked abortion rights in the state constitution in 2022. “Michiganders have the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including the right to abortion care, and the state

By TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A lack of oxygen that incapacitated the pilot and three passengers is likely what caused a private jet to become unresponsive before flying over the nation’s capital and prompting the military to scramble fighter jets in 2023, according to a final report from the National Transportation

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press Dan Seavey, who helped organize the first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and whose son and grandson have each won the famous Alaska race multiple times, has died. He was 87. The Minnesota native, who had been adamant in wanting to remain at the south-central Alaska home in Seward he