AP National News

By HALLIE GOLDEN Associated Press Google will pay $1.4 billion to Texas to settle claims the company collected users’ data without permission, the state’s attorney general announced Friday. Attorney General Ken Paxton described the settlement as sending a message to tech companies that he will not allow them to make money off of “selling away

By HOLLY MEYER Associated Press Pope Leo XIV, now the successor of St. Peter, leads the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church in a sacred role that few others will ever hold. But because of that, some supremely relatable facts about the new pope have emerged about his background, hobbies and life in general. The Chicago-born Augustinian

By OBED LAMY Associated Press NEW LENOX, Ill. (AP) — It was one of the most surreal phone calls I’ve experienced. A few hours earlier, John Prevost had watched the TV in stunned disbelief as his younger brother emerged on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and was named Pope Leo XIV. Journalists quickly showed

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ and CLAUDIA LAUER Associated Press Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday at a new federal immigration detention center he has been protesting against and was held in custody for several hours. Baraka was released around 8 p.m. after being accused of trespassing and ignoring warnings to leave the Delaney Hall facility.

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press The former North Carolina elections director who was ousted this week after a politically motivated move by Republicans said Friday she hopes the new leadership will approach elections in a nonpartisan way and called for an end to verbal attacks against those who oversee the voting process. Karen Brinson

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Christopher Columbus statue removed in 2020 amid a climate of racial reckoning after the police killing of George Floyd has finally found a home in a new museum dedicated to preserving the history of New Haven, Connecticut. Mayor Justin Elicker and other officials on Friday announced an “art loan

By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a federal civil rights investigation into a Muslim-centered planned community around one of the state’s largest mosques near Dallas, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said Friday. Cornyn requested the federal probe of the development last month, citing concerns it could

By ALI SWENSON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s newest surgeon general nominee is a burgeoning health influencer who has shared her approach to health care through appearances on some of the nation’s most popular wellness and right-wing podcasts. A sampling of Dr. Casey Means’ comments from those interviews over the past

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press A coalition of 15 states is suing over President Donald Trump’s efforts to fast-track energy-related projects, saying the administration is bypassing environmental protection laws and threatening endangered species, critical habitat and cultural resources. Trump issued an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency ” on the first day of his

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Liam and Olivia dominate. Still. The two names have, for a sixth year together, topped the list of names for babies born in the U.S. in 2024. The Social Security Administration annually tracks the names given to girls and boys in each state, with names dating back

By MATT SEDENSKY AP National Writer A Chicago-born cardinal walks into a conclave. The rest of the joke tells itself. In the breathless day since Pope Leo XIV’s election as the first American pontiff, the memes, doctored images and tongue-in-cheek references have piled up deeper than Chicago’s pizza and more loaded than its hot dog,

By GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Speakers blasted songs including “Born in the U.S.A.” and “American Pie” as six cardinal electors from the United States gathered in Rome on Friday to share their thoughts on the election of the first U.S.-born pope, Cardinal Robert Prevost. “I took a look at Bob … and

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Fashion designers from across North America are bringing inspiration from their Indigenous heritage, culture and everyday lives to three days of runway modeling starting Friday in a leading creative hub and marketplace for Indigenous art. A fashion show affiliated with the century-old Santa Fe Indian

By ED WHITE Associated Press A Wisconsin man charged with crimes for a school shooting committed by his daughter is the latest U.S. parent taken to court for violence caused by a child. Prosecutors have extended responsibility beyond shooters if they believe there is evidence that a parent contributed to the violence. The charges against

By LISA MASCARO and SEUNG MIN KIM The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — After musing publicly and privately with the idea of raising the top tax rate for wealthy millionaires as Republicans draft his big bill in Congress, President Donald Trump early Friday backed off that call — sort of. Trump posted on social media

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The final stage of jury selection for the racketeering and sex trafficking trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was postponed until early next week, right before opening arguments begin, a federal judge decided on Friday. Prosecutors allege that Combs, 55, used his fame and power

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, the ascetic bachelor and New Hampshire Republican who became a favorite of liberals during his nearly 20 years on the bench, has died. He was 85. Souter died Thursday at his home in New Hampshire, the court said in a

By BROOKE LEFFERTS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Author Mo Willems has sold millions of books and won many awards, but the accolade that means most to him is when a parent says their child read aloud for the first time from one of his books. The author, illustrator and animator, 57, is best

By JOCELYN GECKER and LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of U.S. adults disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of issues related to colleges and universities, according to a new poll, as his administration ramps up threats to cut federal funding unless schools comply with his political agenda. More than half of

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press A Tufts University student from Turkey was released from a Louisiana immigration detention center Friday, more than six weeks after she was arrested walking on the street of a Boston suburb. U.S. District Judge William Sessions in Burlington ordered the release of Rumeysa Ozturk pending a final decision on her

By OBED LAMY and HALLIE GOLDEN Associated Press NEW LENOX, Ill. (AP) — When white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel revealing that a new pope had been chosen, John Prevost turned on his television in Illinois, called his niece and they watched in awe as his brother’s name was announced. “She started screaming

By JAIMIE DING Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Attorneys for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were convicted of killing their parents in 1989, will make their case to a judge Friday that Los Angeles prosecutors should be removed from the brothers’ resentencing case. The brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without

By HOLLY RAMER and AMANDA SWINHART Associated Press MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A Palestinian student arrested as he was about to finalize his U.S. citizenship accused Columbia University on Thursday of eroding democracy with its handling of campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war. Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led anti-war protests at the Ivy League school

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO and MELINA WALLING Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — After white smoke billowed Thursday from the Sistine Chapel, signaling that a pope had been chosen, students in every classroom at The Frances Xavier Warde School in Chicago had their eyes glued to TV screens. As the image of the new pope, Chicago native

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon will immediately begin moving as many as 1,000 openly identifying transgender service members out of the military and give others 30 days to self-identify under a new directive issued Thursday. Buoyed by Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to enforce a ban

VALERIE GONZALEZ Associated Press McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Two advocacy groups for migrants filed a federal lawsuit Thursday asking the courts to halt new Trump Administration vetting procedures for reuniting children who crossed into the U.S. without their parents, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane. The lawsuit was filed by

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In the White House’s East Room on a rainy Thursday, first lady Melania Trump and members of the Bush family gathered to unveil a U.S postage stamp bearing the portrait of former first lady Barbara Bush. Amid the anticipation of the unveiling, Trump, Bush’s

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison after a prosecutor labeled him a predator who “preyed on hope” by enticing vulnerable customers to risk their life savings for a supposedly safe investment. Alexander

By ALEXA ST. JOHN Associated Press The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will no longer track the cost of climate change-fueled weather disasters, including floods, heat waves, wildfires and more. It is the latest example of changes to the agency and the Trump administration limiting federal government resources on climate change. NOAA falls under the