AP National News

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press It didn’t begin a long time ago or in a galaxy far far away, but every May 4 it feels like images, memes and promotional deals involving “Star Wars” have an inescapable gravity. May 4 — or May the 4th, as fans say — has evolved over the years into

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House plans to cut staffing at the CIA and other intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, Trump administration officials told members of Congress, The Washington Post reported Friday. A person familiar with the plan but not authorized to discuss it

By MORIAH BALINGIT AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration apparently has backed away from a proposal to eliminate funding for Head Start, the early education program that serves some of the nation’s neediest preschoolers. Backers of the six-decade-old program, which educates more than half a million children from low-income and homeless families,

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — James B. Milliken, who has led major public university systems in New York and Texas, was named president of the University of California on Friday. Milliken comes to the role from the University of Texas, where he has served as chancellor since 2018. He has also held leadership roles at The

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s police department provided federal immigration authorities with an internal record about a Palestinian woman who they arrested at a protest, which the Trump administration is now using as evidence in its bid to deport her, according to court documents obtained by The

By TRAVIS LOLLER and JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Nashville high school student who fatally shot a classmate before killing himself in January was on probation after threatening a student with a box cutter months earlier, according to juvenile court files obtained through an open records request. Solomon Henderson, who was

By MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday announced a broad reorganization as part of the Trump administration’s drive to cut costs that some activists worry will harm the agency’s independent scientific research. Administrator Lee Zeldin announced changes that included creating a new unit within his office “to align research and put

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Six people who all knew each other were inside a vehicle when one, a man with an alleged gang connection, shot each of them in the head before fleeing, according to newly unsealed criminal charges in this week’s mass shooting in Minneapolis. Three victims died at the

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has reached a preliminary agreement to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt over her shooting by an officer during the U.S. Capitol riot, attorneys said on Friday. Lawyers for Babbitt’s estate and the Justice Department told a

By CHRISTOPHER WILLS and JOHN O’CONNOR Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, disgraced by a corruption scandal that landed him in prison yet heralded by some for clearing the state’s death row, has died. He was 91. Kankakee County Coroner Robert Gessner, a family friend, said Ryan died Friday afternoon

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press A playdate between the world’s tallest and smallest living dogs went the way of most dog park encounters despite the 3-foot (0.91-meter) height difference — lots of tail wagging, sniffing and scampering. Reginald, a 7-year-old Great Dane from Idaho, and Pearl, a chihuahua from Florida, are both certified winners in

By ANNIKA HAMMERSCHLAG Associated Press CHANNEL ISLANDS, Calif. (AP) — Strands of kelp glow in the dim morning light off California’s Channel Islands as fish and sea lions weave through the golden fronds. It’s a scene of remarkable abundance — the result of more than two decades of protection in one of the state’s oldest

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — One of Harvey Weinstein ‘s accusers broke down in tears and cursed on the witness stand Friday as a defense lawyer questioned her account of the former Hollywood mogul forcing oral sex on her nearly two decades ago. “He was the one

By BEATRICE DUPUY and REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A pickup truck collided with a tour van carrying a number of foreign travelers on a highway leading to Yellowstone National Park, leaving seven people dead and eight others injured, Idaho State Police said. The crash happened just before 7:15 p.m. Thursday on

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — More U.S. children have died this flu season than at any time since the swine flu pandemic 15 years ago, according to a federal report released Friday. The 216 pediatric deaths reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eclipse the 207 reported last

By ISABELLA VOLMERT and ED WHITE Associated Press GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan police officer who killed a man with a shot to the back of the head testified in his own defense Friday, telling jurors at his second-degree murder trial that he was “running on fumes” and fearing for his life after

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump faces significant pushback from federal judges, a new poll shows U.S. adults are more likely to believe the president is the one overstepping his power rather than the courts — although Republicans largely think the opposite. According to a poll

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois landlord who killed a 6-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured the boy’s mother in a brutal hate-crime attack days after the war in Gaza began was sentenced Friday to 53 years in prison. Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nearly four months after wildfires reduced thousands of Los Angeles-area homes to rubble and ash, some residents are starting to rebuild. In the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, construction workers recently began placing wooden beams to frame a house on a lot where only a charred fireplace

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Cruella de Vil wanted to turn Dalmatian puppies into fur coats, Captain Hook tried to bomb Peter Pan and Maleficent issued a curse of early death for Aurora. But wait, maybe these Disney villains were just misunderstood? That’s the premise of a new musical show at

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione‘s lawyers urged a judge Thursday to throw out his state murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, arguing that the New York case and a parallel federal death penalty prosecution amount to double jeopardy. If that doesn’t happen, they want

By JOHN O’CONNOR Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The driver of a car that barreled through a building used for a popular after-school camp in central Illinois, killing three children and a teenager, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and may have had a medical emergency, police said Thursday. No decisions

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army is planning a sweeping transformation that will merge or close headquarters, dump outdated vehicles and aircraft, slash as many as 1,000 headquarters staff in the Pentagon and shift personnel to units in the field, according to a new memo and U.S. officials familiar with

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A soldier present at an after-hours nightclub where more than 100 immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally were taken into custody last weekend has been charged with distributing cocaine, court records show. Staff Sgt. Juan Gabriel Orona-Rodriguez, who is assigned to Fort Carson, an Army

By SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Republican-controlled U.S. House voted Thursday to block California from enforcing first-in-the-nation rules phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The move comes a day after the chamber voted to halt California standards to cut tailpipe emissions from medium- and heavy-duty

ALVORD, Texas (AP) — Talk about some serious coin. Millions of coins spilled onto a Texas highway this week after a tractor-trailer hauling $800,000 in dimes rolled over in an accident, authorities said. The spillage led to the closure of a portion of the southbound lanes of U.S. 287 in Alvord for about half a

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A steady line of slow-moving thunderstorms that battered Oklahoma in recent weeks set multiple rainfall records across the state and helped ease drought conditions. But the saturated ground and torrential rains also came with a heavy price, including the deaths of multiple people who became trapped

By ALEXA ST. JOHN Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department filed lawsuits against four states this week, claiming their climate actions conflict with federal authority and President Donald Trump’senergy dominance agenda. The DOJ on Wednesday filed lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan over their plans for legal action against fossil fuel companies for

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Justice Department lifted a school desegregation order in Louisiana this week, officials called its continued existence a “historical wrong” and suggested that others dating to the Civil Rights Movement should be reconsidered. The end of the 1966 legal agreement with Plaquemines Parish schools announced

By JENNIFER PELTZ and MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein ’s lawyers got their turn Thursday to question a woman who alleges the one-time Hollywood heavyweight held her down on a bed and forced oral sex on her nearly two decades ago. Miriam Haley, testifying for a third day at