AP National News

BEND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service on Thursday is set to evict dozens of homeless people living in an encampment in a federal forest in central Oregon. The federal agency has been working for years on plans to close part of the Deschutes National Forest near Bend for forest restoration and wildfire mitigation.

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — From worker rights rallies to marches for social justice, activists around the globe kicked off May Day demonstrations on Thursday. In some countries, it’s a public holiday honoring labor, but activists planning marches in the United States say much of their message is about fighting back against

By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY and CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — As a first-generation college student, Austin Kissinger was looking forward to celebrating graduation with others of similar backgrounds who helped each other find their way at the University of Kentucky. Typically, Kentucky students who are the first in their family to graduate from college

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Growing up on the south side of Chicago, the Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley was given the message early on: What one wore as a Black man mattered. Wesley’s pastor father, who migrated from Louisiana after World War II in search of more opportunities than those readily

By GISELA SALOMON and KATE PAYNE Associated Press MIRAMAR, Fla. (AP) — A record 1,120 people accused of being in the U.S. illegally were arrested in less than a week during sweep orchestrated by federal, state and local authorities in Florida, an operation officials credited on Thursday to the burgeoning number of local police departments

By JANIE HAR Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A tax on sugary drinks takes effect Thursday in the beachside community of Santa Cruz, seven years after California banned its cities and counties from implementing local grocery taxes as part of a reluctant deal with the powerful beverage industry. The 2-cent-per-ounce tax, approved by voters

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press STARKE, Fla. (AP) — An Army combat veteran whose Gulf War experience triggered severe mental problems was executed Thursday evening in Florida for the 1998 shotgun slayings of his girlfriend and her three young children. Jeffrey Hutchinson, 62, was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida

By RIO YAMAT Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal judge has denied the U.S. government’s request to release from prison a former FBI informant who made up a story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes that later became central to Republicans’ impeachment effort. The decision, issued Wednesday by U.S.

By MARC LEVY and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press YORK, Pa. (AP) — A police officer killed while responding to a Pennsylvania hospital siege was struck by a shotgun blast fired by another officer that also hit the attacker as he held a hospital worker hostage with a gun to her head, a prosecutor disclosed Wednesday.

By MIKE SCHNEIDER and DAVID FISCHER MIAMI (AP) — Florida’s attorney general asked federal courts Wednesday to let authorities enforce a new state law making it a misdemeanor for people in the U.S. illegally to enter Florida by eluding immigration officials. State Attorney General James Uthmeier also asked U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami

By SARAH PARVINI AP Technology Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Conservative activist Robby Starbuck has filed a defamation lawsuit against Meta alleging that the social media giant’s artificial intelligence chatbot spread false statements about him, including that he participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Starbuck, known for targeting corporate

By BEN FINLEY Associated Press A federal judge on Wednesday again directed the Trump administration to provide information about its efforts so far, if any, to comply with her order to retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland temporarily halted her directive for information at the

By MAKIYA SEMINERA Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Following the lead of several conservative states and the president himself, North Carolina Republican lawmakers have advanced their own bills that target diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The North Carolina House passed a bill restricting DEI practices within state government on Wednesday after votes on it

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Members of a high school lacrosse program in upstate New York are accused of staging an armed abduction of younger players in an stunt that “went way beyond hazing,” prosecutors said this week — warning that the students will be charged with kidnapping if they don’t turn themselves into authorities soon.

By BEATRICE DUPUY Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Fashion icons like Dapper Dan, Janelle Monáe and the late André Leon Talley are known for their distinctive approaches to sartorial style — bold splashes of color, luxurious fabrics, playful construction, capes — but fashion savants and historians agree that a common thread weaves their tailored

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican state lawmaker from Maine appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday after she was censured by the state House for a social media post about a transgender athlete, a move that comes amid sparring over the issue between the Democratically controlled state and the

By SEAN MURPHY and MARC LEVY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A least two people drowned when their vehicles were caught in floodwaters in Oklahoma on Wednesday as slow-moving thunderstorms inundated roads across parts of that state and Texas, authorities said, while Pennsylvania residents picked up from a powerful storm that left three people

By AMANDA SWINHART and HOLLY RAMER The Associated Press BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A judge on Wednesday released a Palestinian student at Columbia University who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza and was arrested by immigration officials during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship. Immigration authorities have arrested and detained college students from

By JOSH FUNK and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press Norfolk Southern began making promises to East Palestine, Ohio, soon after its train derailed and caught fire in February 2023, saying it would “make it right” after five tank cars of vinyl chloride were intentionally burned, sending up a huge black plume of smoke that spread more

By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Elon Musk has for years made Texas a business home and playground, launching rockets, building cars, and dreaming about creating a utopian enclave for his workers on the rural outskirts of the state capital. Now, a new Musk project is on the brink of victory: an

BRYCE CANYON CITY, Utah (AP) — Two people died in a 380-foot (116-meter) fall from a viewing area in southern Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park. Tourists spotted the bodies Tuesday below Inspiration Point after the two fell late Monday or early Tuesday, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. How they fell was

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is moving to cancel $1 billion in school mental health grants, saying they reflect the priorities of the previous administration. Grant recipients were notified Tuesday that the funding will not be continued after this year. A gun violence bill signed by Democratic President

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa immigrant rights organization is refusing a lawmaker’s demands to turn over private details about the nonprofit’s clients, donors and members, calling it intimidation from public officials amid a national crackdown on immigration. The directive dated Feb. 24 was sent to Iowa Migrant Movement

By DAVID A. LIEB, MARGERY A. BECK and BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Voters in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska were asked last year whether they wanted to require employers to provide paid sick leave to their workers. They overwhelmingly said yes. Now some lawmakers in each of those states are trying

By MAX CONWAY of Rochester Institute of Technology and CEDAR ATTANASIO of The Associated Press ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — With her purple-and-pink hair swaying, Reneé Colón stands on a stepladder in the rented corner of a warehouse, pouring Brazilian coffee beans into her groaning old roasting machine. The beans are precious because they survived severe

By SOPHIE AUSTIN Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A long-delayed project promising nonstop rail service between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours may be able to secure the private funding it desperately needs if California agrees to pay the investors back, its chief executive told The Associated Press. Ian

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. (AP) — As a high school hockey player, Adam Drexler wore his Massapequa Chiefs jersey with pride. But as the Chickasaw Nation member grew up and learned about his Indigenous roots, he came to see the school’s mascot — a stereotypical Native American man wearing a headdress —

By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — In a first-of-its kind move, Hawaii lawmakers are ready to hike a tax imposed on travelers staying in hotels, vacation rentals and other short-term accommodations and earmark the new money for programs to cope with a warming planet. State leaders say they’ll use the funds for projects

By KATE PAYNE Associated Press/Report for America TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — When Florida state Rep. Fiona McFarland’s infant daughter, Grace Melton, crawled for the first time, the mom of four was right next door, hard at work with her legislative policy staff in the state Capitol. Thanks to the on-site child care available in the

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Testimony in the trial of three former Memphis officers charged with fatally beating Tyre Nichols resumes Wednesday, a day after defense attorneys sought to chip away at accusations that the officers used unnecessary force to subdue Nichols after he ran from a traffic stop. Former Memphis