AP National News

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

By MORIAH BALINGIT AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is expanding the reasons international students can be stripped of their legal status in the U.S., where thousands have come under scrutiny in a Trump administration crackdown that has left many afraid of being deported. Attorneys for international students say the new reasons

By REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge Tuesday expressed skepticism over the Trump administration’s assertions that its decision to declare an invasion at the U.S.-Mexico border and suspend asylum access was not something courts had the authority to review. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss heard arguments in a Washington courtroom over

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended a judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, saying Tuesday that it is in the public interest to relieve her of her duties as she faces two federal charges. The FBI took Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan into

By KATE PAYNE Associated Press/Report for America TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is poised to become the second state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, over the concerns of dentists and public health advocates who say the mineral is a safe, effective way to protect people of all ages from developing cavities. Florida lawmakers

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Harvard University is promising to review its academic offerings and admissions policies in response to a pair of internal reports on antisemitism and anti-Arab prejudice at the Ivy League campus commissioned in the aftermath of last spring’s pro-Palestinian protests. Harvard released the reports on Tuesday while

By HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press About two dozen states sued the Trump administration Tuesday over the dismantling of AmeriCorps, the 30-year-old federal agency for volunteer service, and over the cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in grant funding for state and community projects across the U.S. The federal lawsuit was filed against the agency

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County officials on Tuesday approved a $4 billion payout to settle nearly 7,000 claims of sexual abuse in juvenile facilities since 1959. The agreement reached on April 4 far surpasses a $2.6 billion settlement reached in 2022 with the Boy Scouts of America that was the largest aggregate sexual

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The state of New Mexico must create a remedial plan to improve K-12 education after falling short of providing an adequate public school education to Native American students and others from low-income households, a judge ruled Tuesday. The order from state district court Judge Matthew

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer Congress has overwhelmingly approved bipartisan legislation to enact stricter penalties for the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery, sometimes called “revenge porn.” Known as the Take It Down Act, the bill is now headed to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature. The measure was introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz,

By JOSH BOAK and ALEXA ST. JOHN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Tuesday to relax some of his 25% tariffs on autos and auto parts, the White House said, a significant reversal as the import taxes threatened to hurt domestic manufacturers. Automakers and independent analyses have indicated

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press A federal judge in California has barred Border Patrol agents from arresting someone suspected of living in the U.S. illegally unless they have a warrant or a reason to believe the person might flee before a warrant can be obtained. Tuesday’s ruling from U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston also

By TARA COPP and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boasted on social media Tuesday that he had dismantled a program supporting women on security teams, an initiative that he called “woke” but actually was signed into law by his boss, President Donald Trump. In a post on the social

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Bob Filner, a 10-term U.S. congressman whose long political career ended abruptly after he was elected mayor of San Diego and driven from office amid sexual misconduct allegations, has died. He was 82. Filner passed away April 20 with his children by his side, according to an obituary published Tuesday in

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and JEFF MARTIN Associated Press An official with the Islamic State group has been detained in Iraq, suspected of being involved with inciting the pickup truck-ramming attack in New Orleans that killed more than a dozen people celebrating the start of 2025, Iraqi authorities said. Iraqi authorities had received requests from the

By MARK THIESSEN and JULIE WATSON Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Vietnam War greatly impacted U.S. society from the passage of the War Powers Resolution that restricts the president’s ability to send troops into extended combat without congressional approval to the cementing of college campuses as centers of student activism. Millions of U.S.