AP National News

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

By SCOTT BAUER and TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin prosecutors have charged the father of a teenage girl who killed a teacher and fellow student in a school shooting last year with allowing her access to the semiautomatic pistols she used in the attack. The criminal complaint against 42-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press The Trump administration is halting some hiring at the federal Bureau of Prisons, the crisis-plagued agency where chronic understaffing has led to long overtime shifts and the use of prison nurses, teachers, cooks and other workers to guard inmates. The move, which coincides with President Donald Trump’s aggressive campaign

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — Robert Prevost may have made history Thursday by becoming the first pope from the United States. But in Peru, he is known as the saintly missionary who waded through mud after torrential rains flooded the region, bringing help to needy people, and as

By MATT BROWN WASHINGTON (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and executives from Microsoft and chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices testified on Capitol Hill about the biggest opportunities, risks and needs facing an industry which lawmakers and technologists agree could fundamentally transform global business, culture and geopolitics. The hearing comes as the race to control the

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s push to eliminate diversity initiatives on college campuses didn’t stop minority students from staging their own celebration after the University of Kentucky canceled ceremonies to honor its graduates who are Black or from other historically marginalized groups. Chalk it up as a lesson

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The World Video Game Hall of Fame on Thursday inducted four honorees, paying tribute to games that challenged players and changed the industry. Making up the Class of 2025 are: Defender, the 1981 arcade game that raised the bar on difficulty; Tamagotchi, the digital pets that bridged toys and video games;

By ISABELLA VOLMERT and ED WHITE Associated Press GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial Thursday after a Michigan jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict in the second-degree murder trial of a police officer who shot Patrick Lyoya, a Black man, in the back of the head following a traffic stop in

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A man who was put to death last month in South Carolina’s second firing squad execution was conscious and likely in extreme pain for as long as a minute after the bullets, meant to quickly stop his heart, struck him lower than expected, according to a

By MATT YORK, RIO YAMAT and SEJAL GOVINDARAO Associated Press CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — There were dozens of statements submitted to the court by family and friends of Christopher Pelkey when it came time to sentence the man convicted of fatally shooting him during a road rage incident. They provided glimpses of Pelkey’s humor, his

By THALIA BEATY Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Bill Gates says he will donate 99% of his remaining tech fortune to the Gates Foundation, which will now close in 2045, earlier than previously planned. Today, that would be worth an estimated $107 billion. The pledge is among the largest philanthropic gifts ever – outpacing the

By THALIA BEATY Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — In its first 25 years, the Gates Foundation became one of the world’s largest charitable foundations and one of the most powerful institutions in global health — an accomplishment that carried both accolades and controversy. Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates had grand ambitions for their foundation,

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Social Security Administration undergoes massive changes and staffing cuts ushered in by the Trump administration, an increasing share of older Americans — particularly Democrats — aren’t confident the benefit will be available to them, a poll shows. The share of older Americans

By ISABELLA O’MALLEY Associated Press Human-caused climate change intensified deadly rainfall in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and other states in early April and made those storms more likely to occur, according to an analysis released Thursday by the World Weather Attribution group of scientists. The series of storms unleashed tornadoes, strong winds and extreme rainfall in

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Smokey Robinson’s lawyer said allegations of rape and sexual assault against him in a lawsuit from four former housekeepers are “vile” and “false.” Attorney Christopher Frost said in a statement Wednesday that the evidence “will show that this is simply an ugly method of trying