AP-National

By FRANK BAJAK and MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Three members of Congress are asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate how hackers breached a water utility system near Pittsburgh. The attack prompted the nation’s top cyberdefense agency to warn other water and sewage-treatment utilities they may be vulnerable. In a letter

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel is running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court against incumbent Justice Ann Walsh Bradley in 2025. In his campaign launch Thursday, Schimel cast the race as a chance for conservatives to win back a majority and serve as a check on

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press The owner of two a south-central Montana precious metals mines is stopping work on an expansion project and laying off about 100 workers because the price of palladium fell sharply in the past year. Sibanye-Stillwater announced the layoffs Wednesday at its platinum and palladium mine. The company said another

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked Montana’s first-in-the-nation law banning the video-sharing app TikTok in the state while a legal challenge to the law moves through the courts. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy says the ban “oversteps state power and infringes on the Constitutional right of

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Most drivers would pay $15 to enter Manhattan’s central business district under a plan released by New York officials. The congestion pricing plan will be the first such program in the United States if it if is approved by transportation officials early next year. Revenue from

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An attorney for the billionaire Haslam family has called the bribery allegations from Warren Buffett’s company a “wild invention.” But a judge didn’t decide immediately whether those allegations will be resolved at a January trial that will help determine the multibillion-dollar price Berkshire Hathaway might

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The chairman of Florida’s Republican Party is the subject of a rape investigation, though no charges have been filed and his lawyer says he will be exonerated. Still, the investigation into Christian Ziegler comes at a critical time for the Republican Party of Florida: Two Florida

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republicans are pushing forward new legislative maps that would preserve their majorities in the state House and Senate. But they’re still not revealing how they want to redraw Georgia’s 14 congressional districts. State House and Senate committees on Thursday passed maps for their respective chambers on

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky state Rep. Kevin Bratcher announced his plans Thursday to run for a Louisville Metro Council seat next year, which would culminate a long statehouse career that put the Republican lawmaker at the forefront of school safety, juvenile justice and a host of other issues. Bratcher

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — It was President Joe Biden ‘s turn to bring some holiday spirit to the U.S. capital. The president and his wife, Jill, participated Thursday in the annual tradition of lighting the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse, an area known as President’s Park, on the south side

ARLINGTON, Ind. (AP) — A 59-year-old man suspected in the June disappearance of a 17-year-old neighbor has been charged with murder after human remains were found buried on his Indiana property. Patrick Scott of Arlington made an initial court appearance Thursday and was ordered held without bond. Scott also is charged with obstruction of justice

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press The nation’s largest publisher and several bestselling authors, including novelists John Green and Jodi Picoult, are part of a lawsuit filed Thursday challenging Iowa’s new law that bans public school libraries and classrooms from having practically any book that depicts sexual activity. The lawsuit is the second in the

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has temporarily delayed ruling on whether to set an execution date for a man on death row for capital murder. The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Mississippi Attorney General’s motion to lift a stay and set an execution

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed a measure that would permanently freeze the $6 billion recently transferred by the U.S. in a prisoner swap with Iran. The resolution is a response to the Islamic Republic’s alleged role in the deadly attacks last month by Hamas on Israel. The House’s

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Law enforcement authorities say in court papers that the plot driven by a government official in India to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader in New York City was meant to precede another killing in California and more assassinations in the U.S. and Canada. An indictment

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A bill that would end smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos continues to go nowhere. The measure had been planned for a preliminary vote Thursday in a state Senate committee. But the head of that committee, Sen. Joseph Vitale, says it lacked enough votes to move forward.

PHOENIX (AP) — A woman is in an Arizona jail facing charges in a killing after she was sentenced to life in an Idaho prison for murdering her two youngest children and another woman. Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said Thursday deputies arrived in Phoenix with Lori Vallow Daybell the night before. She is wanted

By FREIDA FRISARO and DAVID FISCHER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A busy hurricane season that saw the National Hurricane Center in Miami issue the first-ever tropical storm warning for the coast of California and hurricane warnings as far north as Nova Scotia is coming to a close Thursday night. The Atlantic basin

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A lawsuit against Alec Baldwin filed by relatives of a U.S. Marine killed in Afghanistan has been resolved in the actor’s favor. Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, says the actor has not paid any of the $25 million the family of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum sought for