AP-National

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas man who set fire to an Austin synagogue in an antisemitic attack two years ago has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Twenty-year-old Franklin Sechriest was sentenced on Wednesday. He had previously pleaded guilty to arson and a hate crime causing damage to religious property on Halloween 2021.

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — After ballot shortages in Mississippi’s largest county sowed chaos and confusion on the evening of the November statewide election, the state Republican Party has filed a petition challenging a court order that kept polls open longer than usual. The Mississippi GOP filed papers Tuesday

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Mike Johnson expressed reservations Wednesday about expelling Rep. George Santos from the House this week, but said he and other GOP leaders will not push colleagues to oppose removing the New York Republican from office. “We’re going to allow people to vote their conscience,” Johnson said.

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Kraft Macaroni and … Fava Beans? The Kraft Heinz Co. said Wednesday it’s bringing dairy-free macaroni and cheese to the U.S. for the first time. The company said the new recipe has the same creamy texture and flavor of its beloved 85-year-old original Mac & Cheese but replaces dairy

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Frances Sternhagen, the veteran character actor who won two Tony Awards and became a familiar maternal face to TV viewers later in life in such shows as “Cheers,” “ER,” “Sex and the City” and “The Closer,” has died. She was 93. Sternhagen died peacefully of

WAYNESBURG, Pa. (AP) — A judge has dismissed all charges against three western Pennsylvania emergency management supervisors accused of obstructing an investigation. The investigation was into an emergency dispatcher accused of failing to send an ambulance to the rural home of a woman who died of internal bleeding about a day later. The (Washington) Observer-Reporter

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press The man charged with shooting three college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont was accused in 2019 of harassing an ex-girlfriend in New York state. According to a police report, Jason J. Eaton was never arrested in the case because the ex-girlfriend said she didn’t want to press charges. The

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris will join the United States delegation at the upcoming United Nations conference on climate change in Dubai. Her attendance appears to be hastily arranged since her staff recently said she had no plans to go. President Joe Biden will not be going to

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press A Virginia man has been arrested on charges that he stormed the U.S. Capitol while wearing a Captain America backpack and stole items from senators’ desks on the Senate floor during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. The FBI says Ryan Joseph Orlando took a pen from the desk of Republican

DETROIT (AP) — Less than two weeks after ratifying new contracts with Detroit automakers, the United Auto Workers union announced plans Wednesday to try to simultaneously organize workers at more than a dozen nonunion auto factories. The UAW says the drive will cover nearly 150,000 workers at factories largely in the South, where the union

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Families of American hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip are describing their anguish and calling on the U.S. and Israeli governments to do all they can to bring home their loved ones home. The family members are in Washington on Wednesday, where they are making

By TERRY TANG Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Officials in a rural Arizona county who delayed canvassing the 2022 general election results have been criminally charged, the state’s top prosecutor said Wednesday. A grand jury in Maricopa County Superior Court has indicted Cochise County supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby on one count each of

By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer The Newport Beach, California, Police Department said Wednesday that its detectives are conducting an investigation into an accusation that Oklahoma City Thunder guard Josh Giddey had an improper relationship with an underage girl. In a since-deleted post, an anonymous social media user last week said a girl who is

By TIM REYNOLDS and SCHUYLER DIXON AP Sports Writers Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has entered into an agreement to sell a majority stake in the NBA franchise to the family that runs the Las Vegas Sands casino company, it was announced Wednesday. The deal could be completed in the coming weeks. The agreement would

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man serving life in prison for a deadly 2004 flower shop robbery had a simple message at a hearing reexamining his conviction: “I’m innocent 100 percent.” Marvin Haynes has spent nearly two decades behind bars for the shooting death of 55-year-old Randy Sherer, who was killed inside his family business

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The proposed NewRange Copper Nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota has suffered a fresh setback. An administrative law judge recommended late Tuesday that state regulators should not reissue a crucial permit for the long-delayed project. The judge said the design for the mine’s waste basin won’t adequately prevent

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — An entire county school system in coal-producing West Virginia is going solar. The project in Wayne County Schools represents what a developer and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s office touted on Wednesday as the biggest-ever single demonstration of sun-powered renewable electricity in Appalachian public schools. The agreement

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A group of residents have sued a public utility company in the U.S. Virgin Islands after authorities there reported finding high levels of lead and copper in the tap water on St. Croix. The class-action lawsuit is expected to be served in the coming

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Stay and enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime show. That is the message organizers of the Paris Olympics are sending in an effort to reassure the French capital’s residents that security measures and traffic restrictions won’t make their lives nightmarish during the July 26-Aug. 11 event and the Paralympic Games