AP-National

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Second-degree murder charges against two sheriff’s deputies and a hospital worker have been reduced to involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of a Virginia man who was pinned to the floor while being admitted to a state psychiatric hospital. The downgrading of the charges in the 2023 death of Irvo Otieno

By KIM TONG-HYUNG and HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has fired a barrage of ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea, according to South Korea’s military, days after its failed spy satellite launch drew condemnation. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday it detected around 10 suspected short-range ballistic

By SEAN MURPHY and ANDREW DEMILLO Associated Press A four-term Democratic incumbent in Houston has been ousted in a statehouse primary race that centered on her support for a ban on gender-affirming health care for minors. Democratic challenger Lauren Ashley Simmons defeated incumbent Shawn Thierry in Tuesday’s primary by nearly 30 percentage points. Simmons had

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer McDonald’s is fighting back against viral tweets and media reports that it says have exaggerated its price increases. In a post on the company’s website Wednesday, McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger said reports suggesting the price of the average Big Mac has doubled since 2019 were false. McDonald’s said

DANVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a fugitive dubbed the “bad breath rapist” has been arrested in the San Francisco Bay Area more than 16 years after he fled following a conviction for sexually assaulting a coworker in Massachusetts. Authorities said Tuen Kit Lee was taken into custody Tuesday after investigators spotted him leaving a

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The first ombudsman of West Virginia’s heavily burdened foster care system has resigned. Pamela Woodman-Kaehler’s resignation will take effect June 6. The state Department of Health announced her planned departure Wednesday. Woodman-Kaehler said she was pursuing a new opportunity but didn’t give more details. The ombudsman

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A nurse was fired by a New York City hospital after she referred to Israel’s war in Gaza as a “genocide” during a speech accepting an award. Labor and delivery nurse Hesen Jabr, who is Palestinian American, was being honored by NYU Langone Health for her

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In declining to step aside from two high-profile Supreme Court cases, Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday provided a rare window on the opaque process by which justices decide to step aside from cases. Alito faced calls from Democrats to recuse from two cases involving former President Donald

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man who lost his job after he said a random drug test showed he’d used medical marijuana off duty for chronic pain has appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court saying he shouldn’t have been denied unemployment benefits. He was terminated for misconduct from a

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Alberta officials say a wildfire in western Canada that forced thousands of residents from their homes in the oil sands hub of Fort McMurray earlier this month is now under control. About 6,600 residents in four neighborhoods were ordered out for several days as fierce winds whipped flames close to

By MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press Denka Performance Elastomer in Louisiana threatened to shut down if the Biden administration doesn’t give it more time to reduce its emissions. The company makes the synthetic rubber neoprene — and federal officials have accused the plant of increasing cancer risk to the nearby, majority-Black community. The Environmental Protection Agency

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Critics of a new Louisiana law, which makes it a crime to approach within 25 feet (7.6 meters) of a police officer under certain circumstances, fear that the measure could hinder the public’s ability to film officers — a tool that has increasingly been used

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s statewide police union is calling for what it calls “real consequences” for drunken, rowdy teens and adults who create mayhem in public places following disturbances at Jersey Shore towns over the Memorial Day weekend. The New Jersey State Policemens’ Benevolent Association called Wednesday

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria has adopted a new national anthem reintroduced nearly a half-century ago after it was dropped for the current one. The switch came into effect on Wednesday after the country’s leader signed a new law. The law has been widely criticized among many Nigerians who said

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee is opening an investigation into Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas after his indictment this month on allegations of bribery, money laundering and working on behalf of a foreign government. The committee said Wednesday that it voted unanimously to take the rare step of pursuing an investigation into

RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — U.S. National Park Service officials say an unoccupied house has collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean along North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Tuesday’s collapse was the sixth along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the past four years. About one mile of the beach was closed as the national seashore began its cleanup

By THALIA BEATY Associated Press Melinda French Gates ‘ has a long history of supporting the women’s movement, but it’s her new eye-popping funding commitments that could finally change women’s groups’ long-running lament that less than 2% of philanthropic giving in the United States directly benefits women and girls. That 2% ceiling could be broken

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An international law enforcement team has arrested a Chinese national and disrupted a major botnet that officials said he ran for nearly a decade. Officials said Wednesday that Yunhe Wang amassed at least $99 million by reselling access to the botnet to criminals who used it for identity theft, child

By ISABELLA VOLMERT Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Abortion providers are asking a judge to expand the health exception to Indiana’s abortion ban. Planned Parenthood also wants the judge to allow clinics as well as hospitals to provide abortions. Indiana allows abortions when the health or life of the woman is at risk. The plaintiffs

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities say a human skull found padlocked to an exercise dumbbell has been fished out of a New Orleans waterway, leaving police with a mystery on their hands. Police said in a report that the skull was found on May 18. A man using a rope and a magnet the size