AP-National

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — The sweltering heat wave in Texas has the power grid manager again asking residents to cut electricity use. This comes a day after the system was pushed to the brink of outages for the first time since a deadly winter blackout in 2021. The request by

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers have voted to raise taxes on guns and ammunition sales in the state. The proposed tax passed the state Senate on Thursday. The federal government already taxes the sale of guns and ammunition nationwide. That money pays for wildlife conservation and hunter safety programs.

By DIANE JEANTET Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has tried to project national unity during Independence Day events that have included a military parade in the capital. The celebration comes just eight months after his predecessor’s supporters launched an uprising hoping to prompt the army to

By TRISHA AHMED Associated Press/Report for America MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — People living in Minnesota without legal immigration status can now begin the process of getting their driver’s license by making an appointment for their written driver’s test. Around 81,000 people are expected to be eligible under the state’s new law — dubbed “Driver’s License for

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A former top executive at the failed FTX cryptocurrency exchange pleaded guilty Thursday to making tens of millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to U.S. politicians and engaging in a criminal conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business. Ryan Salame is the former co-chief

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press CLEVELAND (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh told a judicial conference on Thursday he hopes there will be “concrete steps soon” to address recent ethics concerns surrounding the court, but he stopped short of addressing calls for justices to institute an official code of conduct. “We can increase

By RAF CASERT and SYLVAIN PLAZY Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium has acknowledged that its primary rail gateway has become a festering sore of drug abuse, poverty and violence. The Brussels Midi Station is a major stain on a nation preparing to take on the presidency of the European Union next year. The government

By TRACEE M. HERBAUGH Associated Press For many bird watchers — novices and experts alike — this fall’s migration will have a soundtrack. Merlin, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is just one popular and free app that can identify birds just by their sound. You don’t have to see them to realize from their

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Democratic Florida state attorney is challenging her suspension by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Monique Worrell filed the petition against DeSantis with the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday. The former top prosecutor for the Orlando area says the governor’s order is invalid since it fails to show how she neglected her

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Officials say health risks due to high lead levels in drinking water in a majority Black and impoverished Michigan city were not taken quickly to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency leadership. The EPA Office of Inspector General said in a report Thursday that staff monitoring the state’s response to lead levels

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press A partial building collapse in Iowa that killed three people in May was caused by the removal of brick and inadequate shoring of the 116-year-old structure, according to a report released by officials Thursday. The 113-page investigative report by two engineering companies also blamed the collapse on an improper understanding

By JONEL ALECCIA AP Health Writer Bruce Springsteen announced Thursday that he’s postponing a slate of concerts in September on the advice of doctors who treating him for peptic ulcer disease. Fans who aren’t familiar with this common and potentially serious gastrointestinal problem may wonder how it could sideline The Boss, who turns 74 later

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is facing American and European condemnations for his recent comments about the Holocaust. Abbas said in a speech last month that the Nazis killed Jews not because of antisemitism, but because of their “social functions” in the society, including money lending. U.S. and European officials on Thursday accused

By ROB GILLIES Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — Canada has announced that a judge will lead a public inquiry into whether China, Russia and other countries interfered in Canadian federal elections in 2019 and 2021 that re-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says that Quebec Court of Appeal Justice Marie-Josée

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Kosovo’s president has accused investigators of dragging their feet over an inquiry into attacks on NATO peacekeepers earlier this year. Dozens of troops and police officers were injured in the May clashes. Some of them had serious injuries. President Vjosa Osmani also wants European Union officials to

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press Federal officials say the probe into the 2021 collapse of a beachfront condominium building in South Florida that killed 98 people should be completed by the fourth anniversary of the disaster. Officials said Thursday the investigation led by the National Institute of Standards & Technology is looking into two dozen

By AUDREY McAVOY and JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press KAHULUI, Hawaii (AP) — Richie Olsten has been in Maui’s helicopter tour business for a half century, so long he’s developed a barometer for the tourism-dependent economy: rental cars parked at the island’s airport. There are so many since wildfires killed at least 115 people in

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Workers are setting the stage for the World Trade Center’s newest component. It isn’t another office tower. Nor is it another monument, at least explicitly, to the memory of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It’s a theater complex. The Perelman Performing Arts Center was envisioned two

By ED WHITE Associated Press One of three men accused of assisting a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is testifying in his own defense. Eric Molitor told jurors that he was scared when he joined a daytime ride to see Whitmer’s vacation home in northern Michigan in 2020. He says he didn’t initially

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has dealt another serious setback to the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. The judge in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by the company that sought to regain mineral rights leases that the