AP-National

CHICAGO (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped all felony charges against an Iowa man who was arrested in 2021 by Chicago police for having guns and ammunition in his hotel room overlooking a popular tourist attraction. Cook County prosecutors dropped the felony charges against Keegan Casteel on Monday after he pleaded guilty to reckless conduct, a

TORONTO (AP) — Police west of Toronto on Wednesday warned drivers to keep their car windows closed after a truck spilled crates carrying five million bees onto a road. Halton Regional Police said they received a call around 6:15 a.m. reporting the bee crates had come loose from a truck and spilled onto Guelph Line,

By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Civil rights advocates and Democratic state legislators are defending and praising a state Supreme Court justice for suing to block a state ethics panel from investigating her public comments that she says are protected by the First Amendment. They spoke on Wednesday at a Legislative

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON, CHRISTINE FERNANDO and ALI SWENSON Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was asked during last week’s GOP presidential debate whether he would support nationwide abortion restrictions, he instead offered a startling anecdote. “I know a lady in Florida named Penny,” he said. “She survived multiple abortion attempts.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The outer bands of Hurricane Franklin are lashing Bermuda as the Category 2 storm charges past the island located in the north Atlantic Ocean. Franklin had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph and was located some 145 miles north-northwest of Bermuda late Wednesday afternoon. It was moving northeast at

By JANIE McCAULEY AP Baseball Writer STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Retired San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey is working to complete his college degree 15 years after last taking a class at Florida State. He has a year’s worth of online coursework remaining to finish his degree in social science. He plans to take two

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell appeared to briefly freeze up and was unable to answer a question from a reporter at an event in Kentucky on Wednesday, weeks after he had a similar episode in Washington. As seen on video from a local news station, the

By ALBERT AJI Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister has condemned Israel’s airstrike on the international airport of the northern city of Aleppo earlier this week putting it out of service saying such attacks will eventually face retaliation. Hossein Amirabdollahian made his comments during a joint news conference with his Syrian counterpart

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Gusty winds and low humidity have brought a high risk of wildfires to the interior of Northern California. Pacific Gas & Electric proactively cut electricity early Wednesday to about 8,400 customers in small parts of eight counties, mostly in the western Sacramento

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — China has lashed out at the United States, saying a U.S. military transfer to Taiwan is a violation of U.S. commitments under its “one-China” policy. The statement comes after the Biden administration approved the first-ever U.S. military transfer to Taiwan under a program generally reserved for

By SUMMER BALLENTINE Associated Press COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri Republican wants exceptions to the state’s near-total abortion ban. Jamie Corley of suburban St. Louis filed constitutional amendments Wednesday to allow abortions in cases of rape, incest and fatal abnormalities until fetal viability. Viability is typically around 24 weeks. Corley also proposed allowing abortions

YURAS KARMANAU TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A representative of the Polish community in Belarus says a former correspondent for a top Polish newspaper has been denied life-saving heart medication in a Belarusian prison. Andrzej Poczobut has been placed in solitary confinement with no access to lawyers or medical care, according to the Union of Poles

By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — The once-powerful Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick will not stand trial on charges he sexually assaulted a teenage boy decades ago, as a Massachusetts judge dismissed the case against the 93-year-old on Wednesday because both prosecutors and defense attorneys agree he is experiencing dementia. McCarrick, the

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State and Tennessee will meet in an exhibition basketball game to raise money for relief efforts in the aftermath of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Michigan State announced Wednesday that it will play the Volunteers on Oct. 29 at the Breslin Center. All proceeds will

By ZANE IRWIN Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Nearly 170 migrants have returned to Senegal after spending almost a week in limbo on a Spanish rescue boat. The ministry for Senegalese abroad confirms that a Spanish vessel which rescued migrants off the coast of Mauritania brought them to the Senegalese port city of Saint

BEIRUT (AP) — The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has appealed for $15.5 million to respond to the fallout of clashes in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp earlier this month. The agency, known as UNRWA, said Wednesday the money is needed to repair infrastructure damaged in the clashes in the Ein el-Hilweh camp, provide

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press A company has bid $5.6 million to lease federal waters off the Louisiana coast for wind energy generation. Tuesday’s one-of-a-kind auction marked a modest start for wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico. Only one of three available tracts received bids Tuesday. The Biden administration said the tract covers more

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti’s conviction for plotting to extort up to $25 million from shoe giant Nike – one of several legal messes that have landed him behind bars. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The editor of such best-selling novels as Liane Moriarty’s “Big Little Lies” and Kathryn Stockett’s “The Help” is joining Penguin Random House. Amy Einhorn will begin Oct. 2 as senior vice president and publisher of Crown’s fiction program. Einhorn most recently served as president and

By KEN MILLER Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Authorities say a 15-year-old boy has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old at an Oklahoma high school football game. Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III announced the arrest Wednesday but referred other questions to Choctaw police, who are investigating the fatal shooting. The