AP-National

By NOMAAN MERCHANT, ELLEN KNICKMEYER, ZEKE MILLER and TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has announced a new $345 million military aid package for Taiwan. It’s the Biden administration’s first major package drawing on America’s own stockpiles to help Taiwan counter China. Two U.S. officials tell The Associated Press that the package

By JUAN A. LOZANO and BEN FINLEY Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — Just moments before rap superstar Travis Scott took the stage at the deadly 2021 Astroworld festival, a contract worker had been so worried about what might happen after seeing people getting crushed that he texted an event organizer saying, “Someone’s going to end

By MARK PRATT Associated Press The rapper G Herbo has pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme that used stolen credit card information to pay for a lavish lifestyle that included private jets, exotic car rentals, a luxury vacation rental and even expensive designer puppies. The rapper, whose real name is Herbert Wright III,

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The new prosecutor in Oklahoma’s biggest county announced Friday she’s dropping criminal charges against seven police officers in three separate fatal shootings from 2020, including one in which five officers were charged with killing a 15-year-old boy outside a convenience store. District Attorney Vicki Behenna’s predecessor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky woman has been sentenced to nine years in prison for mailing racist threats to her neighbors, the Justice Department said. Suzanne Craft, 55, of Louisville, sent multiple threatening letters through the U.S. Postal Service in 2020 to an interracial family who lived in the same neighborhood, according to court

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Five Honduran migrants are dead and another 18 are injured following the crash of the van they were riding in on Mexico’s southern Gulf coast. Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said Friday the dead included four adult women and a two-year-old child. About half of those injured are children. The type of

SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a man allegedly stabbed a woman to death in the San Francisco Bay Area and then posted a video of the slaying to Facebook. The gruesome footage helped police track down the suspect Wednesday. Mark Mechikoff was arrested about 30 miles south of where the victim was found

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruling that upended President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive student loan debt changed his budget math. As a result, the White House is modestly lowering the projected deficit for this year. It expects to pare back $259 billion in spending that otherwise would have

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee wouldn’t say whether his proposal to keep firearms away from dangerous people has enough support inside Tennessee’s Republican-dominant Statehouse to survive the upcoming special legislative session. In roughly three weeks, lawmakers are expected to be called back to Nashville to address possible changes

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two taxi drivers have been arrested in the Mexican city of Cancun for assaulting a van carrying foreign tourists. The events in the Caribbean coast resort on Thursday were the latest in a months-long string of assaults on vehicles that medallion-cab drivers suspect of being operated by Uber. Prosecutors said Friday

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The longtime Georgia prosecutor who called in state investigators to build a case against the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery has died. Tom Durden served as district attorney for southeast Georgia’s Atlantic Judicial Circuit for 24 years before stepping down last year. The DA’s office said

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government wants to raise the fuel economy of new vehicles 18% by the 2032 model year so the fleet would average about 43.5 miles per gallon in real-world driving. The proposed numbers were released Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which eventually

By JACQUES BILLEAUD AND ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The backup Uber driver for a self-driving vehicle that killed a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix in 2018 pleaded guilty Friday to endangerment in the first fatal collision involving a fully autonomous car. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David Garbarino, who accepted the plea agreement,

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) — U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona praised Wesleyan University’s elimination of legacy admissions on a visit Friday to discuss the administration’s response to the Supreme Court ruling that struck down affirmative action in higher education.  The administration has been considering steps it can take to protect diversity on campuses in the wake

By The Associated Press This week’s new entertainment releases include fresh tracks from Quavo, the arrival on Disney+ of James Gunn’s cornball finale “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and hip-hop marks its 50th anniversary with the documentary “Mixtape.” Sigourney Weaver and Alycia Debnam-Carey co-star in “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hunt” for Prime Video

By ZEKE MILLER AP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host the leaders of Japan and South Korea next month for a summit at Camp David. The Aug. 18 meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is the latest sign of warming relations between

WEST BATH, Maine (AP) — Defense attorneys in Maine may mount an insanity defense for a man who police say confessed to killing his parents and their friends before firing at people on a busy interstate highway.  Joseph Eaton entered pleas of both not guilty and not criminally responsible to multiple charges including four counts

MONTREAL (AP) — Canadian authorities say a body found this month in the St. Lawrence River belonged to a man connected to an investigation into the deaths of eight migrants. Akwesasne police said Friday that the coroner’s office identified the man as a 30-year-old local resident who had been missing since March. Casey Oakes’ boat

By SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Authorities in Alabama said Friday they filed criminal charges against a woman who confessed to fabricating a story that she was kidnapped after stopping to check on a toddler she saw walking on the side of an interstate highway. Carlee Russell was charged with false reporting to