AP-National

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — No criminal charges will be filed against the Oklahoma teens involved in a high school bathroom fight with Nex Benedict, the nonbinary 16-year-old whose death following the altercation was ruled a suicide, the county district attorney said Thursday. Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said in

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court says a requirement that cigarette packs and advertising include graphic images demonstrating the effects of smoking does not violate the First Amendment. The ruling Thursday from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was a partial victory for federal regulators seeking to

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm is proposing to member countries to impose tariffs on grain imports from Russia and Belarus. Speaking at the end of the opening day of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said Thursday that the move would prevent Russia from

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The executive director of Little Rock’s airport has died after he was injured earlier this week in a shootout with federal agents serving a search warrant at his home. The airport says in a statement that Bryan Malinowski died at noon Thursday. He was 53. Malinowski was shot in the

By SEAN MURPHY and ERIK VERDUZCO Associated Press SANDERSON, Texas (AP) — During the nine hours that Texas was allowed to arrest and deport people who illegally enter the U.S., Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland never changed his tactics with migrants in his remote border county. Not because he opposes the idea. There’s just no practical way

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Secretary of State Frank LaRose has joined other Ohio officeholders in backing his former rival, Republican Senate nominee Bernie Moreno. LaRose’s endorsement Thursday followed a bruising and expensive primary in which he repeatedly attacked Moreno as untrustworthy. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, LaRose

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered the judge who oversaw Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s trial to investigate the defense’s claims of juror bias and determine whether his death sentence should stand. A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Three antitrust lawsuits filed by food businesses in federal court in Minnesota this week accuse some of the largest U.S. sugar-producing companies of conspiring to fix prices. The lawsuits name United Sugars, which includes American Crystal Sugar; Domino Sugar; Cargill; other producers, and a commodity data company. The Star Tribune of Minneapolis

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a federal lawsuit by ex-governor and ex-con Rod Blagojevich seeking a return to public office by quoting Dr. Seuss. U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger relied on the 1972 book “Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!” in ending Blagojevich’s

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Pentagon official says that the U.S. has not received a formal request from Niger’s junta to depart the country, saying instead it has received mixed signals on whether the hundreds of U.S. troops based there are no longer welcome. Niger had been a key partner

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Federal authorities have charged a Rwandan man they accused of repeatedly lying about his involvement in murders and rapes amid the country’s 1994 genocide to win asylum and citizenship in the U.S. Authorities say Eric Nshimiye, of Ohio, was arrested Thursday on charges that include falsifying information, obstruction of justice and

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Gunfire has erupted in the downtown area of Haiti’s capital. Female street vendors balancing heavy loads on their heads fled the area Thursday as bullets whizzed near buildings including the general hospital, the National Palace and the main penitentiary in yet another attack on Haiti’s capital. The gunfire began in the

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police say a man who indicated he had a gun hijacked a transit bus in downtown Los Angeles and then grabbed the wheel, causing the bus to collide with several vehicles and crash into a hotel. Only the driver was on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority bus when the

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The firing of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter and close friend after allegations of illegal gambling and theft from the Japanese baseball player is shining renewed attention on compulsive gambling. The National Council on Problem Gambling describes it as gambling that is damaging

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A fifth suspect has been charged in a shooting that wounded eight Philadelphia high school students at a bus stop earlier this month. City police announced Thursday that 15-year-old Jeremiah Jefferson, of Philadelphia, faces counts of attempted murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy, reckless endangerment and weapons charges. They say the teen was in

By SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A bill that would ban any “agent” of China from buying farmland in Georgia has passed the state House over the objections of Democrats who said it would lead to discrimination against Asian Americans. The bill passed Thursday after lengthy debate. It would ban agents of China,

By PETER SMITH Associated Press A top Southern Baptist administrative body has selected its first permanent leader in nearly two-and-a-half years, a time when it has navigated a tumult of controversies ranging from a sexual abuse scandal to financial struggles — to its own stumbling efforts to find a new president. Jeff Iorg, the longtime

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia Senate on Thursday pushed through bills aimed at forcing local governments to help deport immigrants instead of sheltering them. It is part of a continuing political response to the killing of a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus allegedly by a Venezuelan man.

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — A senior official with Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group has made a rare visit to the United Arab Emirates to discuss the case of a dozen Lebanese citizens detained in the oil-rich nation over alleged links to the Lebanese group. The UAE, like other Arab gulf countries, considers

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed Republican proposals that would have allowed election observers to get closer to poll workers and required a new post-election audit. He signed into law a bill increasing the penalty for assaulting an election official and one requiring that political TV