AP-National

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s state courts agency says it never received a ransom demand as part of a cyberattack that briefly shut down some of its online services earlier this month and prompted a federal investigation. A courts agency spokesperson said Thursday that officials there never had any communication

By JILL COLVIN and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump ‘s unprecedented tangle of overlapping trials was on full display Thursday with simultaneous court hearings in New York and Georgia. In Manhattan, a judge ruled that Trump’s hush-money case will begin on March 25, making it the first of his

By AAMER MADHANI and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House publicly confirmed on Thursday that Russia has obtained a “troubling” emerging anti-satellite weapon but said it cannot directly cause “physical destruction” on Earth. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said U.S. intelligence officials have information that Russia has obtained the

By BROOKE SCHULTZ Associated Press/Report for America Taylor Swift in January donned a red puffer jacket with boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce’s number for a playoff game. Within a month, that jacket’s designer, Kristin Juszczyk, scored a NFL licensing deal and had more than 1 million followers on Instagram. Her meteoric

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Management issues at Oregon’s Crater Lake have prompted the federal government to consider terminating its contract with the national park’s concessionaire. Crater Lake Hospitality is a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Aramark and is contracted through 2030 to run concessions such as food and lodging. A National Park Service official told The Oregonian

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Anchorage woman has been sentenced to 99 years in prison for orchestrating the death of a developmentally disabled woman in a murder-for-hire plot, hoping to cash in on a $9 million offer from a Midwestern man purporting to be a millionaire. Denali Dakota Skye Brehmer, 23, was sentenced by Anchorage

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Godzilla has been to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, San Francisco, Boston, Moscow, London and Hawaii. But before now, he’s never been to the Oscars. When the Academy Awards roll around on March 10, Godzilla will stretch its scaly, reptilian legs down the Oscars red carpet

By MATTHEW BROWN and AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A lockdown has been lifted at an Air Force nuclear missile base in central Montana following a report of an active shooter. Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls says no shots were fired and nobody was injured after they announced the

By JEAN-YVES KAMALE Associated Press KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A civil society organization says that at least a dozen people were killed and 16 kidnapped by rebels at a mining site in eastern Congo. Rebels from the CODECO armed group attacked a gold mine Wednesday near Djugu district in Ituri province. Violence has been surging

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Four Roman Catholic bishops met with Mexican drug cartel bosses in a bid to negotiate a possible peace accord, one of the bishops said, and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday he approves of such talks. The revelation by Bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, José de Jesús

By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA and SAM METZ Associated Press TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian coast guard retrieved the bodies of nine people who died after their boat sank on Thursday, marking another tragedy as migrants continue to attempt to traverse the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The coast guard also retrieved 45 people from the boat

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The Biden administration eased some of the restrictions on banking giant Wells Fargo, saying the bank has sufficiently fixed its toxic culture after years of scandals. The news sent Wells Fargo’s stock up sharply Thursday as investors speculated that the bank, which has been kept

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A watchdog report has found that the kind of systemic failures that enabled the high-profile prison deaths of gangster Whitey Bulger and financier Jeffrey Epstein also contributed to the deaths of hundreds of other federal prisoners over the years. The scathing report found mental health care, emergency

WASHINGTON (AP) — From allegations of plotting to overturn an election he lost to illegally stowing classified documents at his Florida estate, former President Donald Trump faces four criminal indictments in four different cities as he vies to reclaim the White House. The cases, totaling 91 felony counts, are winding through the courts at different

By OMAR FARUK Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The U.S. will build up to five military bases for the Somali army in a project that seeks to bolster the Somalia national army’s capabilities amid ongoing threats from an extremist group. Somalia’s defense minister and the U.S. Charge d’Affaires signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The White House says that U.S. President Joe Biden will host Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk for a meeting in Washington on March 12, which is the 25th anniversary of Poland’s joining the NATO Alliance. A statement Thursday from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the leaders will

By ANNIE MA and COLLIN BINKLEY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans who are struggling to repay federal student loans because of financial hardship could get some of their debt canceled under President Joe Biden’s latest attempt at forgiveness. Several categories of borrowers are being targeted for relief under Biden’s second try at widespread cancellation

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government on Thursday ordered the local United Nations office on human rights to suspend operations and gave its staff 72 hours to leave, accusing it of assisting coup plotters and terrorist groups. Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil announced the decision at a news conference

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff’s deputy mistook the sound of an acorn hitting his patrol vehicle’s roof for a gunshot and fired multiple times at the SUV where a handcuffed Black man was sitting in the backseat. The man was being questioned in November about stealing his girlfriend’s car. He wasn’t

PANAMA CITY (AP) — At least five migrants have died and the search continues for one more who is missing after a boat carrying more than two dozen migrants capsized off Panama’s Caribbean coast in an apparent attempt to avoid the treacherous Darien Gap land route. Panama’s Public Safety Ministry said in a statement Thursday