AP-National

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An attorney representing passengers of an Alaska Airlines flight that lost a door plug in midair says a “whistling sound” was heard on a previous flight of the same Boeing 737 Max 9. Mark Lindquist is representing 22 passengers of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 in a

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska would become one of the last Republican-led states to enact a so-called “stand your ground” law under a bill being considered by lawmakers. State Sen. Brian Hardin says he brought the bill Thursday at the urging of his constituents. He also wants to keep

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Donald Trump has amassed another win at a Republican caucus held in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where officials flouted several GOP party rules, including holding the contest earlier than allowed. Thursday’s caucus is the third Republican contest held this election season with delegates at

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — It has been six months since a wildfire leveled most of Lahaina, a centuries-old town on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Authorities say 100 people were killed and three are still missing from the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Thousands of residents who lost their homes in the

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A bounty of 10 African penguin chicks has hatched in just over a year at a San Francisco science museum. The California Academy of Sciences announced Tuesday that the penguins hatched from November 2022 through January of this year. Academy officials say the chicks are part of ongoing conservation efforts. African

By AAMER MADHANI, STEVE PEOPLES and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The special counsel’s report on President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents is out and it’s not great news for the president on several fronts. Biden can breathe easier knowing he won’t face criminal charges for his handling of the documents. But

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry officially called for a highly anticipated crime-focused special legislative session on Thursday that could overhaul the state’s current criminal justice system, reversing hard-fought and historic reforms that happened under Landry’s Democratic predecessor. Among the two dozen tough-on-crime-related items on Landry’s broad

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A jury on Thursday in Washington, D.C. said climate scientist Michael Mann was defamed 12 years ago when a pair of conservative writers compared his depictions of global warming to a convicted child molester. The jury awarded him $1 million. Mann, a professor of climate science at

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska state Sen. Loren Lippincott is touting a bill that would give the Nebraska State Patrol $200,000 to hire “an ethical hacker.” The hacker would spend his or her days trying to break into the state’s computer network and election equipment and software. The idea

By WALTER BERRY and JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Heavy snow shut down parts of major interstates in northern Arizona on Thursday while low-lying clouds delayed dozens of flights in Phoenix, after storms earlier this week battered California and left a muddy mess. The mountainous region of northern Arizona recorded 2 feet (61

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden worked so closely with the ghostwriter he is accused of sharing government secrets with, Mark Zwonitzer, that he once declared that he’d trust the author “with my life.” Zwonitzer ghostwrote Biden’s two memoirs, 2007’s “Promises to Keep” and “Promise Me, Dad,” which was published

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico legislators want to create a unique educational endowment of at least $50 million to help Native American communities create their own student programs, including efforts to teach and preserve Indigenous languages. The initiative from Democratic legislators with ties to tribal communities won unanimous

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A federal civil-rights lawsuit says a Washington State Patrol trooper arrested a woman on suspicion of drunken driving when she was actually experiencing a life-threatening brain bleed. The Seattle Times reports the lawsuit filed in Tacoma Feb. 1 says Nicole McClure was booked into Thurston County Jail in 2022 and lay

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A prosecutor says a New Hampshire man brutally beat his 5-year-old daughter to death and spent months moving her body around before disposing of it “like yesterday’s trash.” But a lawyer for Adam Montgomery says he didn’t harm his daughter and the last person who saw

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s ruling Republicans are moving to make it harder for workers at companies that get economic incentives to join labor unions, in what could be a test of current federal law. The state Senate voted 31-23 on Thursday for a bill backed by Gov. Brian Kemp that

By JOSH BOAK and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The longstanding concerns about President Joe Biden’s age and memory intensified on Thursday after the release of a special counsel’s report investigating his possession of classified documents. The report described the 81-year-old Democrat’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.”

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s cybersecurity agency is launching a program aimed at boosting election security in the states. Officials with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency hope it will shore up support for local offices and provide reassurance to voters that this year’s presidential elections will be

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he is sending prosecutors to Oakland to help crack down on rising crime in the San Francisco Bay Area city where brazen robberies in broad daylight have been getting national attention. The announcement Thursday comes days after Newsom said he would deploy 120 California Highway Patrol

LONDON (AP) — Queen Camilla has described King Charles III as doing well given his cancer diagnosis, adding that he has been touched by the messages of support he’s received from the public. Camilla traveled from Sandringham House to Salisbury Cathedral on Thursday to attend a concert celebrating the work of local charities. Among the

By SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The man Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has named to lead the country’s military has played a key role in some of Ukraine’s biggest victories in its war with Russia, including overseeing the successful defense of the capital in the early days of the invasion. Col. Gen.