AP-National

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Mass street protests have intensified across Slovakia against a plan by populist Prime Minister Robert Fico to amend the penal code and eliminate the office of the special prosecutor that deals with major crime and corruption. Thousands were rallying as the protests on Thursday spread to 31 cities and town across

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president has suggested that talks with the U.S. government on migration and drug trafficking could suffer after media reports of a U.S. investigation into alleged drug money donations for his 2006 campaign. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador suggested U.S. officials should apologize for what he called baseless allegations. He said

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Stanley J. Aronoff has died at age 91 after a long career that included nearly four decades in the Ohio Statehouse. A partner at the law firm Aronoff founded says he died peacefully Wednesday. The Harvard-educated lawyer from Cincinnati was known as an artful negotiator

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — This New York love story begins with a criminal act of sabotage. Under cover of darkness a year ago Friday, someone breached a waist-high fence and slipped into the Central Park Zoo. Once inside, they cut a hole through a steel mesh cage, freeing a majestic

By BROOKE SCHULTZ Associated Press/Report for America A passionate student letter prompted a southern Pennsylvania school district to change its Native American logo years ago. But the mascot is back after a conservative school board acted on its campaign promise to reinstate it. The decision goes against a larger trend of removing the Native American

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press The failed campaign and expansive political operation to make Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis the Republican nominee for the White House cost $168 million. The sum has been reported in filings to the Federal Election Commission. The pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down is reporting payments of more than $130.6

FES, Morocco (AP) — Authorities in Morocco have arrested 30 people in the city of Fes on charges of blackmail, threats and trafficking of newborn babies. Morocco’s state-owned news agency reported on Wednesday that the suspects were arrested this week. They include law enforcement agents, doctors, nurses and other health professionals. They are accused of

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The latest COVID-19 vaccines are 54% effective at preventing symptomatic infection in adults. That’s according to the first U.S. study to assess how well the updated shots work. The shots became available last year and are designed to better protect against more recent coronavirus variants.

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has approved President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency’s air pollution office just as the agency is set to finalize rules over climate-changing emissions from power plants and cars and trucks. Joe Goffman is a longtime EPA official who has led the

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press A company that helped develop marketing campaigns for OxyContin and other opioids has agreed to a $350 million settlement with U.S. states over the toll of the powerful prescription painkillers. New York Attorney General Letitia James said Thursday that Publicis Health engaged in predatory and deceptive marketing strategies to help

By JEFF AMY Associated Press Georgia senators are passing a bill to allow sports gambling. The bill moves on to the House for more debate, but only after senators decided on Thursday that it requires a separate state constitutional amendment. That could throw ultimate passage into doubt, with a constitutional amendment needing support from two-thirds

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A group of employees and teachers from a Kentucky middle school who bought a $1 million Powerball winning ticket tucked it in a math text book for safekeeping before claiming the prize this week. The group of 30 educators, some retired, met at Rector A. Jones Middle School in northern Kentucky

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A second contractor says it has reached a $25 million settlement over its role in Flint, Michigan’s lead-contaminated water scandal. Boston-based Veolia North America said Thursday that the class-action litigation agreement includes payments of $1,500 for individual minors. It says the agreement will resolve claims made on behalf of more than

By JIM SALTER Associated Press When two Native American boys from Nebraska died after being taken to a notorious boarding school hundreds of miles away, they were buried there without notice. Nearly 130 years later, the Winnebago Tribe wants the boys back home. So far, the Army has refused to return the remains of Samuel

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press The new season of National Geographic’s “Genius” anthology series focuses on two civil rights legends, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. “Genius: MLK/X”  is launching the fourth season of the series. “Genius: MLK/X” stars Kelvin Harrison Jr. as King and Aaron Pierre as Malcolm X. The series

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Supreme Court said Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who staged a record-long walkout last year to stall bills on abortion, transgender health care and gun rights cannot run for reelection. The decision upholds the secretary of state’s decision to disqualify the senators from

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Women are far more likely than men to get autoimmune diseases, when an out-of-whack immune system attacks their own bodies — and new research may finally explain why. It’s all about how the body handles females’ extra X chromosome, Stanford University researchers reported Thursday — a

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer The Washington Commanders have an agreement with Dan Quinn to hire him as coach, two people with  knowledge of the move tell The Associated Press. Quinn has been the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator for the past three seasons. He coached the Falcons to a Super Bowl appearance in his

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Dueling Virginia legislative proposals backed by different gambling companies would open the door for an expansion of slot-like betting machines in businesses such as truck stops, restaurants and convenience stores. At the center of the debate are gray machines. The arcade-style games look similar to slot