AP-National

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A judge has expunged the misdemeanor convictions of a St. Louis couple who waved guns at racial injustice protesters outside their mansion in 2020. Now they want their guns back. Attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey filed a request in January to have the convictions wiped away. Judge Joseph P. Whyte wrote

By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The horse transformed human history – and now scientists have a clearer idea of when humans began to transform the horse. Around 4,200 years ago, one particular lineage of horse quickly became dominant across Eurasia, suggesting that’s when humans started to spread domesticated horses around the

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Pres VER-SUR-MER, France (AP) — It’s been 80 years since Christian Lamb helped rescue France from Nazi tyranny. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron kissed her on both cheeks and pinned the nation’s highest honor to her lapel. Lamb spent the months before D-Day alone in a tiny room in central

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer Doris Burke will become the first woman to serve as a game analyst on television for a championship final in one of the four major professional U.S. sports leagues when the Dallas Mavericks meet the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Burke, who joined ESPN in

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California Supreme Court ruling will allow the University of California to build new student housing at Berkeley’s historic People’s Park. The court on Thursday has ruled that a new law enacted last year invalidates the claims by two local organizations that sued the school,

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Jaap van Zweden is ending his tenure as the New York Philharmonic music director after six seasons, the orchestra’s shortest since Pierre Boulez from 1971-77. The 63-year-old Dutchman is conducting three performances of Mahler’s Second Symphony through Saturday for his Lincoln Center finale, then leading the

SPRINGFIELD, Va. (AP) — Police in northern Virginia say a child and two adults walking on a railroad bridge were killed when they were struck by a train. Fairfax County Police say their preliminary investigation shows that the three were walking on the elevated tracks near Accotink Park Road in Springfield when they were struck.

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Two British judges have resigned from Hong Kong’s top court, deepening worries over the city’s rule of law under a Beijing-imposed national security law. The judiciary said in a Thursday statement that Jonathan Sumption and Lawrence Collins, who both serve as non-permanent overseas judges of Hong

PHIPPSBURG, Maine (AP) — A Maine woman learned the hard way that quicksand doesn’t just happen in jungles or rainforests in Hollywood movies. Jamie Acord was walking at the water’s edge at Popham Beach State Park over the weekend when she sunk to her hips in a split second. It turns out that quicksand, known

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Every June since the 1970s, across the United States, musicians, fans and industry professionals celebrate Black Music Month. It’s an opportunity to highlight the contributions of Black artists at the center of American culture. Most often, Black Music Month’s origins are traced to 1979 when

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. is shorter, shallower and harder to navigate than the more famous Potomac, which cuts through the city’s storied landmarks and is steeped in Revolutionary and American Civil War history. For decades, the Anacostia was treated as a municipal dumping ground for

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) — The head of the U.S. Secret Service says security plans for the Republican National Convention are still being determined as protesters blasted restrictions they claimed will violate free speech with just weeks until the event. Roughly 30,000 visitors are expected in Milwaukee next month when former President

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A man is accused of killing three people and badly injuring a fourth by attacking them with a metal pipe at a rural Iowa home, authorities said Thursday. Authorities were still investigating what led to the attack, but Sheriff Brian Gardner said in a news release that among the possible

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, must report to prison by July 1 to serve his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol insurrection, a federal judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Jonathan Dekel-Chen dreams of the moment when his abducted 35-year-old son, Sagui, is reunited with his wife and three young children, including a daughter born two months after the devastating attack on Israel that initiated the war. Ruby Chen longs to recover the remains of his 19-year-old

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top state criminal investigation agency says a French citizen has been arrested on charges of collecting information on military issues. The arrest comes as relations between Russia and France have grown increasingly tense over the fighting in Ukraine. The Investigative Committee said Thursday that the suspect, whom it didn’t identify, has

By SCOTT BAUER and TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The charges brought this week against a warden and eight staffers related to the deaths of two inmates at Wisconsin’s oldest prison are leading to renewed calls to close it and another lockup. The prison at Waupun was built in the 1850s and

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average rate on a 30-year mortgage dipped to just below 7% this week, little relief for prospective homebuyers already facing the challenges of rising housing prices and a relatively limited inventory of homes on the market. The rate fell to 6.99% from 7.03% last

By MARK BANCHEREAU and JESSICA DONATI Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister is visiting Africa’s sub-Saharan region of the Sahel this week as Moscow seeks to grow its influence in the restive, mineral-rich region. Russia has emerged as the security partner of choice for a growing number of African governments in the