AP National News

By ACACIA CORONADO and JIM VERTUNO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A group of Texas families and doctors have sued in state court seeking to block the state’s new law that bans gender-affirming care for minors. They argue the law violates parental rights and discriminates against transgender teens. At least 20 states have adopted

COVINGTON, La. (AP) — A former Catholic priest in Louisiana was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to two state criminal charges of juvenile molestation. New Orleans area news outlets say 55-year-old Patrick Wattigny entered the plea in Covington on Wednesday. He was sentenced after a statement was presented in court from

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s main fundraising apparatus says it will soon report raising $5.75 million in this year’s second quarter. According to the political action committee’s accounting, that quarterly haul surpasses what any previous governor of the state has raised over an entire year. Spirit

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and MATT O’BRIEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The chair of the Federal Trade Commission has defended her aggressive legal strategy toward the country’s biggest technology companies as she appeared before the House Judiciary Committee. House Republicans have charged that the agency has become overzealous and politicized under President Joe Biden.

By COLLEEN LONG and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — No fingerprints or DNA turned up on the baggie of cocaine found in a lobby at the White House last week despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, and surveillance footage of the area didn’t identify a suspect, according to a summary of the

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press Vermont prepared for the next round of storms — and possibly a tornado — as people took advantage of calm weather Thursday to clean up from historic flooding that damaged thousands of homes, businesses and roads, and left some residents stranded. As floodwaters receded, the good news was that there

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — There was a time when Ons Jabeur might not have recovered from the deficit she found herself in during the Wimbledon semifinals. Down a set. Down a break. So close to being just a game from defeat. She credits her sports psychologist with helping her

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A sprawling, mighty galaxy was created in season one of “Foundation.” Now it’s time to rip it down. Season two of the ambitious Apple TV+ sci-fi series flashes forward some 140 years and it’s quickly clear that the clones who form the story’s authoritarian order

By SEUNG MIN KIM, CHRIS MEGERIAN and JARI TANNER Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — President Joe Biden said he and other NATO leaders showed the world that the military alliance emerged “more united than ever” this week as he on Thursday capped a European trip meant to demonstrate the force of the international coalition against

By SEUNG MIN KIM and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press HELSINKI (AP) — President Joe Biden says he’s serious about pursuing a prisoner exchange for a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained in Russia for more than 100 days. The Kremlin earlier this month suggested that it was open to a possible prisoner exchange

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An early morning fire on Thursday killed nearly all the animals at a wildlife center in Florida, officials said. News outlets reported the fire broke out around 3 a.m. Thursday at the Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg on Florida’s Gulf Coast. “We suffered from

By HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A First Amendment group sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott and others on Thursday over the state’s TikTok ban on official devices. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Texas by The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, a free speech group in New

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer The day Christopher Nolan called Cillian Murphy about his new film, “Oppenheimer,” Murphy hung up the phone in disbelief. The Irish actor, though a regular presence in Nolan films going back almost two decades, had always been a supporting player. This time, Nolan wanted him to lead. “He’s so

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Helen Mirren, who plays Israel’s first female prime minister in her latest film, says she has been inspired by the widespread protests against the country’s current prime minister. Mirren plays the late Golda Meir during the 1973 war between Israel and a coalition of Arab states in

By PETER SMITH Associated Press PITTSBURGH (AP) — A jury has reached a verdict on whether the gunman who killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 is eligible for the death penalty. The government is seeking capital punishment for Robert Bowers, who raged against Jewish people online before storming the Tree of Life

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian lawmakers on Thursday approved a toughened version of a bill that outlaws gender transitioning procedures, with added clauses that annul marriages in which one person has “changed gender” and bar transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents. The bill received swift, unanimous approval of

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer The day Christopher Nolan called Cillian Murphy about his new film, “Oppenheimer,” Murphy hung up the phone in disbelief. The Irish actor has been a regular presence in Nolan films going back almost two decades. But he had always been a supporting player. This time Nolan wanted him to

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is adding to its winning week following encouraging profit reports from big companies and more signs that inflation is continuing to slow. The S&P 500 was 0.5% higher in early trading Thursday and on pace for its seventh winning week in the last nine. The Dow rose 116 points,

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and CIARAN GILES Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Tourists in central Athens huddled under mist machines and zoo animals in Madrid were fed fruit popsicles Thursday as southern Europeans suffered through a heat wave that was projected to get much worse heading into the weekend. Temperatures in parts of Mediterranean Europe