AP National News

By MATTHEW BROWN and AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A federal jury has ruled that a health clinic in a Montana town where hundreds of people died from asbestos exposure submitted 337 false asbestos claims making its patients eligible for benefits such as Medicare. The seven-person jury said in a Wednesday

TORONTO (AP) — A professor and two students were stabbed Wednesday during a class on “gender issues” at a university in the Canadian city of Waterloo and a suspect has been taken into custody, police said. The wounds were non-life threatening, police said, adding that the motive for the attack at the University of Waterloo

By JOHN WAWROW AP Hockey Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks have selected Connor Bedard with the first pick in the NHL draft. The move should kick-start a hopeful new era for Chicago. Bedard is a highly skilled offensive forward who’s drawn comparisons to Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby. Bedard is the second

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s first-in-the-nation reparations task force wraps up its historic work with a final report to lawmakers. The report documents the state’s role in perpetuating discrimination against Black residents and suggests dozens of ways to atone. Recommendations include a formal apology to descendants of Black people enslaved in the U.S. and financial

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Civil war. An evil that must be stopped. Fratricide. A bug about to be squashed. The dramatic weekend rebellion by a mercenary warlord in Russia that challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin was punctuated by dramatic language from the key protagonists — and some long silences —

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer ATLANTA (AP) — Norfolk Southern’s CEO has spoken often of safety and better service since he took the job over a year ago, but it’s safety that has dominated discussions after one of his trains derailed and caught fire in February in Ohio. Alan Shaw has said his plans

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer The only break much of America can hope for anytime soon from eye-watering dangerous smok e from fire-struck Canada is brief bouts of shirt-soaking sweltering heat and humidity from a southern heat wave that has already proven deadly, forecasters say. And then the smoke will likely come back to

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — An appeals court has denied a new trial request from a longtime Texas death row inmate whose supporters say there is evidence to back his claims of innocence. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday accepted a 2021 recommendation from a lower court judge, who

By AAMER MADHANI and JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s youngest brother said in a radio interview that the president has been “very open-minded” in conversations the two have had about the benefits of psychedelics as a form of medical treatment. Frank Biden made the comments during a call into The

By FREIDA FRISARO Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A firefighter from Georgia and two fathers who drowned while trying to save their children are among at least 10 recent victims of dangerous rip currents along Gulf of Mexico beaches stretching across Florida’s Panhandle to Mobile, Alabama. Many of the deaths happened on days

MOORPARK, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say an Amtrak train carrying 198 passengers derailed after striking a truck in Southern California. A fire department official says the truck’s driver was critically injured and taken to a trauma center with a head injury. And fourteen people on the train suffered minor injuries. Three of the train’s seven

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina lawmakers have finalized legislation that would bar certain gender-affirming care for children. It also would prevent state funds from being used to provide such therapies and procedures. The House voted on Wednesday to accept a version of the measure approved by the Senate and it now heads to Democratic

By GUILLERMO GARAT Associated Press MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Residents of Uruguay’s capital are increasingly exasperated after two months of salty-tasting tap water that has damaged water heaters, boosted demand for bottled water and reportedly caused stomach ailments. People in Uruguay have always been able to safely drink the water that comes from their taps,

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Human remains have likely been recovered from the wreckage of the submersible that imploded during an underwater voyage to view the Titanic, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday. The news came hours after the announcement that debris from the Titan, collected from the seafloor more than

By RIAZAT BUTT Associated Press MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims on Wednesday braved intense heat to perform the symbolic stoning of the devil during the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. With morning temperatures rising past 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Farenheit), huge crowds of pilgrims walked or took buses

By HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday arrested a man they accused of helping Russia direct a missile strike that killed at least 11 people, including three teenagers, at a popular pizza restaurant in eastern Ukraine. The Tuesday evening attack on Kramatorsk wounded 61 other people, Ukraine’s National Police

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hundreds of people in Puerto Rico including religious leaders, economists, teachers and retirees are protesting a proposed increase to already high electric bills that a growing number of people are struggling to pay. The crowd marched Wednesday toward the governor’s mansion. They held up

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and TikTok serve as a vehicle for deception, misinformation and scams aimed at migrants seeking a better life for them and their families in the United States. The ignorance of many of those who venture into a dangerous journey across the borders makes them fall

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Two more Connecticut police officers have been fired for what officials called their misconduct and lack of compassion in how they treated Richard “Randy” Cox after he was paralyzed in the back of a police van last year. New Haven police commissioners voted Wednesday to fire

By BRUCE SCHREINER, DYLAN LOVAN and KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Federal judges in Kentucky and Tennessee temporarily blocked portions of bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youth Wednesday, handing down the rulings shortly before the statutes were set to go into effect. The ruling is similar to roadblocks that federal courts