AP National News

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A man who oversaw food service for New York City schools was convicted Wednesday in a bribery case that picked apart how chicken tenders riddled with bone and bits of metal were served for months in the nation’s biggest public school system. Former city Department of

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 DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Lawyers for the family of a Virginia man who died of asphyxiation after he was pinned to the floor for about 11 minutes while being admitted to a psychiatric hospital have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation. In a

By EVENS SANON and DÁNICA COTO PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A U.N. human rights expert says that a specialized international force is needed to help fight gang violence in Haiti and that an embargo on weapons should be implemented immediately. William O’Neill spoke Wednesday at the end of a 10-day trip after meeting with civil

By TERESA M. WALKER AP Sports Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee State announced it will become the first historically Black college and university to introduce ice hockey. The school plans to have a men’s team playing at the club level in 2024, with a goal of having Division I men’s and women’s teams eventually.

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Forty-four farms in Mississippi exploited local Black workers by paying higher wages to immigrants who were in the United States on temporary work visas, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday. The department announced it completed investigations that it began last year in the rural flatlands

By AARON MORRISON AP National Writer REPRESA, California (AP) — The graduates lined up, brushing off their gowns and adjusting classmates’ tassels and stoles. As the graduation march played, the 85 men appeared to hoots and cheers from their families. They marched to the stage – one surrounded by barbed wire fence and constructed by

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis have asked that a trial involving Disney be postponed until the middle of 2025, well after the GOP presidential nomination race wraps up and voters have picked a winner in the November 2024 general election. In a Tallahassee federal court filing

MOORPARK, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say an Amtrak train carrying nearly 200 passengers struck a water truck and derailed on Wednesday in Southern California but caused no major injuries. A Ventura County fire captain, Brian McGrath, says three of the train’s seven cars went off the tracks following the collision Wednesday in Moorpark. Seven people

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A neurologist says a gunman who massacred 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue has schizophrenia and epilepsy. Dr. Siddhartha Nadkarni testified Wednesday as a defense expert at Robert Bowers’ federal death penalty trial. Bowers has already been convicted in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. Jurors must now decide whether Bowers

By JOSH BOAK, EMILY SWANSON and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — President Joe Biden had a tough sell Wednesday, trying to convince voters that the U.S. economy is flourishing. The president showcased on what he now touts as “Bidenomics” in a speech in Chicago. But a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center

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 MICHAEL HILL Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York state Attorney General Letitia James charges in a lawsuit that the operators of four nursing homes in New York neglected residents and misused more than $83 million in government funds. James says some residents were malnourished or were left to sit for hours in

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida state prison inmate already serving a three-decade sentence will serve an additional one year and three months in federal prison for threatening to kill a federal judge and his family. Court records show that 35-year-old Curtis Brown was sentenced Tuesday in Jacksonville federal court. He pleaded guilty in December

By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER and COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — Smoky air from Canada’s wildfires shrouded broad swaths of the U.S. from Minnesota to New York and Kentucky on Wednesday, prompting warnings to stay inside and exacerbating health risks for people already suffering from industrial pollution. The impacts are particularly hard on poor and

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Authorities in the Cayman Islands say a controversial legislator and former premier has been charged with rape and indecent assault. McKeeva Bush pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday that police said stem from a 2000 incident. Bush told The Associated Press in a

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s 23 largest banks passed the Federal Reserve’s so-called stress tests this year, a sign that the nation’s banking system remains resilient despite the recent banking crisis that that led to the failure of three banks. But Wednesday’s results did show some relative weakness

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City’s casinos are trying to understand why New Jersey lawmakers plan to drastically shorten the length of time that internet gambling can be conducted in the state. A state Assembly panel on Tuesday amended a bill that would have extended internet gambling for another

By The Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Welcome Wren Alexander Stephens, the fourth child of John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. The baby was born June 19 via surrogate. The couple announced his arrival Wednesday on Instagram. “We want to say thank you for this incredible gift you have given us, Alexandra,” they wrote of

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Taylor Swift, best supporting actor Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan, “Elvis” star Austin Butler, “Nope’s” Keke Palmer and The Weeknd have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The organization behind the Oscars said Wednesday that it extended invitations to 398 individuals to join