AP National News

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft on Thursday will try to gain clearance to complete a $69 billion takeover of video game maker Activision Blizzard in a legal showdown with U.S. regulators that will reshape a pastime that’s bigger than the movie and music industries combined. The battle will pit

By JIM VERTUNO and PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, the wife of Attorney General Ken Paxton, is barred from voting in the impeachment trial that could lead to her husband’s permanent removal from office, the Republican-controlled Senate decided Wednesday. The rule settles a question that has

By The Associated Press Sophisticated equipment is on the way to the North Atlantic Ocean to help search for a submersible vessel that was carrying five people when it disappeared on its way to the wreckage of the Titanic. The U.S. Coast Guard has been leading the search for the Titan since it disappeared Sunday.

BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in northwestern China say 31 people have been killed and seven injured in a massive gas explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the city of Yinchuan. The official Xinhua News Agency said the blast tore through the establishment at around 8:40 p.m. Wednesday on a busy street in the capital of

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says it has begun turning over evidence to former President Donald Trump as his lawyers prepare a defense to charges that he illegally retained classified documents. The evidence includes transcripts of grand jury testimony taken in both Washington and Florida, copies of closed-circuit television footage obtained by the government

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago police say a 20-year-old man is facing multiple charges in connection with a hit-and-run collision that injured four pedestrians, two critically, outside Guaranteed Rate Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox. Police said Wednesday night that Condelarious Garcia of Chicago faces four felony counts each of failure to report an

Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A U.S. labor board judge has ruled that Apple illegally subjected employees to “coercive” interviews and interfered with distribution of union leaflets at a New York City Apple Store. Tuesday’s ruling was the first time that an administrative law judge at the National Labor Relations Board has ruled against

By JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — An eclectic crowd of thousands — podcasters, vendors, startups, seekers — swarmed a psychedelics conference in Denver this week to experience everything from a dimly lit hall packed with kaleidoscope art and a wide-ranging lineup of speakers from a former Republican governor to NFL star

By MARK THIESSEN and AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A U.S. appeals court has halted a lower court ruling that would have shut down southeast Alaska’s chinook salmon troll fishery for the summer to protect endangered orca whales that eat the fish. Wednesday’s ruling from a three-judge 9th Circuit Court panel means the

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — A widespread Arizona Medicaid scam that has left an unknown number of Native Americans homeless on the streets of metro Phoenix is being declared a public health state of emergency by the Navajo Nation as fraudulent sober living homes lose their funding and turn former residents out

QUNICY, Wash. (AP) — Court documents say the man accused of fatally shooting two people and wounding several others at a Washington music festival Saturday told police he was high on psychedelic mushrooms and believed the world was ending. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports U.S. Army Spc. James Kelly is facing two counts of first-degree murder, two

By JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — An eclectic crowd of thousands — podcasters, vendors, startups, seekers — swarmed a psychedelics conference in Denver this week to experience everything from a dimly lit hall packed with kaleidoscope art and a wide-ranging lineup of speakers from a former Republican governor to NFL star

By KRYSTA FAURIA and ANDREW DALTON Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fifty days into a strike with no end in sight, about 1,000 Hollywood writers and their supporters marched and rallied in Los Angeles for a new contract with studios that includes payment guarantees and job security. Speakers at the Writers Guild of America’s

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a former Indiana congressman should serve three years in prison for an insider trading conviction. Prosecutors made their arguments prior to the July 11 sentencing of 64-year-old Steve Buyer of Noblesville, Indiana. Buyer was convicted in March of making illegal trades while working

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Wednesday to censure California Rep. Adam Schiff for comments he made several years ago about investigations into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, rebuking the Democrat and frequent critic of the former president along party lines. Schiff becomes the 25th House lawmaker to be

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Thousands of residents in Oklahoma and Louisiana remain without electricity as work crews continue to repair power lines damaged by weekend storms. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, less than 92,000 customers remained without power on Wednesday. Three tornadoes northeast of the city caused extensive damage Sunday, including downed trees and hundreds of snapped

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, JOSH BOAK and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s remarks calling Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “dictator” and China a country with “real economic difficulties” drew fast condemnation from China on Wednesday, cracking open a new rift just after the two countries agreed to tentative steps to stabilize

By MARK THIESSEN and AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A U.S. appeals court has halted a lower court ruling that would have shut down southeast Alaska’s Chinook salmon troll fishery for the summer to protect endangered orca whales that eat the fish. Wednesday’s ruling from a three-judge 9th Circuit Court panel means the

By PATRICK WHITTLE and HOLLY RAMER Associated Press Rescuers on Wednesday rushed more ships and vessels to the area where a submersible disappeared on its way to the Titanic wreckage site, hoping underwater sounds they detected for a second straight day might help narrow their search in an increasingly urgent mission. Crews were scouring an

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press/Report for America PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon lawmakers have passed amended versions of the two bills that were at the center of a six-week Republican walkout. One of the bills protects access to abortion and gender-affirming care. The other punishes the manufacturing and sale of untraceable firearms, commonly referred to