AP National News

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Tom Hanks told graduates of Harvard University on Thursday to be superheroes in their defense of truth and American ideals, and to resist those who twist the truth for their own gain. “For the truth to some is no longer empirical. It’s no longer based on data, nor common sense, nor

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A prominent humanitarian group has blasted Greece over its treatment of asylum-seekers on the island of Lesbos, repeating allegations of illegal deportations back to Turkey and claiming authorities are using hunger as a weapon against some migrants. Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said in a statement Thursday

FORT PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating a house explosion that killed an infant and her grandparents. The Stanley County sheriff says the home near Fort Pierre exploded about 10:20 a.m. Wednesday. The sheriff has identified the victims as 6-month-old Harper Hupp; 61-year-old LaDonna Hupp; and 66-year-old William

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two airliners aborted landings at San Francisco International Airport last week after pilots spotted a Southwest Airlines jet taxiing across runways on which the other planes had been cleared to land. An air traffic controller told the Southwest pilots they should not have been on the runways during the May 19

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press America got older, faster during the decade ended in 2020. New census figures released Thursday show the share of U.S. residents age 65 or older ballooned by more than a third from 2010 through 2020, while the share of children declined, particularly those under age 5. Aging was propelled by

By TRAVIS LOLLER and JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee judge has ruled that a group parents can have their say in a lawsuit over the writings of a shooter who killed six people at their children’s school. The judge says the Covenant School parents have a right to intervene against

By JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — Colorado medical providers will need to get patients’ prior consent before medical students can perform pelvic exams on them while they are unconscious for a procedure under a bill signed into law Thursday. In signing off on the law in her capacity as acting governor,

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Politics and sports go together like baseball and apple pie. Title-winning teams have visited the White House for decades. But what started as a nonpartisan rite of passage has become increasingly tangled up in politics. It’s a shift that some peg to Bill Clinton’s

By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas would allow public schools to use campus safety money to hire chaplains to counsel students under a bill approved this week by state lawmakers and sent to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The Republican-majority Legislature approved the bill on Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of the school

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M (AP) — Virgin Galactic completed what’s expected to be its final test flight Thursday before taking paying customers on brief trips to space. Six of the company’s employees, including two pilots, landed at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico after the short up-and-down flight that included a

By MARK SHERMAN and JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday made it harder for the federal government to police water pollution in a decision that strips protections from wetlands that are isolated from larger bodies of water. It’s the second decision in as many years in which a conservative

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Three people including two police officers have been killed in central Japan and a suspect with a rifle and knife is holed up inside a building. NHK public television says a person later escaped from the building and that some other people might still be inside. A

By JAMES POLLARD Associated Press/Report for America COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s governor has signed a bill banning most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy, setting up an anticipated legal challenge from providers. The law signed Thursday goes into effect immediately. It restores the ban South Carolina had in place when the U.S. Supreme

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer The unofficial start of the summer travel season is here, with airlines hoping to avoid the chaos of last year and travelers scrounging for ways to save a few bucks on pricey airfares and hotel rooms. Some travelers say they will settle for fewer trips than they hoped to

WREXHAM, Wales (AP) — Wrexham’s shirts will have a taste of Hollywood next season. The Welsh soccer team has secured its latest celebrity linkup and co-owner Ryan Reynolds is keeping it in the family. Actor Blake Lively is married to the “Deadpool” star and will sponsor the team’s training kit from next season through her

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court has given a 94-year-old Minneapolis woman a new chance to recoup some money after the county kept the entire $40,000 when it sold her condominium over a small unpaid tax bill. The justices ruled Thursday that Hennepin County, Minnesota violated the constitutional rights

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A nuclear watchdog has asked the operator of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant to assess possible risks resulting from damage that was found in a key supporting structure inside one of the three melted reactors. The damage, which was found by a robotic probe in March, triggered

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison reveals in a new book how worried prosecutors were that a judge would move the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin out of the city where he killed George Floyd. So they conducted a mock trial in a deep red

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a lackluster 1.3% annual rate from January through March as businesses wary of an economic slowdown trimmed their inventories, the government said in a slight upgrade from its initial estimate. The government had previously estimated that the economy grew at a