AP National News

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Tucker Carlson emerged Wednesday, two days after Fox News fired him, with a two-minute, campaign-style monologue that didn’t address why he suddenly became unemployed. He posted a video on Twitter shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern, the time his Fox show used to begin, that talked

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America CONWAY, Miss. (AP) — A man who escaped from a Mississippi jail and is suspected in a Monday night killing died after barricading himself in a home and setting it on fire during an armed standoff with deputies, authorities said Wednesday. Plumes of smoke emanated from the charred

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday night moved former Vice President Mike Pence closer to appearing before a grand jury investigating efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election, rejecting a bid by former President Donald Trump’s lawyers to block the testimony. It was not

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — Universal started out its CinemaCon presentation with the big one: New footage from Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” “I know of no more dramatic tale, with higher stakes, twists and turns, paradoxes,” Nolan told a room full of theater owners Wednesday in Las Vegas. “In learning about

By MAURICIO SAVARESE and DAVID BILLER Associated Press SAO PAULO (AP) — A federal judge in Brazil on Wednesday ordered a temporary suspension of messaging app Telegram, citing the social media platform’s alleged failure to provide all information Federal Police requested on neo-Nazi chat groups. The move is regarded as part of the country’s push

By JOE McDONALD Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping said Wednesday that Beijing will send an envoy to Ukraine to discuss a possible “political settlement” to Russia’s war with the country. Beijing has previously avoided involvement in conflicts between other countries but appears to be trying to assert itself as a global

By AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government wrote duplicate checks to doctors who provided care for veterans, costing taxpayers as much as $128 million in extra payments, according to a new watchdog report out this week. In nearly 300,000 cases, private doctors were paid twice — once by the Veterans Health

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president acknowledged Wednesday he did “briefly faint” over the weekend before he was diagnosed with COVID-19, something his spokesman had previously denied. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his doctors had been concerned enough to administer a liter of rehydration fluids. He said in a videotaped chat from the National

By BEN FINLEY and DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The Virginia school district where a 6-year-old shot his teacher argues that her injuries fall under the state’s workers compensation act and cannot be addressed through her $40 million lawsuit. That’s according to court documents filed Wednesday by the Newport News School Board.

SOLEDAD, Calif. (AP) — Authorities and his lawyer say rapper MoneySign Suede has died after being stabbed in a shower at a California prison. The rapper’s real name was Jaime Brugada Valdez. The Huntington Park 22-year-old was found in the shower area of the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad Tuesday night and died at a

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr was silenced by her Republican colleagues on Wednesday in a vote that bars her from participating on the House floor for the remainder of the 2023 session. The crackdown followed a standoff between Montana Democrats and Republicans after Zephyr told Republican colleagues in the House they

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former gynecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexually abusing female patients over the course of a 35-year career. Dr. James Heaps has been in custody since a jury convicted him in October of three counts of sexual battery by

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Actor Angelina Jolie, home improvement duo Chip and Joanna Gaines and Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim headlined the list of big names from politics, business, sports and entertainment glamming up a fancy black-tie dinner that President Joe Biden hosted Wednesday for South Korean President Yoon

By JIM SALTER and SUMMER BALLENTINE Associated Press CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge has blocked a first-of-its-kind rule restricting access to gender-affirming health care just hours before it was set to take effect. A judge on Wednesday ruled against the Republican attorney general’s emergency rule on transgender health care, putting it on hold

By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans narrowly passed sweeping legislation Wednesday that would raise the government’s legal debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion in exchange for steep spending restrictions, a tactical victory for Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he challenges President Joe Biden to negotiate and prevent a catastrophic federal

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis NAACP is suing the city of Minneapolis over allegations that police officers used phony social media accounts to spy on activists without a legitimate public safety purpose. The lawsuit, filed in federal court Wednesday, alleges that the Minneapolis Police Department discriminated against the NAACP and violated its members’ constitutional rights

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press The New College of Florida trustees, newly dominated by conservatives appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, has voted to deny tenure to five professors. The trustees overrode complaints Wednesday by faculty and students that the decision threatens academic freedom. The traditionally progressive public college in Sarasota has become the focus of

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Democrats in the California Senate say they want to raise taxes on big businesses so they can cut taxes for small businesses. The proposal would cut taxes on revenue below $1.5 million while raising taxes on revenue above $1.5 million. Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner says

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Fugees rapper accused in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies spanning two presidencies was convicted Wednesday after a trial that included testimony ranging from actor Leonardo DiCaprio to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was accused of funneling money from a now-fugitive Malaysian financer through straw