AP National News

By RIO YAMAT Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Charges are mounting against a “Dances With Wolves” actor who is accused of sexually abusing and trafficking Indigenous women and girls in the U.S. and Canada for decades. A grand jury in Nevada indicted Nathan Chasing Horse on Wednesday on 19 counts, expanding on previous charges

By AMANCAI BIRABEN and JIM SALTER Associated Press PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A brutal winter storm closed interstate highways from Arizona to Wyoming Wednesday, trapped drivers in cars, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the first blizzard warning in Southern California in decades — and the worst won’t be over

By BILL BARROW Associated Press PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Chad Loshbaugh and his seventh-grade son, Theo, were starting a historical tour for their winter break when they heard that former President Jimmy Carter had begun end-of-life care at home. So the father-son pair from Albany, New York, changed their itinerary and found themselves Wednesday on

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine’s foreign minister is urging the world’s nations as the anniversary of Russia’s invasion nears to prove they stand for the United Nations Charter and vote in favor of a U.N. resolution calling for a peace that ensures his war-ravaged country’s “sovereignty, independence, unity and

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Opponents of embattled New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell say they have enough signatures from a petition drive to force a recall election to remove Cantrell from office. Boxes of signatures were submitted shortly before Wednesday’s deadline for presenting the petition. Still, an election isn’t a sure

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — The state of Michigan is asking a judge to release a man who has served nearly 21 years of a life sentence for the fatal shootings of two hunters. The state says evidence about an Ohio serial killer’s possible role was never disclosed to the defense before

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The prosecutor in the case against an Arizona rancher accused of killing a Mexican man on his land near the U.S.-Mexico border alleged during a court hearing Wednesday that the rancher fired that day on a group of about eight unarmed migrants who entered the U.S. illegally.

By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s former attorney general suppressed findings by his investigators who concluded there was no basis for allegations that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud. That’s according to documents released Wednesday by his successor. Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich never released a March 2022 summary

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are having their first public hearing on a proposal to penalize some oil company profits. Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed the law in response to record high gas prices over the summer. Newsom unveiled the bill in December. But since then, it has not advanced

By JILL COLVIN and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized the federal response to the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, as a “betrayal” during a visit to the village where residents and local leaders are increasingly frustrated more than two weeks after the disaster. The

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A U-2 pilot flying high above the Chinese spy balloon took a close-up photo of the large white orb just a day before the Air Force shot the balloon down off the coast of South Carolina. The photo shows the top of the pilot’s helmet inside the

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Authorities say a Haitian man believed to be a member of the gang involved in the recent killings of six Haitian police officers has been arrested in the neighboring Dominican Republic and deported. Police said Wednesday that the man was arrested along with five other Haitians during a police

LONDON (AP) — An off-duty police officer has been shot in Northern Ireland, where paramilitary groups have previously attacked members of the security services. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the officer was injured in a shooting at a sports complex in Omagh, about 60 miles west of Belfast. The force said the officer

By WILSON RING Associated Press MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont Legislature is considering a proposal that would end an exemption to the state’s child abuse and neglect reporting laws for members of the clergy. On Wednesday the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee held the first of what could be several meetings on the subject before

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Alcohol sales soon will be allowed in a tiny Nevada town with Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints roots and a decades-long ban on buying beer, wine and liquor. Lincoln County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously endorsed a local board vote taken several months ago to let businesses sell alcohol in

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — An appeals court has ruled that Fox News, CNN and other news outlets didn’t defame former coal executive Don Blankenship when they referred to him as a “felon.” Fourth Circuit Chief Judge Roger Gregory affirmed a district court’s determination that the 16 outlets sued by Blankenship

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT Associated Press The Biden administration said Wednesday it is considering the first-ever lease sale for offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico, a key part of a push to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 to help fight climate change. The proposed sale, which could take place as soon

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Ranchers are asking a U.S. district judge to delay what they describe as a potential mass slaughter of as many as 150 “unauthorized” cows on public land in southwestern New Mexico. Plans by the U.S. Forest Service call for shooting the cattle with high-powered rifles

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The 22-year-old accused of carrying out the deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs in November ran a neo-Nazi website and used gay and racial slurs while gaming online, a police detective testified Wednesday. Anderson Lee Aldrich used racial slurs while gaming,

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A New York woman who admitted her role in an ex-convict’s decade-long plot to extort and sexually manipulate schoolmates of his daughter at Sarah Lawrence College has been sentenced to over four years in prison. Federal Judge Lewis J. Liman sentenced Isabella Pollok on Wednesday to