AP National News

By STAN CHOE and DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Friday to give the S&P 500 its best week in two months as earnings reporting season gets underway and CEOs begin to show how well or poorly they’re navigating high inflation and a slowing economy.

By DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Administrators at the Virginia school where a first-grader shot his teacher last week learned the child may have had a weapon in his possession before the shooting but did not find the 9mm handgun he brought to school despite searching his bag, the school system’s superintendent

By CHEVEL JOHNSON Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Lizzo and Ed Sheeran are among the headliners at this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which takes place over two weekends beginning April 28. The lineup released Friday also includes Dead & Company, Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, Santana, Jon Batiste, Jill Scott, Robert

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The wife of a northwestern Iowa county supervisor has been charged with 52 counts of voter fraud after she allegedly filled out and cast absentee ballots in her husband’s unsuccessful race for a Republican nomination to run for Congress in 2020, federal prosecutors said. Kim Phuong Taylor, 49, was arrested

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — New U.S. government data suggests holiday gatherings didn’t spark surges in respiratory diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reported that visits to doctors’ offices for the flu-like illnesses fell for the sixth straight week. Reports of RSV, a common bug, are

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press BRIGANTINE, N.J. (AP) — Lawmakers at local, state and federal levels called Friday for a temporary pause in ocean floor preparation work for offshore wind farms in New Jersey and New York after another dead whale washed ashore in the region. The death was the seventh in a little over

By KIM CHANDLER and JEFF MARTIN Associated Press SELMA, Ala. (AP) — Rescuers raced Friday to find survivors in the aftermath of a tornado-spawning storm system that killed at least nine people as it barreled across parts of Georgia and Alabama and inflicted heavy damage on Selma, a flashpoint of the civil rights movement. Authorities

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut officer who opened fire on a man stealing a police cruiser, wounding him the leg minutes before he crashed the SUV into a deli, is under investigation for deadly use of force. The state inspector general’s office said Friday that it is reviewing Thursday’s

BEIRUT (AP) — Angry protesters in Syria’s rebel-held enclave have rallied against reconciliation attempts between Turkey and Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and scuffled with a local Syrian opposition figure involved in those attempts. The crowd in the rebel-held town of Azaz on Friday first chanted slogans against the political efforts, then shouted abuse at

By DAVID BILLER and CARLA BRIDI Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A high-ranking Brazilian security official who flew to the U.S. before a riot that that some have called an attempted coup must return within three days or his country willl request his extradition, Brazil’s justice minister said Friday. The Supreme Court has

DALLAS (AP) — Police are helping search for a missing clouded leopard that has shut down the Dallas Zoo. Officials said Friday that the small leopard, named Nova, weighs about 20-25 pounds and is not a threat to humans. The executive vice president of animal care and conservation at the zoo said he believed the

MADRID (AP) — A regional government’s move to restrict abortion rights in a large part of central Spain has reignited debate on the issue in the southern European country, in the runup to this year’s local elections. Under the new measures adopted by the conservative and far-right coalition governing the Castile and Leon region, women

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Lisa Marie Presley will be buried at Graceland, the famed home of Elvis Presley that on Friday became a gathering place for fans distraught over her death a day earlier. The singer-songwriter’s final resting place will be next to her son, Benjamin Keough, who died in

NEW YORK (AP) — Robbie Bachman, the drummer for the Canadian hard rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive that was known for such 1970s hits as “Takin’ Care of Business” and “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet,” has died at age 69. His death was announced on social media Thursday by his brother and bandmate, Randy Bachman, who

By LIUDAS DAPKUS Associated Press VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Officials say an explosion has occurred in a pipeline in central Lithuania carrying natural gas to the north of the country and neighboring Latvia but no supply disruptions or injuries were reported. Baltic media reported that Friday’s blast sent flames up to 50 meters (164 feet)

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A judge says a former columnist can proceed with civil lawsuits alleging she was raped by Donald Trump in a department store a quarter century ago. Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled Friday to allow lawsuits alleging rape and defamation by writer E. Jean Carroll proceed

HARRISBURG, Pa. — (AP) — Rapper Meek Mill, who spent most of his adult life on probation following a teenage arrest, celebrated the latest twist in his legal case Friday after he was pardoned by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. “I got pardoned today,” the 35-year-old rapper born Robert Williams tweeted, noting he has come a

By KEN MILLER Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Two people have now been arrested in connection with the disappearance of Athena Brownfield, a 4-year-old Oklahoma girl whose 5-year-old sister was discovered wandering alone outside by a postal worker, state investigators said Friday. Arizona authorities arrested 36-year-old Ivon Adams on Thursday, and he is being

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen notified Congress on Friday that the U.S. is projected to reach its debt limit on Thursday and will then resort to “extraordinary measures” to avoid default. In a letter to House and Senate leaders, Yellen said her actions will buy time until Congress

By COLLEEN BARRY AP Fashion Writer MILAN (AP) — Gucci returns to the Milan menswear runway with the brand’s first collection since Alessandro Michele stepped down as creative director. The Gucci runway show heralding the new post-Michele era was an understated affair. It was very much like Michele’s low-key debut eight years ago heading an