AP National News

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — What’s a dust devil sound like on Mars? A NASA rover by chance had its microphone on when a whirling tower of red dust passed directly overhead, recording the racket. It’s about 10 seconds of not only rumbling gusts of up to 25 mph

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that she is commuting the sentences of all of the state’s 17 inmates awaiting execution, saying their death sentences will be changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Brown, a Democrat with less than a month remaining

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A celebratory crowd of thousands bundled up on a chilly Tuesday afternoon to watch President Joe Biden sign gay marriage legislation into law, a joyful ceremony that was tempered by the backdrop of an ongoing conservative backlash over gender issues. “This law and the love it defends

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — A court ruling says a Jewish death row inmate who was part of the “Texas 7” should have his conviction overturned and get a new trial because the judge presiding over his case “harbored antisemitic bias.” Lawyers for Randy Halprin have contended that former Judge Vickers

By The Associated Press Two men and a pet dog were rescued from a sailboat without power or fuel more than 200 miles off Delaware, 10 days after friends and relatives had last heard from them, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday. Kevin Hyde, 65, and Joe Ditomasso, 76, were sailing from Cape May, New

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The remains of a Confederate general have been unearthed in Richmond a day after a statue bearing his name was taken down. As the  remains of Gen. A.P. Hill were removed Tuesday, onlookers engaged in a sometimes-heated discussion with a handful of Sons of Confederate Veterans who also watched as workers

By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts Statehouse panel is weighing whether to approve Gov. Charlie Baker’s recommended pardons of two individuals at the center of one the nation’s most high-profile sexual abuse trials of the 1980s. Gerald “Tooky” Amirault, his sister Cheryl Amirault LeFave and their late mother, Violet, were convicted

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Hate crimes in the U.S. remained relatively high last year after a surge not seen in nearly two decades, according to a new FBI report that experts say is actually an undercount because thousands of police departments didn’t report their data. Major cities like New York and

NEW YORK (AP) — A suspected officer with Russia’s Federal Security Service was among seven people accused by federal prosecutors with helping the country illegally obtain sensitive electronic components from U.S. companies to help Russia’s military efforts. A 16-count indictment unsealed Monday in Brooklyn charges the defendants with conspiracy and other counts related to what

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — The former nurse of the late Hugo Chavez has been found guilty of money laundering in connection to bribes paid by a billionaire media mogul to green light lucrative currency transactions when she served as Venezuela’s national treasurer.A jury in south Florida deliberated for just a few

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Authorities say they have ruled out a drug lab and explosive devices as the cause of last week’s deadly explosion at an underground residence and construction business in Texas. San Antonio Fire Department officials said at a news conference Tuesday that they are still trying to determine what caused Friday’s explosion

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks on Wall Street finished higher Tuesday after a report showed inflation cooled more than expected last month, cementing expectations that the Federal Reserve is about to dial down the size of its interest rate hikes. The encouraging inflation

By JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Three newspaper reporters in West Virginia say they have been fired after publicly criticizing their company’s video interview with a convicted former coal executive. Charleston Gazette-Mail reporters Caity Coyne, Lacie Pierson and Ryan Quinn confirmed their dismissals. The video feature is posted regularly on the Gazette-Mail’s

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s divisive justice minister has narrowly survived a confidence vote in parliament. Tuesday’s vote was called by the opposition over minister Zbigniew Ziobro’s approach to the courts that is costing the country billions of euros in European Union funding. But the opposition failed to muster the

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed gay marriage legislation into law Tuesday before a crowd of thousands, a ceremony that reflected growing acceptance of same-sex unions. “This law and the love it defends strike a blow against hate in all its forms,” Biden said on the South Lawn of

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A KFC employee in St. Louis has been hospitalized after a customer shot him because he was upset that the restaurant had run out of corn, police said. The shooting happened Monday evening in the city’s Central West End neighborhood. Investigators said the man tried to place an order in the

By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — A witness whose testimony helped send a man to prison for a killing decades ago has testified his role in the case of Lamar Johnson “still haunts” him. Johnson has contended from the outset that he had nothing to do with the 1994 killing of Marcus

TARIK EL BARAKAH and BARBARA SURK Associated Press RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Hind Sabouni bristles with pride as she recalls her country’s history-making World Cup run as it eliminated one European soccer powerhouse and former colonial power after another — Belgium, Spain and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal — to become the first African and Arab nation

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Two more state lawmakers have jumped into the crowded field of candidates seeking to replace the late Rep. A. Donald McEachin, who represented central Virginia’s 4th Congressional District until his death last month. State Sens. Jennifer McClellan and Joe Morrissey formally announced their candidacies at separate

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Acting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says an agreement has been struck to form a new center-led government after 42 days of talks following the Nov. 1 general election. Frederiksen said Tuesday that the governing coalition would include her own Social Democrats, the Liberal Party and the party of a former