AP National News

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A Colorado woman convicted of plotting to kidnap her son from foster care after associating with supporters of the Qanon conspiracy theory has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years supervised probation. The judge said she thought Cynthia Abcug still saw herself as a

PAULINA, La. (AP) — Authorities in southeast Louisiana’s St. James Parish say all but two families have been allowed to return to their homes a day after a train car derailment and hydrochloric acid leak forced the evacuation of 200 residences. The parish president says cleanup — including excavation of soil — was required at

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — A divided Washington Supreme Court has approved a registered sex offender’s application to become an attorney in the state. Zachary Leroy Stevens has been living in Arizona, where he has worked for a lawyer since law school. He grew up in Utah, where he was convicted of

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A federal appellate court says a national beauty pageant has a First Amendment right to exclude a transgender woman from competing, because including her could interfere with the message the pageant wants to send about what characteristics make an ideal woman.  Wednesday’s 9th U.S. Circuit Court

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s attorney general will not seek criminal charges against Los Angeles police officers who fatally shot a man on Hollywood Boulevard last year, even though it turned out the gun he carried was fake. Thursday’s announcement by Attorney General Rob Bonta ends his first such review

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — A former housekeeper for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says she and other employees suffered unsafe working conditions that included being forced to climb out a laundry room window to get to a bathroom. In a lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle this week, Mercedes

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s clemency board has declined to recommend the governor commute a man’s death sentence to life in prison, keeping the inmate’s planned execution on track for his conviction in two 1980 killings. Thursday’s decision by the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency’s marks one of the last steps

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are hitting the campaign trail in New York City for Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat facing an unexpectedly competitive election. That Democrats are playing defense and scrambling to shore up an incumbent even in

SAN JOSE A special civil jury in Northern California has found a former longtime sheriff guilty on all six counts of corruption and willful misconduct in a case involving the issuing of concealed-carry weapons permits in exchange for campaign donations. The Mercury News reports Laurie Smith resigned from her post as sheriff of the Santa

By CARLA BRIDI Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — President Jair Bolsonaro met briefly on Thursday with the envoy coordinating the transfer of power to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, four days after Bolsonaro’s tight election loss that sparked protests by his supporters amid his refusal to publicly concede. The meeting between Brazil’s far-right outgoing

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A Colorado woman convicted of plotting to kidnap her son from foster care after her teen daughter said the mother began associating with supporters of the Qanon conspiracy theory has been sentenced to 60 days in jail. The judge said she thought Cynthia Abcug still saw herself

By BRIAN MELLEY and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — As the former captain in charge of the Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, Cory Palka was a star himself. The towering cop with a telegenic smile hobnobbed with celebrities getting stars on the Walk of Fame, ran security for the

By MAE ANDERSON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — General Mills and Audi are the latest big advertisers to pause ads on Twitter as questions swirl about how the social media platform will operate under new owner Elon Musk. A spokesperson for the maker of Cheerios and Annie’s macaroni and cheese confirmed the move

DELPHI, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana judge has recused himself from the case of two slain teenage girls. Indiana Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathryn Dolan said Thursday the Supreme Court is in the process of appointing Allen County Superior Court Judge Fran Gull as special judge in the case after Carroll Circuit Court Judge Benjamin

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The crime-fighting arm of the IRS has identified more than $32 billion in funds this past fiscal year for eventual seizure. Jim Lee is chief of IRS Criminal Investigation, which tracks financial crimes and hunts down pricey properties of sanctioned Russian elites. He says $32 billion is

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her husband, Paul Pelosi, was released from the hospital Thursday after his treatment for injuries from a violent assault last week in which he was attacked with a hammer. Pelosi said, “Paul remains under doctors’ care as he continues to progress on a long recovery

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information about a Singapore-based businessman already accused by the Justice Department of facilitating fuel shipments to North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions. Kwek Kee Seng, who directs a shipping agency and terminal operations

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors have rested their case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates charged in the U.S. Capitol attack after presenting more than four weeks of testimony, videos and text messages they say prove the defendants were behind a violent plot

By SAM METZ Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Family members of Gabby Petito filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab Police Department on Thursday in the latest development in the high-profile case around Petito’s death. Petito was found dead in Wyoming weeks after rural Utah police officers responded to a domestic violence