AP National News

By SABRA AYRES Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s allies vowed Thursday to supply the besieged nation with advanced air defense systems as Russian forces attacked the Kyiv region with kamikaze drones and fired missiles elsewhere at civilian targets, payback for the bombing of a strategic bridge linking Russia with annexed Crimea. Missile strikes

YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — Emoni Bates has been reinstated to the Eastern Michigan basketball team and as a student after prosecutors agreed to drop felony charges against him. The 18-year-old Bates was a top prospect out of high school who transferred to Eastern Michigan in August after playing his freshman season at Memphis. He was

By GERALD IMRAY AP Sports Writer A former World Cup referee is about to cash in on his biggest mistake — to the tune of about $3 million. The ball used when Diego Maradona scored his notorious “Hand of God” goal against England at the 1986 World Cup has been put up for auction by

BY DREW COSTLEY AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Thursday against the company Velsicol Chemical, LLC, claiming it violated city environmental laws by polluting a major waterway, the Anacostia River, and its surrounding environment for decades. A complaint filed by DC Attorney General Karl Racine alleges Velsicol produced

By THALIA BEATY Associated Press The Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center announced a $710 million gift from the Bezos family. It’s the largest gift the center has ever received and one of the largest to go to any single cancer research organization in recent years. The center said Wednesday the donation will fund 36 new

By STAN CHOE, DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street’s biggest comeback in years means stocks are rallying Thursday after roaring back from steep morning losses caused by a worse-than-expected report on inflation. The S&P 500 jumped 2.5% in afternoon trading after briefly surging 3% higher, a

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The lack of some benefits most American workers can readily count on, like paid sick leave and regularly scheduled weekends, is driving some railroad workers to veto contracts that include hefty raises and $5,000 bonuses. This week’s vote by the third-largest railroad union against their

By BETH HARRIS Associated Press PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Gabby Giffords will serve as grand marshal of the 134th Rose Parade. The former Democratic congresswoman from Arizona will ride down Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena on Jan. 2. Giffords will be part of the coin flip for the 109th Rose Bowl game later that day. Because

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A jury spared Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz from the death penalty Thursday for killing 17 people at a Parkland high school in 2018, sending him to prison for the remainder of his life in a decision that left many families of the victims angered,

By LISA MASCARO, FARNOUSH AMIRI, ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A defeated Donald Trump orchestrated a multi-part plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election in a “staggering betrayal of his oath” resulting in the 2021 attack at the Capitol, the Jan. 6 committee declared Thursday. Statements from Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair

By TALIA RICHMAN and TRISHA POWELL CRAIN The Dallas Morning News and AL.com DALLAS (AP) — As schools across the South grapple with teacher shortages, many are turning to candidates without teaching certificates or formal training. Alabama administrators increasingly have hired educators with emergency certifications, often in low-income and majority-Black neighborhoods. Texas, meanwhile, allowed about

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Congress has approved a constitutional reform that allows the armed forces to continue in domestic law enforcement duties until 2028. The reform backed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador must still be approved by a majority of Mexico’s 32 state legislatures. Most experts agree that

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The National Science Foundation announced Thursday that it will not rebuild a renowned radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which was one of the world’s largest until it collapsed nearly two years ago. Instead, the agency issued a solicitation for the creation of a $5

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Ted Koppel will anchor a special edition of “CBS Sunday Morning” this weekend probing the nation’s divisions. The 82-year-old Koppel has been an occasional contributor to the CBS program for about five years, but this is the first time he will fill in to give

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “A Wrinkle in Time,” the classic sci-fi coming-of-age tale celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, has been adapted into a film, a TV movie, opera, several plays and a graphic novel. Now it’s time for a stage musical, The Associated Press has learned. For the

By JIM SALTER Associated Press Hearings are again on hold in the state of Missouri’s effort to shut down a Christian boarding school whose staff members have been accused of abuse by numerous current and former students. Cedar County Associate Circuit Judge Thomas Pyle on Tuesday canceled hearings that had been scheduled for Thursday and

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The company that provided medical services at a Wisconsin jail has been found guilty in the 2016 dehydration death of an inmate. Armor Correctional Health Services Inc., based in Miami, was charged in 2018 with a felony and seven misdemeanors after its employees were accused of neglecting to check on Terrill Thomas

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and ED WHITE Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The president of Michigan State University announced his resignation Thursday, apparently unable to fend off challenges by the school’s governing board, three years after he was hired in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal. Samuel Stanley Jr. said he has

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Authorities said Thursday they believe that two police officers who were shot dead in Connecticut had been drawn into an ambush by a 911 call about possible domestic violence. State police said the 911 call about a dispute between two siblings appears to have been “a

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia would be crossing a “very important line” if it used nuclear weapons in Ukraine. His remarks Thursday came after a meeting of NATO’s secretive Nuclear Planning Group. It was held as the alliance presses ahead with plans to hold a nuclear