AP National News

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Federal judges have heard arguments over whether an Alabama inmate had the mental capacity to understand paperwork setting up his planned execution next week. Willie B. Smith III is set to receive a lethal injection Oct. 21 for the 1991 kidnapping and murder of 22-year-old Sharma

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate aides and immigration advocates say Democrats are considering proposing that the government use its existing parole power to let about 7 million migrants stay temporarily in the United States. It’s the latest attempt to include sweeping immigration language in an expansive domestic policy bill. President Joe

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker has called off a fundraiser in Texas because an organizer was displaying a swastika made of syringes in her social media profile. The event had been scheduled for Saturday in suburban Dallas at the home of Bettina Sofia Viviano-Langlais, who

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A county in southern Oregon says it is so overwhelmed by an increase in the number and size of illegal marijuana farms that it declared a state of emergency, appealing to the governor and the Legislature’s leaders for help. The Jackson County Board of Commissioners said

KERHONKSON, N.Y. (AP) — A dog trapped for five days deep inside a narrow, rocky crevice at a state park north of New York City was rescued unharmed. State parks officials say while the 12-year-old dog, Liza, went days without food or water at the Minnewaska State Park Preserve, it was observed licking the damp

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — A Colorado Army veteran who pleaded guilty after the FBI found four pipe bombs in his home last year has been sentenced to time served but will be supervised for three years by authorities. U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello sentenced Bradley Bunn on Wednesday, granting his lawyer’s

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tropical Storm Pamela has weakened to a tropical depression after slamming into Mexico’s coast as a hurricane, though forecasters warn that its rainy remnants could cause flooding in parts of Texas and Oklahoma in the coming days. Pamela made landfall early Wednesday about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of the resort

By JILL COLVIN, MICHELLE R. SMITH, ERIC TUCKER and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to a former Justice Department lawyer who positioned himself as an ally of Donald Trump and aided the Republican president’s efforts to

POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) — William Eugene “Bud” Davis, who was a higher education leader in Idaho, Oregon, New Mexico and Louisiana as well as a college football coach and candidate for U.S. Senate, has died. He was 92. The Idaho State Journal reports that Davis, who died Sept. 24, became president of Idaho State University

By ZEKE MILLER and ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — Beleaguered business owners and families separated by COVID-19 are celebrating after the Biden administration says it will reopen U.S. land borders to nonessential travel next month, ending a 19-month freeze. Travel across land borders from Canada and Mexico has been largely restricted to

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. investigator says North Koreans living under strict pandemic restrictions are facing a growing food crisis, and the most vulnerable children and elderly people in the isolated Asian nation are at risk of starvation. Tomás Ojea Quintana said in a report to the U.N.

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A man armed with a bow and arrows killed five people and wounded others near the Norwegian capital of Oslo. That’s according to police in the town of Kongsberg who arrested the assailant on Wednesday evening. The police chief says there was “a confrontation” between

TYLER, Texas (AP) — Defense attorneys have begun calling witnesses in the capital murder trial of a former nurse accused of killing four patients at an East Texas hospital. Tyler Morning Telegraph reports that the prosecution rested Wednesday morning after spending 11 days presenting evidence and expert testimony against 37-year-old William George Davis. He is

By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — Progressive leaders in Congress are warning against what they say is a “false choice” over how to trim President Joe Biden’s now-$2 trillion proposal for beefing up social services and tackling climate change. That’s according to a letter Wednesday to Democratic congressional leaders and Biden, obtained

By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press Facebook has expanded its online harassment policies to do more to stop degrading attacks on public figures as well as abuse directed at journalists and human rights activists around the world. The new rules for Facebook and Instagram also include a ban on coordinated abuse, when a group of different

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian state television is reporting that the country’s air defenses are responding  to an Israeli airstrike targeting areas close to the historic Syrian town of Palmyra in the central province of Homs. The report quotes an unidentified military official as saying the strike occurred shortly before midnight Wednesday and it targeted

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) — An attorney for a former Marine battalion commander relieved of his duties after he made comments critical of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan says his client will plead guilty in a special court-martial. Lawyer Tim Parlatore is representing Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller. Parlatore told The Associated Press on Wednesday that

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish police say they have arrested five suspects believed to be part of a jihadist group that sought to recruit others to its cause and was attempting to acquire weapons. Authorities said Wednesday that four people were arrested in Barcelona and one in Madrid. Police say anti-terrorism officers moved against the

By DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — The head of the Chicago police officers union has called on its members to defy the city’s requirement to report their COVID-19 vaccination status before the weekend or be placed on unpaid leave. In the video posted online Tuesday, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara vowed

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Seven offshore wind farms would be developed on the East and West coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico under new plan from the Biden administration. The projects are part of President Joe Biden’s plan to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, generating enough