AP National News

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Sixteen years after their legal battle began, about 18,000 homeowners in central Florida will be paid more than $42 million collectively by Florida’s agriculture agency for destroying their citrus trees during a state effort to eradicate a harmful citrus disease. The homeowners in Orange County will

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Authorities say a Rhode Island child welfare advocate believed to have faked his death and fled the U.S. to evade prosecution in Utah and other states has been apprehended in Scotland after being hospitalized with COVID-19. Rhode Island State Police say Nicholas Alahverdian was discovered after developing a serious case of

By ALAN FRAM and MARINA VILLENEUVE WASHINGTON (AP) — New York Rep. John Katko has announced he is not seeking reelection this year. That makes him the third of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump last January to say they will leave Congress next January. Katko is 59 and was

By AAMER MADHANI, NOMAAN MERCHANT and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says U.S. intelligence officials have determined a Russian effort is underway to create a pretext for its troops to further invade Ukraine, and Moscow has already prepositioned operatives to conduct “a false-flag operation” in eastern Ukraine. White House press

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors are recommending dropping charges against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was accused last year of hiding work he did for the Chinese government while also collecting U.S. dollars for his nanotechnology research. That’s according to a person familiar with the decision who spoke

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s foreign minister has expressed optimism that there is a “deal to be done” to resolve a Northern Ireland trade dispute that has soured the U.K.’s relations with the European Union. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss struck an upbeat tone Friday after her first set of talks with

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected a new map of the state’s 15 congressional districts as gerrymandered, sending the blueprint back for another try. The 4-3 decision Friday returns the process to the Ohio General Assembly and the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which have a combined

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Republican governors are highlighting their opposition to restrictions that have marked the COVID-19 pandemic even as they seek to move past it and set their agendas for the year. The state of the state addresses governors are delivering to kick off their state’s legislative agendas

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal judge has declined to temporarily halt the executions of two Oklahoma inmates who are scheduled to die in the coming weeks. In an order released Friday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot in Oklahoma City wrote that inmates Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle were not

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks fell in afternoon trading on Wall Street Friday, keeping the major indexes on course for their second weekly decline in a row. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% and the Nasdaq fell 0.1%. Banks were the biggest weight

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin court commissioner has ordered a Milwaukee man accused of plowing his SUV through a suburban Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring dozens more, to stand trial. Waukesha County Court Commissioner Kevin Costello ordered Darrell Brooks Jr. bound over for trial on more than

By ROB HARRIS AP Sports Writer Three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray has rejected lucrative approaches to play exhibition matches in Saudi Arabia due to human rights concerns. The revelation on Friday came from Murray’s agent in the week when the Spanish Football Federation has faced criticism from human rights activists for taking its Super

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — U.S. Rep. John Katko, who was one of just 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, has announced that he will not seek reelection this year. The congressman from Camillus in upstate New York said in a statement Friday that he will not run for a

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy, stewards of the Star Wars universe and numerous other notable motion pictures, are being honored by the Producers Guild of America for their contributions to the film industry. The PGA said Friday that Lucas and Kennedy will receive the Milestone Award at the Producers

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is wrapping up a transformative but sometimes-tumultuous four-year term that saw the enactment of some of Virginia’s progressive legislation. The mild-mannered doctor from Virginia’s Eastern Shore said in an interview with The Associated Press that his time in office has made him

By FATIMA HUSSEIN, ZEKE MILLER and BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is threatening to recoup COVID-19 relief funds sent to Arizona over state provisions it says discourage families and school districts from following federal guidance recommending face coverings in schools. At issue are two state programs that are meant to

By JOVANA GEC Associated Press BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Kosovo has rejected a call from Western governments to allow its minority Serbs to vote in a Serbian referendum in the same way as in the past several years. A joint statement by Kosovo’s top authorities Friday said that the Serbs can cast ballots only via

By TALI ARBEL and KELVIN CHAN Associated Press A lot of people are angry at Novak Djokovic. And his sponsors may just wait it out. It’s unclear if the No. 1 seed can compete Monday in the Australian Open after Australian officials again revoked his visa over his lack of a COVID-19 vaccine. So far,

SEATTLE (AP) — A dog that was trapped inside a collapsed Seattle house for six days following a landslide has been rescued. The Seattle Fire Department said Thursday that firefighters responded to reports of the black Labrador named Sammy possibly trapped inside the home’s wreckage. Fire department video shows someone carrying the alert dog out

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Heavy snow is spreading across a large swath of the Midwest, where travel conditions deteriorated and scores of schools closed or moved to online instruction. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning Friday for parts of Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa and Illinois, where forecasters are expecting up to 10 inches