AP National News

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix’s docuseries “Cheer” is back for a second season, picking up where season one left off. The cheer squad at Navarro Community College in Corsicana, Texas, is coming off a NCA National Championships win and riding high from the popularity of the TV series. Then COVID-19

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The inspection of voting machines in a heavily Republican county in Pennsylvania appears ready to go forward in a GOP effort inspired by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about fraud in the 2020 election. A judge on Friday morning rejected attempts by Democratic Gov. Tom

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

By MARK GILLISPIE Associated Press CLEVELAND (AP) — Ohio investigators have found 89 sets of cremated remains in an abandoned Akron church. The state attorney general’s office said Thursday that the search was conducted Tuesday at the Greater Faith Missionary Baptist Church. A search warrant affidavit says an “urban explorer” spotted the remains Sunday and

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a young Florida man to life in prison for the stabbing death of a 13-year-old during a sleepover party five years ago. Judge Cheryl Caracuzzo denied a request to have Corey Johnson spend 40 years behind bars for the killing of Jovanni Sierra. Johnson, now

Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Family and friends of a New Orleans man who was the oldest World War II veteran when he died earlier in January will gather to remember him at a ceremony. Lawrence Brooks died Jan. 5 at the age of 112. Funeral services will be held Saturday at The National

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — More than 150 former Environmental Protection Agency employees are writing to the Virginia Senate, asking the Democrat-controlled chamber to oppose the nomination of former EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to GOP Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin’s Cabinet. Youngkin announced last week that he had selected Wheeler to serve as

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin court commissioner is poised to decide whether a Milwaukee man accused of plowing his SUV through a suburban Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring dozens more, will stand trial. Darrell Brooks Jr. is scheduled to appear in Waukesha County court for a preliminary

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden nominated three people for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, including Sarah Bloom Raskin, a former Fed and Treasury official, for the top regulatory slot and Lisa Cook, who would be the first Black woman to serve on the board. Biden also nominated

The Associated Press Stocks are opening lower on Wall Street Friday, keeping the S&P 500 on course for its second weekly decline in a row. The benchmark index was off 0.2% in the early going. JPMorgan Chase was leading banks lower with a drop of 5.3% after reporting that its profits fell 14% in the

BANGKOK (AP) — A legal official says Myanmar’s military-installed government has filed five new corruption charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi in connection with granting permits to rent and buy a helicopter. Suu Kyi, who has been detained since last February’s military takeover, is already being tried on five other corruption charges. Each

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Athletes have been put at center court of arguments over COVID vaccines. The NFL’s Aaron Rodgers, the NBA’s Kyrie Irving, and tennis’s Novak Djokovic, have each become cultural touchstones in the cultural controversy. Robert Hayashi, a professor at Amherst College, says it’s part of a

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. industrial production fell 0.1% in December, the first decline since September, with weakness in factory output showing that manufacturers are still struggling with snarled supply chains. The 0.1% decline was unexpected. Many economists had been forecasting a small increase, helped by a further rebound in

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer A new study offers stronger evidence that one of the world’s most common viruses may set some people on the path to developing multiple sclerosis. The Epstein-Barr virus has long been a suspect. Harvard researchers tracked blood testing of 10 million U.S. military recruits over 20 years and concluded

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers want the Senate to have a say in who leads the troubled federal Bureau of Prisons. A bill introduced late Thursday would require Senate confirmation for the bureau’s director. Currently, the attorney general can just appoint someone to the position. The bill

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Americans, beset by product shortages, rising prices and the arrival of omicron, sharply cut their spending in December after a burst of early spending in the fall that helped bolster the holiday season. Retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 1.9% in December compared with the

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has long lamented that he can’t walk around town unnoticed like he used to before becoming pope. But he seems to have kept his sense of humor after getting caught on camera making an unannounced visit to a Rome record shop this week. Francis wrote

NEW YORK (AP) — Three women are facing federal charges of attacking an airline security officer who tried to block them from boarding a flight at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport in September. Prosecutors say the security officer confronted the women because of problematic behavior, including a refusal by one to wear a face

ROME (AP) — With a state funeral, Italy has paid tribute to David Sassoli, the president of the European Union’s parliament, who died earlier in the week. An EU flag draped the coffin. Top EU and Italian authorities attended the service on Friday in a church in Rome. Sassoli died in an Italian hospital on

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Americans, beset by product shortages, rising prices and the arrival of omicron, sharply cut their spending in December after a burst of spending in the fall that helped bolster the holiday season. Retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 1.9% in December compared with the previous