AP National News

QUINCY, Ill. (AP) — A judge in western Illinois who found an 18-year-old man guilty of sexual assaulting a 16-year-old girl has come under fire after he threw out the conviction this month and said the months he spent in jail was punishment enough. Adams County Judge Robert Adrian announced at a hearing earlier this

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Authorities say a Tennessee man wanted in the fatal shooting of rapper Young Dolph in his hometown of Memphis has been captured in Indiana, while another man was indicted on murder charges. A grand jury indicted 32-year-old Cornelius Smith on first-degree murder and other charges in Dolph’s death, the Shelby County, Tennessee,

By JAKE SEINER AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Rachel Balkovec was introduced as manager of the New York Yankees’ Low A affiliate in the Florida State League. In taking over the Tampa Tarpons, Balkovec will become the first female manager in the history of affiliated baseball, an appointment 10 years in the making

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection has requested an interview and records from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The committee is seeking first-hand details from members of Congress on former President Donald Trump’s actions as hundreds of his supporters brutally beat police,

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is seeking approval from city ethics officers to hire his brother as the head of his security detail. The new mayor has brought on his brother Bernard Adams, a former New York police officer who was most recently as

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected newly drawn district maps that retained Republican supermajorities in both state legislative chambers. A divided court ruled Wednesday the Ohio Redistricting Commission must redraw the boundaries in compliance with a 2015 constitutional amendment within 10 days. That amendment mandated

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER and FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government last month posted its smallest monthly budget deficit in two years. That was thanks to a rebounding economy that helped boost tax receipts, coupled with slower spending as some COVID relief programs ended. The Treasury Department reported that the December deficit

By MATTHEW DALY and MIKE CATALINI Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The Biden administration says it will hold its first offshore wind auction next month. It’s offering nearly 500,000 acres off the coast of New York and New Jersey for wind energy projects that could produce enough electricity to power nearly 2 million homes.

By JIM SALTER Associated Press A Missouri prosecutor says he will not charge a white man for killing a Black neighbor, agreeing with the finding of a coroner’s inquest that the shooting was justifiable self-defense. Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney David S. Smith on Wednesday also provided a statement offering a lengthy explanation of the events

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection has requested an interview and records from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, shifting their investigation to a top ally of former President Donald Trump in Congress. Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, requested Wednesday that McCarthy

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say two of the men arrested in connection with the slaying of rapper Young Dolph had a history of violent crimes. Shelby County, Tennessee, District Attorney General Amy Weirich told a news conference Wednesday that 23-year-old Justin Johnson was held in juvenile custody after he

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two of New Jersey’s big stated priorities — protecting the environment, and keeping minority communities from being overburdened with pollution — are about to collide in a decision over a backup power plant that would kick in when a sewage treatment system gets knocked offline. The

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation jumped at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years last month, a 7% spike from a year earlier that is increasing household expenses, eating into wage gains and heaping pressure on President Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve to address what has become the biggest

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian government has lifted its ban on Twitter, seven months after the West African country’s more than 200 million people were shut out of the social media network. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general of the country’s National Information Technology Development Agency, said Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota has repeatedly made it clear that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election in a fair process. But when he brought that message to a national audience this week, he faced backlash from the former president. Rounds says

By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press A Michigan teenager charged in a mass shooting that left four students dead at his high school and others wounded has made his first appearance in trial court. Fifteen-year-old Ethan Crumbley was arraigned Wednesday in Oakland County Circuit Court via video from the jail where he’s being held on first-degree

By EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Flags at half-mast are flapping in the wind as Haiti honors the estimated 316,000 people who died in a devastating earthquake that hit 12 years ago. Prime Minister Ariel Henry and other government officials clad in black suits on Wednesday visited the monument topped by a

LONDON (AP) — British police have cordoned off an area outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House in central London after a man was spotted scaling the building and using a hammer to attack a statue by controversial sculptor Eric Gill. Officers and ambulance workers attended the scene after receiving reports that a man used a ladder

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve says the economy was growing at a modest pace at the end of 2021 but was still being held back by ongoing supply-chain disruptions and labor shortages. In its latest survey of business conditions around the country, the Fed said its 12 regional

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court has sentenced four men to death for their involvement in a car bombing last year that killed four people near the residence of an anti-India militant leader. The court Wednesday also ordered a five-year prison term for a woman convicted of facilitating the attack. All five accused were