AP National News

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are set to debate whether to create the nation’s first universal health care system. A bill to establish the system and set its rules faces a state Assembly hearing on Tuesday. A separate bill that would lay out how to pay for the coverage

By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press Many top Nordic skiers and biathletes say crashes are becoming more common as climate change reduces the availability of natural snow, forcing racers to compete on tracks with the manmade version. Olympic and World Cup race organizers are already used to needing snow-making equipment to create a ribbon of white

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatian police on Tuesday displayed hundreds of pounds of drugs they say were seized in two separate operations last year in a southern Adriatic Sea port close to the famous resort of Dubrovnik. The discovery last October in the port of Ploce of nearly 220 kilograms (482 pounds) of heroin was

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press Writer OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An attorney for two men on Oklahoma’s death row says after a judge’s prodding that his clients agreed to choose execution by firing squad as a way to delay their upcoming lethal injections. The two inmates, Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle, are asking a federal

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks shed an early loss and rose in afternoon trading on Wall Street Tuesday as technology stocks reversed course and turned higher. The S&P 500 rose 0.9%. The index is coming off five straight losses and hasn’t had a winning day since the very first

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors say the U.S. government will agree to drop pending perjury charges against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell if her sex trafficking case goes to sentencing later this year. The offer was made in a letter to a judge late Monday that was filed jointly by the prosecutors and Maxwell’s attorneys in

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — Always remember to tip your server, if you know what’s good for you. A tourist left a bad impression in a Key West bar by ordering drinks three times on New Year’s Eve without leaving a tip. The memory stuck with the bartender, who helped police identify the Christmas tree

By DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian officials are sounding the alarm about a looming surge of coronavirus infections due to the highly contagious omicron variant. But they stopped short Tuesday of announcing any new restrictions in a hard-hit country where very few limits are in place. Russia already has Europe’s worst pandemic

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal of a woman who left her home in Alabama to join the Islamic State terror group. Hoda Muthana surrendered as Islamic State fighters fell to U.S.-backed forces in Syria, and said she wanted to come home to the United States with the

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Egypt’s leader has criticized Europe’s handling of the migration crisis and its refusal to receive refugees arriving at its borders, saying his own country has taken in millions of people who left their home countries. President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said Egypt hosts at least 6

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Allegations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s staff held a “bring your own booze” garden party while Britain was in lockdown are just the latest claims of wrongdoing to rattle the leader. Cases of rule-bending and dishonesty have followed Johnson through his twin careers as journalist and politician.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged that high inflation has emerged as a serious threat to the Federal Reserve’s goal of helping put more Americans back to work and that the Fed will raise rates more than it now plans if needed to stem surging prices. “If we

By MICHAEL TARM AP Legal Affairs Writer CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago-based addiction treatment center has filed a federal lawsuit to force one suburb to stop blocking its plans to set up a new treatment branch. Tuesday’s suit brought by the nonprofit Haymarket Center says Itasca’s rejection of a facility in a former hotel violates

By KRISTIN M. HALL AP Entertainment Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Grand Ole Opry, country music’s most historic and storied stage, is getting heavy criticism for an appearance by troubled country star Morgan Wallen. Wallen’s surprise performance has given many the impression that the institution has given the star its blessing and a path

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a wave of public and political outrage over allegations that he and his staff flouted coronavirus lockdown rules by holding a garden party in 2020 while Britons were barred by law from meeting up with more than one person outside

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is taking its first major action to address toxic wastewater from coal-burning power plants, ordering utilities to stop dumping waste into unlined storage ponds and speed up plans to close leaking or otherwise dangerous coal ash sites. The EPA says plants in four

NEW YORK (AP) — A trilogy by award-winning children’s author Kwame Alexander that tells the saga of an African family begins this fall with “The Door of No Return.” The book comes out Sept. 27, Little Brown & Company announced Tuesday. The publisher says the three books follow the lives of 11-year-old Kofi and his

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer Stocks fell in morning trading on Wall Street Tuesday as traders try to calibrate how markets and the economy will handle the higher interest rates that are likely on the way from the Federal Reserve this year. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%. The index is coming off five

By DASHA LITVINOVA and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says the security talks with the U.S. over tensions in Ukraine have given little reason for optimism, adding that Russia would wait for the outcome of other meetings this week before deciding whether it’s worth to continue negotiations. The leader of the

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is establishing a specialized unit focused on domestic terrorism. That’s according to the department’s top national security official, who told lawmakers Tuesday that the country faces an “elevated” threat from violent extremists in the United States. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen is testifying before