AP National News

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MIKE STOBBE Associated Press An influential government advisory panel is recommending COVID-19 boosters for younger teens. Boosters already are recommended for everyone 16 and older. Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration authorized an extra Pfizer shot for kids ages 12 to 15 as well. But before those extra shots

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting raised expectations that the central bank will move faster to raise interest rates to fight inflation. The S&P 500 fell 1.9%. Drops in major technology stocks were the biggest weight

By JOHN O’CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A man is facing charges after an Illinois child welfare worker was stabbed to death during a home visit in a town south of Springfield. Sangamon County authorities say 36-year-old Diedre Silas was conducting a welfare check at a home in Thayer on Tuesday afternoon

BRADLEY, Ill. (AP) — A judge has denied bail to the second of two people charged with killing one police officer and wounding another at a northern Illinois hotel last week. Judge Kathy Bradshaw-Elliott’s denial of bail to 25-year-old Darius Sullivan on Wednesday came two days after she denied it to his 26-year-old co-defendant, Xandria

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Richmond man has been refunded the $600 he was charged for an Uber ride that became trapped with hundreds of others on an icy stretch of Interstate 95 in Virginia this week. WTOP-FM reports that Andrew Peters was returning from San Francisco and taking an Uber from Dulles International Airport

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers say she’ll request a new trial after revelations by a juror in her case that he was a victim of sexual abuse. Her lawyers said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan on Wednesday that the court should order a

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland vows to hold accountable anyone who was responsible for last year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, whether they were physically there or not. In a speech to Justice Department employees Wednesday, Garland said prosecutors remained “committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at

MIAMI (AP) — Hundreds of passengers who embarked on an 11-day cruise from Miami were returned to port after less than two days at sea because of several dozen COVID-19 cases among crew members. The pandemic also prompted a last-minute cancelation of another cruise that was scheduled to depart Wednesday. Norwegian Cruise Line said it

By JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic had to spend the night at the Melbourne airport as officials refused to let him enter the country for the Australian Open after an apparent visa mix-up. It led Serbia’s president to blast the “harassment” of the top-ranked tennis player. Djokovic flew in

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis couple who made headlines by waving guns at racial injustice protesters in 2020 is in court trying to get the weapons back back. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Robert Dierker of the City Counselor’s Office told a judge during a virtual hearing Wednesday that the city of

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska State Troopers say they have found the mother of a baby found abandoned in a cardboard box in frigid conditions in Fairbanks last week. Troopers identified the mother as a juvenile, and say she was taken to a Fairbanks-area hospital for evaluation and medical care.

By MATTHEW LEE and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Germany say that Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine’s border poses an “immediate and urgent challenge” to European security and that any intervention will draw severe consequences. But the country’s top diplomats left open what those consequences would be and how

LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and congressional leaders will speak at Harry Reid’s funeral in Las Vegas on Saturday. A spokesperson for the late Senate majority leader says Obama will deliver a eulogy, while Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will also speak. Reid

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Employees of a Starbucks store in upstate New York who voted to unionize last month have walked off the job. The employees in Buffalo say they don’t have the staff or resources to work safely amid surging COVID-19 cases. Six employees formed a picket line Wednesday outside the store and led

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s governor has pardoned the Black man whose 1892 arrest for refusing to leave an all-white railroad car led to the ruling that cemented “separate but equal” into U.S. law for half a century. Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the pardon for Homer Plessy on Wednesday

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The governor of Mexico’s Morelos state is denying any links to drug traffickers after a 3-year-old photo surfaced showing him posing with three men identified as local drug gang leaders. Former Mexican national soccer team star Cuauhtemoc Blanco won the governorship of Morelos, just south of Mexico City, in 2018 after

By JOCELYN GECKER Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing criticism for failing to deliver on his promise to provide rapid, at-home tests to all of the state’s students and school staff before classrooms reopened after winter break. Millions of test kits went out to families before and during winter

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting raised expectations that the central bank will move faster to raise interest rates to fight inflation. The S&P 500 fell 1.9%. Drops in major technology stocks were the biggest weight

GENEVA (AP) — The Swiss army has told its ranks to stop using foreign instant-messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram for official communications, opting for a Swiss alternative in part over concerns about legislation in Washington that governs how U.S. authorities can access information held by tech companies. Army leaders, in a letter to