AP National News

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — A referendum allowing Mexicans to vote midterm on whether the president should remain in office has become a strange political football involving all three branches of government. It’s strange, because there is little reason to hold the referendum. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gets positive ratings

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An autopsy report says that a Black youth’s death following a physical struggle with staff at a Kansas juvenile center was a homicide. The autopsy report released Monday contradicts an earlier, preliminary finding that 17-year-old Cedric Lofton hadn’t suffered life-threatening injuries. The report said Lofton’s heart

WILTON MANORS, Fla. (AP) — Two children were killed and another three children were hospitalized with injuries when a car plowed into them and fled the scene in South Florida. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that it was investigating what happened Monday outside an apartment building in Wilton Manors, Florida,

By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer The U.S. flu season has arrived on schedule after taking a year off. Flu hospitalizations are rising and the first two child deaths have been reported. Last year’s flu season was the lowest on record. That’s likely because COVID-19 measures — such as schools closing and people wearing

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles police chief has pledged to release video of a shooting where a 14-year-old girl was killed after officers fired on an assault suspect and a bullet went through a wall and struck the girl as she was in a clothing store dressing room.

TROY, Mich. (AP) — Police say they believe a 23-year-old man fatally shot his twin brother and shot and wounded their father before apparently taking his own life in suburban Detroit. Police say a 64-year-old woman was also in the home in Troy during the shooting Monday but was not harmed. Officers responding to 911

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials are cutting isolation restrictions for Americans who test positive for the coronavirus and shortening the time that close contacts have to quarantine. People with the virus can leave isolation after five days, down from 10 days. People exposed to the virus can

By TALI ARBEL AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Flight cancellations that disrupted holiday travel stretched into Monday. Staffers calling out sick because of COVID-19 have left airlines short in recent days. Airline tracker FlightAware says airlines have canceled more than 4,000 flights to, from or inside the U.S. since Friday, with over 1,000

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer Stocks made steady gains on Wall Street Monday, enough to mark another record high for the S&P 500 index. Trading was muted as investors returned from the Christmas holiday and several overseas markets remained closed. The S&P 500 climbed 1.4%, led by more gains in big technology companies like

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) — A truck driver sentenced to 110 years for an explosive crash that killed four people in suburban Denver has moved a step closer to potentially having his prison term reduced. Judge Bruce Jones on Monday scheduled a hearing for Jan. 13 to reconsider Rogel Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence,

PARIS (AP) — The French government has announced new COVID-19 measures in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. But authorities stopped short Monday of imposing drastic restrictions before New Year’s Eve. Big events will be limited to 2,000 people indoors and 5,000 people outdoors starting from next week. People will be requested

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — Officials in Virginia have closed a road in one neighborhood after a mother bear and three cubs were spotted napping in a tree there. Chesapeake Animal Services asked residents near the tree _  on Bruin Drive _ to stay inside Monday and the general public to stay away from the area.

HONOLULU (AP) — Billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has purchased more land in Hawaii, including most of a reservoir that unleashed a deadly flood 15 years ago. Property records show Zuckerberg’s Kaloko LLC bought the parcel on Kauai last month for $17 million. The purchase includes most of a reservoir that flooded in 2006, killing

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. infectious disease expert says the nation should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel. Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comments signal a potential embrace of an idea the Biden administration has previously eschewed. He says such a mandate might drive up the lagging U.S. vaccination

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s president has called for an end to an 11-week deadlock that has prevented the government from convening, further undermining state institutions in the country amid an economic meltdown. President Michel Aoun implicitly blamed his powerful ally Hezbollah for preventing the government from convening but didn’t name the Shiite group in his

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Navy warship remains in port at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, with about two dozen sailors — or nearly a quarter of its crew — testing positive for COVID-19, according to U.S. defense officials. The USS Milwaukee has a crew of a bit

GARLAND, Texas (AP) — Police say three people were killed and a fourth was critically injured when a gunman opened fire inside a Dallas-area gas station. The shooting happened Sunday night in the Dallas suburb of Garland. Police say a man exited a white pickup truck, went inside the store and opened fire. The man

By TALI ARBEL AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Flight cancellations that disrupted holiday travel stretched into Monday, with major U.S. airlines each canceling dozens of flights. Staffers calling out sick because of COVID-19 have left airlines short in recent days. According to FlightAware, which tracks flight cancellations, airlines have canceled roughly 4,000 flights