AP National News

By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — After two decades, the United States has completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war and closing a sad chapter in military history. It’s likely to be remembered for colossal failures, unfulfilled promises and a frantic final exit that cost the lives

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Full-throated shouts and hearty applause have returned to the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Also back Monday are lengthy lines to get through the gates and to buy something to eat or drink. A year ago, spectators were banned entirely from Flushing Meadows because of the

CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois judge has reversed a ruling to bar a divorced mother from seeing her 11-year-old son because she isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19. Cook County Judge James’ Shapiro issued an order Monday that vacated his Aug. 10 decision, though he offered no explanation. Rebecca Firlit’s lawyer has said the judge, not Firlit’s

By TERRY WALLACE Associated Press The electric utility Griddy Energy has reached a settlement with Texas state officials over crushing electric bills its customers received after the deadly February winter storm and cold wave. The Texas Attorney General’s Office announced the settlement Monday, having sued Griddy after customers received bills totaling many thousands of dollars.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A storied New Orleans jazz site where a young Louis Armstrong once worked toppled when Ida blew through Louisiana as one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. The Karnofsky Tailor Shop where a young Louis Armstrong worked collapsed Sunday during the storm. The National Park Service says

By MARK PRATT Associated Press A civil rights group is calling for reform at a Massachusetts children’s summer camp on the affluent vacation resort of Martha’s Vineyard where a white child placed a strap around the neck of a Black camper. The incident involving 8- and 9-year-old boys occurred late last month at the Chilmark

By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and JEFF AMY Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The levees, floodwalls and floodgates that protect New Orleans held up against Hurricane Ida’s fury, but costly upgrades to the city’s flood protection system couldn’t spare some neighboring communities from the rising water. Ida was the toughest test for New Orleans

By MELINDA DESLATTE and RUSS BYNUM Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana hospitals in Hurricane Ida’s path have been forced to evacuate dozens of patients after the storm tore away parts of their roofs, sent water leaking inside and left facilities relying on generator power. Gov. John Bel Edwards said members of the

By DAVID FISCHER Associated Press MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Officials with a South Florida museum are collecting the photos, notes and other personal items that make up a memorial wall near the site of the deadly building collapse that killed 98 people. A group from HistoryMiami Museum was working Monday near the Champlain Towers

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press Disability rights groups and parents of children with disabilities want an immediate halt to a South Carolina law banning school districts from requiring face masks. The groups and parents last week filed for a temporary restraining order blocking the law from being enforced, while their lawsuit challenging the measure proceeds.

By CURT ANDERSON AP Legal Affairs Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge is considering claims that a new Florida law designed to deter violent public demonstrations is instead unconstitutionally chilling free speech and legitimate rights to protest. Attorneys for several organizations challenging the law championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis asked U.S.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee says the “retrograde vision” of Turkey’s president to cement Cyprus’ ethnic divide by striving for a two-state deal “is wrong” for all Cypriots. Robert Menendez, a Democratic senator from New Jersey, said a peace accord for Cyprus based on two separate states

By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite a few high-profile conservation success stories, birds of prey worldwide are in decline. A new analysis finds that 30% of 557 raptor species worldwide are considered near threatened, vulnerable or endangered. Eighteen species are critically endangered, including the Philippine eagle and the Annobon scops owl.

By RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the stabbing death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts three years ago. Judge Joel Yates sentenced Cristhian Bahena Rivera on Monday to the mandatory sentence for first-degree murder

By DAVID McFADDEN Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore’s first new Catholic school in nearly 60 years has opened its door to students. Baltimore is a city once steeped in Catholicism like few others in the U.S. Monday’s opening of Mother Mary Lange Catholic School is an anomaly in the national education landscape where the

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press CALIPATRIA, Calif. (AP) — Demand for electric vehicles has shifted investments into high gear to extract lithium from geothermal wastewater around California’s dying Salton Sea. The ultralight metal is critical to rechargeable batteries. Despite widespread availability in the United States, Nevada has the country’s only lithium plant, and U.S. production

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press CALIPATRIA, Calif. (AP) — Demand for electric vehicles has shifted investments into high gear to extract lithium from geothermal wastewater around California’s dying Salton Sea. The ultralight metal is critical to rechargeable batteries. Despite widespread availability in the United States, Nevada has the country’s only lithium plant, and U.S. production

By TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — After several days of testimony from women claiming they were sexually abused by R&B star R. Kelly, a man has testified that Kelly exploited him in the same way. The witness took the stand at Kelly’s sex-trafficking trial in New York City on Monday. He claimed

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Abortion providers in Texas are asking the Supreme Court to prevent enforcement of a state law that would allow private citizens to sue anyone for helping a woman get an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. The request to the court comes after a panel of

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Donations are pouring in for the widow and unborn child of a U.S. Marine from Wyoming killed in a bombing in Afghanistan. Twenty-year-old Rylee McCollum was among 13 service members killed by a suicide bomb attack Thursday at the Kabul airport. They were providing security as the airport was overwhelmed with