AP National News

By VANESSA GERA and FRANK BAJAK Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Security researchers say they’ve confirmed that a third Polish opposition figure had his phone hacked with military-grade spyware from Israeli company NSO Group. The senator was hacked nearly three dozen times using NSO’s Pegasus spyware when he was running the opposition’s campaign against

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, FELICIA FONSECA and BECKY BOHRER Associated Press WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (AP) — The massive infrastructure bill signed earlier this year promises to bring change to Native American tribes that lack clean water or indoor plumbing through the largest single infusion of money into Indian Country. It includes $3.5 billion for the federal

OSSEO, Wis. (AP) — Authorities in western Wisconsin are trying to sort out multiple crashes along Interstate 94. The State Patrol said in a statement that freezing rain early Thursday left the interstate between Menomonie and Black River Falls icy. About 5:45 a.m. a semi-trailer apparently slid in the median near Hixton and caught fire

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Jason Bateman has been named the 2022 Man of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals. The theater troupe announced Thursday that Bateman, an actor, producer and director on the Netflix series “Ozark,” who also played a starring role in “Arrested Development,” will be given his pudding pot at a

Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s government has announced that its forces will not advance deeper into the Tigray region. The Government Communication Service head, Legesse Tulu, said Thursday that Ethiopian forces have been ordered to maintain the areas they have won back from the Tigray People’s Liberation Force, but not to go further

BAYTOWN, Texas (AP) — Crews have extinguished a large fire at a Houston-area refinery that left four people injured. The fire started at about 1 a.m. Thursday at ExxonMobil’s refinery in Baytown, which is about 25 miles east of Houston. The company says four people were hurt but everyone else on site has been accounted

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A crew cutting down a dying oak at the University of Nebraska has made a surprising find — flying squirrels. A video shot by a member of the crew made its way to Larkin Powell, a conservation biology professor. The Lincoln Journal Star reports he was surprised by what he saw

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO and MARIAM FAM Associated Press During the holidays, some faith groups and congregations across the United States work to bring some Christmas cheer—and connection—to prisoners and their children. The Angel Tree program of the nonprofit Prison Fellowship partners with churches and volunteers to host toy drives and deliver gifts to prisoners’

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the West to “immediately” meet Russia’s demand for security guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine and the deployment of the military alliance’s weapons there. Putin accused the West during a marathon news conference on Thursday of trying to make Ukraine “anti-Russia,

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The actor who played Kevin’s older brother in the classic Christmas movie “Home Alone” has been arrested in Oklahoma after he was accused of assaulting his girlfriend. Authorities say Devin Ratray surrendered to authorities Wednesday. Ratray played Buzz McAllister in the 1990 movie. Authorities say Ratray was visiting Oklahoma earlier in

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks rose in afternoon trading on Wall Street Thursday, putting the major indexes on track for weekly gains and driving the S&P 500 toward a record high. The S&P 500 rose 0.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% and the Nasdaq rose 1%. More

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi authorities say they have identified the remains of a woman found following a tip from an inmate prior to his execution. The woman has been identified as 40-year-old Felicia Cox, who disappeared in 2007. District Attorney John Weddle said she was found on land that had once belonged to her

By JIM MUSTIAN and JAKE BLEIBERG Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Mona Hardin is haunted by the body-camera images of her son Ronald Greene being punched, stunned and dragged by the Louisiana State Police. She’s enraged that troopers initially tried to explain away the Black man’s death as the result of a car crash.

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has signaled her efforts to appeal to moderate Republican and GOP-leaning independent voters whose support is necessary for her to win a tough reelection race in Kansas next year. A recent example was her signing Republican legislation aimed at helping Kansas

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s 2nd congressional district has the dubious distinction of having the second-most structurally deficient bridges in the country. So, it struck some Iowans as strange when the district’s Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks voted against a bill that would pour more than $100 million in federal money to

By MICHAEL WARREN Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The official seal of the City of Atlanta shows a phoenix rising from the ashes of the Civil War. What it doesn’t show is that Atlanta was rebuilt with slavery’s successor: unpaid convict labor, working in horrific conditions to break granite at the Bellwood Quarry and burn

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Wrkiter WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new single-family homes rose 12.4% in November, the fastest pace in seven months, with low mortgage rates continuing to fuel heightened demand. The November increase pushed the seasonally adjusted annual sales pace to 744,000 last month, the best showing since reaching 796,000 in April.

By BEN FOX Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Biden administration effort to reunite children and parents who were separated under President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance border policy has made increasing progress as it nears the end of its first year. The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday that 100 children, mostly from Central America, are

By AMY FORLITI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The jury at the manslaughter trial of the suburban Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Black motorist Daunte Wright has returned for a fourth day of deliberations as the Christmas holiday looms. The jury weighing Kim Potter’s fate has been out 2 1/2 days, or about

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the West to “immediately” meet Russia’s demand for security guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine and the deployment of the military alliance’s weapons there. Putin accused the West during a marathon news conference on Thursday of trying to make Ukraine “anti-Russia,