AP National News

By COLLIN BINKLEY, GEOFF MULVIHILL, CAMILLE FASSETT and LARRY FENN Associated Press The Biden administration says the historic amount of federal pandemic aid flowing to the nation’s K-12 schools presents a moment for reimagining all aspects of American education. But there are no guarantees that’s going to happen, in large part because the government has

By COLLIN BINKLEY, GEOFF MULVIHILL, CAMILLE FASSETT and LARRY FENN Associated Press As the federal government releases historic sums of pandemic aid to the nation’s schools, it’s urging them to dream big, to invest in seismic changes that will benefit students for generations to come. But many districts say they have more urgent problems to

By CHARLENE PELE Associated Press BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) — For more than seven decades, Martin Adler treasured a black-and-white photo of himself as a young American soldier with a broad smile with three impeccably dressed Italian children he is credited with saving as the Nazis retreated northward in 1944. The 97-year-old World War II veteran

By TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Another accuser has taken the witness stand on Monday at R. Kelly’s sex-trafficking trial. She testified on Monday that the R&B superstar sexually abused her on his tour bus and in hotel rooms when she was still a high school student and an aspiring singer. Last

MOAB, Utah (AP) — Residents of a Utah tourist town near the site where a newlywed couple was recently gunned down while camping say they’re puzzled and concerned as the police investigation unfolds. Crystal Turner and Kylen Schulte were discovered near Moab, where they’d been living. KUTV reports police believe someone killed the women and

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Two months ago, the leaders of the world’s seven major industrialized democracies met at the height of summer on England’s southeast coast. It was a happy occasion: the first in-person summit of the Group of Seven nations in two years due to the coronavirus pandemic and

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Jeopardy!” is back to guest hosts after the resignation of new host Mike Richards, and actor Mayim Bialik will return as the first behind the podium. Sony Pictures Television announced Monday that Bialik will take the podium for three weeks of episodes. The 45-year-old “Big Bang Theory” actor was one of

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Some members of Congress want protections put in place to address ongoing intergenerational trauma as more information comes to light about the troubled history of Indigenous boarding schools in the United States. A group of 21 Democrats sent a letter last week to the Indian

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press The leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, Enrique Tarrio, has been sentenced to five months in jail. Tarrio was convicted of burning a Black Lives Matter banner that was torn down from a historic Black church in downtown Washington and for bringing two high-capacity firearm magazines into the

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Connie Hamzy, a rock ‘n’ roll groupie from Arkansas who was immortalized as “sweet, sweet Connie” in the 1973 Grand Funk Railroad hit “We’re an American Band,” has died. She was 66. In 2019, the Little Rock woman told KTHV: “I was determined to become a famous groupie. I really

NEW YORK (AP) — Ayad Akhtar’s acclaimed novel “Homeland Elegies,” Ben Ehrenreich’s environmental warning “Desert Notebooks” and an illustrated edition of the late William Melvin Kelley’s postmodern narrative “Dunfords Travels Everywhere” are among this year’s winners of American Book Awards for works that highlight the country’s diversity. The awards are presented by the Before Columbus

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s state-owned oil company says five workers were killed, two workers are missing and six were injured in a massive fire at one of its oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The company says the the fire at the processing platform in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field had been brought under control.

By MARGARET STAFFORD Associated Press Two groups that work to overturn wrongful convictions are asking the Missouri Court of Appeals to reconsider the conviction of a Missouri man who has served more than 22 years in prison for the death of his mother. Michael Politte was 14 when his mother was burned to death inside

By DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — The parents of two teenage boys have filed a lawsuit alleging their sons were sexually assaulted in a high school football team hazing ritual at a suburban Chicago high school. The parents contend that the three football coaches at Plainfield Central High School were not present during

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s government has agreed to pay tens of thousands of poor families cash assistance in U.S. dollars from a World Bank loan as the country’s economic crisis deepens. Monday’s decision comes as Lebanon is expected to end subsidies for fuel by the end of next month, which is expected to lead to

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A conservative group filed a redistricting lawsuit with the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday, an action that comes after Democrats filed their own legal challenge in federal court less than two weeks ago. A third lawsuit on behalf of voting rights advocacy groups was also filed

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A group of Utah parents is suing the state over a law that bans school districts from approving mask mandates. It’s the latest U.S. legal challenge over rules for face coverings in the classroom. The lawsuit filed Monday seeking to overturn the law argues that

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ interior minister says 88 Syrians have been sent back to Lebanon  after trying to reach the east Mediterranean island nation aboard two boats. Minister Nicos Nouris told The Associated Press on Monday that rescue crews continue to search for one of five men who jumped

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Salvage crews have began cutting apart the final two sections remaining of a cargo ship that overturned along the coast of Georgia almost two years ago. Demolition of the South Korean freighter Golden Ray has been underway since November, when workers started using a length of anchor chain powered

ROME (AP) — Italy’s foreign ministry says an Italian-Moroccan student has been freed by Moroccan authorities after she was detained on blasphemy charges. The 23-year-old student, Ikram Nazih, was convicted in June of “offenses against religion” for having shared a satirical cartoon on Facebook in 2019. The Italian newspaper Domani, which had championed her cause, said