AP National News

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin are said to be sharply divided over Democrats’ huge social and environment bill, with the holdout senator pushing to erase the measure’s improved child tax credit. That word comes from a person familiar with the talks who described them on

JERUSALEM (AP) — A spokesman for Christian churches in the Holy Land has accused Israel of discriminating against Christian tourists during the normally busy Christmas holiday season. Israel last month closed its borders to foreign tourists in response to the outbreak of the omicron coronavirus variant. But this week, Israeli officials decided to make an

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — It’s not often that two actors inhabit the same role seamlessly in a movie. But in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley play a woman in vastly different chapters in her life with a rare harmony. Colman and Buckley don’t look

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Sources briefed on the decision say electric truck maker Rivian Automotive will announce Thursday that it’s building a $5 billion battery and assembly plant east of Atlanta projected to employ 7,500 workers. Rivian is a new entrant seeking to make electric trucks and commercial vans, challenging established

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — President Joe Biden walked past debris piled shoulder-high, furniture torn to pieces and homes without roofs and walls during a visit to a Kentucky town rendered unrecognizable by tornadoes that brought death and destruction to the region over the weekend. Red brick dust

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve will quicken the pace at which it’s pulling back its support for the post-pandemic U.S. economy as inflation surges, and it expects to raise interest rates three times next year. In an abrupt policy shift, the Fed announced that it will shrink its

By MARGERY A. BECK Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Much of the Midwest is bracing for strong winds, heavy rain and a chance of tornadoes as temperatures felt like summertime despite the official start of winter being only days away. Forecasters across the Great Plains predicted unusually warm weather Wednesday. Much of Nebraska, Kansas,

By TOM MURPHY and EMILY SWANSON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Most older Americans have had to use telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic and many were comfortable with it. But a new poll finds persistent concerns about issues like technology, care quality and patient privacy. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs

NEW YORK (AP) — The Metropolitan Opera is requiring audience and employees to receive COVID-19 booster shots for entry starting Jan. 17. The company said anyone not yet eligible to receive a booster shot will be allowed a two-week grace period after they become eligible. The Met was closed from March 2020 until September because

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s interior minister has ordered the deportation of members of Bahrain’s outlawed Shiite opposition party after they criticized from Beirut their country’s human rights record. It wasn’t immediately clear how many Al-Wefaq members will be impacted by Wednesday’s decision. The order is likely another move to ease an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A judge has ordered a Dutch right-wing populist lawmaker to take down four tweets in which he drew comparisons between coronavirus lockdown measures and the treatment of Jews under the Nazi regime. The judge said Wednesday that Thierry Baudet “instrumentalized” the suffering of Jews. Two Jewish organizations and a group

BY CURT ANDERSON Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — As winter approaches Florida, state wildlife officials say a test feeding plan will save many threatened manatees from starvation. But they say the manatees will still face the threat of manmade water pollution stifling their food supply. The state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was

By SCOTT BAUER and STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A use-of-force expert has testified that former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter was not justified in using deadly force when she fatally shot Daunte Wright. Seth Wayne Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, said Wednesday that no reasonable

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — bell hooks, the author, educator and activist whose explorations of how race, gender, economics and politics intertwine made her among the most influential feminist thinkers of her time, has died. She was 69. Starting in the 1970s, hooks published dozens of books that helped shape

By JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Another storm is pushing into California as the state cleans up from a powerful weather system that coated mountains with much-needed snow and set rainfall records in the drought-stricken state. Wednesday’s storm is expected to mostly impact Northern California. Forecasters expect widespread rain, gusty winds and

By CHEVEL JOHNSON Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Essence Festival is planning its return to New Orleans next summer after a two-year absence brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Essence Communications Inc. said Tuesday that its annual festival is scheduled June 30 to July 3. The event will include programming covering networking, finance,

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece, Italy and a handful of other European Union members have began vaccinating children ages 5-11 against COVID-19 as governments braced for both holiday season and the quickly spreading omicron variant. Acrobats dressed as superheroes rappelled down the walls of a hospital in

By MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — New test results show that the amount of lead in Benton Harbor, Michigan’s drinking water has declined. The latest round of water sampling marks the first time in three years that the majority Black city’s lead levels did not exceed Michigan’s standards. But state officials say

By LAURA UNGAR and CARLA K. JOHNSON Associated Press The new omicron coronavirus mutant speeding around the world may bring another wave of chaos, as it threatens to further stretch hospital workers already struggling with a surge of delta cases and upend holiday plans for the second year in a row. Omicron, even if it

By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Amazon’s “With Love” is a holiday-themed TV series that takes a different approach. It follows an extended Latino family through five episodes and a year’s worth of holidays. Christmas Eve is the starting point for the romantic comedy created and produced by Gloria Calderón Kellett.