AP National News

By LISA MASCARO and ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s one of the most far-reaching of all the federal aid programs launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. The expanded child tax credit puts up to $300 per child directly into the bank accounts of families on the 15th of every month. But the last

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer Colleges across the U.S. are starting to require booster shots, extend mask mandates and in some cases revert to online classes as they brace for the new omicron variant. More than 20 colleges have said they will require boosters, including Boston University and Notre Dame. Others are extending mask

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, VICTORIA MILKO and LORI HINNANT Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In February, Myanmar’s military took over the country’s government and its bank accounts, including those that receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from a gas field called Yadana. Now there is a groundswell of support in Myanmar for targeted

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares are mostly lower in Asia as traders await the outcome of the last Federal Reserve meeting of this year. Hong Kong and Shanghai gave up early gains and Tokyo and Seoul were little changed after the U.S. Labor Department reported that inflation was still running

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, VICTORIA MILKO and LORI HINNANT Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In February, Myanmar’s military took over the country’s government and its bank accounts, including those that receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from a gas field called Yadana. Now there is a groundswell of support in Myanmar for targeted

SPRINGDALE, Ark. (AP) — A former city councilor has won the Republican nomination in a special primary election Tuesday night, beating out candidates that included “19 Kids and Counting” father Jim Bob Duggar. Poll results show that Republican challenger Colby Fulfer, who is chief of staff for the city of Springdale and formerly served on

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s former president says the Taliban, who had already reached the gates of Kabul, were invited inside the city to stop chaos caused by the sudden flight of U.S.-backed president Ashraf Ghani. Hamid Karzai says in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press that he requested

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — Volunteers along U.S. coasts are raising oysters from tiny translucent spat to hard-shelled bivalves that can help restore depleted reefs. Oyster reefs are a keystone of coastal ecosystems. Each oyster filters 25 to 50 gallons of water a day. Spat glue themselves to larger

By MICHELLE R. SMITH Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine group has thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic. An investigation by The Associated Press finds that Children’s Health Defense has raked in money and followers as Kennedy used his star power as a member of one of America’s most famous families

By CLAIRE GALOFARO and JOHN RABY Associated Press BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — When a tornado touched down in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in the middle of the night, its violence was centered on one friendly subdivision. It’s a place where everyone waved at one another, and giggling children spent afternoons tooling around on bicycles on

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A telethon hosted by the University of Kentucky Athletics has raised more than $3 million in donations with matching funds to benefit victims of last weekend’s deadly tornadoes in western Kentucky. Proceeds from the “Kentucky United for Tornado Relief” telethon will go to the American Red Cross. Donations had reached $3,031,241

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The revelation that Fox News Channel personalities sent text messages to the White House during the Jan. 6 insurrection is another example of how the network’s stars sought to influence then-President Donald Trump instead of simply reporting or commenting on him. Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham

By CLAUDIA TORRENS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — During a tribute to her career at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA), Penelope Cruz recalled the Betamax videotape store that opened in her neighborhood, in a suburb of Madrid, when she was a child and that made her discover cinema. She says

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Biden administration is weighing tough new sanctions on Myanmar to pressure the country’s military leaders to restore a democratic path interrupted by a February coup. Blinken said the administration is also looking very closely as designating

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration’s plan for health insurers to reimburse consumers for over-the-counter COVID-19 tests is recalling the model of a bygone era when the companies processed large volumes of claims from individuals — with paper receipts. It’s unclear if the buy-first, get-paid-later approach will spur people to

By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has approved a $2.5 trillion debt limit hike, sending legislation to avert a catastrophic default to President Joe Biden for his signature. The flurry of action, which stretched into Wednesday’s early morning hours, came just shy of a deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is headed to Kentucky to survey damage and offer federal support for the victims of the devastating tornadoes that killed dozens and left thousands more in the region without heat, water or electricity. More than 30 tornadoes tore through Kentucky and

By JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cleanup is under way after a powerful storm swept through California, setting rainfall records in the drought-stricken state but also triggering rescue efforts on a raging river and in canyon communities hit by mudslides. The National Weather Service reports remarkable rainfall, including 11 inches over 72

By PIERRE-RICHARD LUXAMA and EVENS SANON Associated Press CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti (AP) — Nelly Joseph picked through the twisted metal roofing, overturned furnishings and rubble of her charred home, unsure of where her dead son had been buried or where she would sleep after blasts from a flipped gas tanker destroyed their house. Late Monday night,

By STEVE KARNOWSKI and AMY FORLITI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jurors at the Kim Potter trial are getting two versions of the officer who says she made a tragic mistake when she killed Daunte Wright by firing her handgun instead of her Taser. Prosecutors portray Potter as an experienced officer who was supposed to