AP National News

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — For one day at least, everyone with power over Britney Spears was in agreement. She needed to be freed. A Los Angeles judge on Friday released the pop star from the conservatorship that has had power over her life and money for nearly 14 years.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Dozens of Mexican farmers armed with rifles and shotguns have gathered in a pocket of mountain forest in southern Mexico to angrily reject a Supreme Court ruling on a decades-old land dispute. The conflict is centered on the Chimalapas, an area of tropical and pine forest that is threatened by logging

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has ended the conservatorship that has controlled Britney Spears’ life and money for nearly 14 years. Conservatorships like hers are established when a court finds someone has a severely diminished mental capacity and needs someone else to make major life and financial decisions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court has declined to lift its stay on the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more workers. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had granted an emergency stay last Saturday of the requirement by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that those workers

NEW YORK (AP) — The General Assembly of the Organization of American States has voted to condemn Nicaragua’s Nov. 7 presidential vote, saying the elections “were not free, fair or transparent, and lack democratic legitimacy.” Twenty-five countries in the Americas voted in favor of the resolution Friday. Seven — including Mexico — abstained. Only Nicaragua

WHEELING, Ill. (AP) — Police have arrested a man in the strangulation death of an Illinois woman whose 1-year-old daughter was found dead in an Indiana retention pond. According to published reports, 26-year-old Ahmeel Fowler has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ja’nya Murphy, whose body was found Tuesday in her Wheeling

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s representative at the Organization of American States says her government has expressed “concerns” to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega over his country’s deeply questioned elections, but says Mexico won’t support any OAS measure condemning the Nov. 7 vote. Ortega won more than 75% of the votes in Sunday’s election, but the

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California state university says its varsity baseball team engaged in an annual hazing of new players with challenges including dangerously excessive drinking and other inappropriate activities. That led to the suspension of the University of California, Davis team last summer and the head coach’s

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s largest electric provider and global energy giant Iberdrola say they’re committed to customer protections as they push for regulatory approval for a multibillion-dollar merger. The parent company of Public Service Co. of New Mexico and an Iberdrola subsidiary filed additional arguments with utility regulators Friday. The filing claims the

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities say three teenagers driven by racial hatred were behind hoax calls that brought major police responses to the home of one of the leading Black Lives Matter activists in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department says the teenagers, aged 13 to 16, connected over

DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto safety regulators are looking into a complaint from a Tesla driver that the company’s “Full Self-Driving” software caused a crash. According to a complaint filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the driver was beta testing the “Full Self-Driving” software, and the Tesla SUV went into the wrong lane

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago police say they’ve arrested an 18-year-old man in this week’s shooting death of a Chinese student near the University of Chicago’s campus. At a Friday evening news conference, police say they have charged Alton Spann with first-degree murder, armed robbery and unlawful use of a weapon. Police say they were able

By KATHLEEN FOODY Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — The late stages of Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial in the shooting of three men highlighted the U.S. legal system’s constant debate over forensic technologies, even fundamental ideas taken for granted outside the courtroom. Rittenhouse’s defense team sparred with prosecutors over whether enlarged images could be admitted in

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is among three states now allowing coronavirus booster shots for all adults. The move comes even though federal health officials recommend limiting doses to those over 65 and younger people with certain underlying health conditions or whose jobs are high risk for the virus. California,

NEW YORK (AP) — A former “Apprentice” contestant who accused former President Donald Trump of sexual assault has dropped her defamation lawsuit against him. Summer Zervos sued the then-president in 2017, saying he damaged her reputation when he said she and other women alleging sexual assault and harassment were making things up. During the 2016

CHICAGO (AP) — A police review agency is being harshly criticized for recommending that a Chicago police officer who was later fatally shot during a traffic stop be suspended for her role in a botched raid of a woman’s home in 2019. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, members of the City Council and others say the

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is telling nursing homes to open their doors wide to visitors, easing many remaining pandemic restrictions while urging residents, families and facility staff to keep their guard up against outbreaks. New guidance Friday from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services instructs nursing homes to

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press MARKS, Miss. (AP) — An impoverished county in the Mississippi Delta is celebrating the reopening of the local hospital. The only hospital in Quitman County and the tiny town of Marks closed Oct. 31, 2016. Like many medical facilities in poor parts of America, Quitman County Hospital struggled to

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — A Scottsdale school board president is accused of keeping a dossier on some parents, including photos and personal finances. Scottsdale Unified School District officials announced Friday that the district will hire an outside forensic investigator to see if any school resources were utilized in the creation of Google Drive folders on

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Even for the violence-wracked Mexican state of Michoacan, people were surprised when a priest called from the pulpit for parishioners to arm themselves against warring drug gangs. The Rev. Alfredo Gallegos said in his sermon that “we have to defend ourselves.” His call has drawn mixed