AP National News

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and STAN CHOE AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks pushed further into record heights on Friday following an encouraging report on hiring across the country. The S&P 500 closed 0.4% higher, clinching an all-time high for the seventh straight day. Trading was scattershot, though, and after climbing to

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — The board of trustees at North Carolina’s flagship university has given itself new power over highly paid faculty appointments in the aftermath of controversy over tenure for a Black journalism professor. Their proposal was approved by UNC System President Peter Hans last week and by the full board at its

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — A 9-foot-tall video game joystick made of wood, rubber and steel has made it into the Guinness World Records 2022. Dartmouth College professor and artist Mary Flanagan created the giant controller in 2006 to celebrate her childhood experience of “maniacally” playing Atari 2600 video games. She also wanted to see what

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The state of Florida’s ban on coronavirus mask mandates in schools will stay in effect. A judge on Friday dismissed a case from several school districts challenging the rule. Administrative Judge Brian A. Newman rejected the case from Miami-Dade, Leon, Duval, Orange, Broward, and Alachua counties.

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy was supposed to help President Joe Biden and Democrats, but as of late it’s been hurting them with voters. Americans have turned pessimistic about the economy as inflation has persisted. On Tuesday, voters in Virginia rewarded Republican Glenn Youngkin with a win in the

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Prosecutors and defense attorneys presented dueling portraits of Ahmaud Arbery to jurors on the first day of the murder trial for three men charged in his death. In opening statements on Friday, the attorneys described Arbery as either an innocent Black runner fatally shot by three

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A young South Florida man has been convicted of fatally stabbing a 13-year-old boy during a sleepover. The Palm Beach Post reports that a Palm Beach County jury found 21-year-old Corey Johnson guilty Friday of first-degree murder, along with two counts of attempted murder. Johnson was 17 at the

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska State Troopers say a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter has rescued seven people who had been iced in since last week at a western Alaska cabin. The troopers on Thursday said the group was adequately supplied at the time and that U.S. Army helicopters were expected to “extract” the individuals Friday.

By SARAH RANKIN and DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press RICHMOND, Va (AP) — Republican Glenn Youngkin spent months talking to voters about his plans to roll back Democrats’ “left, liberal, progressive agenda.” When he takes office in January as Virginia’s next governor, he’ll have to talk to Senate Democrats about that. Youngkin’s victory was part of

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The astronauts who will depart the International Space Station on Sunday will be stuck using diapers on the way home. That’s because the toilet in their SpaceX capsule is broken. NASA astronaut Megan McArthur says it’s just one of many challenges she and the

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Democrats have abruptly postponed an expected House vote on their 10-year, $1.85 trillion social and environment measure. The decision Friday came as infighting between progressives and moderates once again sidetracked the pillar of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda. In a bid to hand him a needed victory,

By SCOTT BAUER, MICHAEL TARM and AMY FORLITI Associated Press KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — A witness at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial says the first man shot on the streets of Kenosha was acting “belligerently” but did not appear to pose a serious threat to anyone. Jason Lackowski is a former Marine who said he was

Associated Press The spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians has been released from a New York hospital and is expected to fly home to Turkey on Sunday after completing a U.S. visit that was extended for a medical procedure. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople left Mount Sinai Medical Center on Friday after spending two nights

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Jonathan Johnson spent weeks on a ventilator battling COVID-19, then decided to get married — in the hospital. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the 28-year-old man surprised his fiancée with the help of hospital staff and arranged a wedding in the intensive care unit of the hospital in Council Bluffs,

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Police have clashed in Athens with protesting firefighters demanding job contracts in the wake of massive wildfires. One fireman was hurt by a stun grenade and five others were detained after police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators Friday. The protesters, wearing their

ASSOCIATED PRESS TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A truck driver who ousted the powerful New Jersey Senate president in the election has apologized for social media posts including ones where he called Islam “a false religion,” compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust and defended rioters at the Capitol. Republican Edward Durr called himself “a passionate guy”

By SETH BORENSTEIN and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Young people both inside and outside the U.N. climate talks are telling world leaders that concrete measures to avoid catastrophic warming can’t wait. A 22-year-old from Barbardos who is on her country’s climate negotiation team in Glasgow says she’s observed sessions bogged down

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Justice Department official who aligned himself with Donald Trump after he lost the 2020 election has declined to be fully interviewed about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Jeffrey Clark ended a deposition with a House committee investigating the attack after around 90

By SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — At 55, Salma Hayek says she came to feel like the mother of some castmates in “Eternals,” the latest Marvel superhero movie co-starring Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani and others. That’s fitting since Hayek plays Ajak, the matriarch of the group. She especially bonded with Barry Keoghan,

By ROBERT BURNS and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Colin L. Powell, the trailblazing soldier-diplomat who rose from humble beginnings to become the first Black secretary of state, was remembered by family and friends as a principled man of humility and humor. Powell died last month at age 84. At his funeral at