AP National News

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Workers at three Starbucks stores in Buffalo, New York, will hold union elections next month after winning a case before the National Labor Relations Board. If the effort is successful, the stores would be the first of Starbucks’ 8,000 company-owned U.S. stores to unionize. The Seattle coffee giant opposes

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press South Dakota’s labor secretary says officials had decided to give Gov. Kristi Noem’s daughter another chance to win her state real estate appraiser license even before a meeting in the governor’s mansion that has spurred conflict of interest questions. Secretary of Labor and Regulation Marcia Hultman testified Thursday before a

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A. Linwood Holton Jr., Virginia’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction and a crusader against racial discrimination, has died. He was 98. His family says he died peacefully Thursday at his Kilmarnock, Virginia, home. Holton was Virginia’s governor from 1970 to 1974. A moderate, he declared an

By TOM KRISHER and HOPE YEN Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — The government has reported that the number of U.S. traffic deaths in the first half of 2021 hit 20,160, the highest first-half total since 2006. The estimated number was 18.4% higher than the first half of last year. That percentage increase was the biggest

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who was elected in 1992 as a self described “mom in tennis shoes,” has been fighting for paid family and medical leave for decades. For much of this year she appeared to be close to winning. A proposal

By The Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Linwood Holton, Virginia’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction, has died. His family says in a statement that he died peacefully Thursday at his home in Kilmarnock. He was 98. The statement did not specify the cause of death. Holton was a moderate who raised taxes and worked

ATLANTA (AP) — Houston’s 7-2 win over Atlanta in World Series Game 2 drew 10,539,000 viewers on Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox streaming apps. Wednesday night’s game averaged a 5.8 rating, 14 share and 10,280,000 viewers on Fox, up 13% from 9,105,000 for Tampa Bay’s 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second

By EDGAR H. CLEMENTE Associated Press ESCUINTLA, Mexico (AP) — A few thousand migrants have resumed their walk north through southern Mexico, and the chatter of stroller wheels on pavement accompanies the slap of feet. Still-sleeping children slumped as the caravan lurched forward Thursday. Others perched on parents’ shoulders. Aid workers travelling with the caravan

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is stepping back into the hotly contested Virginia governor’s race, but from afar. According to a person familiar with his plans, Trump will hold a tele-rally for Republican Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin is running neck-and-neck with Democrat Terry McAuliffe. Throughout the campaign, Youngkin

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a storm so big it could swallow Earth, extends surprisingly deep beneath the planet’s cloud tops. NASA’s Juno spacecraft has discovered that the monster storm, though shrinking, still has a depth of between 200 miles and 300 miles. Scientists reported

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge says a Minnesota man accused of killing three family members with a wrench is mentally incompetent to stand trial, citing testimony from doctors about his mental illness intensified by his consumption of energy drinks. David Ekers is charged with three counts of second-degree murder in last year’s attack in a

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Convicted murderer Robert Durst has been transferred to state prison less than two weeks after being hospitalized on a ventilator with COVID-19 following his sentencing for the slaying of his best friend. A state prison spokeswoman says Durst was moved from the Los Angeles jail system

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Education has asked an administrative judge to block the state of Florida from slashing federal aid money to two school districts over their coronavirus mask mandates. Federal education officials on Thursday filed a complaint with the agency’s Office of Administrative Law Judges

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is stepping into the hotly contested Virginia governor’s race, but apparently from afar. According to a person familiar with his plans, Trump will call in Monday to a rally for Republican Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin is running neck-and-neck with Democrat Terry McAuliffe. Throughout

DUBLIN, Ga. (AP) — Federal authorities say a Georgia man has pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining a coronavirus relief loan and using more than $57,000 of the money to buy a collectable Pokemon card. Acting U.S. Attorney David Estes said Thursday that Vinath Oudomsine of Dublin, Georgia, faces up to 20 years in prison. The

DETROIT (AP) — The government has reported that the number of U.S. traffic deaths in the first half of 2021 hit 20,160, the highest first-half total since 2006 The estimated number was 18.4% higher than the first half of last year. That prompted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to call the deaths an unacceptable crisis. The

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma has executed a man who stabbed a prison cafeteria worker to death in 1998 in the state’s first lethal injection following a six-year moratorium. Sixty-year-old John Marion Grant began convulsing and vomiting shortly after the first drug, midazolam, was administered. He was declared dead about

DETROIT (AP) — The government has reported that the number of U.S. traffic deaths in the first half of 2021 hit 20,160, the highest first-half total since 2006 The estimated number was 18.4% higher than the first half of last year. That prompted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to call the deaths an unacceptable crisis. The

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Jurors have heard opening statements in a civil lawsuit that accuses white nationalists of conspiring to commit violence at the “Unite the Right” demonstrations in Charlottesville in 2017. A lead attorney for nine people who are suing, claiming physical and emotional injuries, told the jury that the white nationalists planned the

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California judge has rejected a contract granting permanent access to U.S. government-controlled water for the nation’s largest agricultural water supplier. Environmentalists had blasted the deal with Fresno-based Westlands Water District as an arrangement designed to benefit corporate farm interests over environmental needs and taxpayers. It