AP National News

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A former Wisconsin high school teacher accused of secretly videotaping undressed students during field trips was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison after reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors. Thirty-nine-year-old David Kruchten earlier pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to produce child pornography. Prosecutors alleged Kruchten used his

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A former pastor accused of sexually assaulting two women inside a suburban St. Louis Catholic supply store, then killing a third when she refused his sexual demands has pleaded guilty. Thomas Bruce entered the plea Friday to first-degree murder and other charges in the attacks in Ballwin, Missouri, on Nov. 19,

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris will head next month to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron. The White House announced Harris’ plans for travel to France as President Joe Biden and Macron spoke by phone on Friday. The two presidents are scheduled to meet in Rome later this month

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military-installed government has challenged a pronouncement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ barring its leader from attending next week’s annual summit of the regional bloc. It said the declaration issued by ASEAN chair Brunei violated the charter of the group, to which it belongs. A

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials may have solved the mystery of how four people in different states came down with a serious tropical disease, even though none had traveled internationally. The four people may have been infected by an aromatherapy spray imported from India. Two of them

By TOM HAYS and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A New York jury has convicted a former associate of Rudy Giuliani of charges that he made illegal campaign contributions to influence U.S. politicians and advance his business interests. The verdict convicting him on all six counts was returned Friday in Manhattan federal

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Protests are being held in Warsaw and other Polish cities to mark the one-year anniversary of a constitutional court ruling that severely restricted abortion rights in the country. In last October’s ruling, the court declared that abortion due to fetal abnormalities — even in the case of fetuses so badly damaged

By NICOLAE DUMITRACHE and ANDREEA ALEXANDRU Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Doctor Petruta Filip is working 100-hour weeks at a hospital in Romania’s capital Bucharest which, like hospitals throughout the country, is struggling under an onslaught of coronavirus patients requiring treatment amid worryingly low vaccination rates. In Romania, a European Union country of around

By MORGAN LEE and WALTER BERRY Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Alec Baldwin says his killing of a cinematographer with a prop gun on a movie set was a “tragic accident.” He posted the remark Friday on Twitter as authorities investigated the shooting, which also wounded the director. Halyna Hutchins was cinematographer on

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Authorities say gunshots rang out across several streets during a shooting that killed four people in a neighborhood in Tacoma, Washington. A search for a suspect or suspects in the Thursday afternoon killings continued Friday. Investigators have not yet said what led to the violence outside a residence on the city’s

DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Officials say two Florida police officers were wounded during a shootout before returning fire and killing the gunman. Doral police say both officers in the Friday morning shooting were expected to survive. Officials say officers were responding to some dispute between drivers, where one car was chasing the other. The man

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — The University of Alabama has contracted with an online app in response to complaints over long concession lines at home football games during the coronavirus pandemic. The school is also making other changes in hopes of speeding up service when Tennessee visits for Saturday’s homecoming. The capacity crowd of more than

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died Thursday after Alec Baldwin fired a loaded weapon that was handed to him by an assistant director who indicated it was safe to use on the New Mexico set of “Rust.” Director Joel Souza was also hit and injured but has since been released from

By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Peter Scolari, who appeared on the TV series “Newhart” and Girls,” has died. His manager says Scolari died Friday morning in New York after fighting cancer for two years. The versatile character actor first gained attention as Tom Hanks’ co-star in the sitcom “Bosom Buddies,”

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis police officer has been charged with manslaughter and vehicular homicide for a crash in July that killed an innocent motorist while the officer was pursuing a stolen vehicle. Authorities say Officer Brian Cummings was driving nearly 80 mph in Minneapolis with his siren and lights

By BABAR DOGAR and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s police say violent clashes have erupted between security forces and Islamists in the eastern city of Lahore, killing at least two policemen and two demonstrators. Friday’s incident happened shortly after thousands of Islamists launched their “long march” from the city toward Pakistan’s

By JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has effectively outlawed six prominent Palestinian human rights groups by declaring them terrorist organizations. Friday’s declaration marks a major escalation of Israel’s decades-long crackdown on political activism in the occupied territories. It appeared to pave the way for Israel to raid their offices, seize assets, arrest

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — A U.S. Marine Corps veteran who disarmed a teenage robbery suspect in an Arizona gas station by grabbing the suspect’s gun says he was just “doing what needed to be done.” James Kilcer was standing inside the gas station in Uman talking to the clerk on Wednesday when the gun-pointing suspect

By KOSTYA MANENKOV Associated Press MOMIRAK FIRING RANGE, Tajikistan (AP) — Russian and Tajik troops have conducted joint drills near Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan, as part of efforts to prepare for possible security threats issuing from Afghanistan. The exercise at the Momirak firing range about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) north of the Afghan border

BERLIN (AP) — A study claims that large technology companies are underreporting their greenhouse gas emissions at a time of heightened scrutiny over the role of corporations in driving climate change. Research published Friday in the journal Nature Communications found inconsistencies in the way companies declare their carbon footprint. This measure is increasingly considered important