AP National News

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents have been carrying out “law enforcement activity” at a Washington mansion and New York City townhouse tied to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Officials wouldn’t provide any additional information about the circumstances surrounding their presence or

BROOKSHIRE, Texas (AP) — Authorities say no one was seriously hurt when an airplane taking passengers to the AL Championship Series game in Boston ran off a runway and burned near Houston. The Federal Aviation Administration says the McDonnell Douglas MD-87 was carrying 21 people when it rolled through a fence and caught fire while

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press Retired U.S. Rep. Bill Zeliff has died at age 85 after a career in which he helped lead the investigation of the disastrous siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Texas in 1993. A funeral home and Zeliff’s wife say the Republican died Monday in Florida after declining health. Zeliff

BASTROP, Texas (AP) — An attorney for a Texas death row inmate has told a judge that new evidence suggests the 19-year-old woman his client was convicted of killing may instead have been strangled by her jealous boyfriend. Rodney Reed was convicted in the 1996 rape and murder of Stacy Stites in Bastrop, 30 miles

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — CBS won its first week of the still-new television season, this time by dominating non-sports programming. Nielsen company figures show CBS had 14 of the 20 most-watched non-sports shows on network television last week, while NBC had the other five and Fox had one. NBC

By ZEKE MILLER and DAVID KOENIG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s most aggressive move yet to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is almost ready to see the light of day. The government is close to publishing the details of a new vaccination-or-testing rule covering more than 80 million Americans at companies with 100

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to block a vaccine requirement for Maine health care workers. Justice Stephen Breyer rejected the emergency appeal Tuesday but left the door open to try again as the clock ticks on Maine’s mandate. The state will begin enforcing it Oct.

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer The David Prize, an annual $1 million award for select New York City residents, has announced its five winners for this year’s awards. They include a former undocumented immigrant and immigration activist, a former inmate turned prison reform advocate and the founder of preschool. The prize is named after

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific and its labor unions are suing each other to determine whether the railroad has the authority to require its employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The unions argue that the Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad should have negotiated with them before announcing it would

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks are closing higher on Wall Street Tuesday, giving the S&P 500 its fifth straight gain and getting it closer to the record high it set in early September. The benchmark index added 0.7%. Health care companies made some of the biggest gains. Johnson &

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco’s mayor has announced that the city will hand out cash awards of up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of high-level auto burglary ringleaders. Mayor London Breed says the money will come from a private fund raised by the hospitality and tourism industry. This is

By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Prosecutors allege a rural Alaska man accused of threatening to kill the state’s two U.S. senators in profanity-filled voicemails left on their office phones over several months had a stockpile of guns at his rural Alaska home. Jay Allen Johnson faces two counts of threatening to

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security says Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has tested positive for COVID-19. A DHS statement says the secretary has only “mild congestion” after taking a routine test Tuesday and testing positive. Mayorkas is fully vaccinated. The agency says he will isolate and work from home under the protocols recommended by

By KOSTYA MANENKOV and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Facing a surge of seriously ill COVID-19 patients, the head of an intensive care unit at a Moscow hospital says the situation could easily have been avoided if more Russians were vaccinated. With only about a third of Russia’s 146 million people fully vaccinated,

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s governor has visited Benton Harbor to listen to residents who have been urged to use bottled water because of elevated levels of lead in their tap water. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stop Tuesday wasn’t publicly disclosed until it was over. It came hours after city commissioners unanimously declared an emergency

By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Facebook is paying a $4.75 million fine and up to $9.5 million to eligible victims to resolve the Justice Department’s allegations that it discriminated against U.S. workers in favor of foreigners with special visas to fill high-paying jobs. Facebook also agreed in the settlement to train

By MICHELLE LIU Associated Press/Report for America COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A prominent civil rights attorney is calling on a South Carolina prosecutor to revisit a case and criminally charge the two jail employees who stunned a mentally ill Black man 10 times and kneeled on his back until he stopped breathing. Ninth Circuit Solicitor

LONDON (AP) — Dozens of nations particularly vulnerable to the effects of global warming have laid out their key demands ahead of the upcoming U.N. climate summit. These include getting rich countries to commit to fulfill and step up their pledges of financial assistance to help them . The Climate Vulnerable Forum also wants more

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Manatees are starving to death because algae blooms and contaminants are killing the seagrass the beloved sea mammals eat. A state wildlife official detailed the problem for a Florida House committee on Tuesday. Algae and pollutants in the Indian River Lagoon have decimated seagrass. The aquatic

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The remains of an abandoned river wharf went up in flames over the weekend in New Orleans as fireworks went off nearby, but officials haven’t yet determined whether the display played a role in the enormous fire. The Times Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reports that the fireworks began around 10:30 p.m.