AP National News

By SARA BURNETT Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Democrats are poised to approve new congressional district maps that would give Democratic candidates an advantage in elections over the next decade as the party fights to keep control of the U.S. House in 2022. Democrats who control state government released their proposed maps Friday, and

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A prosecutor has ruled that a police officer who shot and paralyzed a man in downtown Waterloo, Iowa, in April acted legally because the target appeared to be chasing a deputy with a shotgun. Black Hawk County Attorney Brian  Williams says Waterloo police officer C.J. Nichols did not know that the

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The lawyer for an Afghan commander awaiting trial in Manhattan federal court says it’s preposterous to charge his client in the killing of three American soldiers. Attorney Mark Gombiner spoke Friday at a pretrial hearing after Haji Najibullah pleaded not guilty to charges in a rewritten

By ZEKE MILLER and ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — President Joe Biden says that although he expects his social safety net and climate spending package to shrink, “we’ll come back and get the rest” after it’s passed. That was a seeming effort to reassure progressives who are worried their priorities may get

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) — A military judge has issued a reprimand for a Marine lieutenant colonel and ordered him to forfeit $5,000 in pay for his criticism of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The decision Friday followed the guilty plea Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller entered during a special court-martial at Camp Lejeune in North

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press Police departments that are requiring officers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 are running up against pockets of resistance across the U.S. Police unions and officers are pushing back by filing lawsuits to block the mandates. In Chicago, the city mayor’s is going to court against the

By JIM SALTER Associated Press Three months after creation of a commission to identify cybersecurity risks in state government, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has yet to appoint any members. A state lawmaker said Friday that vulnerabilities exposed on a state website prove the need for just such a panel of experts. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s Constitutional Court says it will examine the legality of parliament’s decision to impeach the country’s figurehead president for alleged constitutional breaches. If the court upholds the decision then President Ilir Meta will be removed from office a year early. The court said Friday it would

DENVER (AP) — In a story published October 14, 2021, about a defamation lawsuit, The Associated Press erroneously reported the name of Joseph Oltmann’s attorney. The attorney is Ingrid DeFranco, not Andrew DeFranco. 

By SARAH EL DEEB and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Funerals have taken place across Lebanon for seven people killed in gunbattles on the streets of Beirut the day before. Schools, banks and government offices across Lebanon shut down for a day of mourning on Friday. The confrontations had erupted on Thursday over

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer Amazon’s audiobook service Audible and phone apps for reading the holy books of Islam and Christianity have disappeared from the Apple store in mainland China. The steps are the latest examples of the impact of China’s tightened rules for internet firms. Audible said Friday that it removed its app

By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas has banned most abortions since early September under a new law that has created the biggest curb to abortion in the U.S. in nearly 50 years. Texas clinics and the Biden administration have spent weeks asking courts to halt the the law. It bans

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The United Nations refugee agency on Friday expressed deep concern about legislation Poland adopted this week allowing the arbitrary rejection of migrants’ asylum applications. The new legislation came in response to the presence of hundreds of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa on Poland’s border with Belarus. European Union

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts has rejected a Supreme Court stay request from the St. Louis-based natural gas company Spire Inc. to allow it to keep operating a pipeline through Illinois and Missouri. Roberts did not comment Friday in refusing to temporarily pause a lower court order affecting the operation of the Spire

SOUTHLAKE, Texas (AP) — A Texas school district administrator told teachers that if they have books about the Holocaust in their classrooms, they should also have books that offer “opposing” or “other” viewpoints on the subject. Gina Peddy, the executive director of curriculum and instruction for the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, which is

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis says he wouldn’t accept an offer to try to create a new government after his centrist ANO political movement narrowly lost in the parliamentary election last week and is ready to end up in opposition. The decision announced by the populist billionaire on Friday opens the way

By JO KEARNEY and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LEIGH-ON-SEA, England (AP) — British police say counterterrorism officers are leading the investigation into the slaying of lawmaker David Amess. Essex Police Chief Ben-Julian Harrington said it hasn’t yet been established whether the stabbing was a terror attack. A 25-year-old man is being held on suspicion of

By MICHAEL BALSAMO and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Capitol Police officer has been indicted on obstruction of justice charges after prosecutors say he helped to hide evidence of a rioter’s involvement in January’s insurrection. The officer, Michael A. Riley, is accused of tipping off someone who participated in the riot

By MATTHEW PERRONE and LAURAN NEERGAARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A panel of U.S. health advisers has endorsed booster doses of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration panel said Friday that the booster should be offered at least two months after immunization but didn’t suggest a firm time. The

By ROBERT BURNS AP National Security Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost has became only the second woman to lead one of the Pentagon’s 11 so-called combatant commands that spearhead the military’s worldwide operations. At a change-of-command ceremony at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin applauded her