AP National News

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A key Southern California highway closed for days because of a wildfire was reopened Thursday evening but authorities warned that flames still posed a threat to remote properties in a coastal mountain range. The Alisal Fire is 11% contained Thursday after charring more than 26 square miles in the Santa

DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE, Alaska (AP) — About half the main road through Denali National Park and Preserve will be remain closed next year as officials work to address a long-running landslide issue. That’s according to a statement from the park Thursday. In August, the road west of mile 43 was closed to nonessential

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Four people are in critical condition after they were pulled from an airplane that went down Thursday afternoon near a private airstrip in Sacramento County. The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District says the plane landed in the front yard of a home and caused a small vegetation fire that was quickly extinguished.

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Colombia is calling for greater efforts to integrate former combatants who are struggling with access to land and housing and finding sustainable incomes and security. Carlos Ruiz Massieu told the U.N. Security Council Thursday that in discussions with former combatants

MIAMI (AP) — Miami city commissioners have unanimously voted to fire Police Chief Art Acevedo after a short and stormy tenure in which he clashed with city officials and members of his own police force. The five commissioners took the step following a trial-like hearing Thursday in which he was criticized for offending fellow Cuban-Americans

By TERRY SPENCER and CURT ANDERSON Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A court hearing is planned Friday in Florida for Nikolas Cruz, the man police said has confessed to the 2018 massacre of 17 people at a high school. The hearing in Broward County Circuit Court was scheduled abruptly Thursday and does not

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — The U.S. State Department says next month’s presidential elections in Nicaragua “have lost all credibility” because of President Daniel Ortega’s arrests of critics and seven potential challengers. Starting in May, Ortega began arresting almost any public figure who disagreed with him, including people who fought alongside him in the country’s 1979

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — The main lawyer for Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi says he has been issued a gag order barring him from talking about her cases. Suu Kyi, whose elected government was overthrown by the army in February, is being tried on several criminal charges that supporters

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City prosecutors announced they will bring criminal charges against “several people and companies” for construction and design defects that caused a subway line collapse in May that killed 26 people. The city attorney general said studies found that construction defects like poor welds caused the collapse. Ernestina Godoy said Thursday

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill raising the nation’s debt limit until early December, delaying the prospect of an unprecedented federal default that would cause economic disaster. The House passed the $480 billion increase in the country’s borrowing ceiling on Tuesday after the Senate

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — More than 1,300 firefighters helped by aircraft are trying to box in a wildfire in a Southern California coastal mountain range that has closed major highway for days. The Alisal Fire is 5% contained Thursday after charring more than 26 square miles in the Santa Ynez Mountains west of Santa

By DON BABWIN and SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago police leaders and the mayor say that officers will not be ordered to go home if they defy the city’s requirement that they report their COVID-19 vaccination status or be placed on unpaid leave. Police spokesman Tom Ahern’s comments follow a video posted

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has won back his full pension as part of a settlement of his lawsuit arising from his firing during the Trump administration more than three years ago. That’s according to a statement from his lawyers on Thursday. McCabe, a frequent target

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cher has sued the widow of her former musical partner and ex-husband Sonny Bono over royalties for Sonny and Cher songs including “I Got You Babe.” In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, Cher alleges that Mary Bono and other defendants have tried to terminate provisions of business agreements Cher and Sonny

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States has won a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council that former president Donald Trump denounced and quit. Thursday’s election for 18 seats in all was uncontested and criticized for guaranteeing spots to countries with abysmal rights records. The 193-member U.N. General

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — A Boeing test pilot has been indicted on fraud charges related to his work in evaluating the 737 Max jetliner, the same model that was involved in two deadly crashes. Prosecutors said Mark Forkner was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury and accused of deceiving

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California insurance pool is appealing a judge’s order that it offer homeowners more options for coverage. Private insurance companies sometimes won’t sell policies to people who live in wildfire prone areas. The California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan sells fire insurance to these people.

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s Republican candidate for governor is calling it “weird and wrong” that attendees at a right-wing election rally recited the Pledge of Allegiance to a flag said to have been flown at a rally before the Capitol riot in January. First-time candidate Glenn Youngkin didn’t attend

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government says it will allow up to 800 more foreign butchers work in the U.K. on temporary visas, after farmers said a labor shortage in meat processing has caused them to cull thousands of healthy pigs. Earlier, the pork industry warned that up to 150,000 pigs

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — New York real estate heir Robert Durst has been sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole for the murder of his best friend more that two decades ago.  He was convicted in Los Angeles Superior Court last month of first-degree murder for shooting Susan