AP National News

By DON BABWIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago City Council has agreed to pay a total of $20.5 million to two of at least a dozen men who have had murder convictions dismissed after being allegedly framed by the same police detective.  On Tuesday the council voted to settle lawsuits brought by Armando

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The family of a woman who was stabbed by Wisconsin classmates looking to please online horror character Slender Man says they’re nervous and fearful after a judge decided to release one of the attackers. Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren ruled Friday that Anissa Weier could leave

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Comedian Norm Macdonald, a former “Saturday Night Live” writer and performer and “Weekend Update” host, has died. His death Tuesday was confirmed by his management team, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, who said Macdonald, 61, had cancer for nine years but kept it private. Macdonald was on

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is nominating a Vermont judge who played a critical role in paving the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage to become the first openly LGBT woman to serve on any federal circuit court. The White House announced Thursday that Biden has tapped Beth

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Apple unveiled its next iPhone line-up, including a model that offer twice the maximum and other modest upgrades to last year’s editions that proved to be a big hit among consumers devouring the latest technology during the pandemic. The pre-recorded video event streamed Tuesday

By JIM SALTER Associated Press O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri cave containing Native American artwork from more than 1,000 years ago has been sold at auction. Tuesday’s move is disappointing to leaders of the Osage Nation who had hoped to buy the land to protect and preserve site that’s sacred to them. A bidder

By TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors want a New York City jury at the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial to hear profane video and audio recordings they say demonstrate how he threatened his victims with violence. A court document filed on Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn says an enraged Kelly can

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police have questioned the grandfather of a young boy who was the sole survivor of a deadly cable car crash in northern Italy earlier this year, on suspicion of kidnapping. Eitan Biran, age 6, is the focus of a bitter custody battle between his maternal grandparents in Israel and his paternal

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s president has met with Libya’s parliament speaker and a powerful military commander as Cairo pushes for the withdrawal of foreign forces and mercenaries from its western neighbor. President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi received Speaker Aguila Saleh and Gen. Khalifa Hifter, commander of the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, in Cairo. El-Sissi says

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press A new study finds pension systems for state government workers are in their best shape since the Great Recession. The Pew Charitable Trusts credits a booming stock market over the past year as well as states’ longer-term steps. Those include boosting taxpayer contributions to public pension funds and reducing promised

LONDON (AP) — China’s ambassador to Britain has been barred from Parliament and told he could not enter the building for a talk he was scheduled to give. Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said it was not “appropriate” for Ambassador Zheng Zeguang to enter Parliament because China imposed sanctions against seven British parliamentarians over their criticism

MIAMI (AP) — A South Florida woman has pleaded guilty to making death threats against Vice President Kamala Harris. Court records show that 39-year-old Niviane Petit Phelps pleaded guilty last week in Miami federal court to six counts of making threats against the vice president. She faces up to five years in prison at a

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Dozens of American Indian tribes are demanding the Biden administration enact emergency protections for gray wolves. Groups representing the tribes sent a letter Tuesday to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland asking her to place wolves back on the endangered species list on an emergency basis for 240

JERUSALEM (AP) — Ida Nudel, one of the most prominent activists who campaigned for the right of Jews to leave the Soviet Union in the 1970s and ’80s, has died in Israel. She was 90. Nudel was born in the Soviet Union in 1931 and came to prominence in the 1970s as a leading activist

By ANDRÉS VILLARREAL Associated Press CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) — The house that former drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán fled in 2014 when Mexican marines had him surrounded has undergone some changes. The surveillance cameras that covered every angle of the exterior have been removed. And the hole Guzmán slipped through to reach an escape

By JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Fearful of Donald Trump’s actions in his final weeks as president, the United States’ top military officer twice called his Chinese counterpart to assure him that the two nations would not suddenly go to war. A senior defense official acknowledged the conversations after they were described in

UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked New York state from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of health care workers sued, saying their Constitutional rights were violated. Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order Tuesday after 17 health professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed the vaccine mandate

By WILSON RING Associated Press BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Vermont has become the latest state to sue some of the country’s top fossil fuel companies by alleging they misled the public about the impact their products have on climate change. Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan said Tuesday his office had filed a consumer protection lawsuit

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, CATHY BUSSEWITZ and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed to levels not seen seen since last winter, wiping out months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Biden’s argument for sweeping new vaccination requirements. The U.S. is averaging over 1,800 COVID-19 deaths and 170,000 new

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Sequoia National Park has been shut down and its namesake gigantic trees could be in danger as forest fires burn in steep terrain across California’s Sierra Nevada. The combined size of two fires has grown to more than nine square miles since they were ignited by lightning last week.