AP National News

By TOM DAVIES Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A whistleblower lawsuit alleges that Indiana’s state treasurer violated state law in handing out contracts that paid more than $6 million to firms linked to her political supporters. The lawsuit filed by a former top office staffer claims Republican Treasurer Kelly Mitchell bypassed required approvals from other

By BEN FOX Associated Press NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (AP) — Three men held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were formally charged Tuesday in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and other plots in Southeast Asia 18 years after they were taken into U.S. custody.  Defense lawyers insisted afterward that the long-delayed arraignment was

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations chief is urging all nations to help the people of Afghanistan “in their darkest hour of need.” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that almost half the Afghan population — 18 million people — needs humanitarian assistance to survive, and the country faces

By KEN MILLER Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma appeals court has reversed four previous rulings that overturned death penalty cases based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited state jurisdiction for crimes committed on tribal reservations. The state court on Tuesday vacated rulings in the cases of death row inmates Shaun

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A business executive charged in the aftermath of a failed multibillion-dollar project to build two nuclear reactors in South Carolina has pleaded not guilty. Jeffrey A. Benjamin entered the plea in federal court Tuesday. Benjamin is a former executive at Westinghouse Electric Co., the lead contractor to build two new reactors

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — The wildfire threatening communities around Lake Tahoe has drawn what officials call an aggressive response to try to stop it from reaching areas, including the town of South Lake Tahoe, home to more than 20,000 people. The fire is named the Caldor Fire, after the road where it started

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The founders of the classified site Backpage.com are scheduled to go on trial Wednesday on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money in what authorities say was a scheme to sell ads for sex. Michael Lacey and James Larkin also are accused of using cryptocurrency and wiring

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press Older adults who are childless in the U.S. are more likely to be college educated, working and white than those with children. And their numbers are growing. A new Census Bureau report released Tuesday shows that 1 in 6 adults age 55 and older are childless. Childless older women appear

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A Brazilian bull rider has died after a bull stepped on his chest in California. The Professional Bull Riders touring group says Amadeu Campos Silva, 22, was competing at a bull-riding Velocity Tour event at the Save Mart Center in Fresno on Sunday. Campos Silva lost his balance and his spur

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — The backers of a measure that would change Seattle’s approach to homelessness are appealing a judge’s decision that blocked it from the November ballot. The Compassion Seattle campaign initially said it would not appeal the decision Friday from King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer, who said

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — The full panel of 15 appellate judges in Richmond has narrowly upheld a former Virginia high school student’s appeal to have her lawsuit against the school system reinstated after an alleged sexual assault. The narrow 9-6 decision prompted a pair of rare, written dissents from

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A new documentary chronicles the life and 42-year career of Bill Feehan, the highest-ranking and oldest New York City fire official killed at the World Trade Center. “Chief” is airing on public television stations and in-person screenings around the 20th anniversary of the attack. It

NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say a New Jersey woman with the Instagram handle AntiVaxMomma sold several hundred fake COVID-19 vaccination cards at $200 a pop to New York City-area jab dodgers, including people working in hospitals and nursing homes. Prosecutors say Jasmine Clifford, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, sold about 250 fake vaccine cards in

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers face tough economic and security challenges as they return to power in a country that is vastly different from the one they left 20 years ago. When they last ruled in the late 1990s, Afghanistan was a poor, agricultural nation, and the

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and MARTIN CRUTSINGER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The sharp shock of the coronavirus recession pushed Social Security a year closer to insolvency but left Medicare’s exhaustion date unchanged, the government reported Tuesday. It’s a counterintuitive assessment that deepens the uncertainty around the nation’s bedrock retirement programs. Social Security’s massive trust fund

NEW YORK (AP) — For Alicia Keys, “Girl On Fire” isn’t just a million-selling single, but the title and inspiration for a young adult graphic novel scheduled for next year. HarperCollins Publishers announced Tuesday that “Girl On Fire,” the story of 14-year-old Lolo Wright and her telekinetic powers, will come out March 1. The book

MOUNTAIN VIEW Google is once again postponing a return to the office for most workers until mid-January. The internet search giant is also to requiring all employees to be vaccinated once its sprawling campuses are fully reopened. The highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is driving a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

By JOSEF FEDERMAN and WAFAA SHURAFA Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has allowed dozens of truckloads of construction materials into the Gaza Strip, easing a tight blockade it has maintained on the Hamas-ruled territory since an 11-day war in May. The imports Tuesday came during a tense period in which Hamas activists have launched

By EMILY McFARLAN MILLER Religion News Service Terry Wildman hopes a new translation of the New Testament published Tuesday will help Christians and Indigenous peoples read Scripture again in a fresh way. Wildman, a licensed local pastor in the United Methodist Church, has been working for two decades to translate the Bible into words and

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi says he has fully recovered from COVID-19, less than two weeks after being diagnosed. The 70-year-old Wicker says Tuesday that he’s looking forward to traveling in Mississippi this week. He’s one of three senators who announced Aug. 19 that they had tested positive for COVID-19.