AP National News

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Six families from a San Diego suburb have now made it safely out of Afghanistan after they went to the country earlier this summer to visit relatives and got stuck there amid the chaos following the Taliban’s takeover. But the suburb of El Cajon was still waiting on Monday for the

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Attorneys general from 20 states have sued President Joe Biden’s administration seeking to halt directives that extend federal sex discrimination protections to LGBTQ people, ranging from transgender girls participating in school sports to the use of school and workplace bathrooms that align with a person’s gender

DALLAS (AP) — Dallas city officials say an ongoing audit of police crime data has found that the data missing from the city’s computer database is almost triple the initial estimate. City spokeswoman Janella Newsome tells The Dallas Morning News that an additional 15 terabytes of police data have been found to be missing. City

By SEAN MURPHY The Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma civil rights group has filed a federal lawsuit claiming a new anti-protest bill approved by lawmakers this year is unconstitutional. The Oklahoma chapter of the NAACP filed the lawsuit Monday in federal court in Oklahoma City, along with the national NAACP and the

By DAVID EGGERT Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Republicans are launching a ballot drive to tighten Michigan’s voting and election laws, backing a maneuver that would let GOP lawmakers enact the changes without Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s signature. Monday’s step, which had been signaled for months, was welcomed by Republicans and decried by Democrats and

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Hurricane Ida knocked out all eight transmission lines that deliver power to New Orleans, leaving the entire city without electricity as the powerful storm pushed through on Sunday and early Monday with winds that reached 150 miles per hour. Some of the hardest-hit areas won’t see power

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press  A divided U.N. Security Council is pressing the Taliban to live up to pledges to let people leave Afghanistan after the U.S. withdraws its forces. But China and Russia have refused to back the resolution, which they portray as diverting blame for the chaos surrounding the U.S. pullout.  French Deputy

LINCOLN, Maine (AP) — A U.S. Army veteran who died while performing a rescue of a downed helicopter in Somalia has been immortalized with a new memorial in his home state. Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, a native of Lincoln, Maine, died during the rescue in Mogadishu in 1993. The Special Forces Charitable Trust hosted a

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Officials leading the fight against wildfires in northeastern Minnesota are warning about a new threat: bears attracted by generous donations of food and other supplies. Superior National Forest officials say donations have far out-stripped their need and ability to store what they received. Donations now must be

NEW YORK (AP) — Officials say an 80-pound cougar was removed from a Bronx apartment where she was being kept illegally as a pet. Kelly Donithan of the Humane Society of the United States said in a news release Monday that the owner of the 11-month-old female cougar surrendered the animal on Thursday. The cougar,

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Montana State University said Monday that the founders of an insurance company are donating $101 million to its nursing school. School officials said the donation is the largest gift to a university nursing program in U.S. history and will help the state deal with a shortage of nurses. The donation comes

By PATTY NIEBERG Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — The Colorado secretary of state has sued to remove a rural county’s election clerk who is accused of allowing a security breach of voting equipment that the FBI also is investigating. Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in the lawsuit Monday that an initial investigation

By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — After two decades, the United States has completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war and closing a sad chapter in military history. It’s likely to be remembered for colossal failures, unfulfilled promises and a frantic final exit that cost the lives

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Full-throated shouts and hearty applause have returned to the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Also back Monday are lengthy lines to get through the gates and to buy something to eat or drink. A year ago, spectators were banned entirely from Flushing Meadows because of the

CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois judge has reversed a ruling to bar a divorced mother from seeing her 11-year-old son because she isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19. Cook County Judge James’ Shapiro issued an order Monday that vacated his Aug. 10 decision, though he offered no explanation. Rebecca Firlit’s lawyer has said the judge, not Firlit’s

By TERRY WALLACE Associated Press The electric utility Griddy Energy has reached a settlement with Texas state officials over crushing electric bills its customers received after the deadly February winter storm and cold wave. The Texas Attorney General’s Office announced the settlement Monday, having sued Griddy after customers received bills totaling many thousands of dollars.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A storied New Orleans jazz site where a young Louis Armstrong once worked toppled when Ida blew through Louisiana as one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. The Karnofsky Tailor Shop where a young Louis Armstrong worked collapsed Sunday during the storm. The National Park Service says

By MARK PRATT Associated Press A civil rights group is calling for reform at a Massachusetts children’s summer camp on the affluent vacation resort of Martha’s Vineyard where a white child placed a strap around the neck of a Black camper. The incident involving 8- and 9-year-old boys occurred late last month at the Chilmark

By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and JEFF AMY Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The levees, floodwalls and floodgates that protect New Orleans held up against Hurricane Ida’s fury, but costly upgrades to the city’s flood protection system couldn’t spare some neighboring communities from the rising water. Ida was the toughest test for New Orleans

By MELINDA DESLATTE and RUSS BYNUM Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana hospitals in Hurricane Ida’s path have been forced to evacuate dozens of patients after the storm tore away parts of their roofs, sent water leaking inside and left facilities relying on generator power. Gov. John Bel Edwards said members of the