AP National News

By PAUL DAVENPORT Associated Press Writer PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s top court is eliminating the longstanding practice of allowing lawyers in criminal and civil trials in state courts to remove potential jurors without explanation. The move by the Arizona Supreme Court in an order dated Tuesday and released Friday is one that proponents said would

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Nora has weakened to a tropical storm as it causes floods and landslides along Mexico’s Pacific coast. At midday Sunday, it passed just inland of the Mazatlan resort area as a Category 1 hurricane, then veered into the Gulf of California and weakened into a tropical storm. The Jalisco state

By BEN FOX Associated Press JEREMIE, Haiti (AP) — U.S. military aircraft are ferrying food, tarps and other material into southern Haiti amid a shift in the international relief effort to focus on helping people hit by the recent earthquake to make it through hurricane season. Aircraft flying out of the capital of Port-au-Prince arrived

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Several hundred migrants, including many children, have been blocked by Mexican security forces as they tried to head north from near Mexico’s border with Guatemala hoping to reach the U.S. About 300 Haitians, Cubans and Central Americans set out on foot Saturday from the town of Tapachula and a few hundred

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press BEND, Ore. (AP) — The death toll from COVID-19 in Oregon is climbing so rapidly in some counties that the state has organized delivery of one refrigerated truck to hold the bodies and is sending a second one. The state emergency management department says refrigerated trucks to hold bodies have

By HALELUYA HADERO and GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writers As governments, corporations and charity groups rush to get their citizens and employees out of Afghanistan, dozens of Afghan people got help to flee their country from Instagram influencer Quentin Quarantino. The alter ego of 25-year-old Tommy Marcus has helped raise $7 million on GoFundMe to

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — A Tesla using its partially automated driving system has slammed into a Florida Highway Patrol cruiser on an interstate near downtown Orlando. The Florida Highway Patrol says the trooper narrowly escaped injury. A highway patrol spokeswoman told The Orlando Sentinel the trooper was assisting a disabled vehicle about 5 a.m. Saturday

By BRIAN SLODYSKO and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of voting rights advocates are rallying across the country Saturday to call for sweeping protections against a further erosion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The rally comes as some states move aggressively to pass laws that critics say would make

By SETH BORENSTEIN Science Writer Sure, Hurricane Ida looks an awful lot like Hurricane Katrina, bearing down on the same part of Louisiana on the same calendar date. But hurricane experts say there are differences in the two storms 16 years apart that may prove key and may make Ida nastier in some ways but

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer NEW YORK (AP) — There will be some key contrasts when it comes to COVID vaccinations at the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Players do not need to be vaccinated — and only about half are. Spectators suddenly now do after a change in policy was made just a few

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Wildlife authorities say that a mountain lion that attacked a 5-year-old boy and dragged the child across his front lawn in Southern California has been shot and killed. The 65-pound mountain lion attacked the boy while he was playing near his house Thursday in Calabasas and dragged him about 45 yards

LYONS, Ill. (AP) — Police have discovered two containers with human remains in a backyard in suburban Chicago. It comes a few days after a man told investigators that he buried the bodies of his mother and sister there years ago after they had died. The Lyons police chief says the man and his brother

By BRIAN MELLEY and AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press A Marine sergeant who cradled a baby in her arms at the airport and posted on social media that she loved her job. A young husband with a child on the way. A man who planned to become a sheriff’s deputy when his deployment ended. More

By FRANK BAJAK Associated Press Companies evacuated oil and gas platforms south of Louisiana ahead of Hurricane Ida but a far greater worry was potential damage to refineries and petrochemical plants in its projected path from flooding and storm surge. The Mississippi River industrial corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is along the projected

PARIS (AP) — Demonstrators opposed to France’s health pass took to the streets for a seventh Saturday of protests, but appeared to be less numerous than in past weeks. Up to 200 marches were planned around the country, four in Paris, gathering both those opposed to COVID-19 vaccinations and people denouncing France’s health pass.  “Free

Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Protesters have filled the German capital, as thousands turned out to demonstrate against the government’s coronavirus measures despite bans against several planned gatherings. Police had banned nine demonstrations for Saturday, including one from the Stuttgart-based Querdenker movement, the most visible anti-lockdown movement in Germany. A court ruled in favor of

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters faced a critical day in efforts to prevent a massive California wildfire from reaching the Lake Tahoe resort region, hoping to take advantage of calmer winds before hot, heavy gusts return. The Caldor Fire churned through mountains just southwest of the Tahoe Basin, cloaking much of the popular

By TED ANTHONY AP National Writer SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — The act of remembering is a complex one, particularly when it comes to an event like 9/11. Memory can be filled with emotion, with politics, with anger and with a desire to make sure that certain stories are told. As the 20th anniversary of 9/11

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer TOKYO (AP) — The International Paralympic Committee says two athletes from Afghanistan have arrived in Tokyo to compete in the Paralympics. The IPC says the two-person team of Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli had flown from Kabul to Paris before continuing on to Tokyo. Khudadadi will be Afghanistan’s first

ISABELLA, Minn. (AP) — Fire personnel are working to put out the largest of numerous wildfires in northeastern Minnesota, where smoke from the blazes prompted a warning to residents to remain indoors. An air quality alert issued by state regulators was extended until 9 a.m. Sunday. The extension came as an unhealthy band of smoky