AP National News

By JULIE WATSON Associated Press EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) — Three families from a San Diego suburb have now made it 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. Officials said Thursday that five other families from

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — After long months of illness, Uruguay is once again starting to dance. The government last week authorized ballrooms and event halls to open as the country’s COVID-19 death rate has fallen sharply. A few months ago it was among the highest in the world per capita. Seventy percent of Uruguayans have

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press A Purdue Pharma lawyer says states would get more money from settling with the company than if they were allowed to continue their lawsuits against the OxyContin maker and members of the Sackler family who own it. The warning came Wednesday as part of the final day of a weeks-long

By JONATHAN MATTISE and TRAVIS LOLLER Associated Press WAVERLY, Tenn. (AP) — The body of the final person missing from a devastating weekend flood in Middle Tennessee has been recovered and the search for victims has been suspended. The discovery came around mid-day on Wednesday, shortly before the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

By DAVID SOLOMON Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — Yadier Molina is staying with the St. Louis Cardinals, agreeing to a $10 million. one-year contract that covers what could be his final season in 2022. St. Louis announced the deal with its longtime catcher before its matchup with Detroit. The 39-year-old Molina broke into the

By DYLAN LOVAN Associated Press LONDON, Ky. (AP) — A man pardoned by Kentucky’s former governor for a 2014 drug robbery killing has been convicted for the same slaying in federal court after a two-week trial. Federal prosecutors brought charges against Patrick Baker after he was released from prison when former Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press The amount of missing information in the 2020 census was less than feared, though it varied by state, the question asked and the mode in which U.S. residents answered the census form. Census Bureau officials said Wednesday that, overall, the percent of U.S. households that didn’t provide answers about their

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Republican state senator from Wisconsin who opposed mask and vaccine mandates and then developed pneumonia after testing positive for COVID-19 is in stable condition after being placed on a ventilator. State Sen. Andre Jacque tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month and was hospitalized Aug.

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A group of Nantucket residents have filed a federal lawsuit to block the construction of dozens of wind turbines off the coast of the Massachusetts island resort. ACK Residents Against Turbines say Vineyard Wind’s proposed project 14 miles south of Nantucket poses a risk to the endangered

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say they’ve taken down a criminal racket in which corrupt lawyers and doctors used hundreds of desperate people, including drug addicts and homeless individuals, to feign trip-and-fall accidents to collect damages. They announced charges Wednesday against four individuals, including two lawyers and two doctors. They

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A report released on Wednesday says donations to racial and social justice causes ticked up to 16% of American households in 2020. The bump in giving came as donors raced to provide support to affected communities in a year marked by protests and increased attention

By MEG KINNARD and DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man on federal death row for the racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on

By RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A proposed class-action lawsuit claims that Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision to end enhanced unemployment benefits for tens of thousands of residents violated state law and asks a court to reinstate their aid. The lawsuit seeks to make claimants eligible for potentially hundreds of

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A federal judge has scheduled a trial in early 2022 for three Georgia men charged with hate crimes in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood issued a written order saying jury selection in the case will begin Feb. 7. Father

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Two members of Congress are facing criticism and questions following their surprise trip to Afghanistan this week. The trip by Democrat Seth Moulton, of Massachusetts, and Republican Peter Meijer, of Michigan, diverted resources from the U.S.’s chaotic withdrawal and enraged military leaders. House

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham wants to conserve more of the state’s land and water. She says doing so will boost other state efforts to mitigate climate change effects. The Democratic governor signed an executive order Wednesday creating a committee that will draft a

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A prosecutor says South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg will avoid a trial and take a plea deal on misdemeanor traffic charges in a crash last year in which he hit and killed a man who was walking near a rural highway. Beadle County State’s Attorney

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — An attorney for the Illinois teen accused of killing two men and wounding a third during a protest in Wisconsin last summer, says he doesn’t know who donated to his client’s defense and therefore cannot produce any names. Attorney Mark Richards was responding to a motion filed by prosecutors last week

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Rana Cash, executive editor of the Savannah Morning News in Georgia, has been named to the same position at The Charlotte Observer, the newspaper’s first Black editor in the North Carolina newspaper’s 135-year history. The 50-year-old Cash begins her new job in early October. She is replacing Sherry Chisenhall, who announced

LONDON (AP) — Several types of crispy pork snacks have been pulled from sale in Britain after almost 180 people became ill with suspected salmonella poisoning. The packets of pork scratchings sold under the labels Mr. Porky, Jay’s and The Real Pork Crackling Company were all made by snack company the Tayto Group. The Food