AP National News

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Scott Smith, a correspondent for The Associated Press who traveled across Venezuela to document personal stories of desperation and hope in the troubled country, has died. He was 50. Smith was diagnosed in February with brain cancer and was flown by medevac from Venezuela in a rare

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and GARY FIELDS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court says a pause on evictions designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus can remain in place for now. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a bid by Alabama and

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press Some Republican governors are using federal pandemic assistance to promote school choice programs, including charter schools and vouchers for private schools. The money comes with few strings attached, and it lets them sidestep legislative approval. In Tennessee, the governor used some of the money to help launch new charter schools

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Joe Biden has postponed plans to head to his Delaware home on Friday and instead will spend the night in Washington. The White House announced the schedule change hours before Biden spoke about the chaotic evacuation of American citizens and allies from

By DAVID PITT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Recreational vehicle and boat manufacturer Winnebago Industries is moving its corporate headquarters from Iowa to Minnesota. The company has been based in Forest City, Iowa, since its founding in 1958. It said Thursday that the official shift to Eden Prairie, Minnesota will be effective Dec.

FRANKFORT, Ind. (AP) — A man suspected of fatally shooting a woman and her granddaughter outside a central Indiana automotive seating plant where all three worked has been formally charged with murder, and prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if he’s convicted. Twenty-six-year-old Gary C. Ferrell II of Frankfort was charged Friday with two

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lottery players will get more chances to win giant jackpots as the Powerball game shifts to three drawings a week in an effort to build larger prizes and boost sales. The expansion will begin Monday, Aug. 23, marking the first time the game will expand

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — U.S. Naval Academy officials announced Friday that 18 midshipmen have been expelled and another 82 sanctioned after an investigation into cheating on an online physics exam in December. After 653 midshipmen took the final exam for General Physics I through a website in December, officials say they learned that outside sources

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO foreign ministers have committed to focus on ensuring the safe evacuation from Afghanistan of their citizens and of Afghans deemed at risk after the Taliban takeover, centering on improving operations at Kabul airport first. Many of the 30 allied nations raised “the need to work harder

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A jury has found a chiropractor and Navy veteran guilty in the gruesome killings of four people at a North Dakota property management firm in April 2019. Jurors returned guilty verdicts Friday on all counts against Chad Isaak, who was charged in the deaths of RJR Maintenance & Management co-owner Robert

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Jason Momoa doesn’t get to play many ordinary guys. He’s Aquaman. He’s Khal Drogo. He’s Conan the Barbarian. It’s part of the reason why he wanted to be in “Sweet Girl,” a new action drama that’s now available on Netflix. In the film he’s an ordinary Pittsburgh father named

By IRIS SAMUELS Associated Press/Report for America HELENA, Mont. (AP) — While large companies across the U.S. have announced that COVID-19 vaccines will be required for their employees to return to work in-person, there is one state where such requirements are banned. The Republican-controlled Montana Legislature passed a new law earlier this year that says

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME and NQOBILE NTSHANGASE Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Faced with slowing numbers of people getting COVID-19 vaccinations, South Africa has opened eligibility to all adults to step up the volume of inoculations as it battles a surge in the disease driven by the delta variant. The country on Friday started offering shots

By RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press An Iowa investigation has found that sheriff’s deputies erred when they did not investigate a neighboring county prosecutor for drunk driving after encountering her intoxicated in her car on the side of a highway one night in 2019. Critics have questioned whether assistant Jackson County Attorney Amanda Lassance received

FINLAND, Minn. (AP) — Authorities fighting a northeastern Minnesota wildfire have ordered additional evacuations after the blaze jumped a highway. The U.S. Forest Service sent in ground crews and water-dropping aircraft Friday after the Greenwood Fire crossed over to the west side of Lake County Highway 2, just north of Stony Lake. Deputies were evacuating

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization has issued a call for experts to join a new advisory group it’s forming, in part to address the agency’s fraught attempts to investigate how the coronavirus pandemic started. In a statement on Friday, the U.N. health agency said the new scientific group would provide the WHO with

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Taliban face a major challenge in cementing control of Afghanistan: Money. The military blitz that enabled the Taliban to retake Afghanistan did not extend to finances. The Afghan Central Bank’s holdings are almost entirely abroad and can’t be accessed by the Taliban. The International Monetary Fund

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A judge has ordered the government to take money from the prison account of a former Michigan sports doctor who owes about $58,000 to victims of his child pornography crimes. Larry Nassar has received about $13,000 in deposits since 2018, including $2,000 in federal stimulus checks. But Nassar has paid

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — K-pop isn’t the only entertainment export from South Korea that’s earned fans across the globe. Their TV shows, often referred to as K-dramas, are also growing in popularity. Some fans are so dedicated they volunteer to translate the shows’ subtitles to their native language on the

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The parents of a 1-year-old boy who drowned in the Florida Everglades after a car wreck have been arrested. Marc Dorizar faces a manslaughter charge while he and Charline Coriolan face numerous counts of child abuse and neglect. They were arrested this week for the Sept. 3 wreck. The Florida