News

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press South Carolina officials who have been sued over a law banning school districts from issuing face mask mandates say that they should be removed from pending litigation. That’s the argument made in recent court filings from Gov. Henry McMaster, Attorney General Alan Wilson and others being sued by the American

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s president has called a third parliamentary election this year that will be held on Nov. 14 after two previous votes failed to produce a government. Authorities said Wednesday that parliament will be dissolved and a new caretaker government will be appointed in the European Union nation of 7 million. Bulgaria

By PATTY NIEBERG Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s attorney general says a civil rights investigation begun amid outrage over the death of Elijah McClain has found that the Aurora Police Department has pattern of racially biased policing. Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office made the announcement on Wednesday morning. The investigation was announced

By ALEJANDRA MOLINA Religion News Service It’s billed as the largest Catholic parish in the United States and it’s being constructed in the city of Visalia, about 200 miles north of Los Angeles, in what’s often referred to “as the heart of California’s dairy industry.” With an estimated $18.5 million price tag, St. Charles Borromeo

By KATHY GANNON and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan man who was killed in a U.S. drone strike last month was an enthusiastic longtime employee at an American humanitarian organization. His colleagues paint a stark contrast to the Pentagon’s claims that he was an Islamic State group’s militant about to

ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) — A judge has sentenced a second inmate to life in prison for the beating deaths of two workers at an Iowa prison during a failed escape attempt in March. Michael Dutcher, 28, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Anamosa State Penitentiary correctional officer Robert

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli life has come to a standstill as Jews mark the beginning of Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement, the most solemn point on the Jewish calendar, began at sundown on Wednesday. Stores, businesses, public transportation and broadcasting shuts down in Israel for this high holiday, on which the observant fast from

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The animal rights group Sea Shepherd says it hopes that pressure will build from within the Faeroe Islands to end its traditional drive of sea mammals into shallow water where they are killed for their meat and blubber. Wednesday’s statement comes after Sunday’s slaughter of

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press A GOP lawyer who advised former President Donald Trump in his campaign to overturn the 2020 election results is among speakers planned for a South Carolina gathering billed as a must-stop on the road to the state’s primary. The state GOP announced Wednesday that longtime Republican lawyer Cleta Mitchell was

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A former Georgetown University tennis coach accused of accepting more than $2 million in bribes to help kids get into the school will plead guilty in the sweeping college admissions scandal. Gordon Ernst’s decision to plead guilty comes as the first trial in the massive case