News

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s top court has rejected an attempt to make it harder to impose the death penalty. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of the current system where jurors need not unanimously agree on aggravating factors used to justify the punishment. Jurors already must unanimously agree

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The night before he was indicted this week, a Long Island dentist suspected of exchanging painkillers for sexual favors was sending text messages suggesting he’d give a woman a Percocet prescription if she wanted to “hang out” and “party a bit,” federal prosecutors said Thursday.

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The United States has pledged another $32 million in aid to the victims of Haiti’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake, as the country’s interim prime minister defends his government’s response. U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power said Thursday the U.S. government had learned from

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Stephen Oates has died after a life that saw him become an award-winning Civil War historian who wrote biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Clara Barton, William Faulkner and others. The University of Massachusetts Amherst says Oates died Friday at his Amherst home at age 85. Oates received the

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The attorney for parents suing to overturn the governor’s executive order banning strong student mask mandates says the order violates the authority of school districts to decide health issues. Attorney Craig Whisenhunt represents the parents. He argued in court Thursday that Gov. Ron DeSantis is

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s minimum age to be married is now higher after Gov. Roy Cooper signed a bill increasing it from 14 years old to 16. The increase takes effect immediately after the governor’s bill signing Thursday. It comes after the General Assembly gave unanimous support to the new threshold earlier this

By BEN FINLEY Associated Press NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A school board in Virginia has agreed to pay $1.3 million in legal costs to the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU spent six years representing a student who sued over the school board’s transgender bathroom ban. Gavin Grimm’s suit against the Gloucester County School Board

By ERIC OLSON AP College Football Writer LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — College football programs are transitioning from traditional paper tickets to digital ticketing. Many fans like the feel of holding a ticket in their hand and hanging on to them as keepsakes. Others welcome the convenience of having a barcode on their smartphone scanned at

By KATHY GANNON and ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press The Islamic State offshoot that President Joe Biden blames for a deadly suicide attack outside the Kabul airport got its start six years ago with several hundred fighters who regarded the Taliban as too moderate. The group known as Islamic State Khorasan formed along the mountain border

By MARIA VERZA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president has again sidestepped questions about reinstating the U.S. “Remain in Mexico” policy. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday that Mexico will continue helping the United States on immigration. But he noted “it can’t go on forever,” and said attention must turn to development

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s new attorney general is seeking execution dates for seven death-row inmates. In motions filed Thursday with the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals, Attorney General John O’Connor says the seven inmates have exhausted all their appeals. Six of the inmates were recently dismissed from a federal

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Medical Board has opened an investigation following reports that inmates at a county jail were prescribed an anti-parasitic drug to combat COVID-19 even though it hasn’t been approved to treat the coronavirus. Board Director Amy Embry on Thursday declined to elaborate on the