News

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s newest Mars rover may have successfully collected its first rock sample for return to Earth, after last month’s attempt came up empty. The chief engineer for the Perseverance rover said Thursday he’s “never been more happy to see a hole in a rock.”

The Associated Press The government’s road safety agency reported Thursday that U.S. traffic deaths in the first quarter of 2021 rose by 10.5% over last year, even as driving has declined. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s estimated that 8,730 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes from January through April, compared with the 7,900

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist known for her writing on race is joining with educators in Iowa to launch a free community-based after-school literacy program in her hometown. Nikole Hannah-Jones tells the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that the 1619 Freedom School will hold a soft launch in October at the Dr. Walter Cunningham

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A key player in a North Carolina ballot probe that led to a new congressional election has been sentenced to six months in prison for Social Security fraud. Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. received the sentence Thursday in federal court. He had pleaded guilty to two counts in June on the day

By MICHAEL BIESECKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal and state agencies say they are responding to reports of oil and chemical spills resulting from Hurricane Ida following the publication of aerial photos by The Associated Press. The EPA said Thursday that a special aircraft carrying photographic and chemical detection equipment was dispatched to fly

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri inmate who has been in prison for more than 40 years for a triple murder many believe he didn’t commit will wait several more weeks for a court hearing that could lead to his release. A Jackson County judge on Thursday set a Sept. 13 court date to

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer Meteorologists say natural and man-made forces made Ida deadly and devastating in the New York and New Jersey area even though the weakened storm made landfall more than 1,000 miles away.  Experts say the remnants of Hurricane Ida lacked high winds but it kept its wet core. Then Ida

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bond has been set at $750,000 cash for a Milwaukee man accused of fatally bludgeoning his 12-year-old grandson whom he accused of stealing his money. A criminal complaint alleges that 54-year-old Andrez Martina used a sledgehammer, mallet and coat rack to beat Andre Smith II for up to 90 minutes Sunday before

By The Associated Press LONDON (AP) — ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the “Dancing Queen” quartet going entirely digital. The forthcoming album “Voyage,” to be released Nov. 5, is a follow-up to 1981′s “The Visitors,” which until now had been the swan

SLIDELL, La. (AP) — Sheriff’s officials are still searching for a man whose arm was ripped off during an alligator attack in the floodwaters of Hurricane Ida. Search crews with a cadaver dog have been looking in vain for traces of 71-year-old Timothy Satterlee. St. Tammany Parish sheriff’s Capt. Lance Vitter says Satterlee’s wife heard