AP National News

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Suspected of backing a coup plot against the longtime dictator of Gambia nearly 20 years ago, Pharing Sanyang described Thursday how he was beaten with pipes and palm tree branches, pistol-whipped and hit in the face with a hammer. Particles from the sandy ground of a courtyard

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge said Thursday that she will prevent the Trump administration from ordering hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans with temporary legal status to leave the country later this month. The ruling is a significant, although perhaps temporary, setback for the administration as

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Democratic leader who revitalized the party in the presidential swing state announced Thursday he will be leaving his position in June after a six-year run that included a string of victories and “agonizingly close” losses. The move by Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler

By AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s top health agency will undertake a “massive testing and research effort” to determine the cause of autism, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Thursday. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine critic who has pushed a discredited theory that routine childhood shots cause the

By REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with a requirement that everyone in the U.S. illegally must register with the federal government and carry documentation, in a move that could have far-reaching repercussions for immigrants across the country. Judge Trevor Neil McFadden

By LEKAN OYEKANMI and JIM VERTUNO Associated Press PALACIOS, Texas (AP) — While American consumers and markets wonder and worry about President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs, there’s one group cheering him as they hope he’ll prop up their sinking business: Gulf coast shrimpers. American shrimpers have been hammered in recent years by cheap imports

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Facing a deadline from an immigration judge to turn over evidence for its attempted deportation of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, the federal government has instead submitted a brief memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, citing the Trump administration’s authority to expel noncitizens whose

By MATTHEW BROWN and MATTHEW DALY Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee an agency that manages a quarter-billion acres of public land has withdrawn her nomination following revelations that she criticized the Republican president in 2021 for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The withdrawal of

By STEPHANY MATAT Associated Press WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A man already jailed on federal charges of attempting to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump as he golfed last fall will face additional state terrorism and attempted murder charges, Florida’s attorney general said Thursday. Ryan Routh tried to undermine the country’s political system and

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has moved to drop a criminal case against the alleged East Coast leader of the MS-13 gang less two weeks after he was charged, saying they plan to deport him instead of prosecuting him in the U.S. In an unusual move, his lawyer

By ANNIE MA and SARAH RAZA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department has withdrawn from an agreement to address disparities in discipline for Native American students at a South Dakota school system, saying it was wrongly rooted in efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. The decision reflects a shift in interpretation of

By JOSH FUNK and DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writers U.S. egg prices increased again last month to reach a new record-high of $6.23 per dozen despite President Donald Trump’s predictions, a drop in wholesale prices and no egg farms having bird flu outbreaks. The increase reported Thursday in the Consumer Price Index means consumers and

By The Associated Press House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework on Thursday, a political turnaround after Speaker Mike Johnson worked into the night to satisfy GOP holdouts who had refused to advance trillions of dollars in tax breaks without deeper spending cuts. U.S. stocks are giving back some of their historic gains from the

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The art of culinary diplomacy, practiced by presidents at White House state dinners for more than 150 years, is the theme of this year’s official White House Christmas ornament. Unveiled on Thursday by the White House Historical Association, the ornament’s design features the red china plate of

By TODD RICHMOND and MARY KATHERINE WILDEMAN Associated Press During a hike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1995, Don Barger climbed Chilhowee Mountain hoping to gaze across the valley below. All he saw was a wall of gray haze. Today, he said, he can see some 50 miles (80 kilometers) across that

By LISA MASCARO, CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY and CHRISTINE FERNANDO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Thursday are expected to take up one of President Donald Trump’s top election-related priorities, legislation that would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote for federal elections. Trump has long signaled a desire to change how elections

By DEEPA BHARATH Associated Press PASADENA, California (AP) — Aty Rotter lost her family home and her spiritual home in the ravenous fire that scorched a large swath of Los Angeles County earlier this year. The house her late father built in Pasadena more than 60 years ago is gone to the fire that charred

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A new executive order from President Donald Trump that’s part of his effort to invigorate energy production raises the possibility that his Department of Justice will go to court against state climate change laws aimed at slashing planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution from fossil fuels. Trump’s order,

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump ‘s administration will immediately start considering “antisemitic activity” on social media and physical harassment of Jewish people as grounds for denying immigration benefits, according to a federal agency announcement on Wednesday. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin screening the social media activity of immigrants that request benefits,

By VALERIE GONZALEZ and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Judges in Texas and New York on Wednesday temporarily barred the U.S. government from deporting Venezuelans jailed in parts of those two states while their lawyers challenge the Trump administration’s use of a rarely invoked law letting presidents imprison noncitizens or expel them

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A woman who says Harvey Weinstein trapped her in a Manhattan hotel room and raped her in 2013 can use the word “force” when she testifies at his retrial even though the disgraced movie mogul was acquitted of using physical force against her, a judge

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama teen who narrowly survived a fierce shark attack last year said she hopes a proposed alert system before state lawmakers can help keep others safe in the water. Lulu Gribbin, now 16, was one of three people bitten by a shark on June 7,

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A magistrate judge in Pennsylvania accused of shooting and wounding her ex-boyfriend in the head as he slept was convicted Wednesday of attempted homicide and aggravated assault charges. Sonya McKnight was taken away in handcuffs after the trial judge rejected a defense request that she be released. She faces up to

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press A Missouri foster mother has been charged with child abuse and endangerment as authorities investigate whether she traded an adopted daughter to someone in Texas for a monkey and mistreated other children in her care. The 70-year-old woman from Winfield has been jailed on $250,000 bond since her arrest over

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is seeking a rate increase this summer that includes hiking the cost of a first-class stamp from 73 cents to 78 cents. The request was made Wednesday to the Postal Regulatory Commission, which must OK the proposal. If approved, the 5-cent increase for a “forever” stamp and similar

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday announced the seizure of roughly $510 million worth of illegal narcotics on vessels headed for the United States, seeking to highlight the government’s efforts to take down sophisticated cartel drug networks. Bondi traveled to Florida to tout

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California youth soccer coach charged with killing a 13-year-old boy last month has also been accused of assaulting at least two other teens in recent years, prosecutors said. Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino is charged with killing Oscar Omar Hernandez and then dumping his body along

By The Associated Press President Donald Trump shared on Truth Social that he has “ authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%.” Trump also raised the tax rate on Chinese imports to 125%. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that the pause was not a result

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press A judge has dismissed conspiracy and kidnapping charges against five Massachusetts college students who were accused of plotting to lure a man to their campus through a dating app and then seizing him as part of a “Catch a Predator” trend on social media. The Assumption University students, all teenagers,

By OLIVIA DIAZ Associated Press/Report for America Four people were charged Wednesday in connection with a shooting that killed three people and wounded three others in Virginia, authorities said. The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that all four suspects — two 16-year-olds, a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old — were charged with malicious wounding