AP National News

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Second-degree murder charges against two sheriff’s deputies and a hospital worker have been reduced to involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of a Virginia man who was pinned to the floor while being admitted to a state psychiatric hospital. The downgrading of the charges in the 2023 death of Irvo Otieno

By SEAN MURPHY and ANDREW DEMILLO Associated Press A four-term Democratic incumbent in Houston has been ousted in a statehouse primary race that centered on her support for a ban on gender-affirming health care for minors. Democratic challenger Lauren Ashley Simmons defeated incumbent Shawn Thierry in Tuesday’s primary by nearly 30 percentage points. Simmons had

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer McDonald’s is fighting back against media reports it says have exaggerated its price increases. In a post on the company’s website Wednesday, McDonald’s U.S. president said reports suggesting the price of the average Big Mac has doubled since 2019 were false. McDonald’s says the average Big Mac costs $5.29,

DANVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A fugitive dubbed the “bad breath rapist” has been arrested in the San Francisco Bay Area more than 16 years after he fled following his conviction for sexually assaulting a coworker in Massachusetts, authorities said this week. Tuen Kit Lee was found guilty at a 2007 trial of the kidnapping and

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military says North Korea has fired at least one ballistic missile toward its eastern waters, adding to a streak of weapons demonstrations that has raised tensions. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday did not immediately provide more details. Japan’s coast guard issued a maritime safety advisory

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The first ombudsman of West Virginia’s heavily burdened foster care system has resigned. Pamela Woodman-Kaehler’s resignation will take effect June 6. The state Department of Health announced her planned departure Wednesday. Woodman-Kaehler said she was pursuing a new opportunity but didn’t give more details. The ombudsman

By TIA GOLDENBERG, WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military said Wednesday it seized control of a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt to cut off smuggling tunnels as it tries to destroy the militant Hamas group in a war now in its eighth month. The capture of the

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In declining to step aside from two high-profile Supreme Court cases, Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday provided a rare window on the opaque process by which justices decide to step aside from cases. Alito faced calls from Democrats to recuse from two cases involving former President Donald

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho man charged with murdering his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children was driven to commit the crimes by money, power and sex, a prosecutor told jurors during closing arguments on Wednesday. “Three dead bodies … and for what?” prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors

By AAMER MADHANI and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden renewed his election-year pitch to Black voters on Wednesday, lashing out at Donald Trump’s “MAGA lies” and saying the winner of this year’s White House race will make crucial decisions, including on nominees for the Supreme Court, that could affect

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The election board in Georgia’s largest county has voted to certify its May 21 election results. But one of the board’s Republican-appointed members abstained Tuesday. The abstention by Republican-appointed Fulton County election board member Julie Adams aligns with a lawsuit she has filed. Adams wants more control

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ, ERIC TUCKER and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial ended its first day of deliberations without a verdict Wednesday but asked to rehear testimony from key witnesses about the alleged hush money scheme at the heart of the

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man who lost his job after he said a random drug test showed he’d used medical marijuana off duty for chronic pain has appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court saying he shouldn’t have been denied unemployment benefits. He was terminated for misconduct from a

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico held the last day of campaigning Wednesday before Sunday’s nationwide election, but the closing rallies were darkened by attacks on candidates and the country’s persistently high homicide rate. Opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez started her last campaign rallies early Wednesday on the outskirts of Mexico City, and she focused her ire

By MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press Denka Performance Elastomer in Louisiana threatened to shut down if the Biden administration doesn’t give it more time to reduce its emissions. The company makes the synthetic rubber neoprene — and federal officials have accused the plant of increasing cancer risk to the nearby, majority-Black community. The Environmental Protection Agency

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s statewide police union is calling for what it calls “real consequences” for drunken, rowdy teens and adults who create mayhem in public places following disturbances at Jersey Shore towns over the Memorial Day weekend. The New Jersey State Policemens’ Benevolent Association called Wednesday