AP National News

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A member of the San Diego Zoo’s African penguin colony has been fitted with orthopedic footwear to help it deal with a degenerative foot condition. The 4-year-old penguin named Lucas has lesions on his feet due to a chronic condition known as bumblefoot, which covers a range of avian foot problems,

By MICHAEL TARM AP Legal Affairs Writer CHICAGO (AP) — Two more accusers have taken the witness stand at R. Kelly’s child pornography and solicitation of minors trial in federal court in Chicago. Their testimony Monday brings to three the total number of accusers to have testified so far in the case. The prosecution cited

By BERNIE WILSON and JOHN WAWROW AP Sports Writers SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego State football coach Brady Hoke said Monday he didn’t know star punter Matt Araiza had been accused of participating in the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at an off-campus party in October until a civil lawsuit was filed last

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS and MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves says he is declaring a state of emergency after excessive rainfall worsened problems in a water treatment plant in the capital city. Water pressure is low in much of Jackson. Reeves says the state will distribute drinking water

SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) — A resident of a San Francisco Bay Area senior citizens home died after being mistakenly served dishwashing liquid as drinking juice, the home said. Three residents of Atria Park Senior Living Facility in San Mateo, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of San Francisco, were taken to the hospital after

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Southern California man who convinced troubled girls as young as 12 to perform masochistic acts and urged one to become his sex slave pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge, prosecutors said. Matthew Christian Locher, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child for the

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has called the leaders of two U.S. veterans groups assisting Afghans who have fled from the country on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The White House said Biden on Monday spoke to the leaders of the veterans-led

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia has faced technical problems with Iranian-made drones acquired from Tehran this month for use in its war with Ukraine. That’s according to Biden administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. intelligence assessment. They did not detail the “numerous failures.” They

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a Texas federal court ruling that exempts a group of religious health care providers from the abortion and gender rights requirements of the Affordable Care Act. In an 18-page opinion filed Friday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in

DETROIT (AP) — The National Labor Relations Board has reversed a Trump-era decision by finding that Tesla can’t stop factory employees from wearing clothing with union insignia while on the job. The board, in a 3-2 decision released Monday, overruled a 2019 NLRB decision involving Walmart and union clothing. The board wrote that a 1945

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Jill Biden has tested negative for COVID-19 and plans to return to Washington on Tuesday. The president’s wife came down with a “rebound” case of the coronavirus nearly a week ago. Jill Biden’s communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, announced the negative test Monday night in a statement. Jill Biden has been

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A new trial is set for March for a North Carolina-based insurance magnate whose previous convictions on corruption-related charges were overturned. A federal judge on Monday set a schedule for proceedings leading to a tentative trial date for Greg E. Lindberg. Cogburn released Lindberg from a minimum-security prison last month, weeks

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers on Monday approved a nation-leading measure that would give more than a half-million fast food workers more power and protections, over the objections of restaurant owners who warn it would drive up consumers’ costs. The bill will create a new 10-member Fast Food Council

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says he’s far from satisfied with the federal response to catastrophic flooding in eastern Kentucky. But the senator acknowledges that communication problems has complicated the outreach to flood victims. McConnell on Monday visited the Kentucky Emergency Management Operations Center. He was

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two Dutch soldiers wounded in a downtown Indianapolis shooting that killed another member of their commando unit could soon return to the Netherlands, city police said Monday while providing no new information on the search for the other people involved. The 26-year-old member of the Dutch Commando Corps died of his injuries

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska death row inmate who strangled his cellmate after complaining he talked too much has died at the state prison in Tecumseh. Officials said they have not determined how 45-year-old Patrick Schroeder died. Schroeder died Monday, about four years after he was sentenced to death for the strangulation death of

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press/Report for America DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Cheri Beasley is pitching herself as a bridge between law enforcement and the Democratic party in her latest appeal to moderate voters in one of the nation’s most competitive races for a seat in the narrowly divided chamber. Joined

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer Greenland’s rapidly melting ice sheet will eventually raise global sea level by at least 10.6 inches (27 centimeters) — more than twice as much as previously forecast — according to a study published Monday. That’s because of something that could be called zombie ice. That’s doomed ice that, while