AP National News

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press With high expectations and a sprawling scope of storytelling, directing anything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, would seem daunting. For Kat Coiro, an executive producer and director on the series “ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, ” it was only scary before Tatiana Maslany was cast in the lead role. “As

By DEE-ANN DURBIN and ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press Writers MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge is ordering Starbucks to reinstate seven employees in Memphis who were fired earlier this year after leading an effort to unionize their store. In a decision issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman agreed with the National Labor Relations

By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press Instagram and Facebook suspended Children’s Health Defense this week after the anti-vaccine group led by Robert Kennedy Jr. repeatedly violated rules prohibiting misinformation about COVID-19. A nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense is one of the most influential anti-vaccine organizations active on social media, where it has spread misleading claims about vaccines

By MAYSOON KHAN Associated Press/Report for America ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say a prominent New York-based horse trainer whose horse won this year’s Preakness Stakes is facing a domestic violence charge for allegedly pushing a woman down a flight of stairs and trying to choke her. Forty-three-year-old Chad Brown was arraigned Thursday in Saratoga

The Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah high school athletics association secretly investigated a female athlete — without telling her or her parents — after receiving complaints from the parents of two girls she had defeated in competition questioning whether the girl was transgender. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Utah

By ED WHITE Associated Press Prosecutors have rested their case against two men on trial for a second time in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. The jury heard seven days of testimony before prosecutors finished Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr.

By ROB MAADDI and TOM WITHERS AP Sports Writer BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will serve an 11-game unpaid suspension, pay a $5 million fine and undergo professional evaluation and treatment as part of a settlement with the NFL following accusations of sexual misconduct by two dozen women. The league had

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina have charged a man with murder in the fatal shooting of a sheriff’s deputy last week. Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker said Arturo Marin-Sotelo was charged Thursday in the Aug. 11 killing of Wake County Deputy Ned Byrd. Lt. Walter Adams said the investigation is ongoing and

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators have issued a warning letter to the maker of illegal nicotine gummies. The Food and Drug Administration says the gummies pose a growing risk to teenagers and younger children. In its warning Thursday, the FDA said the fruit-flavored gummies from Florida manufacturer VPR Brands

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — People in Moscow who were disappointed when Starbucks closed its coffee shops after Russia sent troops into Ukraine may now feel a caffeine jolt of hope: a nearly identical operation is opening in the capital. The name’s almost the same: Stars Coffee. The logo could be the

By HARRIET MORRIS Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonia’s foreign minister has defended his country’s decision to bar Russian tourists, saying they are shirking their “moral responsibility” to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and its “genocidal war” in Ukraine. The small Baltic country, which shares a 300-kilometer (190-mile) border with Russia,

By MICHAEL TARM Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — A woman who prosecutors say R. Kelly manipulated for sex starting when she was about 14 years old took the witness stand Thursday at Kelly’s child pornography and obstruction of justice trial, becoming the first accuser to testify in the singer’s hometown of Chicago. The woman —

LONDON, Ky. (AP) — A federal indictment accuses current and former Kentucky State Police troopers of using excessive force during an arrest and conspiring to cover it up. A statement Wednesday from U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier says a grand jury in London indicted Kentucky State Troopers Jeremy Elliotte and Michael L. Howell and former

HAVANA (AP) — A Colombian guerrilla group says it has freed six captive soldiers in a goodwill gesture ahead of planned peace talks with the government of new President Gustavo Petro. The release of the soldiers was a “unilateral humanitarian gesture″ that recognized efforts by the Colombian government to facilitate the resumption of dialogue, said

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks wavered on Wall Street Thursday in another round of choppy trading that has mostly held back major indexes following a weekslong run of gains. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 1:21 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 88 points, or

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park officials are investigating after a park employee spotted part of a foot, in a shoe, floating in a hot spring in the southern part of the park, officials said Thursday. Tuesday’s discovery at Abyss Pool led to the temporary closure of the West Thumb Geyser Basin

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials are making extra monkeypox vaccine available to places with upcoming gay pride events. The government on Thursday announced the launch of program that sets aside a pool of 50,000 doses for different cities and states. At least a dozen U.S. pride events

By MATTHEW BROWN and MICHAEL PHILLIS Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. oil industry hit a legal roadblock in January when a judge struck down a $192 million oil and natural gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico over future global warming emissions from burning the fuels. It came at a pivotal

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s central bank has lowered its key interest rate despite inflation surging to nearly 80% and making it difficult for people to buy what they need. Following a monetary policy committee meeting Thursday, the bank said it decided to reduce the policy rate from 14% to 13%. The decision is in

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of Google employees are petitioning the company to extend its abortion healthcare benefits to contract workers and to strengthen privacy protections for Google users searching for abortion information online. Google parent company Alphabet had pledged to pay travel and other health care costs for employees seeking an out-of-state abortion