AP National News

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A coronavirus surge has upended plans to hold a major nuclear treaty conference at the United Nations next week. Participants agreed Thursday to postpone the meeting just days before its scheduled start. After nearly two years of pandemic delays, delegations from around the world had been

By AAMER MADHANI and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin spoke frankly by phone for nearly an hour late Thursday about the Russian troop buildup near Ukraine. It was a new round of leader-to-leader talks as the Kremlin has stepped up its calls for border security guarantees

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A memorial service honoring former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been scheduled for Jan. 8 at a performing arts center in Las Vegas. The 82-year-old Democrat died Tuesday at home in Henderson, Nevada, of complications from pancreatic cancer. Reid was elected to the House in 1982 and served in

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has shortened the prison sentence of a truck driver convicted in a deadly explosive crash to 10 years, drastically reducing his original 110-year term that drew widespread outrage. The decision Thursday on Rogel Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence was among several end-of-the-year commutations and pardons issued

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — In a story published December 29, 2021, about California’s Medicaid overhaul, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Medicaid services will now for the first time formally include substance abuse treatment, including short-term residential treatment when needed. In fact, those services were already included.

By PATTY NIEBERG Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — Hundreds of homes, a hotel and a shopping center have burned and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in wildfires outside Denver. At least one first responder and six others have been injured in the fires, which came unusually late in the year.

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has shortened the prison sentence of a truck driver convicted in a deadly explosive crash to 10 years, drastically reducing his original 110-year term that drew widespread outrage. The decision Thursday on Rogel Aguilera-Mederos’ sentence was among several end-of-the-year commutations and pardons issued

By PATTY NIEBERG Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — Thousands of residents in two communities near Denver have been ordered to evacuated because of a wind-fueled wildfire that engulfed parts of the area in smoky, orangish skies. Louisville’s 21,000 residents were told to evacuate Thursday after the 13,000 people in Superior were ordered to

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former Weather Underground radical David Gilbert described his path from nonviolent 1960s activist to would-be revolutionary during a 4 1/2-hour hearing before the New York state parole board panel that approved his parole in October. Gilbert was granted parole 40 years after he served as a

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz is urging Germans to pull together to defeat the coronavirus in 2022 and promising to react “quickly and decisively” to the advance of the omicron variant. In his first televised New Year message since taking over from longtime leader Angela Merkel three weeks ago,

By AAMER MADHANI and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin spoke frankly by phone for nearly an hour late Thursday about the Russian troop buildup near Ukraine. It was a new round of leader-to-leader talks as the Kremlin has stepped up its calls for security guarantees and

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge has sided with local law enforcement in a case brought by Dakota Access Pipeline demonstrators alleging excessive use of force by police at a protest site in North Dakota in 2016. Attorneys for protesters who brought the suit say police fired rubber bullets and exploding munitions “indiscriminately into

By MALLIKA SEN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — With a guilty verdict in the sex-trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, here’s a look at what the once high-flying Jeffrey Epstein confidante was accused of and what’s next for her. The 60-year-old Maxwell was convicted of all but one count on Wednesday and faces the possibility

By ROBERT BURNS AP National Security Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says it’s streamlined the approval process for urgent use of National Guard forces in the District of Columbia. The announcement Thursday comes after months of study in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The Pentagon says the changes

By MARTHA BELLISLE and TERRY TANG Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — The omicron-fueled surge that is sending COVID-19 cases rocketing in the U.S. is putting children in the hospital in record numbers. And experts lament that most of the youngsters are not vaccinated. Dr. Paul Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia says it’s “heartbreaking” knowing

By PATTY NIEBERG Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — Thousands of residents in two communities near Denver have been ordered to evacuated because of a wind-fueled wildfire that engulfed parts of the area in smoky, orangish skies. Louisville’s 21,000 residents were told to evacuate Thursday after the 13,000 people in Superior were ordered to

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The U.K. has reported a sharp increase in coronavirus-related deaths as the National Health Service says it is building temporary structures at hospitals in England to prepare for a possible surge of patients infected with the highly transmissible omicron variant. The government reported 332 deaths Thursday, the

By AAMER MADHANI and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Thursday about the Russian troop buildup near Ukraine. It was a new round of leader-to-leader talks as the Kremlin has stepped up its calls for security guarantees and test fired hypersonic missiles to

SUPERIOR, Colo. (AP) — Residents of a northern Colorado town have bene ordered to evacuate because of a wildfire driven by strong winds. The entire town of Superior, which has about 13,000 residents, was ordered to evacuate Thursday because of a fire that has spread northwest of town. Superior is about 20 miles northwest of