AP National News

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is nominating its first set of U.S. Marshals, including the first Black man to serve as the U.S. Marshal in Minnesota, along with a slate of other historic firsts for U.S. attorney posts across the nation. The Justice Department’s 93 U.S. attorneys, who are

By BRYAN ANDERSON Associated Press/Report for America RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has pardoned a man who spent 24 years behind bars for a murder he has long said he did not commit. The pardon of innocence issued Friday allows Dontae Sharpe to apply for compensation of $50,000 a year up

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A little girl who lost a teddy bear she’d had since being adopted from an Ethiopian orphanage thought it was gone forever when she forgot it along a trail in Glacier National Park last year. But thanks to a social media plea, the sharp eyes

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The National Labor Relations Board has confirmed that a group of Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York has withdrawn its petition to hold a vote to unionize. The move comes less than two weeks before the labor board was expected to hold a hearing

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift’s short film to celebrate “Red (Taylor’s Version)” has Swiftie sleuths digging deeper into the expanded lyrics. “All Too Well: The Short Film,” premiering online Friday evening, has fans reveling in the juicy details of a break-up from the pop star’s past. Swift says fans

NEW YORK (AP) — A Fox News Channel report on comments made by President Joe Biden were edited to remove context to make it seem like he was being racially insensitive. During an appearance at a Veterans Day observance, Biden told an anecdote about the late baseball pitcher Satchel Paige, who he referred to as

By DAISY NGUYEN Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new performance arts center designed to increase public access to classical and jazz music opened in San Francisco on Friday. Yo-Yo Ma, who spent the better part of the pandemic playing cello to an online audience, helped inaugurate the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s new

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — New redistricting maps that largely ignore a voter-approved nonpartisan commission in Utah are sparking a backlash and highlighting the challenges the independent panels face an era of deep political divisions and surging gerrymandering. Several states created independent commissions for the once-a-decade

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer Concerns are growing that China’s men’s hockey team could get embarrassed on home ice in Beijing at the 2022 Olympics. The games will feature NHL players for the first time since 2014. China is set to face the United States, Canada and Germany. The International Ice Hockey Federation does

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The fate of a white Kansas City police detective charged in the fatal shooting of a Black man is now in the hands of a judge. Closing arguments were held Friday in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Eric DeValkenaere. Prosecutors said DeValkenaere violated the rights of Cameron Lamb when he

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears is free. A Los Angeles judge on Friday ended the conservatorship that has controlled the pop singer’s life and money for nearly 14 years. The move by Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny capped a stunning odyssey that saw Spears publicly demand the end

NEW YORK (AP) — A teenager who authorities say terrorized outdoor diners at a Manhattan eatery has pleaded guilty to carrying out a hoax bomb threat. Malik Sanchez entered the plea Friday in Manhattan federal court. He admitted to making the threat at a restaurant in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood. Prosecutors say he posted to the

By JACQUES BILLEAUD and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press A former tech company CEO from suburban Chicago who lost his job after he threw a chair inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot has been sentenced to 30 days imprisonment. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols also ordered Bradley Rukstales, of Inverness, Illinois, to pay

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare’s “Part B” outpatient premium will jump by $21.60 a month in 2022, one of the largest increases ever. Officials said Friday a new Alzheimer’s drug is responsible for about half of that. The increase guarantees that health care costs will gobble up a big chunk of

By JOSH DUBOW AP Pro Football Writer Former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden has sued Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL, alleging that a “malicious and orchestrated campaign” was used to destroy Gruden’s career by leaking old emails he had sent that included racist, misogynistic and homophobic comments. The suit was filed in district

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears’ independence day may have arrived. At a hearing in Los Angeles Friday, a judge will decide whether to terminate the conservatorship that has controlled the pop superstar’s life and money for nearly 14 years. With no significant opposition, it appears likely Judge Brenda

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer Stocks closed higher on Wall Street on Friday, but still marked their first weekly loss in six weeks. Technology and communications companies led the modest gains. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% and the Nasdaq rose 1%. Johnson & Johnson gained ground

By The Associated Press This week’s new entertainment releases include a much-anticipated album from Adele, a documentary about Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show and Will Smith playing father and tennis guru to Venus and Serena Williams. Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his feature film directorial debut with “Tick, Tick… Boom!,” an

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — A biological sister of a 6-year-old Hawaii girl reported missing by their adoptive parents told police that they forced her to keep it a secret that Isabella Kalua was inside a dog cage with duct tape on her mouth and nose and not breathing. That’s according

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Jen Psaki has resumed daily press briefings after she was diagnosed with COVID-19 in late October. She returned to the briefing room on Friday after observing a 10-day quarantine period and testing negative for COVID-19. She had skipped traveling to Europe with the