AP National News

By JESSICA GRESKO and PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Abortion clinics in neighboring Oklahoma and nearby Kansas say they’re still seeing a high volume of patients from Texas as a new state law there banning most abortions remains in effect. The Biden administration this week sued Texas over the law, arguing

By BRYAN ANDERSON Associated Press/Report for America RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has rejected a bill to limit how teachers can discuss certain racial concepts inside the classroom. Republicans do not appear to have the necessary votes to override the Democratic governor’s veto on Friday. The proposal would have prohibited teachers

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A panel of federal judges has reversed course and block a Tennessee restriction that outlaws abortions because of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, or because of the race or gender of the fetus. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruling Friday also kept

By BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The state of Arizona has sold off $93 million in Unilever bonds and plans to sell the remaining $50 million invested in the global consumer products company because subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s stopped selling its ice cream in Israeli-occupied territories. The move is the latest by states

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are blasting President Joe Biden, threatening lawsuits and going as far as to call for civil disobedience to block his new vaccination mandates. It’s all in response to his sweeping new federal vaccine requirements that would force as many as 100 million Americans to be vaccinated

YORKVILLE, Ill. (AP) — A man who accused Dennis Hastert of child sexual abuse then sued the former U.S. House speaker for refusing to pay $1.8m in exchange for his silence will be named in court if his case goes to trial this month. A Kendall County judge ruled Thursday that the man’s name must

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press In the late afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, Associated Press correspondent Kathy Gannon, on assignment in Afghanistan, received a phone call from New York. It was morning there. On the phone was her boss, who said a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers. Then a second

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers have approved what advocacy groups say are the nation’s strongest protections against falsely labeling items as recyclable when they in fact are destined for landfills. The measure sent late Thursday to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his consideration would reserve the “chasing arrows” recycling symbol

By LEANNE ITALIE AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — After weeks of smooching on yachts and holding hands on intimate walks, Jennifer Lopez and old flame turned new again Ben Affleck made it official Friday night. They smooched and hugged on the red carpet for the premiere of Affleck’s “The Last Duel” at the

NEW YORK (AP) — A memoir by Philip Roth biographer Blake Bailey will be reissued this fall after publisher W.W. Norton and Company dropped it amid multiple allegations against Bailey of sexual assault and abuse. Skyhorse Publishing announced Friday that Bailey’s “The Splendid Things We Planned,” first published in 2014, will come out an e-book

By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — All but four of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi citizens and the Saudi kingdom was the birthplace of Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaida and mastermind of the attack. But that was 20 years ago. While still politically repressive, Saudi Arabia

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine chief is pledging to rapidly evaluate COVID-19 vaccines for younger kids — as soon as the studies are in. Dr. Peter Marks tells The Associated Press he is “very, very hopeful” that vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds will be underway by year’s end.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry has summoned US Ambassador John Sullivan to complain about alleged interference by what it called American “digital giants” in Russia’s upcoming parliamentary election. A ministry statement Friday said the deputy foreign minister claimed Russia “possesses irrefutable evidence of the violation of Russian legislation by the American ‘digital giants’ in

By JOSEF FEDERMAN and FARES AKRAM Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli media reports say two more of the six Palestinians who broke out of a maximum-security prison this week have been arrested, leaving two prisoners at large. The prisoners captured Saturday morning included Zakaria Zubeidi, a well-known militant leader from the second Palestinian uprising

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s new parliament members have been formally sworn in and elected a new speaker, in the house’s first session after an April 25 election. Serving its third consecutive mandate, the left-wing Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama has 74 of parliament’s 140 seats, while the main opposition center-right Democratic Party

By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer Advocacy groups want the Biden administration to help provide safe drinking water in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Tests in recent years have shown excessive lead levels in the low-income, predominantly Black city’s water. A petition filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says state and local officials haven’t done enough

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A judge expressed skepticism about a military contractor’s latest legal arguments seeking to toss out a lawsuit filed by inmates who say they were tortured at Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison. The inmates are suing Virginia-based CACI, which supplied civilian interrogators to Abu Ghraib. Photos of