AP National News

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor says he is dropping his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in the first-degree murder case of death row inmate Shaun Bosse. O’Connor said Friday that he made the decision after a state appellate court ruled the high court’s decision in

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — A family that lost five members in a tubing accident on a North Carolina river is suing Duke Energy. Their suit accuses the utility of not doing enough to warn people that its dam poses a deadly risk. Nine relatives from Eden, North Carolina, and LaPorte, Indiana, were floating down the

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday directed the declassification of certain documents related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a supportive gesture to victims’ families who have long sought the records in hopes of implicating the Saudi government. The order, coming little more than a week before

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — A privately designed, unmanned rocket built to carry satellites was destroyed in an explosive fireball after suffering an “anomaly” off the California coast during its first attempt at reaching Earth’s orbit. Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket was “terminated” over the Pacific Ocean shortly after its 6:59 p.m. Thursday liftoff

By SONNY FIGUEROA Associated Press GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan officials confirmed Friday they are trying to arrest a fired anti-corruption prosecutor whose ouster led the United States to reduce cooperation with the Central American nation’s legal system. The arrest warrant for Juan Francisco Sandoval was confirmed by the spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, Juan

By BEN FOX and ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — At least 50,000 Afghans are expected to be admitted into the United States following the fall of Kabul as part of an “enduring commitment” to help people who aided the American war effort and others who are particularly vulnerable under Taliban rule, the secretary

By KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Tests confirmed Friday that a bleeding ulcer was the cause of New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu’s flulike symptoms, his chief of staff said. Sununu was admitted to a hospital earlier in the day after having flulike symptoms since Wednesday. He had tested negative three times for

By ARITZ PARRA Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Europe’s southernmost glaciers will likely be reduced to ice patches in the next two decades due to climate change, as the shrinking of ice mass on the Pyrenees mountain range continues at the steady but rapid speed seen at least since the 1980s, Spanish scientists say in

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s order for a customized, personal desk from a state prison work program will cost nearly $9,000 after modifications such as brass embossing, a gun drawer with leather inserts and a footrest. The governor’s spokesman Ian Fury says that taxpayers won’t be saddled with the bill

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s plans to start delivery of booster shots by Sept. 20 for most Americans who received the COVID-19 vaccines are facing new complications that could delay the availability of third doses for those who received the Moderna vaccine, administration officials said Friday. Biden announced last

MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin teenager has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the death of a 7-year-old relative who was beaten, forced to carry a 44-pound log and buried in the snow before he died. Seventeen-year-old Damian Hauschultz pleaded guilty in June to first-degree reckless homicide in the April 2018 death

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The U.K.’s vaccine advisors declined Friday to recommend the vaccination of healthy older children against COVID-19, saying the direct health benefits are “marginal.” However, the British government said it may join others around the world in offering the vaccines after assessing wider societal issues. In its analysis

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials are looking into reports that in the frantic evacuation of desperate Afghans from Kabul, older men were admitted together with young girls they claimed as “brides” or otherwise sexually abused. U.S. officials at intake centers in the United Arab Emirates and in Wisconsin have

By CALEB JONES Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Health care workers in Hawaii say a lack of government action is worsening an already crippling surge of coronavirus cases in the islands, and without effective policy changes the state’s limited hospitals could face a grim crisis. “Soon we’re going to be in a situation where we’re

By RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A group of parents of disabled students has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to strike down Iowa’s law banning schools from requiring masks, arguing it endangers their health and denies equal access to education. The lawsuit is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona man who sported face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns when he joined the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge and wants to be released from jail while he awaits sentencing. Jacob

NEW YORK (AP) — R. Kelly paid $200,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a woman who accused him of giving her herpes two decades ago without disclosing he had it, the woman testified on Friday at the R&B singer’s sex-trafficking trial. The woman — testifying during the trial’s third week without using her full

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zambia’s parliament has elected its first female speaker, days after new President Hakainde Hichilema began shaking up the government by firing security commanders and promising economic reforms. In August the long-time opposition leader was elected after campaigning to break with the past. Since his inauguration on