AP National News

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s official government watchdog on Tuesday criticized former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, finding shortcomings in his administration’s decision making and a failure to implement safety restrictions. The State Comptroller’s report said Netanyahu’s government did not adequately learn from its mistakes after the country’s first wave of infections

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s attorney general was ticketed for going 57 in a 35 mph zone just days just days before he pleaded no contest to traffic charges for a car crash that killed a pedestrian last year. Jason Ravnsborg, the state’s top law enforcement officer, received

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — Automobile quality rose last year, but glitches in pairing smartphones with infotainment systems frustrated owners more than anything, according to a large U.S. survey of auto owners. For the first time, a brand from Fiat Chrysler, now Stellantis, ranked No. 1 for having the fewest problems.

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Larry Kirwan traces the roots of his novel “Rockaway Blue” to the Saturday night after Sept. 11, 2001, when the band he led, Black 47, played Connolly’s Pub in Manhattan. The crowd would look to the door each time it opened, and cheer at the

By KATIE WORKMAN Associated Press Looking to kick back with something non-alcoholic this Labor Day? There’s been a real transformation going on in the world of booze-free drinks. Craftspeople, mixologists and scientists have moved well beyond sweet “fake wines” and watery no-alcohol beers. AP food writer Katie Workman says there’s now a huge selection of

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — It has been 20 years since Taliban-led Afghanistan fell to a U.S.-led coalition in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks. For Afghans, that means 20 years of change. That’s an arc that ran from early hope to despair in recent weeks as the U.S. pullout

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated press MILAN (AP) — The heir of a late duke who sold Sting his Tuscan winery 25 years ago says the singer has hit a flat note with a lame apology for comments the family deems slanderous. The juicy celebrity dispute has spilled onto the pages of Italian newspapers. Sting told

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — It has been 20 years since Taliban-led Afghanistan fell to a U.S.-led coalition in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks. For Afghans, that means 20 years of change. That’s an arc that ran from early hope to despair in recent weeks as the U.S. pullout

By ARITZ PARRA Associated Press MADRID (AP) — Authorities say that at least 11 people are feared dead after another boat traveling from North Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands became a trap for migrants trying to reach European territory. The Spanish government’s delegation in the archipelago said rescuers retrieved 32 survivors and one body overnight

SLIDELL, La. (AP) — A Louisiana sheriff says a man had his arm ripped off by a large alligator while walking through floodwaters from Hurricane Ida and is now missing. Authorities say the 71-year-old man’s wife told sheriff’s deputies that she heard a commotion around noon on Monday, then walked outside to see the gator

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Supreme Court of Virginia has upheld a lower court ruling that ordered the reinstatement of a northern Virginia gym teacher who said he won’t refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use. Loudoun County Public Schools appealed to the state Supreme Court after a judge ruled that the school

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In a season of daunting wildfires and flooding, the Biden administration is taking an initial step to assess how climate change could harm financial markets — planning to launch on Tuesday a 75-day comment period on how the impacts could reshape the insurance sector. Insurers face payouts

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer TOKYO (AP) — American high jumper Sam Grewe has won a gold medal at the Paralympics. His next stop is medical school at the University of Michigan. Grewe had his right leg amputated when he was 13 after he was diagnosed with an aggressive bone cancer. He’s now 23

By ED WHITE Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — Authorities are dropping a murder conviction against a man who is serving a life sentence for a fire that killed five children in suburban Detroit after critical evidence that cast doubt on the case was never shared with the defense before the 2006 trial, a prosecutor said

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press A House oversight committee and the Commerce Department have reached an understanding that could lead to a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the legislative panel after the Trump administration ignored subpoenas for records on how the 2020 census was conducted. Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A coalition of animal rights groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday to stop Wisconsin’s wolf hunt this fall and invalidate a state law mandating annual hunts, arguing the statutes don’t give wildlife officials any leeway to consider population estimates. The lawsuit comes after hunters blew past their

By DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam granted posthumous pardons Tuesday to seven Black men who were executed in 1951 for the rape of a white woman, in a case that attracted pleas for mercy from around the world and in recent years has been denounced as

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — Ask anyone old enough to remember travel before Sept. 11, 2001, and you’re likely to get a gauzy recollection of what flying was like. There was security screening, but it wasn’t intrusive. There were no long checkpoint lines. Passengers and their families could walk right to

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s economy grew by 20.1% in the April-June quarter from the same period a year earlier, when it suffered a record contraction, the government announced Tuesday, raising hopes of an economic recovery. It was India’s fastest pace of growth since it began publishing quarterly gross domestic product figures in 1996, and

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Friends and fellow lifeguards sat on a Jersey Shore beach and sobbed Tuesday at the spot where a 19-year-old lifeguard was killed by lightning a day earlier. It was the second on-duty death of a teenage lifeguard in New Jersey in less than two weeks