AP National News

By JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A grassroots group on Thursday recalled the centennial of a deadly fight to organize West Virginia coal miners in urging Sen. Joe Manchin to support higher wages and better voting protections. Members of the Poor People’s Campaign invoked the Battle of Blair Mountain after traveling by

MARINETTE, Wis. (AP) — A judge has sentenced an 84-year-old man to consecutive life sentences in connection with a 1976 double homicide. A jury convicted Raymand Vannieuwenhoven in July of killing David Schuldes and Ellen Matheys at a Marinette County park. WLUK-TV reported that Judge James Morrison handed down the sentence Thursday. He said life

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government said Thursday it is shutting down a federal jail in New York City after a slew of problems that came to light following disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide there two years ago. The federal Bureau of Prisons said the

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers will wait until next year to consider decriminalizing psychedelics, with the bill’s author saying Thursday that he will keep working to persuade the public and legislators that it’s a good idea. The bill would allow those 21 and older to possess for personal use

By KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — A panel planning a permanent memorial at the Las Vegas site of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history is focusing on stories about the more than 58 people killed by gunfire and thousands left wounded and emotionally scarred, and on lessons learned. A second

By MALLIKA SEN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The chief executive of the sexual harassment victims’ advocacy group Time’s Up resigned Thursday amid outrage over revelations that its leaders advised former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration after he was first accused of misconduct last year. Time’s Up CEO and president Tina Tchen said

CHICAGO (AP) — Jussie Smollett’s attorneys cannot call as a witness the Chicago prosecutor whose office dropped initial charges accusing the actor of staging a racist, anti-gay attack on himself in 2019, a judge ruled Thursday. Smollett’s attorneys also cannot mention various lawsuits linked to his case, Cook County Judge James Linn said. But Linn

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican Party of Virginia filed a lawsuit Thursday asking the courts to remove Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe from the ballot for failing to sign an official form declaring his candidacy. The McAuliffe campaign dismissed the suit as “desperate” and “Trumpian.” McAuliffe won a June primary

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A strengthening Tropical Storm Nora is rolling toward a possible hurricane brush with Mexico’s Pacific Coast over the weekend and later a strike on the Baja California Peninsula. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm could bring dangerous flash floods and mudslides through the weekend. It’s likely to graze the

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Al Capone is infamous for having been a ruthless mob boss, but one of his granddaughters says his softer side will shine through when the family auctions the Prohibition-era gangster’s personal items — including diamond-encrusted jewelry with his initials, family photographs and his favorite handgun.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A former Florida postal clerk has pleaded guilty to stealing mail and passport applications as part of an identify theft scheme. Court records say 31-year-old Jasmine Wynne pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and six other charges in Tampa federal court. An indictment says Wynne conspired with others

By COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press Officials in Detroit are looking at making continued changes to city towing rules after several federal corruption probes. Mayor Mike Duggan told reporters Thursday that he’s asked the city’s police chief for a plan in two weeks to eliminate a decade-long practice of rotating towing duties to a list of

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The leader of Tigray forces in Ethiopia has expressed the commitment to a “negotiated end” to the nine-month war that has killed thousands and left nearly half a million people facing famine. And the United Nations secretary-general warns that “there is no military solution.” In a

BETHEL, Maine (AP) — A Maine museum will play host to a chunk of rock it said is the largest intact Mars rock on Earth. The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum said the specimen weighs 32 pounds and is about 10 inches at its longest point. The museum said the rock was the result of

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s new attorney general is seeking execution dates for seven death-row inmates. In motions filed Thursday with the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals, Attorney General John O’Connor says the seven inmates have exhausted all their appeals. Six of the inmates were recently dismissed from a federal

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s top court has rejected an attempt to make it harder to impose the death penalty. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of the current system where jurors need not unanimously agree on aggravating factors used to justify the punishment. Jurors already must unanimously agree

By BEN FINLEY Associated Press NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A school board in Virginia has agreed to pay $1.3 million in legal costs to the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU spent six years representing a student who sued over the school board’s transgender bathroom ban. Gavin Grimm’s suit against the Gloucester County School Board

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and EVENS SANON Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The United States pledged another $32 million in aid to the victims of Haiti’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake Thursday, as the country’s interim prime minister defended his government’s response. U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power said the U.S. government had learned from the

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Stephen B. Oates, an award-winning Civil War historian who wrote biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Clara Barton, William Faulkner and others, has died. He was 85. Oates died Friday at his Amherst home surrounded by family after a battle with cancer, officials at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press Nearly 90 organic dairy farms in the Northeast, including 28 in Vermont, will lose their contracts with an organic dairy company when it stops buying milk in the region by the end of August of next year, Vermont’s agriculture secretary said Thursday. Danone, parent company of Horizon Organic, notified farmers