National News

NEW YORK (AP) — A rare mix of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and China is tugging oil prices in opposite directions and creating uncertainty over where they might land. Deteriorating trade talks between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, are posing a serious threat to global economic growth and […]

A federal judge will let a jury decide whether conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars website had a legal right to sell a poster featuring the image of Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character that became hijacked by far-right extremists. U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald refused Thursday to throw out a copyright infringement lawsuit that Pepe’s […]

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Nearly three decades ago, when Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ wife was 20 weeks pregnant with their first child, a doctor discovered their daughter had spina bifida and encouraged an abortion. The Edwardses refused. Now, daughter Samantha is married and working as a school counselor, and Edwards finds himself […]

NEW YORK (AP) — A former follower of a self-help guru is telling a jury how the leader created a sorority of sex slaves under his command. The testimony by Lauren Salzman came Friday at the New York City trial of Keith Raniere. Raniere pleaded not guilty to charges he formed the secret society within […]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday vetoed a tax relief plan from the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature for the second time in two months, arguing that even the new, smaller measure would “decimate” the state’s finances. The second tax bill, like the first, was designed to provide relief to individuals and businesses […]

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock waited until May to declare his candidacy for president, but he’s wasting no time getting to the point. Bullock launched his first full day of campaigning Friday in Newton, Iowa, a town where union manufacturing jobs have vanished in the past 15 years. In doing so, he […]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A growing number of shipping companies are slowing down as they approach San Francisco and other California ports so they are less likely to injure or kill whales. Marine experts say four of the 10 gray whales found dead near San Francisco this year were killed by ships, the San Francisco […]

BAYTOWN, Texas (AP) — State records show a Texas police officer who fatally shot a woman who authorities say shocked him with his Taser had completed dozens of hours of crisis intervention training before the deadly arrest attempt. Baytown Officer Juan Delacruz completed a 16-hour crisis intervention course in 2013 and several similar trainings during […]

CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on the killing of a pregnant Chicago woman whose baby was cut from her womb (all times local): 1:50 p.m. A spokeswoman for the family a 19-year-old who was killed and whose baby was cut from her womb says what they’re going through is “a nightmare, a horror film.” Julie […]

ATHENS, Ala. (AP) — A man who set himself on fire outside a Walmart store in Alabama was reported in stable condition Friday at a Tennessee hospital. After the incident happened about 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the man was taken to a hospital in Athens, Alabama, and then sent by helicopter ambulance to Vanderbilt University Medical […]

CHICAGO (AP) — A mother plotted for months to acquire a newborn before she and her daughter strangled a pregnant Chicago woman and cut her baby from her womb using a butcher’s knife, prosecutors said Friday as they revealed gruesome new details about the case. Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, 19, was lured to the home where Clarisa […]

APPLETON, Wis. (AP) — A man who got in a gunfight with police that left a city firefighter dead in the crossfire was identified Friday as a Wausau man who had been free on bond pending drug charges. Ruben Houston, 47, died in the Wednesday evening incident that erupted just minutes after police and emergency […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and U.S. trade tariffs (all times local): 4:50 p.m. Mexico’s National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry is congratulating the country’s officials on the agreement reached with the United States on ending steel and aluminum tariffs. The chamber says in a statement posted online that […]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A new lion exhibit is opening at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. During a recent tour, the African lions were seen lounging in the shade of an enormous rock surrounded by open grass and tree limbs. The scene is reminiscent of the African Savannah and is part of the new […]

BELLA VISTA, Ark. (AP) — Officials say an environmental engineering firm is preparing to extinguish an underground dump fire that’s been burning since July at a former unlicensed northwest Arkansas dump. KFSM reports that crews will begin firefighting Saturday in Bella Vista, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock. E-3 Environmental says the […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The largest outside Democratic group said Friday that the key to defeating Donald Trump is to focus on pocketbook issues and not fall prey to the president’s efforts to tag the party as a band of socialists. Priorities USA says polling indicates voters in key battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and […]

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s attorney general is closing an investigation into whether former Gov. Eric Greitens improperly used his office staff to work on his campaign’s social media accounts. The Kansas City Star reports Eric Schmitt’s announcement on Thursday concludes what is believed to be the last investigation into alleged wrongdoing during Greitens’ […]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s governor plans to fight any federal plans to fly hundreds of immigrants weekly from the Mexican border to South Florida, saying Friday he’ll take his case to President Donald Trump. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis made his remarks a day after being caught off guard when Broward and Palm Beach county […]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Abused and neglected children are again sleeping overnight in the offices of Kansas foster care contractors because homes cannot be found for them quickly enough. Since January, when Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly took office, more than 70 children have been kept overnight in the offices of the two nonprofit agencies providing […]

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The final person charged in a 2016 shooting rampage in Oklahoma that left two people dead and two police officers wounded has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors accused Reginald Laday Moore of selling an AK-47 assault rifle to Michael Vance, who was accused of killing two people in […]