Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Homebuilders pulled back sharply on construction of apartment complexes in July, causing housing starts to tumble to a three-month low. The Commerce Department says housing starts fell 4.8 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million. Groundbreakings for multi-family buildings such as apartments slumped 17.1 percent, while single-family […]

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — New York state officials say they’re investigating a possible wastewater discharge near Niagara Falls similar to one last month that turned the water below the world-famous attraction black and smelly. The Department of Environmental Conservation announced Tuesday evening that its staff responded to a call earlier in the day reporting […]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s largest city has used a wooden structure to cover up a Confederate monument in a downtown park. Legislators passed a law earlier this year prohibiting the removal of structures including rebel memorials. So Birmingham Mayor William Bell ordered the city’s 52-foot-tall Confederate obelisk covered with wooden panels. The box-like structure […]

BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on the North Korea crisis (all times local): 8:10 p.m. Russia says it’s against further tightening sanctions on North Korea, warning that economic pressure on Pyongyang has reached its limit. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned Wednesday “we can’t support ideas by some of our partners to suffocate North Korea […]

FORT ANN, N.Y. (AP) — An upstate New York town is a step closer to acquiring a Revolutionary War battlefield that had been considered for a quarry business. The Post-Star of Glens Falls reports (http://bit.ly/2vDhI3B ) that Connecticut businessman Gino Vona recently sold the 165-acre site in Fort Ann to the Civil War Trust. The […]

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A lawyer for an Afghan man who helped the U.S. military says he fears deportation. The man has been detained since he tried to enter the United States on a special visa at Newark Liberty International Airport on March 13. His lawyer says the visa is granted to only those who […]

EATONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The town that’s described as the oldest continuously-existing African-American city in the United States is celebrating its 130th birthday. Celebrations in Eatonville, Florida, kick off Saturday with a crafts and culture festival. The city received its charter from the state of Florida in August 1887. It was conceived as a self-governing […]

NEW YORK (AP) — “Alice Isn’t Dead” is taking on new lives. Harper Perennial and Universal Cable Productions told The Associated Press on Wednesday that a novel and television program are in the works for the popular podcast about a truck driver searching for her missing wife. The book will be written by the show’s […]

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in Germany have formally indicted a Swiss citizen on suspicion of espionage for spying on German tax investigators. Federal prosecutors say the 54-year-old man, identified only as Daniel M. due to German privacy rules, acted as an agent for Switzerland’s intelligence service. Prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday that M. was […]

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (AP) — A candidate seeking to become the nation’s first female African-American governor is calling for the removal of a giant granite carving in Georgia depicting three Confederate war leaders. News outlets report Democratic front-runner for governor Stacey Abrams posted several tweets Tuesday saying the carving at the tourist attraction Stone Mountain […]