Associated Press stories, Page 450

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A private U.S. lunar lander reached the moon and eased into a low orbit Wednesday, a day before it will attempt an even greater feat — landing on the gray, dusty surface. A smooth touchdown would put the U.S. back in business on the moon for...

FLINT, Mich. — A Michigan man whose 2-year-old daughter shot herself in the head with his revolver last week became the first person charged under the state’s new law requiring safe storage of guns, just days after the new measure took effect as part of a sweeping reform of gun...

ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers are seeking to change state law to say that officers don’t have to arrest people who refuse to sign traffic tickets after a church deacon died in August after initially refusing to sign a citation and struggling with an Atlanta police officer. The state House voted...

BALTIMORE — A leading manufacturer of ghost guns has agreed to stop selling its untraceable, unassembled firearms to Maryland residents under a settlement agreement announced Wednesday by the city of Baltimore. City leaders sued the company, Nevada-based Polymer80, two years ago “in response to the rapid escalation of ghost guns...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The collapse of a sand hole that killed a 5-year-old Indiana girl who was digging with her brother on a Florida beach is an underrecognized danger that kills and injures several children a year around the country. Sloan Mattingly died Tuesday afternoon at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea’s beach when...

NEW YORK — Occupants of the White House have grumbled over news coverage practically since the place was built. Now it’s Joe Biden’s turn: With a reelection campaign underway, there are signs that those behind the president are starting to more aggressively and publicly challenge how he is portrayed. Within...

NEW YORK — Emily Hollenbeck lived with a deep, recurring depression she likened to a black hole, where gravity felt so strong and her limbs so heavy she could barely move. She knew the illness could kill her. Both of her parents had taken their lives. She was willing to...

A Colorado man has died after being bitten by his pet Gila monster in what would be a rare death by one of the desert lizards if the creature’s venom turns out to have been the cause. Christopher Ward, 34, was taken to a hospital shortly after being bitten by...

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 67 Palestinians overnight and into Wednesday, including in areas where civilians have been told to seek refuge. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah says it received 44 bodies after multiple strikes in central Gaza. Associated Press reporters saw...

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — RaeQuan Battle scored 24 points, and West Virginia never trailed in a 77-67 win over UCF on Tuesday night. Jesse Edwards added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Quinn Slazinski scored 14 for West Virginia (9-17, 4-9 Big 12). The Mountaineers broke a four-game losing streak and...

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Cleveland’s new manager, Stephen Vogt, isn’t sure why this year’s free-agent market has entered a deep freeze even as temperatures heat up during spring training in Arizona and Florida. He just wants to see it thaw as quickly as possible. “Those guys should be in camp,” Vogt...

TAMPA, Fla. — Aaron Judge’s big toe is more than a footnote for the New York Yankees. Judge missed 42 games after tearing a ligament in his right big toe when he crashed into the right-field fence at Dodger Stadium last June 3, a big reason the Yankees fell from...

NEW YORK — The Beatles are getting the big-screen biopic treatment in not just one film, but a Fab Four of movies that will give each band member their own spotlight — all of which are to be directed by Sam Mendes. For the first time, the Beatles, long among...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The first federal trial over a hate crime based on gender identity began Tuesday in South Carolina, where a man faces charges that he killed a Black transgender woman and then fled to New York. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that in August 2019, Daqua Lameek...

WASHINGTON — A former FBI informant charged with making up a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company had contacts with Russian intelligence-affiliated officials, prosecutors said in a court paper Tuesday. Prosecutors revealed the alleged contact as they urged a judge to...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — William Byron grew up in the hotbed of NASCAR, so close to the stars that he could trick-or-treat at Jimmie Johnson’s house every Halloween. He’d tell Johnson every year that someday he’d race alongside him at Hendrick Motorsports. But aside from decorating his Charlotte, N.C., bedroom...

LIVINGSTON, Texas — Divers have recovered the body of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham from a Texas river days after the girl went missing, and authorities are preparing to file a murder charge against a friend of her father who lived on her family’s property, a sheriff said Tuesday afternoon. Polk County...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a decision critics said could have sweeping implications for fertility treatments. The decision was issued in a pair of wrongful death cases brought by three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed...

DALLAS — American Airlines is raising the cost of checking bags and it is making other changes to push customers to buy tickets directly from the airline if they want to earn frequent-flyer points. The airline said Tuesday that checking a bag on a domestic flight will rise from $30...

The field for the 12-team College Football Playoff beginning next season will comprise five conference champions and seven at-large selections after the university presidents who oversee the CFP voted unanimously Tuesday to tweak the format. The move to decrease the number of spots reserved for conference champions from six to...

MOSCOW — A court in the Russian capital ruled Tuesday to keep Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in custody pending his trial on espionage charges that he denies. The Moscow City Court rejected an appeal against Gershkovich’s detention filed by his lawyers, upholding an earlier ruling to keep him...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Despite a month of U.S.-led airstrikes, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. This week, they seriously damaged a ship in a crucial strait and apparently downed an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. The continued assaults by the Houthis...