Sen. Menendez of New Jersey to seek independent reelection bid amid federal corruption trial
TRENTON, N.J. — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who is on trial on federal bribery charges in New York, has filed to run as an independent candidate for reelection. Menendez, 70, had said this year that he would not seek the Democratic nomination to pursue a fourth...
Budget season arrives in Pennsylvania Capitol as lawmakers prepare for debate over massive surplus
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania lawmakers return to session Monday to begin a four-week countdown to the start of the state’s next fiscal year, with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican lawmakers offering competing visions for how to use a massive surplus. Shapiro has floated an admittedly “ambitious” $48.3 billion budget plan...
CDC officials say that closing or limiting syringe exchanges in Philly could cause an HIV outbreak
PHILADELPHIA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shared a warning in the wake of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s proposal to stop paying for syringe services in Philadelphia: Ending or slowing such programs could result in new outbreaks of HIV, especially among people who use drugs. The agency...
Police detain pro-Palestinian demonstrators inside San Francisco building housing Israeli Consulate
SAN FRANCISCO — Police on Monday detained pro-Palestinian demonstrators who occupied the lobby of a San Francisco building that houses the Israeli Consulate. It was not immediately clear how many people were detained but an Associated Press journalist saw police zip-tie the hands of at least a dozen people. Officers...
Louisiana lawmakers approve surgical castration option for those guilty of sex crimes against kids
BATON ROUGE, La. — A person found guilty of a sex crime against a child in Louisiana could soon be ordered to undergo surgical castration, in addition to prison time. Louisiana lawmakers gave final approval to a bill Monday that would allow judges the option to sentence someone to surgical...
Fauci testifies publicly before House panel on covid origins, controversies
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert until leaving the government in 2022, faced heated questioning Monday from Republican lawmakers about the origins of the covid-19 pandemic. A Republican-led subcommittee has spent over a year probing the nation’s response to the pandemic and whether U.S.-funded research...
Idris Elba helps uncover the WWII soldiers of color who never got their dueVideo
NEW YORK — One of Idris Elba’s grandfathers fought in World War II, but he doesn’t know what he endured. No pictures or stories survive. “That part of my family’s history has been erased somewhat,” says Elba. That helped fuel the actor’s push to narrate and executive produce the four-part...
Proposed Gaza cease-fire puts Netanyahu at a crossroads that could shape his legacy
TEL AVIV, Israel — The cease-fire proposal announced by President Joe Biden has placed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a crossroads, with either path likely to shape the legacy of Israel’s longest-serving and deeply divisive leader. The proposal offers the possibility of ending Israel’s war against Hamas, returning scores of...
Biden prepares executive order that would shut down asylum after 2,500 migrants arrive a day
WASHINGTON — The White House is telling lawmakers that President Joe Biden is preparing to sign off on an executive order that would shut down asylum requests to the U.S.-Mexico border once the number of daily encounters hits 2,500 between ports of entry, with the border reopening once that number...
Sandy Hook families ask bankruptcy judge to liquidate Alex Jones’ media company
Relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are asking a bankruptcy judge to liquidate conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media company, including Infowars, instead of allowing him to reorganize his business as they seek to collect on $1.5 billion in lawsuit verdicts against him. Lawyers for the families...
As jury selection starts in Hunter Biden’s gun case, president says he has ‘boundless love’ for him
WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal gun case against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter opened Monday with jury selection, following the collapse of a plea deal that would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close the 2024 election. First lady Jill Biden was seated in the front row of...
Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as its 1st female president
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s projected presidential winner Claudia Sheinbaum will become the first woman president in the country’s 200-year history. “I will become the first woman president of Mexico,” Sheinbaum said with a smile, speaking at a downtown hotel shortly after electoral authorities announced a statistical sample showed she held...
Water begins to flow again in downtown Atlanta after outage that began Friday
ATLANTA — Water pressure was returning to downtown Atlanta and nearby neighborhoods on Sunday after a two-day water outage shut down businesses and left faucets dry at many homes. A large swath of the city remained under an order to boil water before drinking it, but Mayor Andre Dickens said...
Swimmer injured by shark attack on Southern California coast
SAN DIEGO — A swimmer was seriously injured in a shark attack on the Southern California coast Sunday, prompting temporary beach closures, authorities said. The attack happened Sunday morning at Del Mar City Beach in Del Mar, about 20 miles north of San Diego, local officials said. The 46-year-old man,...
California firefighters continue battling wind-driven wildfire east of San FranciscoVideo
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California firefighters expected to gain ground Sunday on a wind-driven wildfire that scorched thousands of acres 60 miles east of San Francisco, burned down a home and forced residents to flee the area near the central California city of Tracy. The fire erupted Saturday afternoon in the...
Trump joins TikTok and calls it ‘an honor.’ As president he once tried to ban the video-sharing app
Donald Trump has joined the popular video-sharing app TikTok, a platform he once tried to ban while in the White House, and posted from a UFC fight two days after he became the first former president and presumptive major party nominee in U.S. history to be found guilty on felony...
Puerto Rico Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortiz wins gubernatorial primary. Pro-statehood party still undecided
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortiz defeated Sen. Juan Zaragoza in a gubernatorial primary held Sunday by their Popular Democratic Party, which seeks a return to power in the upcoming general elections. Zaragoza conceded defeat after obtaining 38% of the votes to his rival’s 62%,...
Mayor, police chief ask for public’s help in finding shooters who killed 1, wounded 24 at partyVideo
AKRON, Ohio — The mayor and police chief of Akron called on witnesses to come forward with any information about who carried out a mass shooting in the Ohio city that killed one person and injured 24 others, some critically. “This was a tragic incident which impacts our entire community,”...
Michael Douglas pays solidarity visit to southern Israel
JERUSALEM — Actor Michael Douglas on Sunday paid a solidarity visit to an Israeli kibbutz that was hit hard in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked Israel’s war against the Islamic militant group. Douglas met with members of Kibbutz Be’eri and visited burnt-out homes destroyed in the Oct. 7...
Mexico awaits results in an election likely to choose the country’s first female president
MEXICO CITY — Polls closed in a national vote Sunday that will likely give Mexico its first female president, but the heat, violence and polarization continued right through election day. People turned out to vote in the township of Cuitzeo, in the western state of Michoacán, despite the fact that...
Rupert Murdoch ties the knot for the 5th time in ceremony at his California vineyard
NEW YORK — Media magnate Rupert Murdoch, 93, has married for the fifth time, his corporation, News Corp, confirmed Sunday. Murdoch and Elena Zhukova, a 67-year-old Russian-born retired molecular biologist, wed Saturday in a ceremony at his vineyard estate in Bel Air, California. Photographs of the newly married couple were...
Organizers say record-setting drag queen story time reading kicks off Philadelphia Pride Month
PHILADELPHIA — Organizers of a drag queen storytime reading at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia say several hundred people helped establish a world record for attendance at such an event to kick off Pride Month celebrations in the birthplace of America. The event Saturday, hosted by the Philadelphia Gay...
A mass parachute jump over Normandy kicks off commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day
CARENTAN-LES-MARAIS, France — Parachutists jumping from World War II-era planes hurled themselves Sunday into now peaceful Normandy skies where war once raged, heralding a week of ceremonies for the fast-disappearing generation of Allied troops who fought from D-Day beaches 80 years ago to Adolf Hitler’s fall, helping free Europe of...
Republicans make Biden’s EV push an election-year issue as Democrats take a more nuanced approach
TOLEDO, Ohio — Donald Trump says the Biden administration’s policy to promote electric vehicles is a “radical plan” that would kill the economy in automaking states. Republican allies in the petroleum industry have spent millions on ads that say President Joe Biden’s tax credit for EV buyers will cost Americans...
Energy shutdowns hit Ukraine after Russian attacks target infrastructure
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine imposed emergency power shutdowns in most of the country on Sunday, a day after Russia unleashed large-scale attacks on energy infrastructure and claimed it made gains in the eastern Donetsk province. The shutdowns were in place in all but three regions of Ukraine following Saturday’s drone...
