U.S. inflation falls to 3%, lowest level in over 2 years, as price pressures ease
WASHINGTON — After two years of painfully high prices, inflation in the U.S. has reached its lowest point in more than two years — 3% in June compared with 12 months earlier — a sign that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have steadily slowed price increases across the economy....
FBI Director Chris Wray defends the ‘real FBI’ against criticism from House RepublicansVideo
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Chris Wray defended the “real FBI” during a contentious congressional hearing Wednesday, rejecting a litany of grievances from angry Republicans who are harshly critical of the bureau, threatening to defund some operations and claiming the Justice Department is unfair to political conservatives, including Donald Trump. Wray...
3 dead, 14 injured in Illinois crash of Greyhound bus and commercial vehicles
HIGHLAND, Ill. — Three people were killed and 14 others injured, some seriously, early Wednesday when a Greyhound bus crashed into three commercial motor vehicles along a highway in southern Illinois, state police said. Illinois State Police said an initial investigation indicates a Greyhound passenger bus and three commercial vehicles...
Few U.S. adults support full abortion bans, even in states that have them, an AP-NORC poll finds
The majority of U.S. adults, including those living in states with the strictest limits on abortion, want it to be legal at least through the initial stages of pregnancy, a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds. The poll was conducted in late June, one...
Pence would ban abortions when pregnancies aren’t viable. His GOP rivals won’t say if they agree
NEW YORK — In a Republican presidential field full of candidates opposed to abortion rights, Mike Pence stands out in his embrace of the cause. The former vice president, who is seeking the White House in 2024, is the only major candidate who supports a federal ban on abortion at...
Senators call for Supreme Court to follow ethics code like other branches of government
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, responding to Associated Press investigative stories on the Supreme Court, said Tuesday it was time for the justices to bring their conduct in line with the ethical standards of other branches of government. “If they just establish the basic standards of every other...
GOP hails him as Hunter Biden whistleblower; Feds say he was really Chinese agent who brokered Iran arms and oil deals
A think tank director and energy analyst hailed by Republicans as a Hunter Biden whistleblower illegally advanced Chinese interests in the U.S. and violated laws barring him from selling Chinese weapons and arranging Chinese purchases of Iranian oil, Manhattan federal prosecutors say. Gal Luft, 57, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, has...
Farmers pulls out of Florida property insurance despite efforts to stabilize the market
TALLAHASSEE — Farmers Insurance became the latest property insurance company to pull out of Florida on Tuesday despite repeated efforts by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature have made to try to calm the volatile market that is making homeownership less affordable. Farmers informed the state that it is...
Trump can be held liable in writer’s defamation lawsuit after Justice Department reverses course
NEW YORK — The Justice Department on Tuesday said that Donald Trump can be held personally liable for remarks he made about a woman who accused him of rape — a reversal of its position that Trump was protected because he was president when he made the remarks. In a...
Police: Items believed connected to Pa. jail escapee still being found; reward increasesVideo
WARREN — Authorities searching for a homicide suspect who used bedsheets to escape from a northwestern Pennsylvania jail last week say items found in the last 24 hours lead them to believe he is still in the area. Authorities added that reward money in the case has more than doubled....
Man who stormed Capitol while free on attempted murder charge gets over 3 years in prison for riot
A North Carolina man who stormed the U.S. Capitol while awaiting trial for shooting a teenager in the head was sentenced on Tuesday to more than three years in prison for attacking police officers with a flagpole during the riot. Matthew Jason Beddingfield, 22, was free on pretrial release for...
Leslie Van Houten, follower of cult leader Charles Manson, released from California prison
LOS ANGELES — Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten walked out of a California prison Tuesday after serving more than 50 years of a life sentence for her participation in two infamous murders. Van Houten “was released to parole supervision,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a...
A surging river floods Vermont’s capital as crews rescue more than 100 peopleVideo
ANDOVER, Vt. — A storm that dumped up to two months of rain in two days in Vermont and other parts of the Northeast brought more flooding Tuesday to communities marooned by water, including the state capital, where officials kept watch on a dam just upstream. There were signs of...
Wisconsin boy killed in sawmill accident was doing work allowed by state law, records suggest
MADISON, Wis. — A 16-year-old boy killed in an accident at a Wisconsin sawmill appears to have been doing work allowed by state child labor laws when he was injured, police records obtained Tuesday show. Michael Schuls was attempting to unjam a wood-stacking machine at Florence Hardwoods on June 29...
Powerball jackpot climbs to $725M — 2nd highest this year
The Powerball jackpot rose to $725 million after no one secured the jackpot in Monday night’s drawing. The winning numbers were white balls 2, 24, 34, 53, 58 and red Powerball 13. Two people, one in California and one in Iowa, matched all five white balls but missed on the...
U.S. formally rejoins UNESCO after 5-year absence
WASHINGTON — The U.S. on Tuesday formally rejoined the U.N.’s scientific, educational and cultural organization after a five-year absence. The U.S. return to the Paris-based UNESCO was based mainly on concerns that China has filled a leadership gap since the U.S. withdrew during the Trump administration. UNESCO’s governing board voted...
In Srebrenica, thousands gather to remember 1995 massacre and bury newly identified dead
SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Tens of thousands of people from around Bosnia and abroad gathered in Srebrenica Tuesday for the annual ritual of commemorating the 1995 massacre and to give a dignified burial to the victims unearthed from mass graves and only recently identified through DNA analysis. Twenty-eight years after they...
Trump lawyers ask judge to postpone classified docs trial, likely until after 2024 election
MIAMI — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are asking a judge to postpone his criminal trial without setting a new date as he stands accused of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate. In a late Monday filing, Trump’s defense attorneys said the case was “extraordinary,” with a...
MyPillow auctions equipment after retailers pull its products
MyPillow is auctioning off hundreds of pieces of equipment and subleasing manufacturing space after several shopping networks and major retailers took the company’s products off shelves. The Minnesota-based manufacturer recently listed more than 850 “surplus equipment” items on the online auction site K-Bid. Sewing machines, industrial fabric spreaders, forklifts and...
How Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget breakdown over school vouchers was a rare misstep
PHILADELPHIA — In the span of a week, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro managed to agitate everybody. His Democratic allies and labor supporters initially felt burned by his pursuit of a private-school voucher program. When he agreed to veto it, top Republicans cried foul. The budget controversy feels like a rare...
Iowa Legislature considers 6-week abortion ban in special session
DES MOINES, Iowa — Protesters gathered in the Iowa Capitol rotunda as the Legislature began a special session Tuesday focused exclusively on abortion restrictions, where Republican lawmakers will work to push through a new ban on abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy. The day will be a marathon of...
Court sides with Amish families in case that pits septic tank rules against religious beliefs
MINNEAPOLIS — Members of a deeply conservative Amish community in Minnesota don’t need to install septic systems to dispose of their “gray water,” the state Court of Appeals ruled Monday in a long-running religious freedom case that went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel...
Greenpeace activists fined for parachuting into stadium before Germany-France match
BERLIN — A German surgeon has been ordered to pay a fine of 7,200 euros — $7,900 — for parachuting into the stadium before a European Championship match in Munich two years ago as part of a botched climate protest. A Munich regional court convicted the 40-year-old Greenpeace activist Tuesday...
NATO summit reaches agreement on admitting Sweden but faces division over Ukraine
VILNIUS, Lithuania — U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday hailed an agreement for Sweden to join NATO as more work remained to determine a path forward for Ukraine’s future with the alliance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized as “absurd” the absence of a timetable for his country’s entry. Biden described...
6 dead after helicopter carrying foreign tourists crashes near Mount Everest in Nepal
KATHMANDU, Nepal — All six people on board a helicopter carrying Mexican tourists were killed when it crashed Tuesday near Mount Everest in Nepal, authorities said. The helicopter crashed in the Lamajura area. All the bodies were recovered and flown out of the area, said Basanta Bhattarai, the chief government...
