Spending deal averts a possible federal shutdown and funds the government into December
WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders announced an agreement Sunday on a short-term spending bill that will fund federal agencies for about three months, averting a possible partial government shutdown when the new budget year begins Oct. 1 and pushing final decisions until after the November election. Temporary spending bills generally fund...
California governor signs law banning all plastic shopping bags at grocery stores
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — “Paper or plastic” will no longer be a choice at grocery store checkout lines in California under a new law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom that bans all plastic shopping bags. California had already banned thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores, but shoppers...
Department won’t provide election security after sheriff’s posts about Harris yard signs
RAVENNA, Ohio — A local Ohio elections board says the county sheriff’s department will not be used for election security following a social media post by the sheriff saying people with Kamala Harris yard signs should have their addresses recorded so that immigrants can be sent to live with them...
More shelter beds and a crackdown on tents mean fewer homeless encampments in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — Sidewalks once teeming with tents, tarps and people passed out next to heaps of trash have largely disappeared from great swaths of San Francisco, a city widely known for its visible homeless population. The number of people sleeping outdoors dropped to under 3,000 in January, the lowest...
Kate, the Princess of Wales, makes first public appearance after cancer treatment
LONDON — Kate, the Princess of Wales, made her first public appearance Sunday since she announced she had completed chemotherapy and would return to some public duties. Kate and her husband, Prince William, were seen Sunday attending church with King Charles III and Queen Camilla near their royal Balmoral estate...
Hezbollah hits back with rockets as it declares an ‘open-ended battle’ with Israel
NAHARIYA, Israel — Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets early Sunday across northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Lebanon. A Hezbollah leader declared an “open-ended battle” was underway as both sides appeared to be spiraling closer toward all-out war....
‘Ticking time bomb’: Those who raised suspicions about Trump suspect question if enough was done
The more Chelsea Walsh talked to the eccentric fellow American who seemed to pop up in every square and cobblestone street of Ukraine’s capital, the more she got creeped out. Walsh was in Kyiv as a nurse and aid worker in the early days of the war in Ukraine. Ryan...
Are Trump and Harris particularly Christian? That’s not what most Americans would say: AP-NORC poll
Vice President Kamala Harris is a Baptist who was influenced by religious traditions in her mother’s home country of India. Former President Donald Trump grew up a mainline Presbyterian but began identifying as a nondenominational Christian near the end of his presidency. Despite that, few Americans see the presidential candidates...
For home shoppers, the Fed’s big rate cut is likely just a small step towards affording a home
The Federal Reserve gave home shoppers what they hoped for this week: a big rate cut and a signal of more cuts to come. Even so, aspiring homebuyers and homeowners eager to refinance should temper their expectations of a big drop in mortgage rates from here. While the Fed doesn’t...
Mass shooting kills 4 and wounds 18 in nightlife district in Birmingham, Alabama
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A mass shooting killed four people and wounded 18 others in a popular nightlife area in Birmingham, Alabama, with many of the victims caught in the crossfire, police said early Sunday. Authorities asked the public for tips as they searched for the shooters. The shooting happened shortly...
Israel raids, shuts down Al Jazeera’s bureau in West Bank
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israeli troops raided the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Sunday, ordering the bureau to shut down amid a widening campaign by Israel targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster as it covers the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip....
U.S. is more hands-off than usual in the Middle East, as it fears making things worse
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is taking a more hands-off approach than usual during a week of dramatic escalation between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, with top U.S. officials holding back from full-on crisis diplomacy for fear of making matters worse. The public restraint follows explosions of the militant...
What to know about Mark Robinson, the embattled Republican nominee for North Carolina governor
Republican Mark Robinson’s campaign for governor in North Carolina has been rocked by a CNN report that he posted racist and explicit messages on a pornography web site message board more than a decade ago. Some in his party fear the allegations could threaten Donald Trump’s standing in a state...
Israeli strike on school kills at least 22 people, Gaza Health Ministry says
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on a school in northern Gaza on Saturday killed at least 22 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while the Israeli army said it targeted a Hamas’ command center in what used to be a school. Another 30 were wounded in...
Zelenskyy hopes for quick U.S. action as more arms depots are hit in Russia
KYIV, Ukraine — A massive Ukrainian drone attack set multiple Russian arms depots ablaze, including one deep inside the country, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for quick action from the United States to send more weapons ahead of his visit to the White House with a multi-point “victory plan.”...
Court rules nearly 98,000 long-registered Arizonans whose citizenship hadn’t been confirmed can vote full ballot
PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday that nearly 98,000 people whose citizenship documents hadn’t been confirmed can vote in state and local races. The court’s decision comes after officials uncovered a database error that, for two decades, mistakenly designated the voters as having access to the full ballot....
South Carolina inmate dies by lethal injection in state’s first execution in 13 years
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina put inmate Freddie Owens to death Friday as the state restarted executions after an unintended 13-year pause because prison officials couldn’t get the drugs needed for lethal injections. Owens was convicted of the 1997 killing of a Greenville convenience store clerk during a robbery. While...
Gaetz attended drug-fueled parties with call girls at Florida lobbyist’s home, witnesses say
ORLANDO, Fla. — In the summer of 2017, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, attended a party filled with drugs and paid escorts that was hosted by former state Rep. Chris Dorworth at his Heathrow home, according to witness testimony in newly filed federal court documents. One of the...
Democrats in Pa. approach 2024 election with slimmest voter registration advantage in decades
This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. HARRISBURG — Despite a bump following Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race, Democrats in Pennsylvania are entering the home stretch of the 2024 election with their weakest voter...
‘She should be alive’ — Harris spotlights woman’s death to blast abortion bans
ATLANTA — Kamala Harris blasted Donald Trump as a threat to women’s freedoms and their very lives, warning in a speech in the battleground state of Georgia on Friday that Republicans would continue to choke off access to abortion if he returns to the White House. The Democratic vice president’s...
North Carolina’s governor vetoes private school vouchers and immigration enforcement orders
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed legislation Friday that allocates several hundred million dollars to an expanded private school voucher program and orders sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigrant agents looking for people in the country illegally who have been brought into county jails. Cooper’s veto was...
Appeals court revives challenge to Biden’s Medicare drug price reduction program
NEW ORLEANS — A constitutional challenge to the Biden administration program enabling Medicare to negotiate lower prices for widely used prescription drugs was revived by a federal appeals court in New Orleans in a 2-1 decision Friday. Congress created the program as part of the Inflation Reduction Act passed in...
Israel ramps up attacks on Hezbollah, says top commander killed
Israel said it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs Friday, days after a series of attacks stoked fears the conflict between the two may spiral out of control. The Israel Defense Forces said the airstrike on Beirut killed Ibrahim Aqil, head of Hezbollah’s elite...
Georgia State Election Board approves rule requiring hand count of ballots
ATLANTA — Georgia’s State Election Board on Friday voted to approve a new rule that requires poll workers to count the number of paper ballots by hand. The board voted 3-2 to approve the rule, going against the advice of the state attorney general’s office, the secretary of state’s office...
Were warning signs ignored? Things to know about this week’s testimony on the Titan sub disaster
Last year, five people hoping to view the Titanic wreckage died when their submersible imploded in the Atlantic Ocean. This week, a Coast Guard panel that’s investigating the Titan disaster listened to four days of testimony that has raised serious questions about whether warning signs were ignored. The panel plans...
