Lawyers screen potential jurors in Idaho slain kids’ trial
BOISE, Idaho — As the trial of a woman charged in three killings in what prosecutors say was a doomsday-focused plot began Monday, attorneys asked potential jurors if they would have trouble being impartial after viewing autopsy photos of children. “This is a case that deals with murder. This is...
NASA’s 1st moon crew in 50 years includes 1 woman, 3 menVideo
NASA on Monday named the four astronauts who will fly around the moon late next year, including the first woman and the first African American assigned to a lunar mission. The first moon crew in 50 years — three Americans and one Canadian — was introduced during a ceremony in...
Jailed U.S. reporter’s defense appeals his arrest
MOSCOW — Lawyers for an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal arrested in Russia on espionage charges have appealed his arrest, a court in Moscow announced Monday. Evan Gershkovich, 31, was detained last week in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city. It was the first time a U.S. correspondent had been...
Nation awaits unveiling of criminal charges against Trump at historic arraignmentVideo
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s return to New York City continued this week with the news media in a frenzy, demonstrators poised to protest and a new chapter in history being written before the nation’s eyes. Trump, 76, is expected to appear before State Supreme Court Judge Juan...
Virginia teacher shot by 6-year-old student files $40 million lawsuit
RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia teacher who was shot and seriously wounded by her 6-year-old student filed a lawsuit Monday seeking $40 million in damages from school officials, accusing them of gross negligence and of ignoring multiple warnings the day of the shooting that the boy was armed and in...
Hard cleanup: Montana train derailment spills beer and clay
PARADISE, Mont. — Crews could face a difficult cleanup task after a 25-car train derailment spilled powdered clay and cases of beer beside a scenic western Montana river, leaving some cars off the tracks in a narrow, century-old tunnel with limited access, officials said. “It’s a terrible spot to get...
Members of Congress on TikTok defend app’s reach to voters
WASHINGTON — Rep. Jeff Jackson of North Carolina has used it to explain the complex fight over raising the debt limit. Rep. Robert Garcia of California has used it to engage with members of the LGBTQ+ community. And Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania has used it to give an overview...
Finland to join NATO military alliance this week, chief says
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Finland will become the 31st member of the military alliance on Tuesday. “From tomorrow, Finland will be a full member of the alliance,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. Stoltenberg said that Turkey, the last country to have ratified Finland’s membership, will hand its...
Zelenskyy to visit Warsaw to meet with Poles, Ukrainians
WARSAW, Poland — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will pay a visit to Warsaw this week that will include talks with political leaders and a meeting with regular Ukrainians and Poles, Polish officials announced on Monday. Zelenskyy will be accompanied by his wife, Olena Zelenska, for the visit, scheduled for Wednesday....
Ex-principal of Jewish school found guilty of sexual abuse
MELBOURNE, Australia — The former principal of a Jewish girls school in Australia was found guilty Monday of sexually abusing two students, ending a nine-year legal battle that strained relations between the Australian and Israeli governments while antagonizing Australia’s Jewish community. Malka Leifer, 56, a Tel Aviv-born mother of eight,...
Pitt on verge of naming new chancellor; vote expected at Monday trustees meeting
University of Pittsburgh trustees have called a special meeting for Monday and are expected to vote on a resolution to name a successor to Chancellor Patrick Gallagher. The 11 a.m. main campus meeting inside Alumni Hall’s Connolly ballroom is to be livestreamed and will include “Remarks of the Chancellor Elect,”...
Trump to deliver remarks Tuesday night after his arraignment
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump will deliver remarks Tuesday night in Florida after his scheduled arraignment in New York on charges related to hush money payments, his campaign announced Sunday. Trump will hold the event at his Mar-a-Lago club after returning from Manhattan, where he is expected to...
Explosion in Russian cafe kills prominent military bloggerVideo
An explosion tore through a cafe in Russia’s second-largest city Sunday, killing a well-known military blogger and strident supporter of the war in Ukraine. Some reports said a bomb was embedded in a bust of the blogger that was given to him as a gift. Russian officials said Vladlen Tatarsky...
Blinken: Russia must immediately free 2 detained Americans
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his Russian counterpart, in a rare phone call between the diplomats since the Ukraine war, to immediately release a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained last week as well as another imprisoned American, Paul Whelan, the State Department said Sunday. In...
Trump indictment ends decades of perceived invincibility
NEW YORK — When Donald Trump steps before a judge this coming week to be arraigned in a New York courtroom, it will not only mark the first time a former U.S. president has faced criminal charges. It will also be a reckoning for a man long nicknamed “Teflon Don,”...
32 dead as tornadoes torment from Arkansas to DelawareVideo
WYNNE, Ark. — Residents across a wide swath of the U.S. raced Sunday to assess the destruction from fierce storms that spawned possibly dozens of tornadoes from the South and the Midwest into the Northeast, killing at least 32 people. The storms tore a path through the Arkansas capital and...
Ex-Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson is running for president
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Asa Hutchinson, who recently completed two terms as Arkansas governor, said Sunday he will seek the Republican presidential nomination, positioning himself as an alternative to Donald Trump just days after the former president was indicted by a grand jury in New York. Hutchinson said Trump should...
After Nashville, Congress confronts limits of new gun law
WASHINGTON — Nine months ago, President Joe Biden signed a sweeping bipartisan gun law, the most significant legislative response to gun violence in decades. “Lives will be saved,” he said at the White House. The law has already prevented some potentially dangerous people from owning guns. Yet since that signing...
Biden and his 2024 campaign: Waiting for some big decisions
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has all but announced he’s running for reelection, but key questions about the 2024 campaign are unresolved: Who will manage it? Where will it be based? When will he finally make it official? Advisers have long said he planned to wait until after March, when...
Tornadoes kill at least 11 across U.S. Midwest and South
WYNNE, Ark. — Tornadoes that tore through parts of the South and Midwest killed at least 11 people, collapsed the roof of a packed theater during a heavy metal concert in Illinois, and left small towns and big cities throughout the region bewildered Saturday by the damage. Possibly dozens of...
Trump facing at least 1 felony charge in NY case
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday. He will be formally arrested and arraigned...
Worries grow that Trump indictment will eclipse other probes
WASHINGTON — The indictment against former President Donald Trump involving a 2016 hush money payment is raising concerns that it could undermine public confidence in what democracy experts view as far more important investigations. Trump is facing multiple investigations related to his refusal to accept his 2020 loss to Democrat...
Trump indictment throws 2024 race into uncharted territory
NEW YORK — The historic indictment of former President Donald Trump thrust the 2024 presidential election into uncharted territory, raising the remarkable prospect that the leading contender for the Republican nomination will seek the White House while also facing trial for criminal charges in New York. In an acknowledgment of...
Fiery derailments renew Americans’ focus on railroad safety
OMAHA, Neb. — Americans are renewing their focus on railroad safety after a string of recent derailments, especially two fiery ones involving hazardous chemicals in Ohio and Minnesota that prompted evacuations. Federal regulators and members of Congress are urging railroads to do more to prevent derailments. They want standards for...
Fetterman released from Walter Reed, home in Braddock
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman was released Friday from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being treated for clinical depression. Dr. David Williamson, Walter Reed’s neuropsychiatry chief and medical director, said Fetterman’s depression is now in remission. Fetterman is back home in Braddock. “I’m excited to be the father and...
