Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, dies at 100
ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American...
Biden administration agrees to stop selling extra border wall material, Texas AG Paxton says
The Biden administration has agreed to not sell any further U.S.-Mexico border wall materials over the next 30 days, the Texas Attorney General’s office said Friday. The administration also has to provide documentation showing it has not violated an injunction that requires the federal government to continue the wall construction...
Kansas once required voters to prove citizenship. That didn’t work out so well
TOPEKA, Kan. — Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging and plan to push legislation in the new Congress requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Yet there’s one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting to citizenship appears to...
New York Rep. Mike Lawler warns Republicans against ousting House leader
New York Representative Mike Lawler warned fellow Republicans against moving to topple House Speaker Mike Johnson, saying they’d be “playing with fire” and wasting time just as President-elect Donald Trump takes office. With the speakership vote scheduled for Jan. 3, Johnson has faced criticism from some ultraconservative lawmakers after backing...
4 killed as storm system that spawned tornadoes moved across southern U.S.Video
Officials were beginning to assess the damage on Sunday after a strong storm system moved across the southern U.S. over the weekend, spawning tornadoes across the region and killing at least four people. The line of severe weather led to about 40 tornado reports from southeastern Texas to Alabama, National...
10 tips from experts to help you change your relationship with money in 2025
NEW YORK — With the end of 2024 around the corner, you might be reflecting on financial goals for 2025. Whether you’re saving to move out of your parents’ house or pay off student loan debt, financial resolutions can help you stay motivated, said Courtney Alev, consumer advocate for Credit...
Nasty norovirus is back in full force with U.S. cases of the stomach virus surging
Cases of a wretched stomach bug are surging in parts of the United States this winter, according to government data. The most recent numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show there were 91 outbreaks of norovirus reported during the week of Dec. 5, up from 69...
2 Oregon men die from exposure in a forest after they went out to look for Sasquatch
STEVENSON, Wash. — Two Oregon men were found dead in a Washington state forest after they failed to return from a trip to look for Sasquatch, authorities said Saturday. The 59-year-old and 37-year-old appear to have died from exposure, the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office said via Facebook. The weather and...
Plane crashes and bursts into flames while landing in South Korea, killing 179
SEOUL, South Korea — A passenger plane skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport Sunday, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames after its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 people on board died in one of the country’s...
Tornadoes touch down around Houston, killing 1
HOUSTON — At least one person has died and four more were injured as several tornadoes touched down in the Houston area on Saturday, damaging homes and flipping vehicles. By Saturday afternoon, the storm system was moving east, into Louisiana, where tornado warnings were issued. “These storms are probably going...
Train collides with fire truck in Florida. Police say 3 firefighters and at least 12 passengers hurt
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — A high-speed passenger train collided with a fire truck at a crossing Saturday morning in Florida, injuring three firefighters and at least a dozen train passengers, authorities said. The crash happened at 10:45 a.m. in crowded downtown Delray Beach, multiple news outlets reported. The Brightline train...
Winning ticket for $1.22B lottery jackpot sold in California, Mega Millions says
At least one Mega Millions player has plenty of dough to ring in the New Year after drawing the winning number. After three months without anyone winning the top prize in the lottery, a ticket worth an estimated $1.22 billion was sold in California for the drawing Friday night, according...
Trump appears to side with Musk, tech allies in debate over foreign workers roiling his supporters
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump appears to be siding with Elon Musk and his other backers in the tech industry as a dispute over immigration visas has divided his supporters. Trump, in an interview with the New York Post on Saturday, praised the use of visas to...
Will New Year’s Eve be loud or quiet? What are the top 2025 resolutions? AP-NORC poll has answers
NEW YORK — If you’re planning on ringing in the new year quietly at home, you’re not alone. A majority of U.S adults intend to celebrate New Year’s Eve at home, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “As I’ve gotten older over...
New York correctional officers pummeled handcuffed man before death, footage shows
NEW YORK — Newly released video of a fatal New York prison beating shows correctional officers repeatedly pummeling a handcuffed man, striking him in the chest with a shoe, and lifting him by the neck and dropping him. Body camera footage of the Dec. 9 assault on Robert Brooks was...
Putin apologizes for ‘tragic incident’ but stops short of saying Azerbaijani plane was shot down
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people, but stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible. Putin’s apology came as allegations mounted that the...
Big Lots reaches deal to keep hundreds of U.S. stores open
The discount chain Big Lots, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September, has reached a deal that will keep hundreds of its stores and distribution centers open. Big Lots said Friday it will be sold to Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, a firm that specializes in distressed companies. Gordon Brothers will...
Abortions are up in the U.S. It’s a complicated picture as women turn to pills, travel
Abortion has become slightly more common despite bans or deep restrictions in most Republican-controlled states, and the legal and political fights over its future are not over yet. It’s now been two and a half years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door for...
Israel detains the director of one of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals during a raid
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel’s army detained the director of one of northern Gaza ‘s last functioning hospitals as overnight strikes elsewhere in the territory killed nine people, including children, Palestinian medical officials said Saturday. Israel’s military alleged that Hamas militants were using the facility and said over...
CDC: Bird flu virus likely mutated within Louisiana patient
A genetic analysis suggests the bird flu virus mutated inside a Louisiana patient who contracted the nation’s first severe case of the illness, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week. Scientists believe the mutations might allow the virus to better bind to receptors in the upper...
Judge signals contempt hearing for Rudy Giuliani over assets might not go well for him
NEW YORK — A federal judge is signaling Rudy Giuliani’s contempt hearing next Friday might not end so well for the former New York City mayor and onetime personal lawyer for President-elect Donald Trump as two Georgia election poll workers try to collect a $148 million defamation award they won...
Customs agents seize 22K fake Pennsylvania vehicle inspection stickers shipped from Israel
HARRISBURG — The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said it has seized more than 20,000 counterfeit Pennsylvania vehicle inspection stickers that were shipped from Israel to an address in Philadelphia. Customs officers found the stickers in two shipments that arrived on two different days, Nov. 26 and Dec. 9,...
U.S. homelessness up 18% as affordable housing remains out of reach for many people
The United States saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness this year, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country, federal officials said Friday. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban...
Breakthrough technology sees how cholesterol causes heart attacks
ATLANTA — The U.S. government’s premier research body has made an important discovery that could help create new drugs to lower “bad” cholesterol and hopefully prevent heart attacks and stroke. But the interesting part of that story isn’t just the discovery itself but the technology responsible for it: a relatively...
Sinkhole in New Jersey keeps I-80 closed after a section collapses into an abandoned mine
WHARTON, N.J. — Road crews were repairing a short stretch of Interstate 80 in northern New Jersey on Friday where a sinkhole forced the eastbound lanes to shut down, but it was still unknown when they will reopen. The highway’s guardrail still hung suspended in the air across the gaping...
