National News - The Morning Sun

FILE - Chinese navy sailors stand in formation on board the naval training ship, Qi Jiguang, as it docks at Manila's port, Philippines Wednesday, June 14, 2023. China says it's navy ships are preparing for joint exercises with Russia's sea forces in a sign of Beijing's continuing support for Moscow's invasion of neighboring Ukraine. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe, File)

China prepares for naval drills with Russia in sign of continuing support amid Ukraine conflict

China says it's navy ships are preparing for joint exercises with Russia's sea forces in a sign of Beijing's continuing support for Moscow's invasion of neighboring Ukraine. The move announced … more

7/19/23

FILE - Mega Millions cards are displayed at the Fuel On Convenience store in Pittsburgh, Jan. 9, 2023. The Mega Millions jackpot has risen to an estimated $720 million after no winning ticket was sold Tuesday, July 18. The estimated jackpot for the next drawing on Friday, July 21, would be the 7th highest ever in Mega Millions history. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

No winner in Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing. Jackpot reaches $720 million

The Mega Millions jackpot has risen to an estimated $720 million after no winning ticket was sold — again. No ticket for Tuesday’s drawing matched the white balls 19, 22, 31, 37, 54 and the gold … more

7/19/23

FILE - Chunks of ice float in Mendenhall Lake in front of the Mendenhall Glacier on April 29, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. An Alaska man inadvertently filmed his own drowning on the glacial lake with a GoPro camera mounted on his helmet, but authorities who recovered the camera have not yet found his body, officials said Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

Alaska man inadvertently films his own drowning on a glacial lake with helmet GoPro, officials say

Authorities say an Alaska man inadvertently filmed his own drowning on a glacial lake with a GoPro camera mounted on his helmet. But officials who recovered the camera have not yet found his body. … more

By BECKY BOHRER | 7/18/23

Migrants walk along concertina wire as they try to cross the Rio Grande at the Texas-U.S. border in Eagle Pass, Texas, Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Texas trooper's accounts of bloodied and fainting migrants on US-Mexico border unleashes criticism

The White House is criticizing Texas’ operation to stop migrants along the U.S. border with Mexico after a state trooper told a supervisor that the mission has become inhumane. Nicholas Wingate … more

By ACACIA CORONADO | 7/18/23

FILE - The Louisiana state Capitol stands prominently, April 4, 2023, in Baton Rouge, La. Lawmakers in Louisiana's Republican-dominated Legislature have opted to return to the Capitol for a veto session to begin July 18, 2023, in an attempt to override Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards' recent bill rejections, which included blocking a gender-affirming care ban for transgender youths and the state's version of “Don't Say Gay” legislation. (AP Photo/Stephen Smith, File)

Louisiana lawmakers overturn governor's veto on gender-affirming care ban for transgender minors

Louisiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature overturned Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ recent veto of a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors on Tuesday. Louisiana, where the ban … more

By SARA CLINE | 7/18/23

Advocates for cooling Texas prisons pray during a news conference at the Texas Capitol, Tuesday, July 18, 2023, in Austin, Texas. The group is calling for an emergency special session to address the deadly heat effecting inmates. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Texas heat wave has inmates' families worried about lack of air conditioning in state's prisons

As a summer heat wave continues to bake most of Texas, family members of inmates are calling for all of the state’s prisons to be fully air conditioned. Only about 30% of Texas’ 100 prisons are … more

By JUAN A. LOZANO | 7/18/23

FILE - Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald watches his team during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Rutgers in Evanston, Ill., Oct. 16, 2021. Northwestern has fired Fitzgerald Monday, July 10, 2023, amid a hazing scandal that called into question his leadership of the program and damaged the university's reputation after it mishandled its response to the allegations. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Northwestern joins long list of American universities with a scandal in athletics

Northwestern has been added to a long list of American universities to face a scandal in athletics and may eventually join the trend of making large payouts following allegations of sexual abuse. A … more

By The Associated Press | 7/18/23

FILE - This Aug. 27, 2014 file photo shows a statue outside of the Illinois Supreme Court building in Springfield, Ill. The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 18, 2023 upheld the constitutionality of a state law ending cash bail, ordering implementation in mid-September. The ruling overturns a Kankakee County judge’s opinion in December that the law violated the constitution’s provision that “all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, file)

Illinois is first state to eliminate cash bail, a penalty affecting low-income communities most

Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail as a condition of pretrial release from jail on Tuesday. The state Supreme Court upheld the constitutionally of the law abolishing … more

By JOHN O'CONNOR | 7/18/23

This web camera image provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows a low-level ash plume from the Shishaldin Volcano captured on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. An ongoing eruption of a remote volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Islands produced an ash cloud so large Tuesday warnings were sent to pilots about potentially dangerous conditions.(Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey via AP)

Alaska volcano's week-long eruption spews another massive ash cloud

An ongoing eruption of a remote volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands produced an ash cloud so large Tuesday warnings were sent to pilots about potentially dangerous conditions. The ash cloud with … more

7/18/23

A hiker photographs the sun rising over the Valley atop South Mountain, Monday, July 17, 2023 Phoenix. Phoenix is set to break its own record for consecutive days of highs of at least 110 degrees. Around one-third of Americans are under some type of heat advisory, with the most blistering temperatures in the South and West, where even the regular simmer has turned up a notch. (AP Photo/Matt York)

A look at how the desert city of Phoenix copes with summer heat

This summer’s punishing heat wave has baked much of the U.S. in sweat-soaked misery. The country’s preeminent desert city has long sweltered through such brutal heat. And there are lessons to be … more

By ALINA HARTOUNIAN | 7/18/23

This image provided by the Canadian Museum of Nature shows entangled dinosaur and mammal skeletons. The scale bar equals 10 cm. The unusual fossil from China suggests some early mammals may have hunted down dinosaur meat for dinner. The fossil shows a badger-like creature chomping down on a beaky dinosaur three times its size. The research published on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, adds to growing evidence that even when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, some mammals were biting back. (Gang Han/Canadian Museum of Nature via AP)

Mammals may have hunted down dinosaurs for dinner, rare fossil suggests

An unusual find in China suggests some early mammals may have hunted dinosaur for dinner. The fossil shows a badgerlike creature chomping down on a small, beaked dinosaur, their skeletons … more

By MADDIE BURAKOFF | 7/18/23

FILE - Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet speaks during a press conference ahead of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 8, 2016. Patrick Collison, the now 34-year-old billionaire CEO of online payment company Stripe, and his brother, John — a Stripe co-founder — and economist Tyler Cowen raised more than $50 million from some of the biggest names in tech: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and Peter Thiel. Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy, also gave through their philanthropies. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

Quick grants from tech billionaires aim to speed up science research. But not all scientists approve

Patrick Collison, the now 34-year-old billionaire CEO of the online payments company Stripe, and economist Tyler Cowen worried scientific progress seemed to be slowing down. They wanted to chage … more

By EDEN STIFFMAN of The Chronicle of Philanthropy | 7/18/23

A sign for SLB, formerly Schlumberger, is displayed at the building on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in Houston. Major American providers, the largest being SLB, of oilfield services supplied Russia with millions of dollars in equipment for months after its invasion of Ukraine, helping to sustain a critical part of its economy even as Western nations launched sanctions aimed at starving the Russian war effort. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Top US firms supplied equipment to keep Russian oil flowing after Ukraine invasion

America's top oilfield services companies sold millions of dollars in vital oil equipment to Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. The largest, SLB, maintained and even grew its business after others … more

By ED DAVEY | 7/18/23

Shoppers glide past a display of big-screen televisions in a Costco warehouse on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Sheridan, Colo. On Tuesday, July 18, the Commerce Department releases U.S. retail sales data for June. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Americans increase spending modestly in June as inflation eases and the job market remains strong

Americans increased their spending modestly last month as inflation eased in many areas and the job market remains remarkably strong. Retail sales rose 0.2% from May to June, following a revised 0.5% … more

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, PAUL WISEMAN and DEE-ANN DURBIN | 7/18/23

Gray Tarry, bottom left, an archeological field technician for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, digs on an archeological excavation site in Kisatchie National Forest, La., Wednesday, June 7, 2023. This summer, archaeologists have been gingerly digging up the ground at the site in Vernon Parish to unearth and preserve the evidence of prehistoric occupation. The site was found by surveyors in 2003, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Hurricanes Laura and Delta uprooted trees and exposed some of the artifacts. Further damage has been done by looters making unauthorized digs. Forest officials say the site shows evidence of generations of people living in the area going back 12,000 years. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Archaeologists in Louisiana save artifacts dating back 12,000 years from natural disasters, looters

Archaeologists have been gingerly digging up the ground at a site in central Louisiana this summer to unearth and preserve evidence of prehistoric occupation. The U.S. Forest Service.says the site in … more

By STEPHEN SMITH and KEVIN McGILL | 7/18/23

No injuries as jetliner's evacuation slide falls in Chicago neighborhood near O'Hare, officials say

Authorities say an emergency evacuation slide fell from an airliner and landed in the backyard of a home near Chicago's O’Hare International Airport on Monday. There were no reports of injuries. … more

7/17/23

Phoenix's long simmering heat poised to break records for relentless high temperatures

A relentless, dangerous streak of temperatures hitting 110 degrees or more is poised to smash a record for Phoenix and for major U.S. cities showing that Earth’s summer swelter is as persistent as … more

By SETH BORENSTEIN and ANITA SNOW | 7/17/23

Activist Hannah Riley works on her laptop at Muchacho, a local taco restaurant, while gathering signatures from fellow voters, in Atlanta, Thursday, July 13, 2023. Organizers are trying to force a referendum that would allow voters to decide the fate of a proposed police and training center, but attorneys for the city say the petition drive is invalid. (AP Photo/R.J. Rico)

Atlanta petition drive to stop 'Cop City' is 'futile,' city's attorneys argue

Attorneys for the city of Atlanta say an ongoing petition drive to halt the construction of a police and firefighter training center is “futile” and “invalid." In a court filing Monday, city … more

By R.J. RICO | 7/17/23

Citing Trump case, Pentagon leak suspect Teixeira urges judge to release him while he awaits trial

The Massachusetts Air National Guard member accused of leaking secret military papers is challenging a judge’s decision that he remain behind bars. Jack Teixeira is pointing to the pretrial release … more

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER | 7/17/23

FILE - A Portland police vehicle is parked at a crime scene in Portland, Ore., on March 12, 2014. Authorities in Oregon say the deaths of four women whose bodies were found over three months starting in February 2023, with the last one found in May, are linked and that at least one person of interest has been identified. In Portland, the Multnomah County District Attorney's office says no charges have been filed against anyone but added that the community is not currently in any danger. (Mike Zacchino/The Oregonian via AP, File)

Deaths of four Oregon women over three months are linked, authorities say

Authorities in Oregon say the deaths of four women whose bodies were found over three months are linked and that at least one person of interest has been identified. In Portland, the Multnomah County … more

By ANDREW SELSKY | 7/17/23