National News - The Morning Sun

Burned crosses stand outside the Sylmar Christian Fellowship Church, Thursday, July 6, 2023, in the Sylmar section of Los Angeles. Three wooden crosses outside the small Los Angeles church were found burned early Thursday and authorities say the fire is being investigated as a possible hate crime. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

3 crosses burned at a small Los Angeles church and authorities investigate possible hate crime

Three wooden crosses outside a small Los Angeles church have been found burned, and authorities say it is being investigated as a possible hate crime. A Fire Department spokesperson says firefighters … more

7/6/23

FILE - The Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off pad 39-B with a crew seven at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Sept. 12, 1992. The lengthy process of putting the retired space shuttle Endeavour on display in the vertical launch position will begin this month in Los Angeles. The California Science Center announced Thursday, July 6, 2023, that the six-month process will get underway July 20 at the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center currently under construction in Exposition Park. (AP Photo,File)

California Science Center to start complex process to display space shuttle Endeavour vertically

The lengthy process of putting the retired space shuttle Endeavour on display in the vertical launch position will begin this month in Los Angeles. The California Science Center announced Thursday … more

7/6/23

This photo, taken in New York, Thursday, July 6, 2023, shows Meta's new app Threads. Meta unveiled the app to rival Twitter, targeting users looking for an alternative to the social media platform owned — and frequently changed — by Elon Musk. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

What is Threads? All your questions about Meta's new Twitter rival, answered

Threads, Meta’s text-based app seemingly built to rival Twitter, is live. The app, billed as the text version of Meta’s photo-sharing platform Instagram, became available Wednesday night to users … more

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS | 7/6/23

FILE - Willard Miller is led into a courtroom, March 29, 2023, in Fairfield, Iowa, for a hearing related to the murder charge he faces in the 2021 death of Fairfield, Iowa, Spanish teacher Nohema Graber. Miller is one of two Iowa teenagers charged in the beating death of Graber. On Thursday, July 6, Miller will be the first sentenced after he pleaded guilty as part of an agreement in which prosecutors recommended a term of between 30 years and life in prison, with the possibility of parole. (Kyle Ocker/The Ottumwa Courier via AP, Pool, File)

Hearing underway for first of 2 Iowa teens who pleaded guilty in 2021 beating death of teacher

A sentencing hearing for the first of two Iowa teenagers who pleaded guilty to fatally beating their high school Spanish teacher with a baseball bat was underway Thursday. Willard Miller and Jeremy … more

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE | 7/6/23

A missing poster for Rudolph "Rudy" Farias IV is shown during the Missing Person Day event at City Hall Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, in Houston. Farias, who went missing as a teenager in 2015 after last being seen walking his dogs in Houston has been found alive, his family and police said Monday, July 3, 2023. (TexasEquuSearch/Courtesy of Houston Chronicle via AP)

Texas man reported missing as a teen in 2015 returned home the next day, police say

Police say a Texas man who went missing as a teenager in 2015 returned home the next day but he and his mother deceived officers by giving false names over the ensuing eight years. Houston police … more

By JUAN A. LOZANO | 7/6/23

FILE - A homeless person lies on the sidewalk while holding a water bottle, Sunday, July 2, 2023, in downtown Los Angeles. Excessive heat warnings remain in place in many areas across the U.S. and are expected to last at least through Monday. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

Global heat is just the latest 2023 extreme that shows an Earth in crisis

Scientists say global heat that inched into worrisome new territory this week is a clear example of how pollutants released by humans are warming their environment. But the unofficial records for … more

By ISABELLA O'MALLEY | 7/6/23

Today in History: July 4, Declaration of Independence adopted in Philadelphia

Today in History Today is Tuesday, July 4, the 185th day of 2023. There are 180 days left in the year. This is Independence Day. Today’s Highlight in History: On July 4, 1776, the … more

By The Associated Press | 7/6/23

From left, Cleotha Abston, his lawyer Jennifer Case, prosecutor Paul Hagerman, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy sit in court in Memphis, Tenn, on Thursday, July 6, 2023. Memphis prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against Abston, who's charged with kidnapping a school teacher during an early morning run and killing her. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)

Memphis prosecutors seek death penalty against man charged with kidnapping and killing teacher

Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against a man charged with kidnapping a Memphis, Tennessee, school teacher during an early-morning run and killing her. Cleotha Abston is charged with … more

By ADRIAN SAINZ | 7/6/23

Tom Cruise, left, and director Christopher McQuarrie pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' on Thursday, June 22, 2023 in London. (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

An already full-tilt movie franchise turns it up a notch in 'Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning'

There are, as a rule, only so many places you can go as an action movie after leaving Tom Cruise clinging to the side of an Airbus A400M and flinging him out a cargo plane at 25,000 feet. But in the … more

By JAKE COYLE | 7/6/23

File - A hiring sign is shown in Wheeling, Ill., Sunday, March 19, 2023. On Thursday, the Labor Department reports on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

More Americans apply for jobless benefits, but layoffs are not rising significantly

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits rose last week, but remains at healthy levels despite the Federal Reserve’s attempt to cool the labor market by raising interest rates. U.S. … more

By MATT OTT | 7/6/23

FILE - A gay Pride rainbow flag flies with the U.S. flag in front of the Asbury United Methodist Church in Prairie Village, Kan., on Friday, April 19, 2019. As of June 2023, more than 6,000 United Methodist congregations — a fifth of the U.S. total — have now received permission to leave the denomination amid a schism over theology and the role of LGBTQ people in the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

One in five United Methodist congregations in the US have left the denomination over LGBTQ conflicts

More than 6,000 United Methodist congregations have now received permission to leave the denomination amid a schism over theology and the role of LGBTQ people. That's one in five of the … more

By PETER SMITH | 7/6/23

In this image taken from video, smoke rises from a cargo ship early Thursday, July 6, 2023, in the port of Newark, New Jersey. Two firefighters were killed battling the blaze that began when cars caught fire deep inside the ship carrying 5,000 cars at the port, Newark's fire chief said. (WABC-TV via AP)

2 New Jersey firefighters died battling a blaze deep in a ship carrying 5,000 cars

A New Jersey fire chief says two firefighters were killed battling a blaze that broke out inside a cargo ship docked at Newark's port. Fire Chief Rufus Jackson says responding firefighters found five … more

7/6/23

FILE - The Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and COP28 UAE President-Designate, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, attends a joint press conference on the second day of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin, Germany, on May 3, 2023. The president of this years United Nations' climate talks has urged the oil and gas industry to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by or before 2050 at a speech Thursday, July 6, 2023, to oil producing states. (John MacDougall/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Climate talks chief urges oil producing states to slash emissions

The president of this year’s United Nations’ climate talks urged the oil and gas industry Thursday to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by or before 2050 in a speech to oil producing … more

By SIBI ARASU | 7/6/23

Tubers float the cool Comal River in New Braunfels, Texas, Thursday, June 29, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. The unofficial heat records come after months of unusually hot conditions due to climate change and a strong El Nino event. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

For third day, it was the hottest day on Earth, as global temperature matches record set Tuesday

Earth’s average temperature remained at a record high Wednesday, after two days in which the planet reached unofficial records. It’s the latest marker in a series of climate-change-driven … more

By SETH BORENSTEIN and MELINA WALLING | 7/6/23

FILE - Former President Donald Trump's valet Walt Nauta, center, visits Versailles restaurant with Trump, June 13, 2023, in Miami. Nauta is set to be arraigned on charges that he helped the former president hide classified documents that the Justice Department wanted back. Nauta was charged earlier this month alongside Trump in a 38-count indictment filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Trump valet charged in classified documents case set again for arraignment after earlier delays

A valet for Donald Trump accused of helping the former president hide classified documents from federal authorities is due back in a Florida court after an earlier appearance was postponed because of … more

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and ERIC TUCKER | 7/6/23

Paul Jamrowski, father of Jordan Anchondo and father in law of Andre Anchondo, who both died in the El Paso Walmart mass shooting, breaks down in tears while speaking to the media outside the federal court in El Paso, Texas, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. Patrick Crusius, who is accused of killing nearly two dozen people in a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in August 2019, is set to receive multiple life sentences after pleading guilty to federal hate crimes and weapons charges in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Andrés Leighton)

Relatives of El Paso Walmart shooting victims seek justice, saying they're down but not out

Family members of the 23 people killed in a racist attack at a Texas Walmart are confronting the gunman face-to-face in court for the first time since the 2019 massacre. The sentencing hearing for … more

By MORGAN LEE and PAUL J. WEBER | 7/6/23

Today in History: July 6, England's Richard III is crowned

Today in History Today is Thursday, July 6, the 187th day of 2023. There are 178 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On July 6, 1944, an estimated 168 people died in … more

By The Associated Press | 7/6/23

This July 29, 2012, photo provided by Terrance Harden shows Joseph Wamah Jr., a victim of a shooting on Monday night, July 3, 2023, that made the working-class area of Kingsessing in Philadelphia the site of the nation's worst violence around the July Fourth holiday. Investigators believe Wamah Jr., who was found in a home early Tuesday, July 4, was the first victim killed, but he wasn't found by family members until hours later. (Terrance Harden via AP)

Father of the bride, teen who tried to save friend among 5 killed in Philadelphia shooting

A father who was preparing to walk his eldest daughter down the aisle. An aspiring actor who appeared as an extra in the “Creed” movie franchise. A teenager who tried to help a wounded friend. … more

By CLAUDIA LAUER and BEATRICE DUPUY | 7/5/23

FILE - A Star of David hangs from a fence outside the dormant landmark Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, Apr. 19, 2023. Robert Bowers. Bowers, the gunman who massacred 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, has a “very serious mental health history" from childhood and a “markedly abnormal” brain, a defense expert testified Wednesday, June 28, 2023, in the penalty phase of the Bowers' trial. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Mental illness played no role in Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, prosecution expert testifies

A neurologist says the man who gunned down 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 does not have a psychiatric or neurological disorder, and he was capable of forming the intent to kill. Dr. Ryan … more

7/5/23

In this image taken from police body camera provided by Los Angeles Sheriff's office on June 24, 2023, a Sheriff's deputies arrested a couple in a grocery store parking lot in Lancaster, Calif. The Los Angeles County sheriff has opened an investigation into two deputies' actions after a bystander's cellphone footage showed one of them tackling a woman while she filmed her husband being handcuffed in what the scandal-ridden department described as disturbing. (Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office via AP)

LA County sheriff's department calls video of deputy tackling woman 'disturbing,' opens inquiry

The Los Angeles County sheriff says video footage of a deputy violently throwing a woman to the ground while she filmed her husband being handcuffed in a grocery store parking lot is “disturbing." … more

By STEFANIE DAZIO | 7/5/23