National News - The Morning Sun

In this photo provided by Cal State LA, Maurice Hastings hears instructions at a hearing at Los Angeles Superior Court where a judge dismissed his conviction for murder after new DNA evidence exonerated him, Oct. 20, 2022, in Los Angeles. (J. Emilio Flores/Cal State LA via AP)

DNA evidence frees California man imprisoned for decades

A man who spent more than 38 years behind bars for a 1983 murder and two attempted murders has been freed from a California prison after long-untested DNA evidence pointed to a different person. The … more

10/28/22

FILE - Traffic passes a mural of the slave ship Clotilda along Africatown Boulevard, in Mobile, Ala., May 30, 2019. Republican Tommy Tuberville told people Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, at an election rally in Nevada that Democrats support reparations for the descendants of enslaved people because “they think the people that do the crime are owed that.” His remarks cut deeply for some, especially in and around Africatown, a community in Mobile, Alabama, that was founded by descendants of Africans smuggled in 1860 to the United States aboard a schooner called the Clotilda. (AP Photo/Kevin McGill, File)

Family of financier of last U.S. slave ship breaks silence

Descendants of the Alabama man responsible for illegally bringing 110 African captives to America aboard the last U.S. slave ship have broken generations of public silence. Relatives of Timothy … more

By JAY REEVES | 10/28/22

FILE - Election worker Donna Young inspects a mail-in ballot for damage at the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters in Sacramento, Calif., June 3, 2022. Unlike in many other countries, elections in the U.S. are highly decentralized, complex and feature a long list of races on the ballot, from president or Congress all the way down to local ballot measures or town council seats. Rules also vary greatly by state. Some give local election offices several weeks before Election Day to process mailed ballots, which includes steps that may include checking signatures or ID information. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

EXPLAINER: Why does The Associated Press call US elections?

Why has The Associated Press tallied votes and declared winners in U.S. elections since the middle of the 19th century? Because no one else does. The Founding Fathers didn’t establish a national … more

By MEG KINNARD | 10/28/22

Babyface poses for a photo in New York on Sept. 12, 2022, to promote his new album "Girls Night Out." The 13-track album features collaborations with many of today's popular R&B female singers, like Kehlani, Ella Mai and Ari Lennox. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Babyface doesn’t rest on his laurels with ‘Girls Night Out’

A random trip to Walgreen's spurred Babyface to create his new album, ‘Girls Night Out,’ after a young fan said she was introduced to his legendary catalog after his 2020 Verzuz appearance with … more

By GARY GERARD HAMILTON | 10/28/22

FILE - German interior Minister Nancy Faeser raises the rainbow flag for the first time at the German Interior Ministry in Berlin, Germany, on May 17, 2022. Qatar has summoned the German ambassador over remarks by Germany’s interior minister, who appeared to criticize the decision to award the World Cup to the Gulf Arab nation because of its human rights record. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Qatar summons German envoy over World Cup rights criticism

Qatar has summoned the German ambassador over remarks by Germany’s interior minister, who appeared to criticize the decision to award the World Cup to the Gulf Arab nation because of its human … more

By JOSEPH KRAUSS | 10/28/22

FILE - Lottery play stubs, including one for the Powerball, are seen on display at a liquor store, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, in Baltimore. A massive lottery jackpot got a little bigger Friday, Oct. 28, as the top Powerball prize climbed ahead of Saturday night's drawing. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

Powerball jackpot rises to $825 million, 5th largest in US

A massive lottery jackpot got a little bigger as the top Powerball prize climbed to an estimated $825 million ahead of Saturday night’s drawing. The Powerball jackpot ranks as the fifth-largest in … more

10/28/22

"Virtual school is not the answer," said mother Cheryl Lane, right, who leaves a Hazelwood School Board meeting with her two sons, Aaron, 9, left, and Andrew, 7, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, at the Hazelwood School District Learning Center in Florissant, Mo. The board announced elementary students will switch to virtual learning after radioactive waste was found at Jana Elementary School. "My kids have been virtual since the start of the school year and they are not learning," said Lane. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

Inside testing done, soil sampling begins at Missouri school

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has completed testing inside a Missouri school closed amid concerns of radioactive contamination, and sampling of soil outside the school has begun. A … more

By JIM SALTER | 10/28/22

Ukrainian soldiers fire a mortar in the front line near Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Live Updates | Russia-Ukraine-War

Ukraine’s presidential office says at least four civilians have been killed and 10 others wounded by the latest Russian attacks. A statement Friday says Russian troops again fired on several towns … more

By The Associated Press | 10/28/22

FILE - Coast Guard boats patrol in front of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Fla on July 1, 2021. Residents of the Miami Beach building on the same street where a condominium collapse killed nearly 100 people were forced to evacuate on Thursday evening, Oct. 27, 2022, after officials determined the structure was unsafe and gave orders to leave. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Miami building evacuated near site of deadly condo collapse

Residents of a Miami Beach building on the same street where a condominium collapse killed nearly 100 people were forced to evacuate on Thursday evening after officials determined the structure was … more

10/28/22

FILE - Students work in a classroom at Beecher Hills Elementary School in Atlanta on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered classrooms set back learning in some U.S. school systems by more than a year, with children in high-poverty areas affected the most, according to a district-by-district analysis of test scores shared exclusively with The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Ron Harris, File)

Massive learning setbacks show COVID's sweeping toll on kids

The COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered classrooms set back learning in some U.S. school systems by more than a year, with children in high-poverty areas affected the most, according to a … more

By BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS and SHARON LURYE | 10/28/22

Dana and John Pope pose with a photo of their son Ethan, following a news conference at the Capitol in Atlanta, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. Ethan was 23 when he died in December 2021 after using kratom. His parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against about a dozen people, companies and organizations connected to the manufacture, marketing and sale of the herbal supplement. (AP Photo/Kate Brumback)

Parents sue over son's death after he took kratom supplement

The parents of a 23-year-old Georgia man who died after using kratom have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against about a dozen people, companies and organizations connected to the manufacturing, … more

By KATE BRUMBACK | 10/27/22

FILE - A sign for the Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons is displayed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York, July 6, 2020. Oklahoma is suing the Federal Bureau of Prisons for custody of a state death row inmate who the bureau is refusing to transfer, with the state saying the man's scheduled execution cannot be carried out in December if he is not returned soon. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

Oklahoma sues federal prisons for inmate it wants to execute

Oklahoma is suing the Federal Bureau of Prisons for custody of a state death row inmate who the bureau refuses to transfer, with the state saying the man's December execution cannot be carried if … more

By KEN MILLER | 10/27/22

In this image made available by NASA on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022, boulder-size blocks of water ice are seen around the rim of an impact crater on Mars, as viewed by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE camera) aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The crater was formed Dec. 24, 2021, by a meteoroid strike in the Amazonis Planitia region. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona via AP)

Two NASA spacecraft detect biggest meteor strikes at Mars

Two NASA spacecraft at Mars have recorded the biggest meteor strikes and impact craters yet. Scientists reported Thursday that last year's barrages sent seismic surface waves rippling thousands of … more

By MARCIA DUNN | 10/27/22

FILE - Andrew Delke listens to victim impact statements from the family of Daniel Hambrick, a Black man, as he pleads guilty to manslaughter on July 2, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn. Delke, a white former Nashville police officer who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting Hambrick from behind who was fleeing on foot, has been released from jail, his attorney confirmed Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. (Josie Norris/The Tennessean via AP, Pool, File)

Ex-officer convicted in fatal shooting out of Nashville jail

A white former Nashville police officer who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a Black man from behind as the man was fleeing on foot has been released from jail. According to his attorney, Andrew … more

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI | 10/27/22

FILE - A memorial of flowers and stars line a sidewalk outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018, in remembrance of those killed when a shooter opened fire during services. On Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022, Pittsburgh's Jewish community prepared for what's become an annual ritual, honoring the memory of the 11 who were murdered on this date in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Antisemitism decried four years after Pa. synagogue attack

In what has become an annual ritual, Pittsburgh’s Jewish community is honoring the memory of the 11 Jews who were murdered on this date in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. For many … more

By PETER SMITH | 10/27/22

Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, left, speaks to family members of children slain in the Uvalde school shooting ahead of a meeting of the state Law Enforcement Commission in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. Col. Steve McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said during the meeting Thursday that a criminal investigation surrounding the massacre is looking at law enforcement officers over the hesitant police response to the shooting and will be completed by the end of the year. (AP Photo/Acacia Coronado)

Texas police: Uvalde officers' probe to be over by year-end

Texas' state police chief says a criminal investigation into the hesitant police response to the Uvalde school massacre that killed 19 children and two teachers will be finished by the end of the … more

By ACACIA CORONADO and PAUL J. WEBER | 10/27/22

FILE - Traffic approaches Maine Turnpike toll booths on Feb. 2011, in Gardiner, Maine. The state is is cleaning up its roadways by removing the flippin’ vulgarities from license plates. Maine is enforcing new rules to eliminate f-bombs and other obscenities that appeared on vanity license plates after the state effectively eliminated its review process, and has began issuing recall letters in October 2022. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

Maine begins removing those naughty license plates

Maine is cleaning up its roads one naughty license plate a time. The state is enforcing new rules to eliminate vulgar vanity license plates that proliferated after the state effectively eliminated … more

By DAVID SHARP | 10/27/22

This image provided by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department shows an AR-15-style rifle used by a 19-year-old gunman who killed a teacher and a 15-year-old girl at a St. Louis high school on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022. The gunman was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and what appeared to be more than 600 rounds of ammunition, Police Commissioner Michael Sack said Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. (St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

Police: Gun taken away earlier was used in school shooting

St. Louis police have confirmed that the gunman who forced his way into a high school, killing a student and a teacher and leaving seven others wounded, used an assault rifle that had been taken away … more

By JIM SALTER | 10/27/22

Todd Field, left, and Cate Blanchett pose for a portrait on Oct. 2, 2022, in New York to promote the film Tár,” in which Blanchett plays a trailblazing conductor whose status is threatened amid a misconduct scandal of her own making. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Q&A: Todd Field and Cate Blanchett go deeper into ‘Tár’

When Cate Blanchett stepped out of her first screening for “Tár,” she wanted to immediately go back and watch it again. Sure, she might be a little biased considering she stars in the film but … more

By LINDSEY BAHR | 10/27/22

Tamara, 50, mourns at the grave of her only son, a military servicemen, killed during a Russian bombing raid, at a cemetery in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Tamara did not learn of her son's death until four months after he died, when she managed to escape from her village in Kherson occupied by Russian troops. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Live Updates | Russia-Ukraine-War

The Moscow-appointed authorities in the southern region of Kherson say that tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in the face of Ukraine’s offensive. Kherson Gov. Vladimir Saldo said … more

By The Associated Press | 10/27/22