National News - The Morning Sun

FILE - This Sept. 2015, photo provided by NOAA Fisheries shows an aerial view of adult female Southern Resident killer whale (J16) swimming with her calf (J50). New research suggests that inbreeding may be a key reason that the Pacific Northwest's endangered population of killer whales has failed to recover despite decades of conservation efforts. The so-called "southern resident" population of orcas stands at 73 whales. That's just two more than in 1971, after scores of the whales were captured for display in marine theme parks around the world. (NOAA Fisheries/Vancouver Aquarium via AP, File)

Researchers: Inbreeding a big problem for endangered orcas

New research suggests that inbreeding may be a key reason that the Pacific Northwest’s endangered population of killer whales has failed to recover despite decades of conservation efforts. The … more

By GENE JOHNSON | 3/20/23

The Olympic athletes' village construction site is pictured In Saint Denis, outside Paris, Saturday, March 18, 2023. Some Paris 2024 Olympic hopefuls have expressed concern over the lack of air conditioning units in the athletes' village that will be home for thousands of athletes and sports officials during next year's Summer Games. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Paris aims to keep Olympians cool without air conditioners

The Paris Olympics is going underground to find a way to keep athletes cool at the 2024 Games without air conditioners. Organizers are planning to install a water-cooling system under the Athletes … more

By BARBARA SURK and SAMUEL PETREQUIN | 3/20/23

Mads Nipper, CEO of Orsted, left, speaks with David Hardy, a member of the group executive team, while in New York on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. Orsted, the former Danish Oil and Natural Gas company, ramped up construction of offshore wind farms beginning in 2008 and sold off the oil and gas side of the business in 2017. Now Orsted is a global leader in renewable energy. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)

Insider Q&A: From oil to offshore wind, Ørsted transformed

There's scientific agreement that carbon emissions must cease in order to address climate change, but how does a company make that transition and remain profitable? Ørsted, the former Danish Oil and … more

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT | 3/20/23

Clothes are hung out to dry on called electrical power lines caused by last week's heavy rains caused by Tropical Cyclone Freddy in Phalombe, southern Malawi Saturday, March 18, 2023. Authorities are still getting to grips with destruction in Malawi and Mozambique with over 370 people confirmed dead and several hundreds still displaced or missing. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)

A week on, brutal Cyclone Freddy still taxes southern Africa

Over a week on from Cyclone Freddy’s second and more devastating landfall in Malawi and Mozambique and nearly a month since it battered Madagascar, the effects are still being felt as locals, … more

By WANJOHI KABUKURU | 3/20/23

Re-enactors portraying members of the American forces during the Revolutionary War fire their muskets during the annual St. Patrick's Day parade, Sunday, March 19, 2023, in Boston's South Boston neighborhood. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Boston celebrates at a chilly St. Patrick’s Day parade

Boston has held its St. Patrick’s Day parade, an event Mayor Michelle Wu called one of that city's biggest events of the year. Boston is home to one of the country’s largest Irish enclaves, and … more

3/19/23

Crowds gather at Ocean Drive and 8th during spring break on Saturday, March 18, 2023, in Miami Beach, Fla. Miami Beach officials imposed a curfew beginning Sunday night, March 19, after two fatal shootings and rowdy, chaotic crowds that police have had difficulty controlling. (D.A. Varela/Miami Herald via AP)

Miami Beach sets spring break curfew after 2 fatal shootings

Miami Beach officials imposed a curfew beginning Sunday night during spring break after two fatal shootings and rowdy, chaotic crowds that police have had difficulty controlling. The city said in a … more

3/19/23

Pamela Cerruti carries clothing from Pajaro Coin Laundry as floodwaters surround machines in the community of Pajaro in Monterey County, Calif., on Tuesday, March 14, 2023. "We lost it all. That's half a million dollars of equipment," said Pamela who added that they plan to rebuild. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

AP Week in Pictures: North America

MARCH 10 - 16, 2023 This photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images from North America made or published by The Associated Press in the past week. The selection was curated by AP … more

3/19/23

FILE - Then-Arkansas Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders answers a question during a Republican Governors Association conference on Nov. 16, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. Gov. Huckabee Sanders has signed a new law that will allow an anti-abortion monument to be built near the state Capitol. Sanders' office said Friday, March 17, 2023 that the Republican governor signed the bill allowing the creation of a privately funded “monument to the unborn” on the Capitol grounds.(AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

New law allows anti-abortion monument at Arkansas Capitol

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a new law that will allow an anti-abortion monument to be built near the state Capitol. Sanders' office said Friday night that the Republican governor … more

3/19/23

FILE - This booking photo released by Sherburne County Jail shows Anton Lazzaro. The formerly well-connected Republican donor goes on trial in Minnesota on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, on federal charges of sex trafficking minors. (Sherburne County Jail/Star Tribune via AP, File)

GOP donor faces trial on charges of sex trafficking minors

A formerly well-connected Republican donor goes on trial in Minnesota on Tuesday accused of sex trafficking minors. Anton “Tony” Lazzaro is charged with seven federal counts involving five minors … more

By STEVE KARNOWSKI | 3/19/23

FILE - A sign points visitors toward the financial services department at a hospital, Friday, Jan. 24, 2014. Medicaid coverage will end for millions of Americans in 2023, and that pushes many into unfamiliar territory: the health insurance marketplace. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

How to shop for new insurance if you lose Medicaid coverage

Medicaid will end for millions of Americans in the coming months, and that pushes many into unfamiliar territory: the health insurance marketplace. States will start cutting people from the … more

By TOM MURPHY | 3/19/23

In this photo provided by Shannon Castellano, floodwaters, which washed away a bridge to a campground, flow through the Havasupai Indian Reservation in Arizona on Friday, March 17, 2023. (Shannon Castellano via AP)

Tourists hoping to see Arizona falls forced out by flooding

Tourists hoping to see world-famous waterfalls on the Havasupai Tribe Reservation in northern Arizona instead went through harrowing flood evacuations. The official Havasupai Tribe Tourism Facebook … more

By TERRY TANG | 3/18/23

FILE - Florida state Rep. Stan McClain, R-Belleview, attends a legislative session, March, 13 2019, in Tallahassee, Fla. Legislation moving in the Florida House would ban discussion of menstrual cycles and other human sexuality topics in elementary grades. The bill sponsored by McClain would restrict public school instruction on human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases and related topics to grades 6 through 12. McClain confirmed at a committee meeting that discussions about menstrual cycles would also be restricted to those grades. The GOP-backed legislation cleared the House Education Quality Subcommittee on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, by a 13-5 vote mainly along party lines. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon, File)

Florida may ban girls' period talk in elementary grades

Legislation moving in the Florida House would ban discussion of menstrual cycles and other human sexuality topics in elementary grades. The bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Stan McClain would … more

3/18/23

A wounded baby nutria Denny Lacoste rescued is photographed in Metairie, La. Monday, March 13, 2023. Denny and Myra Lacoste have run afoul of state law by keeping a 22-pound nutria -- a beady-eyed, orange-toothed, rat-tailed rodent commonly considered a wetlands-damaging pest -- as a pet that frolics with their dog, snuggles in their arms and swims in the family pool. (David Grunfeld /The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Louisiana works out deal for family to keep pet nutria

After much public outcry, state officials now say they will let a Louisiana couple keep a 22-pound nutria -- a beady-eyed, orange-toothed, rat-tailed rodent commonly considered a wetlands-damaging … more

3/18/23

Crime scene tape is shown at the scene along Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, Fla. Friday, March 17, 2023, where police say one person was killed and a second was wounded when gunfire erupted in an area of Miami Beach crowded with people on spring break. (Aaron Leibowitz/Miami Herald via AP)

1 dead, 1 hurt in shooting during Miami Beach spring break

Police say one person was killed and a second wounded when gunfire erupted in an area of Miami Beach crowded with people on spring break. The Miami Beach Police Department tweeted that two males were … more

3/18/23

Daniel Kwan, left, and Daniel Scheinert toss their awards for best picture for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" as they pose in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

AP Week in Pictures: Global

MARCH 11-17, 2023 From the disaster caused by tropical Cyclone Freddy in Malawi, to protests against French President Macron's pension reforms in Paris, to the 95th Academy Awards, this photo … more

3/17/23

Detroit Police, Michigan State Police and ATF agents work the scene at West McNichols and Log Cabin in Detroit on the border of Highland Park, Mich. on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Authorities searching for three aspiring rappers who have been missing for nearly two weeks have found “multiple bodies” at a vacant Detroit-area apartment building. (Robin Buckson/Detroit News via AP)

Michigan police urge public to help solve murders of 3 men

Michigan State Police are appealing to the public to share information and help solve the fatal shootings of three men back in January. Police say the killings were not random and had nothing to do … more

3/17/23

KANGDANIEL poses for a portrait on Thursday, March 2, 2023, in New York. The K-pop star's path to superstardom began in 2017 after winning the second season of the talent competition series “Produce 101,” which led to the formation of the K-Pop boy band Wanna One. He went solo two years later. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Q&A: K-pop star KANGDANIEL is on the pursuit of happiness

KANGDANIEL is one of K-pop’s brightest stars, but at just 26 years old, he’s already learned there’s more to life than bright lights. The artist who released his debut album, “The Story,” … more

By GARY GERARD HAMILTON | 3/17/23

State says Louisiana family must give up beloved pet nutria

A Louisiana couple has run afoul of state law by keeping a 22-pound nutria as a pet. A nutria is a rat-tailed, orange-toothed rodent found in Louisiana swamps and waterways. Nutria are considered an … more

3/17/23

Caroline Ouko, mother of Irvo Otieno, holds a portrait of her son with attorney Ben Crump, left, and her older son, Leon Ochieng at the Dinwiddie Courthouse in Dinwiddie, Va., on Thursday, March 16, 2023. She said Otieno, who died in a state mental hospital March 6, was “brilliant and creative and bright.” (Daniel Sangjib Min/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

Mother: Irvo Otieno was 'brilliant and creative and bright'

The mother of a Black man who died in police custody at a Virginia mental hospital says her son was “brilliant, creative and bright.” Caroline Ouko said Thursday that Irvo Otieno had realized his … more

By BEN FINLEY | 3/17/23

Former President Donald Trump pauses as he speaks at a campaign event Monday, March 13, 2023, in Davenport, Iowa. (AP Photo/Ron Johnson)

New judge to oversee Trump grand jury investigations

A new judge is set to assume oversight of grand jury investigations of former President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg is being sworn in Friday as chief judge of the … more

By ERIC TUCKER | 3/17/23