National News - The Morning Sun

Happy Perry, mother of D'Sean Perry, a University of Virginia football player who was killed last month when a shooter opened fire on a bus carrying students returning from seeing a play, closes her eyes briefly as she talks about her son at a press conference, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, in Coral Gables, Fla. Perry's football teammates Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler were also killed in the Nov. 13, 2022, shooting, while a fourth member of the team and another student were wounded. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Parents of slain UVA student call for stricter gun laws

The parents of a University of Virginia football player killed in a shooting last month are calling for stricter gun laws and more mental health support to prevent future gun deaths. Happy Perry is … more

By BEN FINLEY and DANIEL KOZIN | 12/15/22

Aaron Dean stands with his defense team as the jury leaves the 396th District Court to start its deliberations on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas.. Dean is accused of murder in the 2019 fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson. (Amanda McCoy/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)

Texas officer convicted of manslaughter in window shooting

A former Texas police officer has been convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting a Black woman through a rear window of her home in 2019. The jury on Thursday found Aaron Dean not guilty of … more

12/15/22

This photo provided by Harvard University shows Claudine Gay. Harvard University announced Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, that Gay will become its 30th president, making her the first Black person to lead the Ivy League school and only the second woman. (Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard University via AP)

Claudine Gay to be Harvard's 1st Black president, 2nd woman

Harvard University has named Claudine Gay as its next president, making her the first Black person and the second woman to lead the Ivy League school. Gay is currently a dean at the university and a … more

By MICHAEL CASEY | 12/15/22

Mark Latunski appears before Judge Matthew J. Stewart at the Shiawassee County Courthouse in Corunna, Mich., Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. Latunski was sentenced to life for the 2019 murder and mutilation of Kevin Bacon, 25, in Latunski's home. (Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal via AP)

Michigan man gets life sentence for 2019 killing, mutilation

A Michigan man who acknowledged killing another man and hanging the victim’s mutilated body from the ceiling of his home has been sentenced to life in prison. A Shiawassee County judge sentenced … more

12/15/22

This image made from video provided by KNXV shows law enforcement outside an Amazon delivery hub in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Ariz., Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. Police say that a person with a gun shot and wounded a contract worker outside the Amazon delivery station in Arizona before another contract worker who was armed fatally shot the suspect in the parking lot Wednesday, possibly stopping an active shooter situation. (KNXV via AP)

Personal issues between 3 men led to shooting outside Amazon

Authorities say personal issues between three men led to a deadly shooting outside an Amazon delivery station in Arizona. Chandler police say a man with a gun shot and critically wounded an unarmed … more

12/15/22

Kasey Dungan, 73, sits in her subsidized apartment in Phoenix, Ariz. for older adults on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, and says she feels fortunate. She fell into homelessness early this year. But high costs for food and other bills mean her entire Social Security check is gone by month's end. (AP Photo/Cheyanne Mumphrey)

Working at 76: Inflation forces hard choice for older adults

Higher prices throughout much of 2022 have taken their financial toll on older adults in particular. People of all ages have been struggling but those over 65 often have an even harder time because … more

By ANITA SNOW | 12/15/22

FILE - In this March 4, 2018, file photo, MacKenzie Scott arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. Scott says her donations have yielded more than $14 billion in funding for about 1,600 nonprofits since 2019, according to her long-awaited website Yield Giving, unveiled Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

New MacKenzie Scott website details $14 billion in gifts

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott says her donations have yielded more than $14 billion in funding for about 1,600 nonprofits since 2019, according to her long-awaited website Yield Giving, unveiled … more

Associated Press | 12/15/22

FILE - Elon Musk arrives at the justice center in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday, July 13, 2021. According to a filing posted late Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk sold another $3.58 billion worth of Tesla stock during the week, but it wasn’t clear where the proceeds were being spent. Musk has sold nearly $23 billion worth of Tesla stock since April, with much of the money likely going to help fund his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Tesla stock slips as Musk sells another $3.58B of its shares

Shares of Tesla are sliding before the market open on Thursday after news broke that CEO Elon Musk sold another $3.58 billion worth of the electric vehicle maker’s stock this week. The stock … more

12/15/22

Elon Musk sells $3.58B worth of Tesla stock, purpose unknown

Elon Musk sold another $3.58 billion worth of Tesla stock this week, but it wasn’t clear where the proceeds were being spent. The Tesla CEO and new owner of Twitter sold the shares from Monday … more

12/14/22

FILE - In this handout photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service, a view of the International Space Station taken on March 30, 2022 by crew of Russian Soyuz MS-19 space ship after undocking from the Station. NASA and Russia's space agency canceled a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, just as they were preparing to exit the International Space Station late Wednesday, Dec. 14 because of an apparent coolant leak from an attached space capsule. (Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service via AP, File)

Cosmonauts' spacewalk canceled at space station due to leak

NASA and Russia’s space agency canceled a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts just as they were preparing to exit the International Space Station. The cause: an apparent coolant leak from an … more

12/14/22

This image provided by the Federal Public Defender Office shows death row inmate Amber McLaughlin. McLaughlin, the first openly transgender woman set to be executed in the U.S., asked Missouri's Republican Gov. Mike Parson to spare her, on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022.(Jeremy S. Weis/Federal Public Defender Office via AP)

Transgender inmate on Missouri's death row asks for mercy

The first openly transgender woman set to be executed in the U.S. is asking Missouri’s governor for mercy. Lawyers for 49-year-old Amber McLaughlin on Monday asked Republican Gov. Mike Parson to … more

By SUMMER BALLENTINE and JOHN D. HANNA | 12/14/22

This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows Roger Deakins on the set of "Empire Of Light." (Parisa Taghizadeh/Searchlight Pictures via AP)

Q&A: Roger Deakins on cinema's past and future

For decades, Roger Deakins’ eye has been one of the keenest in movies. It’s not easy to pinpoint what makes a film’s cinematography identifiably Deakins’ work, but, at the same time, it’s … more

By JAKE COYLE | 12/14/22

A long row of double-stacked shipping contrainers provide a new wall between the United States and Mexico in the remote section area of San Rafael Valley, Ariz., Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. Work crews are steadily erecting hundreds of double-stacked shipping containers along the rugged east end of Arizona’s boundary with Mexico as Republican Gov. Doug Ducey makes a bold show of border enforcement even as he prepares to step aside next month for Democratic Governor-elect Katie Hobbs. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

US sues Arizona over shipping containers on Mexico border

The U.S. government has sued Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and the state over the placement of shipping containers as a barrier on the border with Mexico, saying it is trespassing on federal lands. The … more

By ANITA SNOW | 12/14/22

This U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms photo provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle, shows damage from an arson that destroyed the Jehovah's Witness kingdom hall in Olympia, Wash., on July 3, 2018. Mikey Diamond Starrett, 50, of Olympia, was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, on charges that he set that fire as well as two others at Jehovah's Witness halls in the area. Starrett has previously insisted that he is innocent. (ATF/U.S. Attorney's Office via AP)

Washington man indicted in fires at Jehovah's Witness halls

A Washington state man who is already in federal custody on weapons charges has now been indicted in a series of arsons at Jehovah’s Witness kingdom halls. Seattle U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said in … more

By GENE JOHNSON | 12/14/22

FILE - A visitor sits on a bench to look artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg's "In America: Remember," a temporary art installation made up of white flags to commemorate Americans who have died of COVID-19, on the National Mall in Washington on Oct. 2, 2021. The number of U.S. deaths has dropped in 2022 after soaring for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it still is much higher than the levels before the coronavirus hit. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

US deaths fell this year, but not to pre-COVID levels

The number of U.S. deaths has dropped this year, but there are still more than there were before the coronavirus hit. Preliminary data — through the first 11 months of this year — indicates 2022 … more

By MIKE STOBBE | 12/14/22

Aaron Dean arrives at the 396th District Court for closing arguments on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas. Dean is accused of murder in the 2019 fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson. (Amanda McCoy/Star-Telegram via AP, Pool)

Jury starts deliberation in Texas officer’s murder trial

A jury began deliberations Wednesday in the murder case against a former Texas police officer charged with fatally shooting a Black woman through a rear window of her home in 2019. The Tarrant County … more

12/14/22

Law enforcement officials investigate the Motel 6 where two Bay St. Louis, Miss., police officers were killed in a shooting on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. Officers encountered a female subject, who shot both officers before killing herself, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said. (Justin Mitchell/The Sun Herald, via AP)

Police: 2 officers slain in Mississippi; shooter also dead

Authorities say two police officers in coastal Mississippi were shot and killed by a woman early Wednesday as they checked on a call at a motel. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said the … more

12/14/22

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Monroe County Sheriff's Office Colonel Lou Caputo, right, costumed as the Grinch, leans on the shoulder of Deputy Andrew Leird, left, as he uses a laser speed detector to check speeds of motorists traveling through a school zone on the Florida Keys Overseas Highway Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in Marathon, Fla. For drivers slightly speeding through the area, Caputo offers them the choice between an onion or a traffic citation. (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)

Deputy dressed as Grinch gives onions to speeding drivers

Several motorists who were speeding through an elementary school zone on the Florida Keys Overseas Highway received an odorous onion as a reminder to slow down from a county sheriff’s deputy … more

12/14/22

FILE - This May 25, 2022, photo released by the Mississippi Department of Corrections shows Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., who is set to receive a lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, Miss., on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. He's been on death row since 2001, when he pleaded guilty to capital murder, rape and four counts of sexual battery against 16-year old Leesa Marie Gray.. (Mississippi Department of Corrections via AP, File)

Mississippi set to execute man for killing 16-year-old girl

A Mississippi man who pleaded guilty to raping and killing a 16-year-old girl is scheduled to be put to death. He would become the second inmate executed in Mississippi in 10 years. Thomas Edwin … more

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG | 12/14/22

FILE—Dr. Amos C. Brown, Jr., vice chair for the California Reparations Task Force, right, holds a copy of the book Songs of Slavery and Emancipation, as he and other members of the task force pose for photos at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on June 16, 2022. California's committee to study reparations for African Americans will meet in Oakland Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, to discuss requirements for residents who may receive some form of compensation. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

California reparations task force to talk eligibility

California's first-in-the-nation task force studying reparations for Black residents will discuss potential eligibility requirements and what form reparations could take at a two-day meeting that … more

By SOPHIE AUSTIN | 12/14/22