National News - The Morning Sun

A woman plays with her dog at a beach on the Gulf of Finland as the sun sets, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

May 10-16, 2024 People took part in the Piu Sik Parade at the Bun Festival in Hong Kong, Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump attended his trial at Manhattan … more

By The Associated Press | 5/17/24

Chinese migrants wait to be processed after crossing the border with Mexico Wednesday, May 8, 2024, near Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif. San Diego became the busiest corridor for illegal crossings in April, according to U.S. figures, the fifth region to hold that title in two years in a sign of how quickly migration routes are changing. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

The latest hot spot for illegal border crossings is San Diego. But routes change quickly

U.S. figures show that San Diego became the busiest corridor for illegal crossings in April. It is the fifth region to hold that distinction in two years, a sign of how quickly migration routes are … more

By ELLIOT SPAGAT | 5/17/24

FILE - Students from Thomas Leadership Academy play on the school's playground in Eatonville, Fla., Aug. 23, 2023. Seventy years after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board, America is both more diverse — and more segregated. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

70 years after Brown v. Board, America is both more diverse — and more segregated

Seventy years after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling, the impact of the decision is still up for debate. Have Americans truly ended segregation in fact, not just in law? The … more

By SHARON LURYE | 5/17/24

Plebe Ben Leisegang, of California, places an upperclassman's hat atop the Herndon Monument at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minutes and eleven seconds. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

AP Week in Pictures: North America

May 10-16, 2024 Naval academy students climbed a monument to celebrate their first year in Annapolis, Maryland, wildfires filled the sky with smoke over Edmonton, Alberta, and lowrider cars were … more

By The Associated Press | 5/16/24

Workers survey the site where a barge crashed into the Pelican Island Bridge, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Galveston, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

US Coast Guard says Texas barge collision may have spilled up to 2,000 gallons of oil

The U.S. Coast Guard says early estimates show a barge collision in Galveston, Texas, may have spilled up to 2,000 gallons of oil in surrounding waters. The barge had drifted away from the tugboat … more

By LEKAN OYEKANMI and VALERIE GONZALEZ | 5/16/24

FILE - Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks during a press conference with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was wounded in a shooting Wednesday May 15, 2024 and taken to hospital. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)

A look at high-profile political assassinations and attempts this century

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was gravely injured in an apparent assassination attempt that rocked the small country and the rest of Europe just weeks before an election. The attack calls to … more

By The Associated Press | 5/16/24

FILE - Bleached coral is visible at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico, Sept. 16, 2023. Ocean temperatures that have gone “crazy haywire” hot, especially in the Atlantic, are close to making the current global coral bleaching event the worst in history. It's so bad that scientists are hoping for a few hurricanes to cool things off. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

Experts say coral reef bleaching near record level globally because of 'crazy' ocean heat

Scientists say temperatures that have gone “crazy haywire” hot, especially in the Atlantic, are close to making the current global coral bleaching event the worst in history. It's so bad that … more

By SETH BORENSTEIN | 5/16/24

The Ellipsis Iowa treatment center is seen, Thursday, May 16, 2024, in Johnston, Iowa. Police officers have responded nearly 1,000 times in the past three years to the juvenile treatment center where a woman was killed, according to police records. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Iowa center called police nearly 1,000 times in 3 years before teen killed staffer, records show

Police records show that officers responded nearly 1,000 times in the past three years to an Iowa juvenile treatment center where a staff member was killed. Police say 50-year-old Kathleen … more

By JIM SALTER | 5/16/24

FILE - A screen shows the Dow Jones industrials at in Seoul, South Korea on Aug. 9, 2011. Through its long history, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has offered a way for people to get a quick read on how Wall Street is doing. But its importance is on the wane. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

The Dow just crossed 40,000 for the first time. The number is big but means little for your 401(k)

Through its long history, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has offered a way for people to get a quick read on how Wall Street is doing. But its importance is on the wane. Because it holds just 30 … more

By STAN CHOE | 5/16/24

This image released by NASA shows the ZS7 galaxy system, revealing the ionized hydrogen emission in orange and the doubly ionized oxygen emission in dark red. (ESA/Webb, NASA via AP)

Webb telescope uncovers merger of two massive black holes from early universe

The Webb Space Telescope has discovered the earliest known merger of black holes. Scientists reported Thursday that these two gigantic and distant black holes and their galaxies consolidated just 740 … more

By MARCIA DUNN | 5/16/24

Bernardine Dohrn, left, and Bill Ayers, center, founders of the Weather Underground, participate in a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Chicago Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment at DePaul University in Chicago

Police have dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment early Thursday at DePaul University in Chicago, hours after the school’s president told students to leave the area or face arrest. The move on … more

By TERESA CRAWFORD | 5/16/24

FILE - Cook County, Ill., Sheriff Tom Dart speaks on Nov. 13, 2023, in Maywood, Ill. In Illinois, there are 110,000 people banned from owning guns because of legal run-ins or mental health issues. And three-quarters of them have not surrendered their firearms, according to data Dart will present Thursday, May 16, 2024, in seeking a more robust effort to collect them. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

Over 80,000 Illinois people banned from owning guns still keep them, report shows

In Illinois, 114,000 people are banned from owning guns because of legal tangles or mental health issues. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart will issue a report Thursday showing that three-quarters of them … more

By JOHN O'CONNOR | 5/16/24

FILE - A cameraman is silhouetted against an an American flag during preparations for the presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Sept. 25, 2016. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which has planned presidential faceoffs in every election since 1988, has an uncertain future after President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump struck an agreement to meet on their own. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

The Commission on Presidential Debates faces an uncertain future after Biden and Trump bypassed it

Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s whirlwind agreement to meet for two presidential debates has upended the way the forums have been organized for nearly four decades. It sidelines and casts doubt on the … more

By JONATHAN J. COOPER | 5/16/24

FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose prior to their talks on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, on Oct. 18, 2023. Putin is traveling to China on Thursday on his first foreign trip as he starts his fifth term, a visit that underlines an increasingly close partnership between Moscow and Beijing. (Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via A, File)

What to know about Vladimir Putin's visit to China

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China underlines an increasingly close partnership between the two allies. China, led by President Xi Jinping, has offered robust diplomatic support to … more

By The Associated Press | 5/15/24

Investigators say the electrical blackouts experienced by the container ship Dali before it left Baltimore’s port were “mechanically distinct from” those that resulted in the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge hours later.

Ship that struck Baltimore bridge had 4 blackouts before disaster. Here's what we know

The Dali container ship experienced a near perfect storm of calamities before it struck Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. But a report released Tuesday by federal investigators leaves … more

By BEN FINLEY | 5/15/24

Authorities work at the scene of a deadly crash after a bus carrying farmworkers collided with a pickup truck on State Road 40 Tuesday, May 14, 2024, near Dunnellon, Fla. (AP Photo/Alan Youngblood)

What to know about a bus crash that killed 8 Mexican farmworkers in Florida

A bus carrying people to work in a watermelon field in central Florida was sideswiped by a suspected drunk driver and overturned in a field, killing eight of them and injuring up to 40 others. The … more

By FREIDA FRISARO | 5/15/24

Dawud Assad, 92, stands in front of Palestinian decor in his home in Monroe Township, N.J., on May 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Noreen Nasir)

Palestinians recount painful history with war in Gaza as a reminder

Dawud Assad still has nightmares of the day Jewish militias attacked his village of Deir Yassin outside Jerusalem 76 years ago, killing more than 100 people. That massacre, along with similar attacks … more

By NOREEN NASIR | 5/15/24

A boat moves past the bow of the container ship Dali prior to the detonation of explosive charges to bring down sections of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge resting on the Dali on Monday, May 13, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Investigation continues into 4 electrical blackouts on ship that caused Baltimore bridge collapse

Investigators say the electrical blackouts experienced by the container ship Dali before it left Baltimore’s port were “mechanically distinct from” those that resulted in the deadly collapse of … more

By LEA SKENE | 5/15/24

CORRECTS SERVICE BRANCH TO U.S. AIR FORCE INSTEAD OF U.S. NAVY - Chantemekki Fortson, mother of Roger Fortson, a U.S. Air Force senior airman, holds a photo of her son during a news conference regarding his death, along with family and attorney Ben Crump, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Fortson was shot and killed by police in his apartment, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Who gets to claim self-defense in shootings? Airman’s death sparks debate over race and gun rights

The death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson in Florida this month reignited a complicated debate about race, gun laws and self-defense – namely, who is typically afforded deference when it comes to … more

By AARON MORRISON | 5/15/24

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, right, talks to Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. Prime Minister Robert Fico returned to power in Slovakia last year. Having previously served twice as prime minister, from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2018, the 59-year-old's third term made him the longest-serving head of government in Slovakia’s history. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

Shooting of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico sends shockwaves across Europe

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is fighting for his life after he was shot by an assailant following a political event. The shooting sent shockwaves across Europe a few weeks before EU … more

The Associated Press | 5/15/24