National News - The Morning Sun

FILE - Ashley Crafton looks at tennis shoes at Shoe Stop in Wesleyan Park Plaza on Nov. 25, 2023, in Owensboro, Ky. About 40% of small business owners think 2024 will be a "make or break" year for their business, according to a survey by messaging service Slack.(Greg Eans/The Messenger-Inquirer via AP, File)

Many small business owners see 2024 as a 'make or break' year, survey shows

About 40% of small business owners think 2024 will be a “make or break” year for their business, according to a survey by messaging service Slack. After several years of dealing with the … more

By MAE ANDERSON | 2/20/24

FILE - American Airlines planes sit on the tarmac at Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport, Jan. 11, 2023, in New York. American Airlines is raising bag fees and pushing customers to buy tickets directly from the airline if they want to earn frequent-flyer points. American said Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, that checking a bag on domestic flights will rise from $30 now to $35 online, and it'll be $40 if purchased at the airport. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

American Airlines is raising bag fees and changing how customers earn frequent-flyer points

American Airlines is raising bag fees and pushing customers to buy tickets directly from the airline if they want to earn frequent-flyer points. American said Tuesday that checking a bag on domestic … more

2/20/24

In this image taken from video released by Navalny Team on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny gives a video message. The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny vowed on Monday to continue his fight against the Kremlin, while authorities denied his mother access to a morgue where his body is believed to be held after his death last week in an Arctic penal colony.(Navalny Team via AP)

The Kremlin rejects Navalny widow's charges he was killed by Putin as 'insolent'

The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin did not see the video in which Alexei Navalny’s widow vowed to continue his fight and dismissed her allegations that Putin had killed the country’s … more

By EMMA BURROWS | 2/20/24

Israeli female soldiers pose for a photo on a position on the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, Monday, Feb. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Live updates | US is set to veto a UN cease-fire resolution

UNICEF says one in six children are acutely malnourished in the isolated and largely devastated northern Gaza. The report comes as Israel has vowed to expand its five-moth offensive against Hamas to … more

By The Associated Press | 2/20/24

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking at a news conference following a meeting of the State Council at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022. Putin, who is all but certain to win another six-year term in the March 15-17 presidential election, has sought to consolidate public support by casting the conflict as a fight against the expansionist West that has armed Ukraine in a bid to weaken Russia. (Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

As the Ukraine war enters a third year, Putin waits for Western support for Kyiv to wither

As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to hope that he can achieve his goals by biding his time and waiting for Western support for Kyiv to wither while … more

By The Associated Press | 2/20/24

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers gestures during a press conference Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, at the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Evers signed new legislative district maps into law that he proposed and that the Republicans who control the Legislature passed to avoid having the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court draw the lines.(Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor signs his new legislative maps into law after Republicans pass them

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, has signed new legislative district maps into law that he proposed and that the Republicans who control the Legislature passed to avoid having the … more

By SCOTT BAUER | 2/19/24

Students look outside their dorm window in the Village at Alpine Valley housing, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, as police investigate a shooting on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs campus in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)

Suspect in custody after shooting deaths of 2 people in a Colorado college dorm

Police have taken a suspect into custody in connection with the fatal shooting of two people last week in a dorm room at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs Police … more

2/19/24

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Mich., Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

In post about dead Russian opposition leader Navalny, Trump talks of his own legal problems

Former President Donald Trump has mentioned Alexei Navalny’s death in a social media post more than 72 hours after the Russian opposition leader died in an Arctic penal colony. Trump made no … more

By JILL COLVIN | 2/19/24

This screen shot from video provided by WRTV shows law enforcement outside of a Waffle House restaurant in Indianapolis early Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, where at least one person was killed and several injured. (WRTV via AP)

Waffle House shooting in Indianapolis leaves 1 dead, 5 injured, police say

A shooting at a Waffle House restaurant in Indianapolis has killed a woman and wounded five other victims. the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department says officers responded to a report of a … more

2/19/24

This illustration provided by the European Southern Observatory in February 2024, depicts the record-breaking quasar J059-4351, the bright core of a distant galaxy that is powered by a supermassive black hole. The supermassive black hole, seen here pulling in surrounding matter, has a mass 17 billion times that of the Sun and is growing in mass by the equivalent of another Sun per day, making it the fastest-growing black hole ever known. (M. Kornmesser/ESO via AP)

Astronomers find what may be the universe's brightest object with a black hole devouring a sun a day

Astronomers have discovered what may be the brightest object in the universe. The record-breaking quasar has a black hole at its heart that's so big and growing so fast that it swallows the … more

By MARCIA DUNN | 2/19/24

Police officers watch as a woman cries as she pays tribute to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Russians across the vast country streamed to ad-hoc memorials with flowers and candles to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, the most famous Russian opposition leader and the Kremlin's fiercest critic. Russian officials reported that Navalny, 47, died in prison on Friday. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Russian authorities extend a probe into Navalny's death as allies accuse officials of cover-up

The mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been denied access to a morgue where his body is believed to be kept after his death at an Arctic penal colony, and Navalny’s allies … more

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV | 2/19/24

FILE - Transgender activist Cecilia Gentili poses for a photo at the offices of the Oxford University Press in New York on April 24, 2014. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York condemned the funeral of Gentili, which was held in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan and drew a large audience on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

New York Archdiocese denounces transgender activist's funeral, holds Mass of Reparation

The funeral of a renowned transgender activist in a New York cathedral elicited a denunciation of the event by a senior church official, who called the mass a scandal within one of the preeminent … more

By BRIAN P. D. HANNON | 2/19/24

FILE This photo taken from video released by Russian Federal Penitentiary Service via SOTAVISION shows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears via a video link from the Arctic penal colony in Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, where he is serving a 19-year sentence, in Kovrov, Russia, on Feb. 15, 2024. Shortly after Navalny's death was reported on Friday Feb. 16, 2024, the Russian SOTA social media channel shared images of the opposition politician reportedly in court yesterday. In the footage, Navalny is seen standing up and is laughing and joking with the judge via video link. (Russian Federal Penitentiary Service via SOTAVISION via AP, File)

Who are other Russian dissidents besides the late Alexei Navalny?

The sudden death of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable antagonist has left an open wound in Russia’s political opposition. Alexei Navalny was the Kremlin’s best-known critic at … more

By DASHA LITVINOVA | 2/19/24

Workers check the roof of an apartment ahead of forecasted rain in Los Angeles, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

California again braces for flooding as another wet winter storm hits the state

The latest in a series of wet winter storms is gaining strength in California. Forecasters warned Monday of possible flooding, hail, strong winds and even brief tornadoes as the system moves south … more

2/19/24

FILE - Students eat breakfast and color in Topaz Stotts' second-grade classroom before school starts at Klatt Elementary School in Anchorage, Aug. 17, 2021. Debate over school funding is dominating the Alaska Legislature as districts face teacher shortages and in some cases multimillion-dollar deficits. Schools have cut programs, increased class sizes or had teachers and administrators take on extra roles. (Emily Mesner/Anchorage Daily News via AP, File)

A high cost of living and lack of a pension strain teachers in Alaska. Would bonuses help keep them?

Debate over school funding is dominating the Alaska Legislature as districts faces teacher shortages and in some cases multimillion-dollar deficits. Schools have cut programs, increased class sizes … more

By BECKY BOHRER | 2/19/24

Former Pittsburgh Penguins player Jaromir Jagr, at podium to right, is joined by former teammates as he speaks during a ceremony retiring his uniform number before an NHL hockey game between the Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)

Jaromir Jagr's return to Pittsburgh ends with his No. 68 being retired — and catharsis

The Pittsburgh Penguins have retired Jaromir Jagr's iconic No. 68. The NHL's second all-time leading scorer was on hand as his jersey was raised to the rafters at PPG Paints Arena. The 52-year-old … more

By WILL GRAVES | 2/18/24

Sean Ours, center, who lives in Alexandria, VA, and Emily Reid, right who lives in Raleigh, NC, embrace for the first time their biological mother Sara Melgarejo upon their arrival at the airport in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. The siblings' trip was organized by Connecting Roots, an organization that helps reunite with their Chilean biological families children who were taken to be put up for adoption during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Illegally adopted during Chile's dictatorship, they're now reuniting with biological families

Romina Cortés couldn’t pronounce her sister’s last name. She didn’t know what she smells like, what her favorite food is, or what she likes to do in her free time. That’s because Cortés’ … more

By PATRICIA LUNA | 2/18/24

Flood watches issued as another round of wet winter storms hits California

The latest in a series of wet winter storms is blowing ashore in Northern California. Forecasters warned on Sunday of possible flooding, hail, strong winds and even brief tornadoes as the system … more

2/18/24

A police officer stands outside a dorm in the Village at Alpine Valley housing, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, as police investigate a shooting on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs campus in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)

Shooting deaths of 2 people in Colorado college dorm being investigated as homicides, police say

Police say the deaths of two people who were shot in a dorm room at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs will be investigated as homicides. The Colorado Springs Police Department says in a … more

2/17/24

FILE - This combination of photos provided by Shawn Sanders, left, and the U.S. Army, center and right, show from left to right, Sgt. Kennedy Sanders, Staff Sgt. William Jerome Rivers and Sgt. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett. The three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers from Georgia, all of whom received posthumous promotions in rank, were killed by a drone strike on Jan. 28, 2024, on their base in Jordan near the Syrian border. The first funeral service was scheduled Tuesday morning, Feb. 13, for Rivers at a Baptist church in Carrollton, west of Atlanta. (Shawn Sanders and U.S. Army via AP, File)

Army Reserve soldiers, close friends killed in drone attack, mourned at funerals in Georgia

Two Army Reserve soldiers killed in a Middle East drone attack three weeks ago are being remembered at funerals in their home state of Georgia. Sgt. Kennedy Sanders and Sgt. Breonna Moffett were … more

2/17/24