National News - The Morning Sun

FILE - Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., speaks before during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing, May 10, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republican state lawmakers in Montana are advancing legislation that would alter next year's U.S. Senate primary in an apparent bid to thwart the re-election of Sen. Jon Tester, one of several Democrats on the ballot in GOP-leaning states. (Tom Williams/Pool via AP, File)

Montana GOP seeks to bar 3rd parties from key US Senate race

Libertarians lined up with Democrats on Friday against a proposal that would effectively block third party candidates from next year’s Montana U.S. Senate election. Republicans are trying to … more

By MATTHEW BROWN | 4/14/23

FILE - A red-shouldered hawk fluffs up it's feathers and spreads wings to facilitate drying after a thunderstorm in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Dec. 31, 2021. On April 6, 2023, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued a violation notice against one of its own sub-divisions accusing it of wrongly clearing 15 acres of a wildlife management area in southwestern New Jersey. The work was designed to create habitat for the American woodcock, but wound up destroying habitat for the barred owl, which is threatened, and the red-shouldered hawk, which is endangered. (Robin Rudd/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP, File)

NJ charges itself with damaging land it was bound to protect

New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection has issued a violation notice against itself for wrongly clearing nearly 15 acres of a wildlife management area. The work in February and March was … more

By WAYNE PARRY | 4/14/23

FILE - Police look on as students return to Richneck Elementary on Jan. 30, 2023, in Newport News, Va. The mother of a 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his teacher at Richneck Elementary had a series of miscarriages and post-partum depression in the year before the shooting, her attorney said Friday, April 14, 2023, after she was arraigned on charges of child neglect and failing to secure the handgun her son used in the shooting. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)

Attorney: Mom of Virginia boy who shot teacher was depressed

An attorney says the mother of a 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his teacher had a series of miscarriages and post-partum depression in the year leading up to the shooting. The mother's … more

By BEN FINLEY and DENISE LAVOIE | 4/14/23

FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media in the Florida Cabinet following his State of the State address during a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives on March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. The Republican-dominated Florida Legislature on Thursday, April 13, approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal supported by DeSantis as he prepares for an expected presidential run. (AP Photo/Phil Sears, File)

DeSantis signs 6-week abortion ban in closed-door ceremony

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, giving the Republican a major conservative policy victory as he prepares to launch an expected presidential … more

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE | 4/14/23

Firefighters pour water on an industrial fire in Richmond, Ind., Thursday, April 13, 2023. Multiple fires that began burning Tuesday afternoon were still burning within about 14 acres of various types of plastics stored inside and outside buildings at the former factory site. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Chief: Flames out, but Indiana plastic fire still smoldering

An Indiana fire chief says that firefighters have doused the flames at a major industrial blaze in Indiana fueled by tons of scrap plastics but that crews continue trying to extinguish hot spots. An … more

4/14/23

America's first heroes: Revolutionary War soldiers reburied

Historians and archeologists in South Carolina are preparing to rebury 12 unknown U.S. Revolutionary War soldiers who died in the 1780 battle at Camden. The ceremonies starting April 20 are the … more

By JEFFREY COLLINS | 4/14/23

Migrants are identified by Italian authorities as they disembark from a ship in the Sicilian port of Catania, Wednesday, April 12, 2023. Italy's right-wing government has declared a state of emergency to help it cope with a surge in migrants arriving on the country's southern shores. Premier Giorgia Meloni and her Cabinet on Tuesday, decided to impose the emergency status for six months. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)

AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa

April 6-13, 2023 From U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland, to French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the Netherlands and the effects of the war in both Russia and … more

By The Associated Press | 4/14/23

Missouri man freed from prison after 40 years files lawsuit

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who spent more than 40 years in prison for a triple murder he did not commit alleges in a lawsuit that Kansas City police conducted a reckless investigation … more

4/14/23

Court rejects Oklahoma inmate's claim father killed woman

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Court of Criminals on Thursday rejected a death row inmate's claim that his father was the actual killer of a University of Oklahoma dance student in 1996. The … more

4/14/23

This image made from video provided by WCVB-TV, shows Jack Teixeira, in T-shirt and shorts, being taken into custody by armed tactical agents on Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Dighton, Mass. (WCVB-TV via AP)

Guardsman arrested in leak of classified military documents

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Massachusetts Air National Guard member was arrested Thursday in connection with the disclosure of highly classified military documents about the Ukraine war and other top … more

By ERIC TUCKER, TARA COPP and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press | 4/14/23

FILE - A display Discord stands at the company's booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. A major leak of classified U.S. documents that’s shaken Washington and exposed new details of its intelligence gathering may have started in a chatroom on the social media platform popular with gamers. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

What is Discord, the chatting app tied to classified leaks?

The chatting app Discord is one of the most popular ways gamers communicate online. Now it finds itself at the center of an investigation into the leak of classified documents about the war in … more

By MATT O'BRIEN and HALELUYA HADERO | 4/13/23

FILE - A Mexican Red Cross ambulance transports two Americans found alive after their abduction in Mexico through Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates in Brownsville, Texas, March 7, 2023. One of two Americans who survived a deadly abduction last month in Mexico says she watched the video of the drug cartel shootout that killed two of her close friends on one of the kidnappers' phones. (Miguel Roberts//The Brownsville Herald via AP, File)

Fatal abduction survivors reveal grisly Mexico captivity

One of the two survivors of a deadly abduction last month in Mexico says she watched the video of the drug cartel shootout that killed two of her close friends from one of her kidnappers’ phones. … more

4/13/23

FILE - Darrell Brooks Jr. speaks to Waukesha County, Wis., District Attorney Susan Opper in a Waukesha County Circuit Court in Waukesha, Wis., Nov. 16, 2022. On Thursday, April 13, 2023, a Wisconsin judge ordered Brooks, the man convicted of killing six people when he drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, to pay tens of thousands of dollars more in restitution, saying she wants to make sure he does not profit from a movie or book deal. (Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool, File)

Man who killed 6 in Christmas parade to pay more restitution

A Wisconsin judge has ordered a man convicted of killing six people when he drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee to pay thousands of dollars more in restitution. Prosecutors … more

By TODD RICHMOND | 4/13/23

Herman Whitfield Jr., father of Herman Whitfield III (pictured on poster), speaks alongside members of faith in Indiana, Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, and other community members, Tuesday, April 11, 2023, in Indianapolis. Two Indianapolis police officers have been indicted by a grand jury in the death of Whitfield III, a Black man who died last year after being taken into police custody at his parents' home, prosecutors said Thursday, April 13, 2023. (Mykal McEldowney/The Indianapolis Star via AP)

2 Indianapolis police officers indicted in Black man's death

Prosecutors say two Indianapolis police officers have been indicted by a grand jury in the death of a Black man who died last year after being taken into custody at his parents' home. The indictment … more

4/13/23

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, seated at right, signs a package of gun bills Thursday, April 13, 2023, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich. (Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal via AP)

Whitmer signs stricter background check, safe storage bills

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation that will enact safe storage requirements for firearms and universal background checks for gun sales. Whitmer signed the legislation Thursday at … more

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI | 4/13/23

FILE - Law enforcement officers stand outside a school housing an educational program called Starts Right Here that is affiliated with the Des Moines, Iowa, School District, following a shooting, Jan. 23, 2023, in Des Moines. Bravon Michael Tukes and Preston Walls, the two Iowa teenagers charged in a shooting at the Des Moines alternative school, will be tried separately so one of the teens can testify on behalf of the other, a judge ruled Monday, April 10, 2023. (Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Des Moines Register via AP, File)

Teens charged in fatal school shooting get separate trials

Two Iowa teenagers charged in a fatal shooting at a Des Moines school will be tried separately so one of the teens can testify in defense of the other. A judge ruled this week that the trials of … more

4/13/23

FILE - Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa looks to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Fla. The first quarterback-specific helmet designed to help reduce concussions has been approved for use by the NFL and NFLPA, the AP has learned. The helmet, manufactured by Vicis, reduces severity of helmet-to-ground impacts, which league data says account for approximately half of quarterback concussions, including the one suffered by Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa last season when his head slammed violently against the turf during a Thursday night game against Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol, File)

First QB helmet designed to help reduce concussions approved

The first quarterback-specific helmet designed to help reduce concussions has been approved for use by the NFL and NFLPA, the AP has learned. The helmet, manufactured by Vicis, reduces severity of … more

By ROB MAADDI | 4/13/23

EPA awards $177 million to environmental justice groups

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce Thursday that it’s investing $177 million to create 17 technical assistance centers around the country to help environmental justice … more

BY DREW COSTLEY | 4/13/23

FILE - Parishioners attend Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in the Queens borough of New York on Sunday, May 8, 2022. According to a report released Thursday, April 13, 2023, by the Pew Research Center, Catholics remain the largest religious group among Latinos in the United States, but the number of Latinos who identify as religiously unaffiliated continues to grow. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)

Poll: Among U.S. Latinos, Catholicism still largest faith

Catholics remain the largest religious group among Latinos in the United States, but the number of Latinos who identify as religiously unaffiliated continues to grow. Those are among the key findings … more

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO | 4/13/23

In this handout photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, from left: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Pakistani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar pose for a group photo during a ministerial meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Thursday, April 13, 2023. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russia, China FM attend high-level conference on Afghanistan

The top diplomats from Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan have attended a conference that focused on ensuring regional security in light of the situation in Afghanistan. Russia's Foreign Ministry said … more

4/13/23