National News

As Tokyo Games open, can Olympic flame Read more

CINCINNATI (AP) — The energy giant at the center of a $60 million bribery scheme in Ohio admitted Thursday to using dark money groups to fund the effort, and agreed to pay $230 million and other conditions so prosecutors won’t forge ahead with a criminal case against the company. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A few years ago, a Sydney scientist noticed a sulfur-crested cockatoo opening his trash bin. Not every resident would be thrilled, but ornithologist Richard Major was impressed by the ingenuity. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unfazed by Republican threats of a boycott, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared Thursday that a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection will take on its “deadly serious” work whether Republicans participate or not. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are raising new concerns about the thoroughness of the FBI’s background investigation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after the FBI revealed that it had received thousands of tips and had provided “all relevant” ones to the White House counsel’s office. Read more

(AP) — A New York man and a Maine woman are facing charges over cocaine disguised as a cake that was seized from their vehicle, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency said Wednesday. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans rejected an effort to begin debate on the big infrastructure deal that a bipartisan group of senators brokered with President Joe Biden, but pressure was mounting as supporters insisted they just needed more time before another vote possibly next week. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two Republicans tapped by House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy to sit on a committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, a decision the Republican denounced as “an egregious abuse of power.” Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A mysterious ailment has sickened and killed thousands of songbirds in several mid-Atlantic states since late spring. While scientists are still racing to confirm the cause, it seems juvenile birds may be most susceptible. The U.S. Geological Survey, which oversees responses to some natural hazards and risks, has recommended that people temporarily take down bird feeders and clean out bird baths to reduce places that birds could closely congregate and potentially spread disease. Read more

Olympic opening ceremony director fired for Holocaust joke Read more

50-year war on drugs Read more

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Smoke and ash from massive wildfires in the American West clouded the sky and led to air quality alerts Wednesday on parts of the East Coast as the effects of the blazes were felt 2,500 miles (4,023 kilometers) away. Read more

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The chair of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee was arrested Tuesday on charges alleging he secretly conspired to influence U.S. policy to benefit the United Arab Emirates, even while he was seeking a position as an American diplomat. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Brady embraced his inner comedian to deliver jokes at old friend Donald Trump’s expense Tuesday when he and the Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers visited President Joe Biden at the White House, the first visit by the reigning NFL champions since 2017. Read more

The yearslong effort by state and local governments in the U.S. to force the pharmaceutical industry to help pay to fix a nationwide opioid addiction and overdose crisis took a major step forward Tuesday when lawyers for local governments announced they were on the verge of a $26 billion settlement with the nation’s three biggest drug distribution companies and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson. Read more

Washington (AP) — A prominent conservative group funneled valuable information about Republican voters between the Republican National Committee and state lawmakers, a move that violated its nonpartisan status and tax law, according to a whistleblower complaint filed Tuesday with the Internal Revenue Service. Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Citing allegations of “possible improper behavior,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Tuesday announced the resignation of its top administrative official, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, ahead of a media report that probed his private romantic life. Read more

Research: India’s deaths during pandemic 10X official toll Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said his infrastructure and families agenda must be passed to sustain the economic momentum of his first six months in office, aiming to set the tone for a crucial week of congressional negotiations on the two bills. Read more

STUART, Fla. (AP) — An alligator attacked and seriously injured a man at a Florida park Monday, officials said. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has picked five Republicans to sit on the new select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, signaling that Republicans will participate in the investigation that they have staunchly opposed. Read more

A crane operator from Florida who breached the U.S. Senate chamber carrying a Trump campaign flag was sentenced Monday to eight months behind bars, the first punishment handed down for a felony charge in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and one that could help determine the severity of other sentences in hundreds of pending cases. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A police official who has run large departments in Maryland and Virginia has been selected as chief of the U.S. Capitol Police in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which pro-Trump rioters stormed the building in a violent rage, disrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential win. Read more

VAN HORN, Texas (AP) — Jeff Bezos is about to soar on his space travel company’s first flight with people on board. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — It hit like a derailed train, was hugely destructive but short-lived. Read more

BOSTON (AP) — The FBI has released hundreds of pages of records from notorious Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger’s file. Read more

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Gloria Richardson, an influential yet largely unsung civil rights pioneer whose determination not to back down while protesting racial inequality was captured in a photograph as she pushed away the bayonet of a National Guardsman, has died. She was 99. Read more

BLY, Ore. (AP) — Erratic winds and parched Oregon forests added to the dangers for firefighters on Monday as they battled the largest wildfire in the U.S., one of dozens burning across several Western states. The destructive Bootleg Fire was considered one of the largest in modern Oregon history and was burning more than 476 square miles (1,210 square kilometers), an area about the size of Los Angeles. The blaze just north of the California border was 25% contained. Read more

Ford Motor is recalling about 774,696 Ford Explorers because of potential fractures in the rear suspension, Read more

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man told police officers he was “teaching it a lesson” when he tried to throw a live alligator he had stolen from a miniature golf course onto the roof of a beachside cocktail lounge, authorities said. Read more

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida man stole candles from a mall store and sprayed dozens of patrons with bear mace repellent before escaping, police said. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — So much for Donald Trump’s quest for “perfect” hair. Read more

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona county election officials have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3 million ballots cast in last year’s presidential election, further discrediting former President Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election as his allies continue a disputed ballot review in the state’s most populous county. Read more

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The remains of nine Native American children who died more than a century ago while attending a government-run school in Pennsylvania meant to assimilate them into white culture have been returned to their South Dakota tribe for burial on its reservation. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A cocktail of propaganda, conspiracy theory and disinformation — of the kind intoxicating to the masses in the darkest turns of history — is fueling straight-up delusion over the agonies of Jan. 6. Read more

Cyber Ninjas, the cybersecurity consulting firm hired by Arizona Senate Republicans to oversee a partisan review of the 2020 election, on Thursday pushed a false narrative that Maricopa County received thousands of mail-in ballots that had no record of being sent out to voters. Read more

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of last week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts: Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday convened the first meeting of its community violence intervention collaborative, a group of mayors and administration officials that will share best practices and work closely with the federal government to reduce gun violence. Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, a female sailor has successfully completed the grueling 37-week training course to become a Naval Special Warfare combatant-craft crewman — the boat operators who transport Navy SEALs and conduct their own classified missions at sea. Read more