AP-National

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — A European-Japanese climate research satellite designed to study Earth’s temperature balance has been launched into orbit from California. The EarthCARE satellite lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Space Force Base atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday. The name EarthCARE is short for Earth Cloud Aerosol

By FATIMA HUSSEIN, ANDREA RODRIGUEZ and REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is lifting some financial restrictions on Cuba in a move designed to boost private businesses on the island. One of the key changes announced Tuesday would allow Cuban private business owners to open bank accounts in the United States and

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.N. development specialist Garry Conille was named Haiti’s new prime minister Tuesday evening, nearly a month after a coalition within a fractured transitional council sought to choose someone else for the position. The long-awaited move comes as gangs continue to terrorize the capital of

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s electoral authorities have revoked an invitation to a European Union mission to observe the upcoming presidential election in July. Elvis Amoroso, the head of the National Electoral Council, on Tuesday cited economic sanctions imposed by the bloc as the reason for withdrawing the invitation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than 4 million chickens in Iowa will have to be killed after a case of the highly pathogenic bird flu was detected at a large egg farm, the state announced Tuesday. Crews are in the process of killing 4.2 million chickens after the disease was found at a farm

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A former California water official has pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal water under a deal with federal prosecutors in the state’s crop-rich Central Valley. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that 78-year-old Dennis Falaschi entered the plea in federal court in Fresno. The former head of the Panoche Water District

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Stewart-Haas Racing, a two-time NASCAR championship team with 69 Cup Series victories since its 2009 formation, will close its organization at the end of this season. Co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas announced the decision after nearly a year of rumors that their four-car

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors are presenting their bribery case against New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez drip-by-drip, showing jurors a steady stream of documents, emails and phone records that they’ll explain more thoroughly later in the trial. The evidence was being shown Tuesday to Manhattan federal court jurors through the

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reaffirmed the importance of properly cooking wild game after six people became sick from a parasite traced to undercooked bear meat that was served at a family reunion in South Dakota. The six — one in South Dakota, four in Minnesota and one

By MAE ANDERSON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — With stubborn inflation and higher costs, layoffs at small businesses are sometimes a necessity. U.S.-based employers announced 64,789 cuts in April, down 28% from 90,309 cuts announced in March, according to a report by global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray &

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Dozens of Oregon wineries and vineyards have sued PacifiCorp over the deadly 2020 wildfires. They allege that the utility’s decision to not turn off power during the Labor Day windstorm contributed to fires whose smoke and soot damaged their grapes and negatively impacted their harvest and

By HOLLY RAMER Associated Press A former Massachusetts police toxicologist has testified that a woman accused of leaving her Boston police officer boyfriend for dead in a snowbank after a night of drinking was still legally intoxicated or close to it roughly eight hours later. Karen Read has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in

Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A military fighter jet on its way to an Air Force base in California crashed Tuesday near the international airport in New Mexico’s largest city, sending up a large plume of smoke and injuring the pilot. The pilot, the only person on board, was able to escape after crashing

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan State Police sergeant who drove his unmarked SUV into a 25-year-old Kentwood man has been charged with second-degree murder. The man, Samuel Sterling, died in the hospital due to his injuries. Police say Sterling was fleeing police on foot after they approached him at

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s wealthy elite could face higher income taxes. That’s according to a proposal from the country’s finance ministry on Tuesday. The proposal involves a progressive tax on personal incomes, a change of course from the current flat-rate tax that was credited with bringing order and improving tax collections after it was introduced

By PETE IACOBELLI AP Sports Writer Scholarships are not going away in college athletics. But how many there are and which sports they will apply to in coming years are among the many questions stemming from a mammoth antitrust settlement and athlete revenue-sharing plan proposed by the NCAA and its five largest conferences. Nearly $2.8

By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Tuesday condemned the loss of life of dozens of civilians as a result of an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, but said it is not planning any policy changes as a result of the Israeli actions. National security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Federal officials have notified Ohio’s former House speaker that they have closed their investigation of him and he will not face any charges. Cliff Rosenberger, a Republican from Wilmington, had resigned the post in 2018 after it went public that he was the target of a federal probe into his travel

By GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — It’s been almost two months since police raided the Mexican embassy in Ecuador’s capital. Now, the South American country’s government wants to re-establish communication with officials in Mexico and reach a solution to the diplomatic rift that followed the extraordinarily unusual use of force. Ecuadorian Foreign

By BRUCE SCHREINER and GEORGE WALKER IV Associated Press BARNSLEY, Ky. (AP) — Devin Johnson’s life has been uprooted for a second time by a tornado in Kentucky. A twister flattened his home in the Barnsley community over the Memorial Day weekend. It was on the same lot where another tornado struck, leaving him homeless

By BEN NUCKOLS Associated Press OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — A four-letter word sent Shradha Rachamreddy to a third-place finish in last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee. As the remaining spellers dwindled, Shradha was given “orle,” a heraldry term that means several small charges arranged to form a border within the edge of a field.

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Twice per year, New Yorkers and visitors are treated to a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge, when the setting sun aligns with the Manhattan street grid and sinks below the horizon framed in a canyon of skyscrapers. The first Manhattanhenge of the year happened Tuesday at 8:13

By The Associated Press CENTERVILLE, S.D. (AP) — Three people were shot to death in a small South Dakota town, and a former law officer who once served as the town’s mayor is charged in the killings. South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says 64-year-old Jay Ostrem is jailed on $1 million cash-only bond on

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A man who was arrested in March on charges of randomly hitting a woman walking down a street in New York City has been indicted on hate crime charges for that assault and several others. Prosecutors say 40-year-old Skiboky Stora is charged with assaulting, stalking and

MESEBERG, Germany (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron says he will greet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy along with other world leaders in Normandy for the 80th anniversary commemorations of D-Day. President Joe Biden is also scheduled to attend this year’s commemorations of the landings that led to the liberation of France and Europe from Nazi

By ED WHITE Associated Press A prosecutor has declined to file charges against a police officer who struck and killed a western Michigan teenager while the boy was running from a stolen vehicle. Kent County prosecutor Chris Becker played a video for reporters and said he found no evidence of intentional deadly force. He instead

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — An unusual weather phenomenon called a “gustnado,” which looks like a small tornado but is actually a type of whirlwind kicked up by thunderstorm winds, brought some dramatic moments to a western Michigan lake over the weekend. Video posted on social media shows the gustnado churning across Gun Lake south

By JANIE HAR and OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The man convicted of attempting to hold former Speaker Nancy Pelosi hostage and attacking her husband with a hammer apologized for his crime at an unusual resentencing. But U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley gave David DePape the same 30 year sentence

BY HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Albert S. Ruddy, a colorful, Canadian-born producer and writer who won Oscars for “The Godfather” and “Million Dollar Baby,” developed the raucous prison-sports comedy “The Longest Yard” and helped create the hit sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes,” has died at age 94. Ruddy died “peacefully” Saturday at

By TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S.-built temporary pier that has been taking humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians for less than two weeks will be removed from the coast of Gaza to be repaired after getting damaged in rough seas and weather, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Over the next two days, the