Prosecutors will make history with opening statements in Trump's hush money criminal trial (apnews.com)
Judge in Trump case orders media not to report where potential jurors work (apnews.com)
The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial ordered the media on Thursday not to report on where potential jurors have worked and to be careful about revealing information about those who will sit in judgment of the former president....
A crush of lawsuits over voting in multiple states is creating a shadow war for the 2024 election (apnews.com)
The Republican National Committee, newly reconstituted under Trump, has filed election-related lawsuits in nearly half the states. Recent lawsuits over voter roll maintenance in Michigan and Nevada are part of a larger strategy targeting various aspects of voting and election administration....
Terry Anderson, AP reporter abducted in Lebanon and held captive for years, has died (apnews.com)
Thousands protest in Israel demanding elections and a Gaza hostage release deal (apnews.com)
San Francisco sues Oakland over new airport name that includes 'San Francisco' (apnews.com)
San Francisco on Thursday sued Oakland after officials there voted in favor of changing the name of the city’s airport to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, saying the change will cause confusion and is already affecting its airport financially....
Hawaii lawmakers take aim at vacation rentals after Lahaina wildfire amplifies Maui housing crisis (apnews.com)
A single mother of two, Amy Chadwick spent years scrimping and saving to buy a house in the town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. But after a devastating fire leveled Lahaina in August and reduced Chadwick’s home to white dust, the cheapest rental she could find for her family and dogs cost $10,000 a month....
Mexico's president is getting a little sloppy in the rush to finish projects before his term ends (apnews.com)
Mexico’s president is in a rush to finish the big legislative and building projects he promised before his term ends in September, and experts say officials are getting a bit sloppy amid all the haste....
Unprecedented wave of narco-violence stuns Argentina city (apnews.com)
The order to kill came from inside a federal prison near Argentina’s capital. Unwitting authorities patched a call from drug traffickers tied to one of the country’s most notorious gangs to collaborators on the outside. Hiring a 15-year-old hit man, they sealed the fate of a young father they didn’t even know....
Ukrainian and Western leaders laud US aid package while the Kremlin warns of 'further ruin' (apnews.com)
Ukrainian and Western leaders welcomed a desperately needed aid package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, as the Kremlin warned the passage of the bill would “further ruin” Ukraine and cause more deaths....
10-year-old boy confesses to fatally shooting a man in his sleep 2 years ago, Texas authorities say (apnews.com)
Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was shot in the head in 2022 while he slept at an RV park in Nixon, Texas, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of San Antonio, investigators said. He had just moved in a few days before....
Man who won primary election while charged with murder convicted on lesser charge (apnews.com)
A Boone County jury convicted Andrew Wilhoite, 41, of Lebanon on Thursday, local news outlets reported....
Lawsuits under New York's new voting rights law reveal racial disenfranchisement even in blue states (apnews.com)
Weihua Yan had seen dramatic demographic changes since moving to Long Island’s Nassau County....
Record numbers in the US are homeless. Can cities fine them for sleeping in parks and on sidewalks? (apnews.com)
The justices on Monday will consider a challenge to rulings from a California-based appeals court that found punishing people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment....
Trump was forced to listen silently as potential jurors offered their unvarnished assessments of him (apnews.com)
New Yorkers who said they couldn’t approach the case fairly were excused during jury selection. But one of the women with the harshest assessments of him will be among those who will determine his fate on 34 counts of falsifying business records....
Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza city of Rafah kills at least 9 Palestinians, including 6 children (apnews.com)
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza’s southernmost city killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory....
The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping? (apnews.com)
Argument for legalizing the adult use of cannabis was to stop the harm caused by disproportionate enforcement of drug laws in Black, Latino and other minority communities.
NATO secretary-general says some allies have air defense systems they could give to Ukraine (apnews.com)
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday pressed member countries to give more Patriot missile systems to Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated Kyiv’s almost daily appeals for more Western air defense equipment....
Full jury of 12 people and 6 alternates is seated in Trump's hush money trial in New York (apnews.com)
And someone just set himself on fire outside the courthouse!
AP Explains: 4/20 grew from humble roots to marijuana's high holiday (apnews.com)
Saturday marks marijuana culture’s high holiday, 4/20, when college students gather — at 4:20 p.m. — in clouds of smoke on campus quads and pot shops in legal-weed states thank their customers with discounts....
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing (apnews.com)
These workers were exposed to crude oil and the chemical dispersant Corexit while picking up tar balls along the shoreline, laying booms from fishing boats to soak up slicks and rescuing oil-covered birds....
Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a lobby restroom (apnews.com)
One woman miscarried in the restroom lobby of a Texas emergency room as front desk staff refused to admit her. Another woman learned that her fetus had no heartbeat at a Florida hospital, the day after a security guard turned her away from the facility. And in North Carolina, a woman gave birth in a car after an emergency room...
Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site (apnews.com)
An apparent Israeli drone attack on a major air base early near the central city of Isfahan activated Iranian air defenses early Friday. The strike came just days after Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on Israel....
This ancient snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton (apnews.com)
A ancient giant snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton, researchers reported Thursday....
Argentina asks to join NATO as President Milei seeks a more prominent role for his nation (apnews.com)
Argentina formally requested on Thursday to join NATO as a global partner, a status that would clear the way for greater political and security cooperation at a time when the right-wing government of President Javier Milei aims to boost ties with Western powers and attract investment....
