National News

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden signed Democrats' landmark climate change and health care bill into law on Tuesday, delivering what he has called the "final piece" of his pared-down domestic agenda, as he aims to boost his party's standing with voters less than three months before the midterm elections...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, Donald Trump's fiercest Republican adversary in Congress, was defeated in a GOP primary Tuesday, falling to a rival backed by the former president in a rout that reinforced his grip on the party's base. The third-term congresswoman and her allies entered the day downbeat about her prospects, aware that Trump's backing gave Harriet Hageman considerable lift in the state where he won by the largest margin during the 2020 campaign. ...

NEW YORK -- Health officials are warning people who are infected with monkeypox to stay away from household pets, since the animals could be at risk of catching the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for months has had the advice in place as monkeypox spreads in the U.S. But it gained new attention after a report from France, published last week in the medical journal Lancet, about an Italian greyhound that caught the virus...

SALT LAKE CITY -- For the second year in a row, Arizona and Nevada will face cuts in the amount of water they can draw from the Colorado River as the West endures more drought, federal officials announced Tuesday. Though the cuts will not result in any immediate new restrictions -- such as banning lawn watering or car washing -- they signal that unpopular decisions about how to reduce consumption are on the horizon, including whether to prioritize growing cities or agricultural areas. ...

WASHINGTON -- Millions of Americans will be able to buy hearing aids without a prescription later this fall, under a long-awaited rule finalized Tuesday. The regulation creates a new class of hearing aids that don't require a medical exam, a prescription and other specialty evaluations, the Food and Drug Administration said. That's expected to increase competition and eventually lower costs. The devices will be sold online or over-the-counter at pharmacies and other retail stores...

WASHINGTON -- A man armed with an AR-15 dies in a shootout after trying to breach FBI offices in Cincinnati. A Pennsylvania man is arrested after he posts death threats against agents on social media. In cyberspace, calls for armed uprisings and civil war grow stronger...

Indifference. Distrust of government. Budget uncertainties. The next U.S. census isn't until 2030, but already Census Bureau leaders are looking for ways to adapt to a roiled civic climate that only seems to be getting more contentious. So this week they are issuing a call for public recommendations to make sure everyone is counted in the next once-a-decade U.S. head count that determines political power and federal funding...

Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The Homeland Security Department's inspector general has refused congressional requests for documents and staff testimony about the erasure of Secret Service communication related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, angering top Democrats who accuse him of unlawfully obstructing their investigation...

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- A mural that was painted in a Vermont synagogue more than 100 years ago by a Lithuanian immigrant -- and hidden behind a wall for years-- has been termed a rare piece of art and has been painstakingly moved and restored. The large colorful triptych painted by sign painter Ben Zion Black in 1910 shows the Ten Commandments with a lion on both sides, the sun beaming down, and columns and rich curtains at the borders. ...

WASHINGTON -- With inflation raging near its highest level in four decades, President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law his landmark Inflation Reduction Act. Its title raises a tantalizing question: Will the measure actually tame the price spikes that have inflicted hardships on American households?...

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. -- First lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing "mild symptoms," the White House announced Tuesday. President Joe Biden continues to test negative after recently recovering from the virus but will wear a mask indoors for 10 days as a precaution...

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Kansas on Tuesday began a partial hand recount of this month's decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights, a move forced by two Republican activists even though the margin was so large that the recount won't change the outcome...

WASHINGTON -- Massive incentives for clean energy in the U.S. law signed Tuesday by President Joe Biden should reduce future global warming "not a lot, but not insignificantly either," according to a climate scientist who led an independent analysis of the package...

With much fanfare, ship after ship loaded with grain has sailed from Ukraine after being stuck in the country's Black Sea ports for nearly six months. More quietly, a parallel wartime deal met Moscow's demands to clear the way for its wheat to get to the world, too, boosting an industry vital to Russia's economy that had been ensnared in wider sanctions...

BEIJING -- China imposed visa bans and other sanctions Tuesday on Taiwanese political figures as it raises pressure on the self-governing island and the U.S. in response to successive congressional visits. The sanctions come a day after China announced more military exercises in the seas and skies surrounding Taiwan because of what it called "collusion and provocation between the U.S. and Taiwan." There's been no word on the timing and scale of the Chinese exercises...

SEOUL, South Korea -- The United States and South Korea will begin their biggest combined military training in years next week in the face of an increasingly aggressive North Korea, which has been ramping up weapons tests and threats of nuclear conflict against Seoul and Washington, the South Korean military said Tuesday...

KYIV, Ukraine -- Explosions and fires ripped through an ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Crimea on Tuesday in the second suspected Ukrainian attack on the peninsula in just over a week, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 people. Russia blamed the blasts in the village of Mayskoye on an "act of sabotage," without naming the perpetrators...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Iran said Tuesday it submitted a "written response" to what has been described as a final roadmap to restore its tattered nuclear deal with world powers. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency offered no details on the substance of its response, but suggested that Tehran still wouldn't take the European Union-mediated proposal, despite warnings there would be no more negotiations...

NEW YORK -- Donald Trump's longtime finance chief is expected to plead guilty as soon as Thursday in a tax evasion case that is the only criminal prosecution to arise from a long-running investigation into the former president's company, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press...

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department on Monday rebuffed efforts to make public the affidavit supporting the search warrant for former President Donald Trump's estate in Florida, saying the investigation "implicates highly classified material" and the document contains sensitive information about witnesses...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Vermont farmer Brian Kemp is used to seeing the pastures at Mountain Meadows Farm grow slower in the hot, late summer, but this year the grass is at a standstill. That's "very nerve-wracking" when you're grazing 600 to 700 cattle, said Kemp, who manages an organic beef farm in Sudbury. He describes the weather lately as inconsistent and impactful, which he attributes to a changing climate...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Some Florida schools have moved library books and debated changing textbooks in response to a law critics call "Don't Say Gay" -- and some teachers have worried that family pictures on their desks could get them in trouble. As students return from summer break, educators are cautiously adjusting and waiting to see how the new law governing lessons on gender and sexual orientation will be interpreted and enforced...

Kraft Heinz is recalling thousands of pouches of Capri Sun after some cleaning solution accidentally mixed with the juice on a production line. The company said it's recalling about 5,760 cases of Capri Sun Wild Cherry flavored juice blend. The "Best When Used By" date on the packages is June 25, 2023...

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Preliminary autopsy results released Monday for the three victims of a house explosion in a southern Indiana neighborhood show they died of blunt force trauma and compression asphyxia. A married couple who lived at the center of the Wednesday explosion in Evansville, 43-year-old Charles Hite and 37-year-old Martina Hite, both died of blunt force trauma to their chests, and 29-year-old neighbor Jessica Teague died of compression asphyxia, the Vanderburgh County Coroner's Office said in a news release.. ...

SALT LAKE CITY -- Banks along parts of the Colorado River where water once streamed are now just caked mud and rock as climate change makes the Western U.S. hotter and drier. More than two decades of drought have done little to deter the region from diverting more water than flows through it, depleting key reservoirs to levels that now jeopardize water delivery and hydropower production...

WASHINGTON -- Americans are less concerned now about how climate change might impact them personally -- and about how their personal choices affect the climate -- than they were three years ago, a new poll shows, even as a wide majority still believe climate change is happening...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- An Iranian official Monday denied Tehran was involved in the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, though he sought to justify the attack in the Islamic Republic's first public comments on the bloodshed. The remarks by Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, came three days after Rushdie was wounded in New York state. The writer has been taken off a ventilator and is "on the road to recovery," according to his agent...

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- China announced more military drills around Taiwan as the self-governing island's president met with members of a new U.S. congressional delegation on Monday, threatening to renew tensions between Beijing and Washington after a similar recent visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered China...

KYIV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian military said Monday that it had repelled more than a dozen Russian attacks in the country's east and north, including attempts to advance on key cities in the eastern industrial heartland known as the Donbas. In its regular Facebook update, the military's general staff said Russian troops had attempted to push towards Kramatorsk, one of two major cities in the eastern Donetsk province that remain under Ukrainian control, but "they failed completely and chaotically retreated to their previous positions.". ...

A BRITISH ARMY BASE, England -- A few weeks ago, Serhiy was a business analyst at an IT company. Zakhar was a civil engineer. Now they are soldiers, training to liberate Ukraine from Russia's invasion -- but doing it more than 1,000 miles away in Britain...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Taliban on Monday marked a year since they seized the Afghan capital of Kabul, a rapid takeover that triggered a hasty escape of the nation's Western-backed leaders, sent the economy into a tailspin and fundamentally transformed the country...

NEW DELHI -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to raise millions out of poverty and turn India into a developed country in the next quarter-century as he marked 75 years since independence from British rule. Wearing a flowing, cream-colored turban printed with small stripes of orange, white and green, the colors of the country's flag, Modi addressed the country Monday from New Delhi's 17th-century Mughal-era Red Fort, saying the world was looking toward India to help resolve global issues...

Today in History Today is Tuesday, Aug. 16, the 228th day of 2022. There are 137 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Aug. 16, 1977, Elvis Presley died at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 42. On this date: In 1777, American forces won the Battle of Bennington in what was considered a turning point of the Revolutionary War...

WASHINGTON -- The biggest investment ever in the U.S. to fight climate change. A hard-fought cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients. A new corporate minimum tax. And billions left over to pay down federal deficits. All told, the Democrats' "Inflation Reduction Act" may not do much to immediately tame inflationary price hikes. ...

Amid rising inflation, interest rates and recession worries, money is getting tighter for many folks -- and probably for you. Yet there may be charitable organizations you want to support, friends or family asking for financial help and things you want to buy for yourself. It's possible to do these things even on a limited budget. But if you want to be responsible with your money, you have to know where to draw the line...

MAYVILLE, N.Y. -- Salman Rushdie is "on the road to recovery," his agent confirmed Sunday, two days after the author of "The Satanic Verses" suffered serious injuries in a stabbing at a lecture in New York. The announcement followed news that the lauded writer was removed from a ventilator Saturday and able to talk. ...

ISLAMABAD -- On the eve of the anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan's former president on Sunday defended what he said was a split-second decision to flee, saying he wanted to avoid the humiliation of surrender to the insurgents...

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's president has begun exploring plans to sidestep congress to hand formal control of the National Guard to the army, a move that could extend the military's control over policing in a country with high levels of violence. That has raised concerns because President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador won approval for creating the force in 2019 by pledging in the constitution that it would be under nominal civilian control and that the army would be off the streets by 2024...

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A delegation of American lawmakers arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, just 12 days after a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that prompted China to launch days of threatening military drills around the self-governing island that Beijing says must come under its control...

MEXICO CITY -- Earlier this month Nicaragua shuttered seven radio stations belonging to the Catholic Church and launched an investigation into the bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, accusing him of inciting violent actors "to carry out acts of hate against the population."...

BAGHDAD -- Weeks after followers of an influential cleric stormed parliament, Iraq's political crisis shows no signs of abating, despite rising public anger over a debilitating gridlock that has further weakened the country's caretaker government and its ability to provide basic services...

LONDON -- It's not just the economy. While inflation and recession fears weigh heavily on the minds of voters, another issue is popping up in political campaigns from the U.K. and Australia to the U.S. and beyond: the "China threat." The two finalists vying to become Britain's next prime minister, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, clashed in a televised debate last month over who would be toughest on China...

NOVOSELIVKA, Ukraine -- As battles raged around Kyiv, one Russian advance was stopped in front of Maria Metla's home. Artillery gutted most of the house, while the rest was pulverized by tank fire. Metla, 66, is now counting on her neighbors to have somewhere to live this winter...

KYIV, Ukraine -- A United Nations-chartered ship loaded with 23,000 metric tons of Ukrainian grain destined for Ethiopia set sail Sunday from a Black Sea port, the first shipment of its kind in a program to assist countries facing famine. The Liberia-flagged Brave Commander departed from the Ukrainian port of Yuzhne, east of Odesa, according to regional governor Maksym Marchenko. ...

WASHINGTON -- A man drove his car into a barricade near the U.S. Capitol early Sunday and then began firing gunshots in the air before fatally shooting himself, according to police, who said he did not seem to be targeting any member of Congress. The incident happened just before 4 a.m. at a vehicle barricade set at East Capitol Street NE and 2nd Street SE in Washington...

Facing prison time and dire personal consequences for storming the U.S. Capitol, some Jan. 6 defendants are trying to profit from their participation in the deadly riot, using it as a platform to drum up cash, promote business endeavors and boost social media profiles...

SAN FRANCISCO -- What takes four years to make and costs more than $20,000? A trash can in San Francisco. That costly, boxy bin is among six trash cans hitting San Francisco's streets this summer in the city's long saga in search of the perfect can. Overflowing trash cans are a common sight in the Northern California city, along with piles of used clothes, shoes, furniture and other items strewn about on sometimes-impassable sidewalks...

BERWICK, Pa. -- Pennsylvania state police say a man upset about an argument with his mother drove into a crowd of people at a fundraiser for victims of a recent deadly house fire, killing one person at the event and injuring 17 others, then returned home and beat his mother to death...

Today is Sunday, Aug. 14, the 226th day of 2022. There are 139 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Aug. 14, 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that Imperial Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II. On this date:...

WASHINGTON -- The FBI recovered documents that were labeled "top secret" from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to court papers released Friday after a federal judge unsealed the warrant that authorized the unprecedented search this week...