After Republicans expelled him, campaign for Tennessee Democratic Rep. Pearson says he raised $860K

BY JONATHAN MATTISE NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee Rep. Justin Pearson raised about $860,000 through some 31,700 campaign donations after Tennessee Republican lawmakers abruptly moved to expel him and two other Democrats for a gun control protest on the House floor, his campaign said. The short-lived expulsion propelled the Memphis environmental activist, a fresh face just months into his first term, to become a nationally watched progressive figure who sat in

Countdown to 250th anniversary begins in the US with planners hoping it can unify a divided country

It's three years until the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, but festivities are already starting. The anniversary push will formally launch July 4 with an event during a Major League Baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs at American Family Field in Milwaukee. The organization spearheading the celebration, known as America250, will start recruiting people to share their stories of what the country means to them.

Smoke and haze from Canadian wildfires leave Detroit with some of the worst US air quality

DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit area woke up Wednesday to some of the worst air quality in the United States as smoke from Canada's wildfires settled over most of the Great Lakes region and unhealthy haze spread southward, as far as Missouri and Kentucky. Drifting smoke from the wildfires has lowered curtains of haze on broad swaths of the United States, pushing into southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and moving

Thousands more prisoners across the US will get free college paid for by the government

REPRESA, California (AP) - The graduates lined up, brushing off their gowns and adjusting classmates' tassels and stoles. As the graduation march played, the 85 men appeared to hoots and cheers from their families. They marched to the stage - one surrounded by barbed wire fence and constructed by fellow prisoners. For these were no ordinary graduates. Their black commencement garb almost hid their aqua and navy-blue prison uniforms as

Judge considering blocking parts of North Carolina abortion law won’t halt broader 12-week ban

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - A federal judge said Wednesday that she won't temporarily block most of a newly revised abortion law from taking effect this weekend in North Carolina, including a near-ban on the procedure after 12 weeks of pregnancy. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles said at a court hearing that she won't grant the request by lawyers for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and a physician to set aside most

Gymnastics star Simone Biles returning to competition in August in first meet since 2020 Olympics

Simone Biles is back. The gymnastics superstar plans to return to competition at the U.S. Classic outside Chicago in early August, her first event since the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. USA Gymnastics announced Wednesday that Biles, a seven-time Olympic medalist and the 2016 Olympic champion, is part of the women's field for the single-day event set for Aug. 5 at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. Biles has taken most of

Is it a ‘richcession’? Or a ‘rolling recession’? Or maybe no recession at all?

WASHINGTON (AP) - The warnings have been sounded for more than a year: A recession is going to hit the United States. If not this quarter, then by next quarter. Or the quarter after that. Or maybe next year. So is a recession still in sight? The latest signs suggest maybe not. Despite much higher borrowing costs, thanks to the Federal Reserve's aggressive streak of interest rate hikes, consumers keep

Once wrongly imprisoned for notorious rape, member of ‘Central Park Five’ is running for office

NEW YORK - Outside a Harlem subway station, Yusef Salaam, a candidate for New York City Council, hurriedly greeted voters streaming out along Malcolm X Boulevard. For some, no introductions were necessary. They knew his face, his name and his life story. But to the unfamiliar, Salaam needed only to introduce himself as one of the Central Park Five - one of the Black or Brown teenagers, ages 14 to

BREAKING NEWS – Supreme Court rules state courts can play role in policing federal elections

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that North Carolina's top court did not overstep its bounds in striking down a congressional districting plan as excessively partisan under state law. The justices by a 6-3 vote rejected the broadest view of a case that could have transformed elections for Congress and president. North Carolina Republicans had asked the court to leave state legislatures virtually unchecked by their state

Malaria cases in Texas and Florida are the first US spread since 2003, CDC says

NEW YORK (AP) - The United States has seen five cases of malaria spread by mosquitos in the last two months - the first time there's been local spread in 20 years. There were four cases detected in Florida and one in Texas, according to a health alert issued Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Malaria is caused by a parasite that spreads through mosquito bites. Infected