Biden’s White House is taking on corporate mergers, landlord junk fees and food prices

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed new guidelines for corporate mergers, took steps to disclose the junk fees charged by landlords and launched a crackdown on price-gouging in the food industry. The announcements will be discussed as part of President Joe Biden's scheduled meeting with the White House Competition Council, a group of officials established under a 2021 executive order. The council has focused on creating more

Judge upholds the $5 million jury verdict against Trump in a writer’s sex abuse and defamation case

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday upheld a $5 million jury verdict against Donald Trump, rejecting the former president's claims that the award was excessive and that the jury vindicated him by failing to conclude he raped a columnist in a luxury department store dressing room in the 1990s. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the jury's May award of compensatory and punitive damages to writer E. Jean Carroll

House Republicans propose planting a trillion trees as response to climate change

BY STEPHEN GROVES WASHINGTON (AP) - As Speaker Kevin McCarthy visited a natural gas drilling site in northeast Ohio to promote House Republicans' plan to sharply increase domestic production of energy from fossil fuels last month, the signs of rising global temperatures could not be ignored. Smoke from Canadian wildfires hung in the air. When the speaker was asked about climate change and forest fires, he was ready with a response:

New drug to protect babies and toddlers from RSV gets FDA approval ahead of cold season

BY MATTHEW PERRONE WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. officials on Monday approved the first long-acting drug to protect babies and toddlers against a respiratory virus that sends tens of thousands of American children to the hospital each year. RSV is a cold-like nuisance for most healthy people, but it can be life-threatening in the very young and the elderly. The Food and Drug Administration approved the injection for infants and children up

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs aspires to create new Black Wall Street through online marketplace Empower Global

BY JONATHAN LANDRUM JR. LOS ANGELES (AP) - Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to strengthen the Black dollar: The music mogul is spearheading a new online marketplace called Empower Global that will specifically feature Black-owned businesses. "I want to create our own Black Wall Street," Combs told The Associated Press about his e-commerce platform, which launched last week. He feels passionate about building substantial wealth in his community similar to the Greenwood

Arrests have been made in a human remains trade tied to Harvard Medical School

BY DYLAN LOVAN Federal investigators discovered a human remains trade with connections to Harvard Medical School and have arrested people in several states. According to prosecutors, the defendants were part of a nationwide network of people who bought and sold remains stolen from the medical school and an Arkansas mortuary. One of those charged, 55-year-old Cedric Lodge, of New Hampshire, allegedly took dissected parts of cadavers that had been donated to

Gov. Roy Cooper tests positive for COVID-19

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he'll keep to a lower public profile this week after testing positive for COVID-19 on Monday. In a tweet, the Democratic governor described the case as mild and that he was feeling fine. "I'm working remotely for the rest of the week and ready to be back out and about by the weekend," Cooper said. Cooper, 66, attended the National Governors Association annual meeting

Second Alzheimer’s drug in the pipeline promises to slow worsening but with safety concern

BY LAURAN NEERGAARD WASHINGTON (AP) - Another experimental Alzheimer's drug can modestly slow patients' inevitable worsening - by about four to seven months, researchers reported Monday. Eli Lilly and Co. is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval of donanemab. If cleared, it would be only the second Alzheimer's treatment convincingly shown to delay the mind-robbing disease - after the recently approved Leqembi from Japanese drugmaker Eisai. "Finally there's some hope, right,

Massive search is underway for missing children swept away in suburban Philadelphia flash flood

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. (AP) - Crews in suburban Philadelphia on Monday intensified the search for a missing 9-month-old boy and his 2-year-old sister, swept away after weekend rains swelled the banks of a creek while they were driving to a barbecue with their family. Upper Makefield Township Fire Chief Tim Brewer said Monday the effort would be a "massive undertaking" and that 100 search crew and numerous drones would be

Alabama woman who disappeared after reporting child on highway returns home following two-day search

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) - A 25-year-old Alabama woman returned home late Saturday after being the focus of a two-day search by police and family members who reported her missing after she stopped to check on a child who was walking along a highway. Police said Carlethia "Carlee" Nichole Russell had returned to the home she shares with her parents in Hoover, AL.com reported late Saturday night. Hoover Police Chief Nick