Carlee Russell confesses she was not kidnapped and apologizes to those who were searching for her

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) - Authorities in Alabama said Monday that a woman has confessed to fabricating a story that she was kidnapped after stopping to check on a toddler she saw walking on the side of the interstate. Hoover Police Department Chief Nicholas Derzis said Carlee Russell's attorney, Emory Anthony, provided a statement on Monday saying there was no kidnapping. "There was no kidnapping on Thursday July 13. My client

Florida Supreme Court reprimands judge for conduct during Parkland school shooting trial

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded the judge who oversaw the penalty trial of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz for showing bias toward the prosecution. The unanimous decision Monday followed a June recommendation from the Judicial Qualifications Commission. That panel had found that Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer violated several rules governing judicial conduct during last year's trial in her actions toward Cruz's public defenders. The six-month trial ended

MacKenzie Scott’s $250 million open call for donations yields applications from 6,353 nonprofits

NEW YORK (AP) - Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott's first open call for grants yielded 6,353 applications from nonprofits - meaning candidates have at least a 4% chance of being selected for a $1 million grant. Lever for Change, the nonprofit overseeing the application process, said Wednesday that the applications came from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The 250 winners will be announced in early 2024.

South Dakota governor prods Washington to address national drug shortages

As the U.S. struggles with prescription drug shortages, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has advanced a modest plan that she hopes will prod Washington to take decisive action to address weaknesses in the international pharmaceutical supply chain. Noem told reporters at a pharmacy in Sioux Falls last week that her state will expand its stockpiles of certain medications that have been in short supply. The Republican former congresswoman also used

Soda sweetener aspartame now listed as possible cancer cause. But it’s still considered safe

The World Health Organization's cancer agency has deemed the sweetener aspartame - found in diet soda and countless other foods - as a "possible" cause of cancer, while a separate expert group looking at the same evidence said it still considers the sugar substitute safe in limited quantities. The differing results of the coordinated reviews were released early Friday. One came from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a

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: