Crowds across France show solidarity at town halls targeted in rioting following police shooting

BY CARA ANNA AND NICOLAS GARRIGA NANTERRE, France (AP) - Crowds gathered at town halls across France Monday to show solidarity with local governments targeted in six nights of violence touched off by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old in suburban Paris. The unrest, which appeared to be easing on Sunday night, was driven by a mainly teenage backlash in the suburbs and urban housing projects against a French state

North Carolina amusement park closes ride after discovering crack in support beam

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina amusement park closed one of its roller coasters Friday after a crack was found on a support beam. According to news reports, Carowinds shut down Fury 325. The park's website advertises the ride as the "tallest, fastest, longest giga coaster in North America" that crosses into both North Carolina and South Carolina. Video of the ride showed the beam bending, the top of

Activists spurred by affirmative action ruling sue Harvard over legacy admissions

BY COLLIN BINKLEY WASHINGTON (AP) - A civil rights group is challenging legacy admissions at Harvard University, saying the practice discriminates against students of color by giving an unfair boost to the mostly white children of alumni. It's the latest effort in a growing push against legacy admissions, the practice of giving admissions priority to the children of alumni. Backlash against the practice has been building in the wake of last

North Carolina megachurch exits Southern Baptist Convention after expulsions over women pastors

BY PETER SMITH Less than a month after finalizing the ouster of one of its largest churches for having women pastors, the Southern Baptist Convention has lost another of its biggest congregations. Elevation Church - a North Carolina-based megachurch that draws thousands of worshippers to its multiple campuses and has wielded a strong influence on contemporary Christian worship music - sent notice to the SBC on June 26 that it was

Families worry over the future of Medicaid caregiver payments that were expanded during the pandemic

Nathan Hill started receiving $12.75 an hour from a state Medicaid program to help care for his severely disabled son during the pandemic, money he said allowed his family to stop using food stamps. The program was designed to provide a continuation of care and ease a home health worker shortage that grew worse after COVID-19 hit. But now, with the COVID-19 public health emergency over, he worries that the

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