ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tim Walz pushed back Thursday against critics who say his administration should have done more to thwart what federal prosecutors have called a scheme to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud the U.S. government of at least $250 ...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — In a state hit by devastating tornadoes and flooding within a span of several months, a new and diverse advisory council will help guide responses to natural disasters and prepare communities for any future crisis, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday. Beshear ...

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's Republican nominee for secretary of state has removed an online campaign flier that offered the chance to receive a firearm in return for $100 donations to her campaign. The gun "giveaway" offer on a Facebook campaign website for candidate Audrey Trujillo ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States urged other nations to tell Russia to stop making nuclear threats and end "the horror" of its war in Ukraine as all three countries' top diplomats spoke — but didn't quite meet — at a high-profile U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday. Held ...

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — More than two dozen people have been charged in Illinois with fraudulently obtaining pandemic relief money, with authorities alleging that some of them were behind bars when they used their relief money to post bond and free themselves from jail. Joliet Police Chief ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon announced a number of new programs Thursday that are aimed at helping service members who are struggling with housing shortages and steep food and living expenses as they move from base to base. Gil Cisneros, undersecretary for personnel, told reporters that ...

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — A former suburban Chicago police officer who was fired after he shot into a car two years ago, killing a Black man and seriously wounding the man's girlfriend, has been charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, authorities announced on Thursday. In ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the weeks since the FBI searched Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and seized about 100 documents with classification markings, the former president has insisted he did nothing wrong and argued he declassified the information. He doubled down on that point Wednesday, ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said Thursday that a Republican-led proposal to ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks would endanger the health of women and have severe consequences for physicians. "If passed and enacted, this ...

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris met with college students and Latino leaders in Milwaukee on Thursday, a visit meant to energize voters just under seven weeks before an election in which Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson are on the ballot. Harris ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — As if there wasn't enough tension. After days of speeches by world leaders taking subtle and not-so-subtle shots at Russia for its invasion of Ukraine during the annual U.N. General Assembly, in walked Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to address the Security ...

While world leaders from wealthy countries acknowledge the "existential threat" of climate change, Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano is racing to save his tiny island nation from drowning by raising it 13 to 16 feet (4 to 5 meters) above sea level through land reclamation. While experts ...

GREENVILLE, Texas (AP) — A former police officer in a small Texas town was found not guilty of murder Thursday in the slaying of a Black man who offered a handshake as the officer arrived to respond to a call about a fight at a convenience store. The Hunt County jury deliberated for more ...

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Governors races often are overshadowed by the fight for control of Congress during midterm elections. But this fall, which candidate wins a state's top executive post could be pivotal for the nation's political future. With abortion rights, immigration policies and ...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Since escaping two weeks ago, officials say the fugitive Malaysian defense contractor nicknamed "Fat Leonard" — who orchestrated one of the U.S. Navy's largest bribery scandals — zipped between countries to find a place where he could become virtually untouchable for ...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. food chief warned Thursday that the world is facing "a perfect storm on top of a perfect storm" and urged donors, particularly Gulf nations and billionaires, to give a few days of profits to tackle a crisis with the fertilizer supply right now and prevent ...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — There's been significant damage to some roads and homes in parts of western Alaska following last weekend's devastating coastal storm, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Wednesday after touring some communities along the state's the vast coastline. "For the most part, people ...

PHOENIX (AP) — A Republican Arizona lawmaker who embraces election conspiracies and has former President Donald Trump's endorsement sparred with the Democrat who helped oversee the 2020 election in Maricopa County in a debate Thursday evening as they each seek the state's top elections ...

A young president at the U.N. General Assembly touted millennial status symbols like coffee, outdoor adventure and Bitcoin. Another admitted in front of the famous green marble that it was harder to govern a country than to protest in its streets. A foreign minister, once shunned for having ...

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — A divided U.S. Supreme Court said Alabama can proceed Thursday night with the lethal injection of an inmate convicted in a 1999 workplace shooting, vacating two lower court rulings that sided with the condemned man and his request for a different method of execution. The ...