By DARLENE SUPERVILLE WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump on Monday unveiled the holiday decorations for her family’s first Christmas back at the White House and her theme is “Home Is Where the Heart Is.” The decor also nods to next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing…
By LINDSEY BAHR and JAKE COYLE The bean counters might say otherwise, but 2025 was a good year for movies. Filmmakers working in and out of the studio system managed to make bold, personal, wildly imaginative and singular works. Some of them even broke…
By JANIE HAR SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A rare albino alligator named Claude who was beloved by fans around the world died Tuesday, according to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. He was 30. The science museum in Golden…
By JANIE HAR SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Northern California man caught a plump canary rockfish he says weighed in at 10.25 pounds (4.65 kilograms), likely setting state and world records. Mendocino County fisherman Brendan Walsh, 26, said he caught the fish Tuesday…
By DAVID BILLER ROME (AP) — Rome opened two subway stations on Tuesday — one deep beneath the Colosseum — that mix the modernity of high-tech transport with artifacts from an ancient era. Commuters and tourists entering the station beside the…
By ED WHITE DETROIT (AP) — A life ring and a piece of a lifeboat from the Edmund Fitzgerald were sold at auction Friday for $150,000, a month after the 50th anniversary of the famous ship’s sinking in Lake Superior with 29 men…
Happiness is taking control of a beloved comic strip. Sony is buying a 41% stake in the Charles M. Schulz comic “Peanuts” and its characters including Snoopy and Charlie Brown from Canada’s WildBrain in a $457 million deal, the two…
By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN NEW YORK (AP) — NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope got a rare look at the aftermath of two cosmic collisions — and helped scientists solve a decades-old mystery. Many years ago, scientists saw a dense, bright spot near a young star…
By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN NEW YORK (AP) — The last major meteor shower of the year, known as the Ursids, peaks soon, bringing glowing streaks to nighttime and early morning skies. Compared to other meteor showers, it’s more subdued, but experts say it’s still…
By MARCIA DUNN CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Saturn’s giant moon Titan may not have a vast underground ocean after all. Titan instead may hold deep layers of ice and slush more akin to Earth’s polar seas, with pockets of melted water where…
Updated 12:17 PM CST, December 18, 2025 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Harrison Ford will receive a lifetime achievement award in March from the actors union SAG-AFTRA. “Harrison Ford is a singular presence in American life; an actor whose iconic characters…
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Saints kicker Charlie Smyth, a former Gaelic football player from Northern Ireland who made his NFL regular-season debut last month, now has a three-year contract with New Orleans, according to Smyth’s agent, Paul Sheehy. Sheehy announced…
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Yes the darkest day of the year is here, but that means brighter days are ahead. Sunday is the shortest day of the year north of the equator, where the solstice marks the start of astronomical winter.…
By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP) — Volunteers gripping flashlights waved them high above their heads when the clock struck 8 p.m., shining beams through the frigid night sky — and into the hospital’s windows. Exactly 10 minutes later, the…
By OLIVIA DIAZ To those who argue that the U.S. penny had no value: some coin collectors beg to differ. In fact, they doled out millions for the final pennies circulated in the U.S. before the government ended the cent’s production back in…
By MARIA SHERMAN NEW YORK (AP) — There are giants, and then there is Donna Summer. The Queen of Disco and then some, known for such timeless tunes as “Love to Love You Baby,” “I Feel Love,” “Bad Girls,” “Dim All the Lights,”…
By CODY JACKSON and FREIDA FRISARO JUNO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Two dozen Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are rehabilitating in Florida after the frigid waters off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, left them struggling with frostbite, pneumonia and abrasions. The 24 endangered sea turtles…
By BRIAN WITTE and MINGSON LAU BALTIMORE (AP) — Cyclist Barnaby Wickham has collected more than 700 lost hubcaps, mostly on bike rides around Baltimore. They have inspired a quest to turn litter into art, including Christmas wreaths, a giant fish and a…
By JAY COHEN LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride heard about what happened to Pittsburgh Steelers star T.J. Watt — and McBride plans to continue his weekly dry-needling sessions. “It’s something I do frequently. I’ve never had an…
By DAMIAN J. TROISE NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks gained ground on Wall Street Friday for a second straight day, wiping away losses from earlier in the week. Technology stocks were once again the main force behind the market’s broader moves,…
By SALLY HO U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday that nine drugmakers have agreed to lower the cost of their prescription drugs in the U.S. Pharmaceutical companies Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi…
By JACK DURA A nearly 100-year-old bridge over the Mississippi River between Iowa and Wisconsin was imploded Friday, an unusual spectacle that clears the way for a modern replacement. The Mississippi River Bridge, also known as the Black Hawk Bridge, was…
By AMY TAXIN SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels reached a confidential settlement Friday in a lawsuit over the drug overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. The decision to settle was reached after a two-month civil trial in…
By MATTHEW LEE and DAVID KLEPPER WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio was hopeful but clear about the challenges facing the Trump administration’s Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas peace efforts and defended increasing U.S. military pressure on Venezuela during a marathon end-of-year news conference Friday. In a…