Powerball jackpot up to $580 million
Saturday’s Powerball drawing is up to $580 million, prompting players to line up for tickets. The estimated cash value for the drawing is $278.2 million. This will be the 34th…
National News
California baker creates life-sized Han Solo out of bread
BENICIA, Calif. (AP) — Han Solo may be a hunk. But “Pan Solo” is a hunk of bread. That’s what a bakery in the San Francisco Bay Area has dubbed its 6-foot bread sculpture of the “Star Wars” character as…
Stocks end higher on Wall Street, notching weekly gains
By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Friday, notching sizable weekly gains for major indexes. The benchmark S&P 500 rose 2.4% Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq…
Judge dismisses effort to halt student loan forgiveness plan
By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) - A federal judge in St. Louis has dismissed an effort by six states to block the Biden administration’s plan to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans. U.S.…
Jan. 6 panel issues subpoena to Trump, demanding he testify
By FARNOUSH AMIRI and MARY CLARE JALONICK WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol formally issued its extraordinary subpoena o Donald Trump on Friday, demanding testimony from the former president who lawmakers say “personally…
Stocks give up an early gain and close lower on Wall Street
By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks gave up an early gain and closed lower on Wall Street as markets continue an unsteady search for direction. Several companies made big moves, both higher and lower, as…
Fewer Americans apply for jobless benefits last week
By MATT OTT AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week and remains historically low even as the U.S. economy slows in the midst of decades-high inflation. Jobless claims for the…
US home sales fell in September for eighth straight month
By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in September for the eighth month in a row, matching the pre-pandemic sales pace from 10 years ago, as house hunters grappled with sharply higher mortgage rates,…
Everything to know to apply for student loan forgiveness
NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. announced in August, will cancel up to $20,000 in debt per borrower. The application process is now open, and the administration says the forms should take five minutes to complete. Borrowers who…
Netflix sets $7 monthly price for its ad-supported service
SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Netflix next month will unveil the first version of its video streaming service with ads, giving cost-conscious viewers a chance to watch most of its shows at a steep discount in exchange for putting up…
SpaceX ferries astronauts back to Earth after half-year away
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astronauts returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule Friday, ending their nearly six-month space station mission with a splashdown in the Atlantic off Florida. Wet and windy weather across Florida delayed their homecoming. SpaceX…
2,560-pound pumpkin wins California contest; sets record
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — A horticulture teacher from Minnesota set a new U.S. record Monday for the heaviest pumpkin after raising a giant gourd weighing 2,560 pounds. Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota set the new record and won…
Police: 15-year-old boy kills 5 in Raleigh shooting rampage
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A 15-year-old boy killed five people and injured two more in a shooting rampage in Raleigh, police said, horrifying a community that is now mourning victims whose lives were cut short as they were going about their…
Actor Robbie Coltrane, Harry Potter’s Hagrid, dies at 72
LONDON (AP) — Robbie Coltrane, the baby-faced comedian and character actor whose hundreds of roles included a crime-solving psychologist on the TV series “Cracker” and the gentle half-giant Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” movies, has died. He was 72. Coltrane’s…
Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Trump, shows startling new video
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously to subpoena former President Donald Trump, demanding his personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video and described his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss, which led to…
3 workers fall into grain bin in Mississippi, 1 of them dies
ITTA BENA, Miss. - One man has died and two have been injured after falling into a grain storage bin in the Mississippi Delta. Multiple law enforcement and rescue personnel cut into the large metal structure to find the workers…
Social Security benefits to jump by 8.7% next year
WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of Social Security recipients will get an 8.7% boost in their benefits in 2023. That’s a historic increase and welcome news for American retirees and others - but it’s tempered by the fact that it’s fueled…
'Murder She Wrote' actress Angela Lansbury dies at 96
By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) - Angela Lansbury, the big-eyed, scene-stealing British actress who kicked up her heels in the Broadway musicals “Mame” and “Gypsy” and solved endless murders as crime novelist Jessica Fletcher in the…
Stocks lose more ground on fears a recession may be looming
By STAN CHOE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street lost more ground on worries that a still-strong U.S jobs market may actually make a recession more likely. The S&P 500 fell 2.8% Friday after…
Super squash: 2,554-pound pumpkin carves out new US record
CLARENCE, N.Y. (AP) — A 2,554-pound pumpkin grown in upstate New York has set a new U.S. record for the heaviest. State and national records fell over the weekend at the Great Pumpkin Farm in the Buffalo suburb of Clarence,…
Rescuers flock together to save 275 parrots stranded by Ian
PINE ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Will Peratino and his partner Lauren Stepp would not leave their Pine Island compound, even as authorities pleaded with residents to abandon their homes because of damaged roads, including a collapsed bridge that prevented deliveries…
Ian death toll hits 101 as evacuees return to mud, rubble
By STEPHEN SMITH and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. (AP) - Hurricane Ian’s death toll has climbed into the triple digits. The number of recorded storm-related deaths rose Thursday to at least 101 in the eight days…
Uvalde schools suspend entire police force after outrage
By PAUL J. WEBER AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Uvalde school district on Friday pulled its embattled campus police force off the job following a wave of new outrage over the hiring of a former Texas state trooper who was…
Biden pardons thousands for 'simple possession' of marijuana
By ZEKE MILLER AP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) - President Joe Biden is pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana, as his administration takes a dramatic step toward decriminalizing the drug and addressing charging practices that…