National News

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are both condemning the Memphis police beating of Tyre Nichols that ended in his death. The president said in a statement that he was “outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video” of the beating and said people who see it will be “justifiably outraged.” But he’s also urging protesters to avoid any violence. Harris issued a statement that said: “Yet, once again, America mourns the life of a son and father brutally cut short at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve.” She said the video images will “open wounds that will never fully heal.”

Authorities in Memphis have released video showing Black motorist Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held him down and repeatedly struck him with fists, batons and boots. The footage released Friday also shows the Black officers pummeling the 29-year-old and leaving him propped against a squad car as they fist-bumped and celebrated their actions. Five officers have been charged with murder in the assault that the Nichols family’s legal team likened to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King. The chilling images of another Black man dying at the hands of police provoked tough questions about the nation’s policing culture.

After being held in detention in Texas for months during his legal fight to remain in the U.S., Afghan soldier Abdul Wasi Safi is now a free man as he works to secure asylum in America. Wasi Safi fled Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S. forces in August 2021, fearing reprisals from the Taliban. He was arrested in September near Eagle Pass, Texas, after crossing the Mexico border. He was freed earlier this week. On Friday, he told reporters in Houston that he looks forward to one day being able to live the American dream.

Alex Murdaugh’s comments to police about his whereabouts around the time his wife and son were fatally shot may not have been accurate. That's according to video evidence presented by prosecutors Friday at the South Carolina attorney’s murder trial. In cross examining one of the detectives who interviewed Murdaugh, his lawyer underlined that despite the gory scene of two people killed with powerful weapons at close range, Murdaugh didn’t appear to have any blood on him. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their Colleton County home and hunting lodge on June 7, 2021.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration quietly ousted its former top official in Mexico last year over improper contact with lawyers for narcotraffickers. Nicholas Palmeri’s socializing and vacationing with Miami drug lawyers, detailed in confidential records obtained by the Associated Press, brought his ultimate downfall after just 14 months at the helm. But colleagues told the AP there were plenty of other red flags, including lax handling of the coronavirus pandemic that resulted in two sickened agents having to be airlifted out of the country. A separate internal probe found Palmeri used drug-fighting funds for inappropriate purposes, including to pay for his own birthday party.

Tyre Nichols was killed by police in Memphis after they pulled him over Jan. 7. Video of the incident was released to the public on Friday. Family and friends remember Nichols as a generous, lovable man who worked hard to be a good father to his 4-year-old son. He was passionate about photography. He was an avid skateboarder and hailed from Sacramento, California. He got stuck in Memphis during the pandemic, but didn't mind because he was with his mother. They were close, and she says she's still in shock he won't walk through her door anymore.

Newly released video shows the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi struggling for control of a hammer with his assailant during an attack in the couple’s San Francisco home last year. The footage was released Friday after a coalition of news agencies, including The Associated Press, sought access to evidence prosecutors played in court during a preliminary hearing last month. The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office had refused to make it available to journalists. The evidence includes portions of Paul Pelosi’s 911 call, as well as images from Capitol police surveillance cameras, a body camera worn by one of the responding police officers and a recording from the suspect's police interview. David DePape has pleaded not guilty in separate state and federal cases.

Authorities in Iowa have charged a second teenager with murder in the shooting deaths of two students at a Des Moines educational program. Nineteen-year-old Bravon Michael Tukes faces two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of criminal gang participation. The charges filed Friday match those brought earlier in the week against 18-year-old Preston Walls, who is accused of fatally shooting the two students at the Starts Right Here program Monday and wounding its founder. Police say evidence shows Tukes communicated with Walls before and immediately after the shooting and drove the vehicle in which Walls allegedly fled. There is no attorney listed in court records yet who could speak on Tukes' behalf.

Police say a man accused of torturing a woman he held captive in Oregon, and who was convicted in Nevada of keeping another woman in captivity, is using dating apps to try to find people to help him avoid the police or find new victims. Benjamin Obadiah Foster is the subject of an intensive search by police after a woman was found unconscious, bound and near death in Grants Pass, Oregon, on Tuesday. On Thursday night, police, sheriff’s deputies, a state patrol SWAT team and federal agents raided a property in the unincorporated community of Wolf Creek, but Foster managed to escape.

Amazon is axing free grocery delivery for Prime members on orders less than $150. In an email to Prime members Friday, Amazon said customers who get their groceries delivered from Amazon Fresh — and pay less than $150 — will be charged between $3.95 and $9.95 depending on the order size. The new policy starts February 28. Currently, the company offers Prime members free grocery delivery on orders above $35, with the exception of New York, where it’s $50. The decision to impose new fees comes as Amazon attempts to trim costs amid a hazy economic environment.

North Dakota landowners testified for and against a carbon capture company’s use of eminent domain. Some landowners said carbon companies should not be able to forcibly buy people's land. Other landowners said carbon companies should be able to so they can complete pipeline construction quickly and serve an important public interest. Summit Carbon Solutions' $4.5 billion proposed pipeline would reduce the state’s carbon footprint and allow North Dakotans to continue working in energy and agriculture. The massive underground system of carbon dioxide pipelines would span 2,000 miles across several states, running under hundreds of people’s homes and farms in the Midwest.

Stocks closed higher on Wall Street, marking the market's third winning week in the last four. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% Friday after giving up most of an earlier gain. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9%, and the Dow ended up about 0.1%. American Express helped lead the way. It jumped after giving a profit forecast that topped expectations. Next week could be even busier for markets. The Federal Reserve is expected to announce its latest increase to interest rates. A report on Friday showed that inflation is continuing to cool, raising hopes for a smaller increase that's less painful.

Fierce battles in eastern Ukraine have thrown a new spotlight on a private Russian military group led by a rogue millionaire with longtime links to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. The Wagner Group is spearheading the push to jump-start Russia’s offensive in Donetsk province. The ferocious house-to house fighting has produced some of the bloodiest encounters since Russia invaded Ukraine more than 11 months ago. The company first was spotted in action in eastern Ukraine after a separatist conflict erupted there in April 2014. In the years since, they have deployed to Syria, Libya, Central African Republic and Mali. The U.S. has expanded sanctions against Wagner for its role in Ukraine and mercenary activities in Africa.

“A Thousand and One,” a drama about an impoverished single mother and her son in New York City, won the Sundance Film Festival’s grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition, while “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” was awarded the top prize in the U.S. documentary category. This year’s winners were announced at an awards ceremony Friday afternoon in Park City, Utah, which included an audience prize for the world cinema documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.” Other grand jury prizes winners were: “Scrapper,” in world cinema, about a 12-year-old girl living alone on the outskirts of London after her mother’s death; and “The Eternal Memory,” in world cinema documentary.

Some student leaders at a Minnesota college where a lesson on Islamic art included a painting of the Prophet Muhammad are supporting the embattled president. The students wrote in a letter on Hamline University’s student news site that they do not want school President Fayneese Miller to resign. This after the faculty voted to call for Miller’s resignation for violating their academic freedom. It all started when a Muslim student said seeing the artwork violated her religious beliefs. Miller dismissed the teacher. Some student leaders say the faculty are making the president a scapegoat for larger problems at the school in St. Paul.

The fallout from the shooting of a teacher by a first-grader in Virginia has prompted a staff shakeup in the Newport News school district. In addition to the firing of  Superintendent Gary Parker this week, the principal and assistant principal of Richneck Elementary School have also left their jobs. Principal Briana Foster Newton is no longer listed as the school’s principal on the Richneck website. A spokesperson for the school district said Newton is still employed by the Newport News Public Schools, but she didn't say what position Newton now holds. Assistant Principal Ebony Parker has resigned. Karen Lynch, who has worked as a principal in Newport News for 17 years, has been assigned as administrator of the school.

When Bill Lawrence was developing his new Apple TV+ comedy ”Shrinking,” he introduced one of the characters in the pilot script as a “Harrison Ford-type.” Never did he dream he'd get the real thing. Yet the “Indiana Jones” actor agreed to play the part of a tough therapist who works with star Jason Segel in a mental health practice. Cast members like Segel and Jessica Williams as well as writer Brett Goldstein marveled at Ford's generosity in acting and said he never made them feel like he needed special treatment. “Shrinking” starts streaming Friday.

Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: Flavor enhancers added to food products do not contain aborted fetal tissue. Changes to Federal Aviation Administration requirements that airline pilots must meet for cardiac health were not prompted by COVID-19 vaccines. A video shows a train transporting tanks along a highway in Kansas, not in Poland after President Joe Biden announced the U.S. would send military vehicles to Ukraine. And medical experts say there's no link between the toxic pesticide DDT and the viral disease polio.

Two months after undergoing surgery for serious burns, Jay Leno is now contending with a number of broken bones after being knocked off a motorcycle. The comedian and former “Tonight Show” host told a Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Thursday that he broke his collarbone and two ribs and cracked his kneecaps on Jan. 17. The November garage fire and January wreck both stemmed from his passion for working on vintage vehicles. Last week, it was a vintage motorcycle. He insisted he was OK and would even be working this weekend, adding that the intense coverage of the November fire made him reluctant to say anything.

Ten Filipino men who worked for a major offshore oil industry employer under federally granted visas claim in a federal lawsuit they were treated like prisoners at a company bunkhouse and that some of them were abandoned there when Hurricane Ida struck the Louisiana Gulf Coast in August 2021. Their former employer denies the claims and has struck back with a counterclaim accusing the workers of defamation. The judge in the case dismissed the defamation allegations in a Jan. 20 order. The competing court filings at the U.S. District Court in New Orleans lay out starkly different views of life for Filipino workers at Louisiana-based Grand Isle Shipyard.

A comet is streaking back our way after 50,000 years. NASA says the dirty snowball last visited during Neanderthal times. It will come within 26 million miles of Earth on Wednesday before speeding away again. And it might not return for millions of years. Discovered less than a year ago, this harmless green comet already is visible in the northern night sky with binoculars and small telescopes. It's expected to brighten in the Northern Hemisphere as it draws closer and rises higher over the horizon. Skygazers in the Southern Hemisphere will have to wait until next month.

It’s been nearly a decade since Smokey Robinson’s last album, but new music from the King of Motown is on the horizon. Robinson announced Friday that he will release the nine-track album “Gasms” on April 28. “Gasms” features new songs produced and written by Robinson himself. The former vice president of Motown Records released his last collaborative album, “Smokey & Friends,” nine years ago. The upcoming album's first single “If We Don’t Have Each Other” is already available for streaming. Robinson will soon be honored alongside fellow Motown musician Berry Gordy as the 2023 “Persons Of The Year” at the Recording Academy’s annual MusiCares event.

Prosecutors in Massachusetts are basing their murder case against a man whose wife is presumed dead but whose body has not been found in large part on a series of gruesome internet searches. But experts warn that incriminating internet searches are not enough alone to build a case. Prosecutors said at Brian Walshe's arraignment that he used Google to look up ways to dismember and dispose of a body. His wife, Ana Walshe, has not been seen since Jan. 1. Northeastern University School of Law professor Daniel Medwed says prosecutors have plenty of other evidence to make their case, including blood and DNA.

Debts brought into a relationship can be ruinous for couples, but many decide to work as a team to conquer individual debts. You can help your partner in nonmonetary ways as an accountability buddy. You can also assist financially by gifting or loaning money, or covering more household costs while your partner focuses on making debt payments. But if you’re helping pay off a debt that’s 100% your partner’s responsibility, it’s important to consider how to keep things fair and not put your relationship — and your own finances — at risk.

Several years of pandemic restrictions and curriculum battles have emboldened longtime advocates of funneling public funds to private and religious schools in statehouses throughout the country. Republicans and parents’ rights activists are pushing voucher-style education savings account proposals in a dozen states that would allow students to use taxpayer dollars toward education outside traditional K-12 schools. The debates have inflamed teachers’ unions and resurfaced concerns about efforts to gradually privatize public education. If enacted, they could transform the nature of state government’s relationship with the education system and deepen contrasts between how going to school looks in many red versus blue states.

A University of Michigan student is one of the world’s foremost “speedcubers,” a person capable of quickly solving a Rubik’s Cube. He also is an accomplished violinist. Stanley Chapel says the two fields go hand in hand and the violin has aided in his speedcubing success. The 21-year-old is the world champion in two categories of blindfolded speedcubing. Factoring in the time it takes for him to review the cube before placing the blindfold over his eyes, Chapel can solve one in around 17 seconds. The junior majoring in violin performance intends to defend his titles later this year in South Korea.

Five fired Memphis police officers have been charged with murder and other crimes in the killing of Tyre Nichols, a Black motorist who died three days after a confrontation with the officers during a traffic stop. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said although the officers each played different roles in the killing, “they are all responsible.” All of the officers are Black. Video of the Jan. 7 traffic stop will be released to the public sometime Friday evening. Nichols’ family and their lawyers say the footage shows officers savagely beating the 29-year-old father and FedEx worker for three minutes.

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren’s name is on the U.S. Navy’s newest fuel ship. Justice Elena Kagan smashed a champagne bottle against its hull in a shipyard ceremony in San Diego last weekend. Two other justices soon will join Warren, who in 1954 wrote the Brown v. Board of Education decision that outlawed segregation in public schools. Their ships are in a group being named for civil rights leaders. The Navy has awarded contracts for the construction of the Thurgood Marshall and the Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Warren is not the first justice with a naval vessel bearing his name, though the earlier ones are lesser-known. Warren died in 1974.

Jan. 20-26, 2023

Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to build “several” nuclear weapons if it chooses. That's according to the United Nations’ top nuclear official. But diplomatic efforts aimed at again limiting its atomic program seem more unlikely than ever before as Tehran arms Russia in its war on Ukraine and as unrest shakes the Islamic Republic. The warning from Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in response to questions from European lawmakers this week, show just how high the stakes have become over Iran’s nuclear program.

JAN 20-26, 2023

It’s the first time in history that the four leaders of the two congressional spending committees are women. Sitting down with The Associated Press on Thursday for their first joint interview, along with Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, the women acted like old friends, nodding and laughing in agreement when listening to each others’ stories about the way things used to be for women, and sometimes still are. The women say their camaraderie, friendship and willingness to collaborate will be crucial this year as they navigate the difficult responsibility of keeping the government running and open.

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel is fighting for reelection in a bitter leadership feud that’s testing former President Donald Trump’s grip on his own “Make American Great Again” movement. The high-profile contest to lead the GOP through the 2024 presidential election will be decided Friday in a secret vote at the committee’s winter meeting in southern California. Trump is backing McDaniel, at least privately. But much of his so-called MAGA movement is supporting her insurgent challenger, Harmeet Dhillon. Above all, the case against McDaniel has centered on conservative frustration with repeated election losses.

The shooting that left four dead at a California mushroom farm on Monday was at least the second time an employee tried to kill a coworker on the property. Court documents and a case summary from the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office show California Terra Garden manager Martin Medina was charged with attempted murder after he threatened to kill the other manager and then fired a gun into the man’s trailer. The bullet went through the trailer and into a neighboring one. Charging documents obtained by The Associated Press show the second trailer was home to Yetao Bing, who was killed in Monday's shooting.

Police in southern Oregon are searching for a man accused of torturing a woman he held captive, less than two years after he was convicted in Nevada of critically injuring another woman he held captive for two weeks. Police Chief Warren Hensman, of Grants Pass, Oregon, told The Associated Press that he finds it “extremely troubling” that the felon was able to reoffend instead of still being behind bars for the Nevada crimes. The Nevada woman's captivity ended only when the victim managed to escape. Benjamin Obadiah Foster, who is 36, is charged in Oregon with attempted murder, kidnapping and assault.

Jan. 20-26, 2023