National News - The Morning Sun

This photo released by Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov's telegram channel on Monday, March 18, 2024, shows emergency ministry employees working at the destroyed building after shelling from the Ukrainian side, in Nikolskoye village, Belgorod region, Russia. Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov says four people were killed in the shelling, not far from the border with Ukraine. (Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov telegram channel via AP)

Russia says it will evacuate 9,000 children from a border region targeted from the Ukrainian side

Officials say a Russian border region plans to evacuate some 9,000 children from the area that is being continuously shelled from the Ukrainian side. Kyiv’s forces have been increasingly striking … more

By The Associated Press | 3/19/24

FILE - This undated photo provided by Perrigo Company shows boxes of Opill, the first over-the-counter birth control pill. Medicaid recipients in Wisconsin will have access to the first over-the-counter birth control pill starting Tuesday, March 19, 2024, allowing them to easily receive contraceptive medication with no out-of-pocket costs or doctor's prescription, Gov. Tony Evers announced. (Perrigo Company via AP, File)

Over-the-counter birth control pill now available to Wisconsin Medicaid patients

Medicaid recipients in Wisconsin are getting access to the first over-the-counter birth control pill. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers says Opill will start becoming available in some Medicaid-enrolled … more

By SCOTT BAUER | 3/19/24

FILE - This combination of photos shows, from top left, former Rankin County sheriff's deputies Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield appearing at the Rankin County Circuit Court in Brandon, Miss., Aug. 14, 2023. Two Black men who were tortured for hours by the six Mississippi law enforcement officers in 2023 called Monday, March 18, 2024, for a federal judge to impose the strictest possible penalties at their sentencings this week. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

6 former Mississippi law officers to be sentenced for torture of 2 Black men

Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two Black men will be sentenced by a federal judge starting Tuesday. U.S. … more

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG | 3/19/24

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a Buckeye Values PAC rally on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion

Former President Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate Israel” and hate “their religion,” igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish … more

By JILL COLVIN | 3/18/24

This image provided by the Georgia Department of Corrections shows inmate Willie James Pye. A judge on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, signed the order for the execution of Pye, who was convicted of murder and other crimes in the November 1993 killing of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. The execution is set for March 20 at 7 p.m., after the judge set an execution window between noon that day and noon on March 27. (Georgia Department of Corrections via AP)

Man seeks clemency to avoid what could be Georgia's first execution in more than 4 years

Lawyers for a Georgia man who's set to be executed this week say he should not be put to death because he is is intellectually disabled and feels remorse for killing his former girlfriend three … more

By JEFF MARTIN | 3/18/24

FILE - Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, Friday, March, 1, 2024, in Atlanta. A progressive Democrat and a Republican who briefly worked in Donald Trump's administration entered the Fulton County district attorney's race Friday, March 8, 2024, as the current officeholder, Willis, awaits a judge's decision on whether she will be removed from the Georgia election interference case against the former president. (AP Photo/Alex Slitz, Pool, File)

Trump seeks to appeal decision not to disqualify district attorney from Georgia election case

Former President Donald Trump and other defendants in Georgia’s election interference case are seeking to appeal a judge’s ruling not to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis … more

3/18/24

The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street on Aug. 8, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Hawaii’s attorney general on Monday, March 18, 2024 blamed a delay of the release of a key report into a deadly Maui wildfire on county agencies that forced investigators to issue subpoenas. (Matthew Thayer/The Maui News via AP, file)

Subpoenas on Maui agencies and officials delay release of key report into deadly wildfire

Hawaii’s attorney general is blaming a delay of the release of a key report into a deadly Maui wildfire on county agencies that forced investigators to issue subpoenas. Investigators have needed to … more

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER | 3/18/24

FILE - This booking photo provided by the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Sheriff's Department shows Kristel Candelario, of Cleveland, Ohio. The Ohio mother whose 16-month-old daughter died after being left home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation was sentenced Monday, March 18, 2024, to life in prison with no chance of parole. (Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department via AP, File)

Ohio mom who left toddler alone 10 days when she went on vacation pleads guilty to aggravated murder

An Ohio mother whose 16-month-old daughter died after being left home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of … more

3/18/24

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on a visit to his campaign headquarters after a presidential election in Moscow in Moscow, Russia, early Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Reactions as Vladimir Putin secures a fifth term as Russia's president after tightly controlled vote

Vladimir Putin has secured an unprecedented fifth term as president of Russia. The election commission announced the results of a vote in which he faced no serious challenges and which happened amid … more

The Associated Press | 3/18/24

Muhammad Syed looks over his shoulder during closing arguments at the Bernalillo County Courthouse in Downtown Albuquerque, N.M,, on Friday, March 15, 2024. Prosecutors on Friday wrapped up their case against Syed on charges that he gunned down a man in 2022 in what turned out to be the first of three ambush-style killings involving members of the Muslim community in New Mexico's largest city. (Chancey Bush)/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

Afghan refugee convicted of murder in a case that shocked Albuquerque’s Muslim community

An Afghan refugee has been found guilty of first-degree murder in one of three fatal shootings that shook Albuquerque’s Muslim community during the summer of 2022. Jurors returned the verdict … more

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN | 3/18/24

FILE - Michael Corey Jenkins, center, and Eddie Terrell Parker, right, listen as one of six former Mississippi law officers pleads guilty to state charges at the Rankin County Circuit Court in Brandon, Miss., Aug. 14, 2023. The two Black men who were tortured by six former Mississippi law enforcement officers in a violent episode last year called Monday, March 18, 2024 for a federal judge to impose strict penalties at sentencing hearings set to occur this week. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, file)

2 Black men tortured by Mississippi officers call for toughest sentences

Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two Black men will be sentenced by a federal judge starting Tuesday. U.S. … more

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG | 3/18/24

This image shows Count Sovall, center, with the cast during a performance of "American Rot," playing through March 31 at the Ellen Stewart Theatre in New York. (Steven Pisano/Sam Rudy Public Relations via AP)

Descendant of judge who wrote infamous Dred Scott decision pens a play about where we are now

Writer and actor Kate Taney Billingsley has been thinking a lot about America’s racial history and her family’s part in it. Billingsley’s great-great-great-great uncle was Chief Justice Roger … more

By MARK KENNEDY | 3/18/24

U.S. Special Representative to the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar speaks during a joint press conference after talks with Montenegro's Prime Minister Milojko Spajic in Montenegro's capital Podgorica, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

US envoy travels to Montenegro to support its EU bid as war in Ukraine rages on

A senior U.S. official has visited Montenegro to offer support to the small Balkan nation seeking to join the European Union. During a press conference in the capital Podgorica on Monday, Deputy … more

By PREDRAG MILIC | 3/18/24

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures towards the crowd at a campaign rally Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Trump's lawyers say it is impossible for him to post bond covering $454 million civil fraud judgment

Donald Trump’s lawyers told a New York appellate court on Monday that it’s impossible for him to post a bond covering the full amount of his $454 million civil fraud judgment while he appeals. A … more

By MICHAEL R. SISAK | 3/18/24

"Black Renaissance," by Rayvenn D'Clark, bronze, 2023, during a media tour of Equal Justice Initiative's new Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, Tuesday, March 12, 2024, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

Sculpture park aims to look honestly at slavery, honoring those who endured it

The history of slavery in America is the focus of a new sculpture park in Montgomery, Alabama. The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park honors the millions of people who endured slavery's brutality. The … more

By KIM CHANDLER | 3/18/24

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on a visit to his campaign headquarters after the presidential election in Moscow, Russia, early Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Putin says Russia is planning a buffer zone to protect against Ukrainian cross-border attacks

Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country won’t relent in its invasion of Ukraine, with one of its goals being to establish a buffer zone along the border to protect against long-range … more

By The Associated Press | 3/18/24

Vladimir Putin has almost completely crushed dissent in Russia but on Sunday at noon local time, lines formed at some polling stations in Russia and at embassies around the world, AP reporter Emma Burrows explains.

Putin gets 5th term in election that was never in doubt, after harshest crackdown since Soviet era

President Vladimir Putin has secured a fifth term, as Russia's election commission said he received an overwhelming number of votes. After facing only token challengers and harshly suppressing … more

By EMMA BURROWS, DASHA LITVINOVA and JIM HEINTZ | 3/18/24

Parachutes drop humanitarian aid over the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, March 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The Latest | Israeli military raids Gaza's main hospital, claiming Hamas is using it as a base

Israeli forces have launched another raid on the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, accusing Hamas militants of using it as a base. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, said the army had … more

By The Associated Press | 3/18/24

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, second right, Speaker of the Crimean legislature Vladimir Konstantinov, second left, Crimean Premier Sergei Aksyonov, left, and Sevastopol Mayor Alexei Chalyi, right, shake hands after signing a treaty for Crimea to join Russia in the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, March 18, 2014. Russia's quick and bloodless seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, home to Russia's Black Sea fleet and a popular vacation site, touched off a wave of patriotism and sent Putin's popularity soaring. "Crimea is ours!" became a popular slogan in Russia. (Yekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik, Pool Sputnik Government via AP, File)

How Russia's grab of Crimea 10 years ago led to war with Ukraine and rising tensions with the West

A decade ago, President Vladimir Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine, a bold land grab that set the stage for Russia to invade its neighbor in 2022. The quick and bloodless seizure of the diamond-shaped … more

By The Associated Press | 3/18/24

FILE - Visitors hold their hands out to receive the sun's energy as they celebrate the Spring equinox atop the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Thursday, March 21, 2019. Spring gets its official start Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in the Northern Hemisphere. On the equinoxes, the Earth's axis and orbit line up so both hemispheres get the same amount of sunlight. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

The spring equinox is here. What does that mean?

Spring gets its official start Tuesday in the Northern Hemisphere. This year's vernal equinox arrives on Tuesday. But what does that mean? The Earth's axis is tilted at an angle as it travels around … more

By The Associated Press | 3/18/24