Stories by Associated Press

Crucial debt ceiling negotiations are still far from success, but a deal is possible by the end of the week, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said after a brief meeting Tuesday with President Joe Biden and other congressional leaders.

The report Monday from special counsel John Durham represents the long-awaited culmination of an investigation that Trump and allies had claimed would expose massive wrongdoing by law enforcement and intelligence officials. Instead, Durham’s investigation delivered underwhelming results.

Since the pandemic struck three years ago, the average new vehicle has rocketed 24% to nearly $48,000 as of April, according to Edmunds.com. Typical loan rates on new-car purchases have ballooned to 7%, a consequence of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive streak of interest rate hikes to fight inflation.

The league will hold this year’s lottery Tuesday night in Chicago, with the winner getting the No. 1 pick and the chance to draft Victor Wembanyama. He is considered the best prospect in years — perhaps since LeBron James went No. 1 20 years ago. 

The Social Security Administration released the annual list Friday. The agency tracks baby names in each state based on applications for Social Security cards, with names dating to 1880.

The red, white and blue Reebok jacket that Jordan — a Nike athlete — was forced to wear on the medal stand alongside the other members of USA Basketball’s first “Dream Team” at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics is headed to auction.

Federal health advisers said a decades-old birth control pill should be sold without a prescription, paving the way for a likely U.S. approval of the first over-the-counter contraceptive medication. Currently, a prescription is required in the U.S.

Prices increased 0.4% from March to April, the government said Wednesday, up from a 0.1% rise from February to March. Compared with a year earlier, prices climbed 4.9%, down slightly from March’s year-over-year increase.

The verdict was announced in a federal courtroom in New York City on the first day of jury deliberations. Jurors rejected advice columnist E. Jean Carroll's claims that she was raped, but found Trump liable for sexually assaulting her.

The Blackhawks won the lottery Monday night for the right to choose Bedard, the league’s most anticipated drawing since Connor McDavid in 2015. Bedard as a generational talent has drawn comparisons to McDavid and three-time Stanley Cup champion and two-time playoff MVP Sidney Crosby, whom he idolized growing up.

The compensation would be in addition to ticket refunds when the airline is at fault for a flight being canceled or significantly delayed. It would give consumers in the United States protections similar to those in the European Union.

Over the first four months and six days of this year, 115 people have died in 22 mass killings — an average of one mass killing a week. That includes the bloodshed Saturday at a Dallas-area mall where eight people were fatally shot.

Trumpets sounded inside the medieval abbey at a service attended by more than 2,000 guests, including world leaders, aristocrats and celebrities. Outside, thousands of troops, tens of thousands of spectators and a smattering of protesters converged.

The U.N. health agency’s officials said that even though the emergency phase was over, the pandemic hasn’t ended, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The unemployment rate dipped to 3.4%, matching a 54-year low, the Labor Department said Friday. The jobless rate fell in part, though, because 43,000 people left the labor force, the first drop since November, and were no longer counted as unemployed.

It’s a significant milestone for the Justice Department, which has now secured seditious conspiracy convictions against the leaders of two major extremist groups prosecutors say were intent on keeping Democratic President Joe Biden out of the White House at all costs. The charge carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

United said 3,800 of its new jobs this year will be in Chicago, where the company is headquartered and runs a big operation at O’Hare International Airport. 

The Fed's rate increases since March 2022 have more than doubled mortgage rates, elevated the costs of auto loans, credit card borrowing and business loans and heightened the risk of a recession.

More than 70 vehicles, including dozens of commercial vehicles and passenger cars, were involved in crashes late Monday morning along a 2-mile stretch of Interstate 55 in Montgomery County, 75 miles north of St. Louis.

Streaming and its ripple effects are at the center of the dispute. The Writers Guild of America says that even as series budgets have increased, writers’ share of that money has consistently shrunk.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who died in 2019, served on the court for nearly 35 years. In that time, the court decided cases on issues including abortion, affirmative action, presidential power, gun rights and the rights of prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center.

The crashes occurred late in the morning and involved 40 to 60 passenger cars and multiple tractor-trailers, two of which caught fire, Illinois State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said. The highway was shut down in both directions in Montgomery County, 75 miles north of St. Louis.

In recent months, unexpected demand spikes, manufacturing problems and tight ingredient supplies have contributed to shortages that stress patients, parents and doctors.

The peak water levels this spring will likely rank in the top 10 of all time in many places, but the National Weather Service said river levels will generally remain well below past records. 

Post-Civil War Dixon, 103 miles west of Chicago, was a growing city split by the formidable Rock River. On May 4, 1873, the 4-year-old bridge twisted, splintered and rolled over. Forty-six people perished, many immured by the unrelenting gridiron just below the water’s surface. 

The EPA framed its decision as a way to reduce gasoline prices at a time of market supply uncertainty because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The agency said its action also encourages U.S. energy independence and supports American agriculture and manufacturing.