National News - The Morning Sun

This composite image provided by NASA on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, shows three side-by-side images of Neptune. From left, a photo of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 in 1989, Hubble in 2021, and Webb in 2022. In visible light, Neptune appears blue due to small amounts of methane gas in its atmosphere. Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera instead observed Neptune at near-infrared wavelengths, where Neptune resembles a pearl with thin, concentric oval rings. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI via AP)

Neptune and rings shine in photos from new space telescope

NASA has released new glamour shots of Neptune, and the planet and its rings haven’t looked this good in decades. The Webb Space Telescope took the stunning photos in the infrared of our solar … more

By MARCIA DUNN | 9/21/22

FILE - A cross and Bible sculpture stand outside the Southern Baptist Convention headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., May 24, 2022. On Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, the Southern Baptists' top administrative body voted to cut ties with two congregations: an LGBTQ-friendly church in North Carolina that had itself quit the denomination decades earlier and a New Jersey congregation it cited for “alleged discriminatory behavior.” (AP Photo/Holly Meyer, File)

Southern Baptists cut ties with LGBTQ-friendly church

The Southern Baptists’ Executive Committee has voted effectively to cut ties with two congregations. One is an LGBTQ-friendly church, College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, that … more

By PETER SMITH | 9/21/22

FILE - Jennifer Quinn fills her SUV at a gas station Monday, March 7, 2022, in Needham, Mass. The average price of regular gasoline nationwide is up slightly Wednesday, Sept. 21, from a day earlier, the first time prices have climbed in 99 days. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

After 99 days in decline, price for gasoline up a penny

After 99 consecutive days of declining gasoline prices, the cost for a gallon edged a penny higher. Prices soared above $5 per gallon over the summer adding to financial pressure on families and a … more

Associated Press | 9/21/22

President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, at the United Nations Headquarters. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Live updates: U.N. General Assembly

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says developing countries are “literally paying the price” when it comes to climate change. He says that while Africa and other developing nations produce only … more

By The Associated Press | 9/21/22

FILE - A "sold" is posted outside a single family home in a residential neighborhood, in Glenside, Pa., Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021. Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this week, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, to their highest level in almost 14 years, certain to keep even more potential buyers out of a housing market that’s cooled considerably since the Federal Reserve began jacking up its benchmark borrowing rate. .(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

US home sales slipped, prices grew more slowly in August

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in August for the seventh month in a row, as sharply higher mortgage rates and rising home prices made homebuying less affordable. The National … more

By ALEX VEIGA | 9/21/22

FILE - The NASA moon rocket as stands on Pad 39B for the Artemis 1 mission to orbit the Moon at the Kennedy Space Center, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA is fueling its moon rocket in a leak test ahead of a launch attempt as early as next week. Wednesday, Sept. 21 demo will determine whether the 322-foot rocket is ready for its first test flight, a lunar-orbiting mission with mannequins in lieu of astronauts. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

NASA fuels moon rocket in leak test ahead of next launch try

NASA is fueling its moon rocket in a leak test ahead of a launch attempt as early as next week. Wednesday's demo will determine whether the 322-foot rocket is ready for its first test flight, a … more

By MARCIA DUNN | 9/21/22

FILE - Sri Lankans wait in queue to buy petrol at a fuel station, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 17, 2022. The Asian Development Bank has downgraded its forecasts for growth in the region, citing the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates aimed at fighting decades-high inflation and China's slowing economy. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

Asian lender ADB cuts forecasts to reflect weakening outlook

The Asian Development Bank has downgraded its forecasts for growth in the region, citing the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates to combat decades-high inflation, and China's slowing economy. The … more

By ELAINE KURTENBACH | 9/20/22

Immigrants gather with their belongings outside St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Wednesday Sept. 14, 2022, in Edgartown, Mass., on Martha's Vineyard. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday flew two planes of immigrants to Martha's Vineyard, escalating a tactic by Republican governors to draw attention to what they consider to be the Biden administration's failed border policies. (Ray Ewing/Vineyard Gazette via AP)

Migrants sue Florida governor over Martha's Vineyard flights

Venezuelan migrants flown from San Antonio to the upscale Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard have sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his transportation secretary for engaging in a … more

9/20/22

Palestinians clash with Palestinian security forces following an arrest raid against local militants, in the West Bank city of Nablus Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Palestinian security forces on Tuesday exchanged fire with militants in the center of the West Bank's second-largest city, as angry residents pelted an armored jeep with objects and chased it away. One man was reported dead. The incident, sparked by an arrest raid against local militants, marked a rare case of deadly internal Palestinian fighting in the occupied West Bank. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Palestinian forces clash with gunmen; woman killed in Israel

Israeli police say an 84-year-old woman has been beaten to death in central Israel, and they are searching for a young Palestinian man wanted in the killing. Tuesday's killing came at a time of … more

9/20/22

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Bulloch County Sheriff's Office shows Marc Wilson, of Sharpsburg, Ga. Wilson was charged with killing a 17-year-old girl in a highway shooting after opening fire from his car in self-defense after the pickup truck in which the girl was a passenger tried to force him off the road, a defense attorney told a jury as his murder trial opened on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. (Bulloch County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

Georgia man sentenced to 10 years in teen girl's road death

A biracial man who says he was fending off a racist attack on a Georgia highway when he fired into a pickup truck and killed a teenage passenger has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. A judge in … more

9/20/22

Coalition of leaders: Urgent action needed for food security

Leaders from Europe, the Americas and Africa are calling for urgent action and funding to ease a growing global food security crisis. It's one that has been exacerbated by Russia’s war with Ukraine … more

By MATTHEW LEE | 9/20/22

FILE - South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks during the Family Leadership Summit, July 16, 2021, in Des Moines, Iowa. A South Dakota ethics board is keeping it a secret what action they have taken after finding that there was evidence Gov. Noem improperly intervened in her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Ethics board keeps 'action' secret on complaint against Noem

A South Dakota ethics board is keeping it a secret what action it took after finding there was evidence Gov. Kristi Noem improperly intervened in her daughter’s application for a real estate … more

By STEPHEN GROVES | 9/20/22

FILE - This 2009 colorized microscope image made available by the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a sickle cell, left, and normal red blood cells of a patient with sickle cell anemia. A study of U.S. children with sickle cell disease found fewer than half get a needed screening for stroke, a common complication. And only about half or fewer get a treatment that can help with pain and anemia, the study found. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, and called for more screening and treatment. (Janice Haney Carr/CDC/Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia via AP, File)

Study: Too few kids with sickle cell get stroke screen, care

A study of U.S. children with sickle cell disease found fewer than half get a needed screening for stroke, a common complication. The research also found about half or fewer get a treatment that can … more

By MIKE STOBBE | 9/20/22

FILE - Two women pause along a fence outside the dormant landmark Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. The long-delayed capital murder trial of Robert Bowers in the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue massacre will begin in April, 2023 a federal judge has ruled. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

April trial set for man charged in synagogue massacre

The long-delayed capital murder trial of Robert Bowers in the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue massacre will begin in April. A federal judge issued the ruling Monday. Bowers has pleaded not guilty and could … more

9/20/22

This image made from video provided by KVII shows a police officer stands beside a police car near a shooting scene in Amarillo, Texas Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. A gunman shot a few people, including first responders, at the Tri-State Fair & Rodeo in Texas, before he was shot and wounded by sheriff's deputies, authorities said.(KVII via AP)

Gunman shoots 3 at Texas fair before being shot by deputies

Authorities say a gunman shot three people, including two first responders, at the Tri-State Fair & Rodeo in Texas, before he was shot and wounded by sheriff’s deputies. Potter County Sheriff Brian … more

9/20/22

British Prime Minister Liz Truss speaks during the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in central London, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)

Leader Truss says queen's death is 'difficult moment' for UK

British Prime Minister Liz Truss says the death of Queen Elizabeth II is a “very difficult moment” for the country," and dealing with it has been a challenge for her untested new government. … more

By JILL LAWLESS | 9/20/22

FILE - Officials escort murder suspect Alan Eugene Miller away from the Pelham City Jail in Ala., on Aug. 5, 1999. Miller, scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on Sept. 22, 2022, for a workplace shooting rampage in 1999 that killed three men, says the state lost the paperwork he turned in selecting an alternate execution method. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)

Judge blocks upcoming lethal injection in Alabama

A U.S. judge on Monday blocked Alabama from executing an inmate who says the state lost his paperwork requesting an alternative to lethal injection. U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker, Jr. issued … more

By KIM CHANDLER | 9/19/22

FILE - A giant tarp, bottom, covers a section of rubble where search and rescue personnel have been working at the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Fla., on July 4, 2021. Lawyers who secured a $1.1 billion settlement in the deadly collapse last year of the beachfront Florida condominium building were awarded more than $70 million in fees Monday, Aug. 29, 2022 by a judge. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

Developers, family discuss memorial for collapse victims

Developers and city officials are pushing back on family members’ expectations for a memorial for 98 people who died last year when a beachfront Florida condominium building collapsed. Surfside … more

9/19/22

FILE - A security guard watches from a tower around a detention facility in Yarkent County in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on March 21, 2021. As world leaders gather in New York at the annual U.N. General Assembly, rising superpower China is also focusing on another United Nations body that is meeting across the Atlantic Ocean in Geneva. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

On sidelines of UN, a push for China's abuses to be punished

Diplomats and human rights advocates speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly are calling for forceful action on China's alleged persecution of ethnic minorities. Abuses in … more

By MATT SEDENSKY | 9/19/22

Dawn McIntosh hugs O'Fallon, Missouri, Detective Jodi Weber on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, after a news conference announcing that a man has been charged for killing four women in the St. Louis area in 1990 in Clayton, Mo. McIntosh's mother, Donna Reiteyer, was one of the victims. Authorities say Gary Muehlberg, who is already in prison for an unrelated murder, has confessed to killing the women. Weber is credited with reopening the case. (AP Photo/Jim Salter)

Prosecutors: Inmate confessed to killing 4 women in 1990

St. Louis-area prosecutors say a convicted murderer serving a life sentence for killing a man in 1995 has confessed to strangling four women five years earlier. Prosecutors from Lincoln, St. Charles … more

By JIM SALTER | 9/19/22