National News - The Morning Sun

In this image provided by the National Park Service, a firefighter walks near the Mariposa Grove as the Washburn Fire burns in Yosemite National Park, Calif., Thursday, July 7, 2022. A portion of Yosemite National Park has been closed as a wildfire rages near a grove of California's famous giant sequoia trees, officials said. (National Park Service via AP)

Wildfire grows near famed Yosemite grove of sequoia trees

Officials say part of Yosemite National Park has been closed as a wildfire rages near a grove of California’s famed giant sequoia trees. The fire quintupled in size from Thursday night to Friday … more

7/8/22

Ted Kubacki gets a lick from the family golden retriever, Lulu, outside their house after being reunited in Sitka, Alaska, on Thursday, July 7, 2022. The elderly, blind dog who had been missing three weeks, was found Tuesday, July 5, 2022, by a construction crew in salmonberry bushes after initially confusing her for a bear. Behind Ted is his wife, Rebecca, and their children Ella, Viola, Star, Lazaria and Olive. (James Poulson/The Daily Sitka Sentinel via AP)

Blind, older dog found in Alaska 3 weeks after wandering off

An Alaska family had given up hope of finding their blind, elderly golden retriever who wandered away from their home three weeks ago, but a construction crew found Lulu in salmonberry bushes after … more

7/8/22

FILE - Chaka Khan performs during rehearsals for the annual Fourth of July Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular in Boston on July 3, 2022. Khan is one of many female performers featured in the four-part docuseries “Women Who Rock” starting Saturday on Epix. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

'I can’t be the only one': Docuseries on 'Women Who Rock'

A deep dive into rock ‘n’ roll’s female pioneers like Chaka Khan, Pat Benatar, Mavis Staples and Shania Twain forms the backbone of the fascinating, four-part docuseries “Women Who Rock.” … more

By MARK KENNEDY | 7/8/22

Kelly Titchenell sits on her porch in Mather, Pa., holding a photo of her mother Diania Kronk, and an urn containing her mother's ashes, Thursday, July 7, 2022. A Greene County, Pa., detective last week filed charges against 911 operator Leon “Lee” Price, 50, of Waynesburg, in the July 2020 death of Diania Kronk, 54, based on Price's reluctance to dispatch help without getting more assurance that Kronk would actually go to the hospital. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Dispatcher who didn't send ambulance charged in 2020 death

A Pennsylvania 911 operator faces involuntary manslaughter and other charges for failing to send an ambulance to the rural home of a woman who died of internal bleeding about a day later. A county … more

By MARK SCOLFORO | 7/8/22

An apartment building damaged by Russian attack is seen in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Monday, July 4, 2022. The Ukrainian military's General Staff says that Russian forces are trying to press their offensive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing a key stronghold. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa

JULY 1 - JULY 7, 2022 From the war in Ukraine to Boris Johnson stepping down as Conservative party leader, a fatal avalanche in Italy and Wimbledon, this photo gallery highlights some of the most … more

By The Associated Press | 7/8/22

Astrid Cardona kisses her mother Ufemia Tomas, the mother of survivor Yenifer Yulisa Cardona Tomas, during an interview in Guatemala City, Monday, July 4, 2022. Yenifer is one of the survivors of the more than 50 migrants who were found dead inside a tractor-trailer near San Antonio, Texas. (AP Photo/Oliver de Ros)

AP Week in Pictures: Latin America and Caribbean

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7/8/22

FILE - Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner (42) shoots during the first half of Game 1 of the WNBA basketball Finals against the Chicago Sky, on Oct. 10, 2021, in Phoenix. Jailed American basketball star Brittney Griner returns to a Russian court Thursday July 7, 2022, as calls increase for Washington to do more to secure her release. Griner was detained in February at a Moscow airport after vape canisters with cannabis oil allegedly were found in her luggage. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso, File)

WNBA players union 'stands with' Griner after guilty plea

Brittney Griner's guilty plea has not lessened the support the Olympic gold medalist continues to receive from her WNBA peers. The Phoenix Mercury All-Star pleaded guilty to drug possession charges … more

By DOUG FEINBERG | 7/7/22

FILE - Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese points to a map to show where a missing family was found dead during a news conference in Mariposa, Calif., Oct. 21, 2021. A tourist from Michigan who tried to retrace the steps of the family who died during a grueling summer hike in Northern California had to be rescued on June 29, 2022, after getting lost, the sheriff said. The man, who has not been identified, was reported missing near the trail in Mariposa County where officials last year found the bodies of Jonathan Gerrish, his wife, their toddler and their dog. (Craig Kohlruss/The Fresno Bee via AP, File)

Michigan man rescued from California trail where family died

Authorities say a Michigan tourist who tried to retrace the steps of a family who died during a grueling summer hike in Northern California had to be rescued last week after getting lost. Mariposa … more

7/7/22

FILE - In this courtroom sketch, Joshua Schulte, center, is seated at the defense table flanked by his attorneys during jury deliberations, Wednesday March 4, 2020, in New York. Schulte, a former CIA software engineer accused of causing the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history, has told a jury Thursday, July 7, 2022 there's not enough evidence to convict him, as he defended himself at a retrial. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Acting as own lawyer, accused CIA coder argues for acquittal

A former CIA software engineer accused of causing the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history has told a jury there’s not enough evidence to convict him of espionage and other … more

By TOM HAYS | 7/7/22

FILE - Police secure an area around a supermarket where several people were killed in a shooting, Saturday, May 14, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. New York’s new law barring sales of bullet-resistant vests to most civilians doesn't cover the type of armor worn by the gunman who killed 10 people at the Buffalo supermarket, a gap that could limit its effectiveness in deterring future military-style assaults. (Derek Gee/The Buffalo News via AP, File)

Case against accused Buffalo mass shooter proceeds in court

Attorneys for a white man charged with killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket were unable to secure a year's delay in state prosecution. Payton Gendron’s attorneys asked a judge for the … more

7/7/22

FILE - Co-stars James Caan, left, and Barbra Streisand appear at a press conference for their film "Funny Lady" in New York on March 11, 1975. Caan, who had notable roles in "The Godfather," "Brian’s Song" and "Misery," died Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at age 82. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff, File)

Celebrities react to 'Godfather' star James Caan's death

Co-stars and admirers are reacting to the death of “Godfather” star James Caan. Billy Dee Williams starred opposite Caan in the TV football movie “Brian's Song." Williams tweeted that he and … more

7/7/22

FILE - Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, right, the former lover and business partner of Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, walks into federal court in San Jose, Calif., Friday, June 24, 2022. Balwani was found guilty in Theranos blood-testing fraud case, Thursday, July 7. .(AP Photo/Michael Liedtke, File)

Former Theranos exec Ramesh Balwani convicted of fraud

A jury on Thursday convicted former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani of collaborating with disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in a massive fraud involving the blood-testing company … more

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE | 7/7/22

This image released by Kino Lorber shows Leon Lučev, left, and Gracija Filipović in a scene from "Murina." (Mario Topic/Kino Lorber via AP)

Croatian-filmmaker's 'Murina' sets tension in sunny paradise

Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović's debut feature “Murina,” about a 17-year-old girl with a domineering father living in a sun-soaked paradise on the Adriatic, has been likened to a Patricia Highsmith … more

By LINDSEY BAHR | 7/7/22

FILE - James Caan attends the 2016 Summer TCA "Hallmark Event" on July 27, 2016, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Caan, whose roles included "The Godfather," "Brian’s Song" and "Misery," died Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at age 82. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

James Caan, Oscar nominee for 'The Godfather,' dies at 82

James Caan, the curly-haired tough guy known to movie fans as the hotheaded Sonny Corleone of “The Godfather” and to television audiences as the dying football player in the classic weeper … more

By LINDSEY BAHR | 7/7/22

A memorial to the seven people killed and others injured in Monday's Fourth of July mass shooting grows at a veterans memorial Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Highland Park, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Red flags missed: How July 4 suspect slipped through system

Illinois’ “red-flag” law could have stopped, or at least slowed down, the suspect in the Independence Day parade shooting from being able to buy the gun he is accused of using to kill seven … more

By BERNARD CONDON and JIM MUSTIAN | 7/7/22

This undated photo released by the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens, shows, a male Magellanic penguin, called Captain EO, at the zoo in San Fransisco. The oldest Magellanic penguin at the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens — one of the oldest penguins living under human care anywhere in the world — died Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at the age of 40, the zoo reported. The species' average life expectancy is 20 to 30 years. (San Francisco Zoo & Garden via AP)

Oldest Magellanic penguin at San Francisco Zoo dies at 40

The oldest Magellanic penguin at the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens has died at the age of 40. The zoo said the male, called Captain Eo, died Wednesday. He was one of the oldest penguins living under … more

7/7/22

FILE - Tonya Isabell, left, speaks on June 18, 2020, during a vigil for her cousin Charleena Lyles, pictured at right, on the third anniversary of her death, in Seattle. An inquest jury found Wednesday, July 6, 2022, that two Seattle police officers were justified in fatally shooting Lyles, a mentally unstable, pregnant, Black mother of four children, inside her apartment when she menaced them with knives in 2017. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren,File)

Inquest: Seattle police shooting of pregnant woman justified

An inquest jury has determined that two Seattle police officers were justified in fatally shooting a mentally unstable, pregnant, Black mother of four children inside her apartment when she menaced … more

7/6/22

Yesenia Hernandez, granddaughter to Nicolas Toledo, who was killed during Monday's Highland Park., Ill., Fourth of July parade, writes on a memorial for Toledo along with the six others who lost their lives in the mass shooting, Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Highland Park. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

EXPLAINER: Should red-flag law have stopped parade shooting?

Days after a rooftop gunman killed seven people at a parade, attention has turned to how the assailant obtained multiple guns and whether the laws on Illinois books could have prevented the … more

By MICHAEL TARM | 7/6/22

Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testifies about how former President Donald Trump reacted in his vehicle after being told he was not able to go to the Capitol from the Ellipse on Jan. 6, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Hutchinson's Jan. 6 committee testimony a television hit

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony before the Jan. 6 committee was a big hit with TV viewers. The Nielsen company said an estimated 13.2 million people watched the hearing, called … more

By DAVID BAUDER | 7/6/22

A Gadsden County Sheriff's Office van in parked at their main office, Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Quincy, Fla. (AP Photo/Anthony Izaguirre)

Rural Florida county shocked by fentanyl deaths over holiday

A small, rural county just west of Florida’s capital is stunned by an unheard-of spike in deadly drug overdoses believed to be caused by fentanyl mixed with other illegal drugs. It's a sign that … more

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON | 7/6/22