By JONATHAN LEMIRE and CATHERINE LUCEY, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump sided with his embattled Supreme Court nominee, defending Judge Brett Kavanaugh against allegations of sexual assault as the White House walked a fine line in addressing accusations that revived ...

By CHUCK BURTON and MARTHA WAGGONER, Associated Press WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — With one of North Carolina's largest cities still mostly cut off by floodwaters from Hurricane Florence, officials prepared to begin distributing food, water and tarps to Wilmington residents as yet more people ...

By MARIA DANILOVA, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Guns in schools to protect students from grizzly bears? Betsy DeVos endured yet another rocky confirmation hearing in the Senate to become education secretary — this time on a theater stage. In a play performed Monday at Washington's ...

CHRISTOPHER WEBER, Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — After announcing that he'll take the first-ever commercial rocket trip around the moon, Yusaku Maezawa said he wants company for the weeklong journey. The Japanese billionaire said he plans to invite six to eight artists, architects, ...

By DON BABWIN, Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — The last moments of Laquan McDonald's life played over and over again for the jury. An officer pulls up, gets out of a squad car and opens fire as the black teenager walks away from police, a small knife in one hand. McDonald crumples to the ...

By ALAN FRAM and LISA MASCARO, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are forging ahead with plans for a Senate hearing they had hoped to avoid on a woman's claims that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were high schoolers, hoping to salvage the judge's endangered ...

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and LISA MASCARO, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said Monday he was willing to speak to a Senate panel to "refute" an allegation he sexually assaulted a woman while in high school, after his accuser said via her attorney that ...

By CARLA K. JOHNSON, AP Medical Writer A school-based survey shows nearly 1 in 11 U.S. students have used marijuana in electronic cigarettes, heightening concern about the new popularity of vaping among teens. E-cigarettes typically contain nicotine, but results published Monday mean 2.1 ...

By CHUCK BURTON, Associated Press WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — Emergency workers delivered truckloads of food and water to Wilmington, a city of 120,000 people cut off from the rest of North Carolina by Florence's still-rising floodwaters, as rescuers elsewhere used helicopters and boats to pull ...

By DAVID PORTER and REGINA GARCIA-CANO, Associated Press OCEANPORT, N.J. (AP) — It's early in a college basketball game and Team A, playing methodically and using up most of the 30-second shot clock, falls behind 10-6. Scattered around the bleachers, several fans staring at their smartphones ...

LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol supervisor who confessed to killing four women and assaulting a fifth who managed to escape remained in jail Monday, police said in court records. Juan David Ortiz is being held in Laredo on $2.5 million bond on four counts of murder, aggravated ...

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of foster children may be getting powerful psychiatric drugs prescribed to them without basic safeguards, says a federal watchdog agency that found a failure to care for youngsters whose lives have already been ...

By ALLEN G. BREED, Associated Press NEW BERN, N.C. (AP) — As the death toll from Florence mounted and hundreds of people were pulled from flooded homes, North Carolina is bracing for what could be the next stage of a still-unfolding disaster: catastrophic, widespread river flooding. After ...

By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press WELLFLEET, Mass. (AP) — A man was bitten by a shark Saturday in the water off a Cape Cod beach and died later at a hospital, becoming the state's first shark attack fatality in more than 80 years. The man, identified by Cape and Islands Assistant District ...

By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — Texas authorities charged a U.S. Border Patrol supervisor with murder following what they called a two-week serial killing spree that left four female sex workers dead and ended when a fifth woman escaped at a gas station and found ...

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Once an accomplished organ player in Salt Lake City, Wanda Barzee became a disturbing figure for members of her own family after she helped in the 2002 kidnapping of then-teenager Elizabeth Smart. Days before the 72-year-old ...

By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Before and after a hurricane, Ace is the place. And Home Depot and Lowe's. And many other hardware and building supply outlets. Not surprisingly, these companies plan for storms such as Hurricane Florence all year. Much like the Federal ...

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A registered sex offender jailed since last year has been charged in the kidnapping and killing of two Arizona girls who went missing in 2012 and 2014, authorities announced Saturday. Christopher Matthew Clements, 36, was indicted on Friday by a grand jury on 21 criminal ...

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Former President Barack Obama says the November midterm elections will give Americans "a chance to restore some sanity in our politics," taking another swipe at his successor as he raises his profile campaigning for fellow Democrats ...

By PAMELA SAMPSON, Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. East Coast could be hit with a powerful hurricane next week as Tropical Storm Florence continues to strengthen as it moves toward the mainland, forecasters said Saturday. Florence is expected to become a major hurricane by Monday, ...