By PAUL ELIAS , Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The leader of the successful recall of a Northern California judge for an unpopular sexual assault sentence warned that the results show women’s rights and the #MeToo movement are now a potent political force that politicians ignore at their own peril. “The broader message of…
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois’ imprisoned ex-governor, Rod Blagojevich, has filed paperwork asking President Donald Trump to commute his 14-year prison term for corruption that included seeking to sell an appointment to the Senate seat Barack Obama vacated to become president. A spokesman for Blagojevich’s lawyers told the Chicago Tribune it was submitted Tuesday to the…
By SONIA PEREZ D. and MARK STEVENSON , Associated Press ESCUINTLA, Guatemala (AP) — Lilian Hernandez wept as she spoke the names of aunts, uncles, cousins, her grandmother and two great-grandchildren — 36 family members in all — missing and presumed dead in the explosion of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire. “My cousins Ingrid, Yomira, Paola,…
By MARK SHERMAN , Associated Press . WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled for a Colorado baker who wouldn’t make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in a limited decision that leaves for another day the larger issue of whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gay and lesbian…
By ANNE FLAHERTY , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton says the #MeToo movement is overdue. Just don’t ask him about Monica Lewinsky. In an interview with NBC’s “Today Show” released Monday, Clinton bristled at questions over whether he should have resigned 20 years ago over his sexual relationship with the White…
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and CATHERINE LUCEY , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Monday that he has the “absolute right” to pardon himself, but added he had done nothing wrong, asserting his presidential power as the White House is sharpening its political and legal defenses against the special counsel Russia probe. Trump’s…
By DEB RIECHMANN , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Whistleblower or traitor, leaker or public hero? National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden blew the lid off U.S. government surveillance methods five years ago, but intelligence chiefs complain that revelations from the trove of classified documents he disclosed are still trickling out. That includes recent reporting…
By KRISTEN DE GROOT , Associated Press The final phase of the Flight 93 National Memorial is underway and on track to open on the 17th anniversary of plane’s crash into a Pennsylvania field during 9/11. United Airlines Flight 93 was en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2001, when…
By JONATHAN LEMIRE , Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s lawyers composed a secret 20-page letter to special counsel Robert Mueller to assert that he cannot be forced to testify while arguing that he could not have committed obstruction because he has absolute authority over all federal investigations. The existence of the letter,…
SANTA FE, Texas (AP) — In the sweltering twilight on their school’s football field, 328 seniors at a Southeast Texas high school received their diplomas Friday with memories of a deadly mass shooting fresh in their minds. The Santa Fe High School seniors gathered in the 83-degree heat and 76 percent humidity on the artificial-turf…