National News

NEW YORK (AP) — Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the world’s richest men, has formally launched a Democratic bid for president. Ending weeks of speculation, the 77-year-old former Republican announced his candidacy Sunday in a written statement posted on a campaign website describing himself as uniquely positioned to defeat…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the House impeachment inquiry (all times local): 8:55 a.m. President Donald Trump says he does not expect to be impeached, claiming Democrats have “absolutely nothing” incriminating, despite days of public testimony by witnesses who said Trump withheld aid from Ukraine to press the country to…

ATLANTA, GA (AP) — Coming out of their debate in a key center of black America, the leading Democratic presidential contenders aimed Thursday for the party’s crucial black and minority vote, with the scramble putting internal party tensions on display. From black protesters disrupting Elizabeth Warren to the lone black woman in the race chiding…

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former White House Russia analyst sternly warned Republican lawmakers in the impeachment probe Thursday to quit pushing a “fictional” narrative that Ukraine not Russia interfered in the 2016 election as they defend President Donald Trump. Fiona Hill, a career expert on Russia, and David Holmes, a State Department official in Kyiv…

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily halted the first federal execution in 16 years as a lawsuit on how the government intends to carry it out continues. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutka said in a Wednesday evening ruling that the public is not served by “short-circuiting” legitimate judicial process. “It is greatly…