National News

By JONATHAN LEMIRE and JILL COLVIN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is defending chief of staff John Kelly after he mischaracterized the remarks of a Democratic congresswoman and called her an "empty barrel" making noise. A Trump spokeswoman said it was "inappropriate" to question Kelly in light of his stature as a retired…

By LISA MARIE PANE and EMILY SWANSON, Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — The slaying of five dozen people in Las Vegas did little to change Americans' opinions about gun laws. The nation is closely divided on whether restricting firearms would reduce such mass shootings or homicides, though a majority favor tighter laws as they have for…

By KEN RITTER, Associated Press HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — An off-duty police officer who was among 58 people killed in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history was honored with a posthumous promotion to Army first sergeant during an emotional funeral service Friday. Hundreds of police officers in uniform packed the Henderson, Nevada, church as…

By JONATHAN LEMIRE and CATHERINE LUCEY, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — He started by describing the reverent handling of America's war dead, bodies packed in ice and shipped home in the dark to Dover Air Force Base. From that opening, White House chief of staff John Kelly delivered a raw and searing monologue Thursday about the…

By JANIE HAR and MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The wildfires that have devastated California this month caused at least $1 billion in damage to insured property, officials said Thursday, as authorities raised the number of homes and other buildings destroyed to nearly 7,000. Both numbers were expected to rise as crews…