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RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The U.N. food agency says “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger. It says a further escalation of the war could push around half of Gaza’s total population to the brink of starvation. The alarming report came as Israel faces mounting pressure from even its closest allies to streamline the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and open more crossings. The European Union’s top diplomat said the impending famine was “entirely man-made” as “starvation is used as a weapon of war.” Israeli forces, meanwhile, launched another raid on the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital, saying it killed a Hamas commander who was hiding there.

The CEO of United Airlines is trying to reassure travelers that the airline is safe despite a series of recent incidents ranging from a panel falling off a plane to an engine fire. CEO Scott Kirby said Monday that United will review safety training for all employees. Kirby says the airline was already planning an extra day of training for pilots starting in May and changes in training curriculum for new mechanics. In a message to customers, Kirby says the recent incidents are reminders of the importance of safety. He says the flight issues are all unrelated, but they have grabbed United's attention.

A day and a half after deadly tornadoes ripped through parts of the central U.S., residents are cleaning up, assessing damage and helping their neighbors. It will be a long recovery for some. Thursday night’s storms claimed three lives in the Indian Lake area of Ohio’s Logan County, one of the hardest-hit regions, and about 40 people were injured and dozens of homes damaged in one Indiana community. Samantha Snipes says in Lakeview, Ohio, that her dad's garage was leveled and the back of his house is gone, but everyone is safe on his street. She says neighbors have been helping neighbors.

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits last week inched up but largely stayed at historically low levels as the labor market continues to thrive despite elevated interest rates. The Labor Department reported Thursday that filings for unemployment claims for the week ending March 9 ticked down by 1,000 to 209,000 from the previous week’s 208,000. Weekly unemployment claims are considered a proxy for the number of U.S. layoffs in a given week. They have remained at historically low levels since the pandemic purge of millions of jobs in the spring of 2020.

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American shoppers picked up their spending a bit in February after pulling back the previous month. But last month’s gain was weaker than expected, and January’s decline was revised even lower, suggesting that consumers are becoming more cautious. Retail sales rose 0.6% last month after falling a revised 1.1% in January, dragged down in part by inclement weather, according to the Commerce Department’s report on Thursday. February’s number was also lifted in part by higher gas price and higher auto sales. Excluding sales from gas stations and auto dealers, sales were up 0.3%.

A blood test for colon cancer performed well in a study, offering a new kind of screening. The blood test looks for cancer by checking for DNA fragments shed by tumor cells and precancerous growths. The research sponsored by the maker of the blood test was published Wednesday. The test missed some cancers and any abnormal result would need to be followed up with a colonoscopy. It's already for sale in the U.S. for $895, but has not been approved by federal regulators and most insurers do not cover it. The company anticipates an FDA decision this year.

Attorneys plan to refile a lawsuit over zoning changes that they say threaten one of the South's last Gullah-Geechee communities of Black slave descendants. A Superior Court judge threw out the original civil complaint Tuesday, ruling that the lawsuit improperly named individual commissioners of coastal McIntosh County. That clashed with a 2020 amendment to Georgia’s state constitution dealing with legal immunity granted to state and local governments. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed suit last year on behalf of the residents of the tiny Hogg Hummock Community on Sapelo Island. They argue zoning changes will raise their property taxes and force them to sell land. Attorney Miriam Gutman said the center would sue again, naming McIntosh County as the sole defendant.

Spring in southcentral Pennsylvania brings an annual tradition in Amish communities: mud sales. That’s what they call the country auctions that began in Lancaster County in the 1960s. These days some get thousands of bidders and can do more than a million dollars in sales. The auctions benefit local fire departments. Amish people make and donate much of the food and items for sale. Large Amish families and the cost of farmland in booming Lancaster have put pressure on the traditional lives they prefer. But they appear determined to remain amid their half-million neighbors in the county.

New artificial intelligence tools are helping doctors communicate with their patients. Some tools answer messages and others take notes during exams. It’s been just 15 months since OpenAI released ChatGPT. Already thousands of doctors are using products based on similar large language models. Enthusiasts say these AI tools save doctors’ time and prevent burnout. They’re also shaking up the doctor-patient relationship, raising questions of trust, transparency, privacy and the future of human connection. AI tools can be prompted to be friendly, empathetic and informative. They can also make mistakes, so it's important that the human doctor stay in the loop.

Several U.S. discount retailers are recalling packages of ground cinnamon after health officials warned they were contaminated with high levels of lead. The amounts detected were far lower than the levels found in pouches of cinnamon applesauce that poisoned nearly 500 U.S. children. The Food and Drug Administration has not identified the source of the lead in the new recalls or the countries where the cinnamon originated. Lead in spices can cause health problems for adults and children with prolonged exposure.

RUSHVILLE, Ill. — Authorities have identified the five people killed in a fiery collision between a school bus and semitruck on a highway in rural Illinois, including two 3-year-olds, a 5-year-old and both drivers. The state police say the bus was traveling eastbound on U.S. Route 24 when “for an unknown reason” it crossed the center line and into the path of a semitruck carrying sand. The agency says the three children killed were 5-year-old Maria Miller, 3-year-old Andrew Miller and 3-year-old Noah Driscoll, all from Rushville. It didn't say if the Miller children were related. The bus driver was 57-year-old Angela Spiker, also of Rushville, and the truck driver was 72-year-old David Coufal, from the nearby village of Browning.

Libraries across the U.S. are struggling to cover the cost of e-books, which have grown in popularity. Digital copies of books often cost libraries four or more times the price consumers pay. And unlike paper books, an e-book doesn't last. The libraries are only leasing their copies from digital publishing platforms. After a year or two, the e-books expire. Librarians in some states are pushing for legislation that would help lower their costs. Publishers are fighting these proposals, saying they undermine intellectual property rights.

Most electronic systems that take on some driving tasks for humans don’t adequately make sure drivers are paying attention, and they don’t issue strong enough warnings to make drivers behave. That's according a insurance industry study published Tuesday. Only one of 14 partially automated systems tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety performed well enough to get an overall “acceptable” rating. Two others were rated “marginal,” while the rest were labeled “poor.” No system received the top rating of “good.” The institute says it developed the new ratings to get automakers to follow standards including how closely they watch drivers and how fast the cars issue warnings if drivers aren’t paying attention.

Vinson Cunningham’s day job is writing theater reviews for the New Yorker magazine. Now he has published his first novel, “Great Expectations.” He borrowed the title from Charles Dickens to tell the coming-of-age story of a young Black man who goes to work for the presidential campaign of an unnamed U.S. senator running to be the nation’s first African American chief executive. Sound familiar? Associated Press book reviewer Ann Levin says the novel will take you back to the heady days of the campaign slogan “Change we can believe in” and the chant “Yes we can!” Published by Hogarth, “Great Expectations” will be released on Tuesday.

TOKYO — Japan marked the 13th anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear meltdown and left parts of Fukushima prefecture uninhabitable on Monday with a minute of silence and memorial events, where officials pledged continued support for rebuilding. A 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami ravaged large parts of Japan’s northeastern coast on March 11, 2011, killing about 20,000 people. At 2:46 p.m. — the time when the earthquake struck — people across Japan stopped to observe a minute of silence. In Tokyo’s central Ginza shopping district, people stopped to pray on the sidewalk as a bell rang out, marking the moment.

“Oppenheimer,” a solemn three-hour biopic that became an unlikely billion-dollar box-office sensation, was crowed best picture at a 96th Academy Awards that doubled as a coronation for Christopher Nolan. The most closely watched contest of the Academy Awards went to Emma Stone, who won best best actress for her performance as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things.” Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy have won their first Oscars. Robert Downey Jr. won best supporting actor at the Academy Awards, notching his first Oscar and handing the 58-year-old actor a crowning moment in an up-and-down career. Protests over Israel’s war in Gaza snarled traffic around the Academy Awards on Sunday, slowing stars’ arrival at the red carpet and turning the Oscar spotlight toward the ongoing conflict.

President Joe Biden delivered a defiant argument for a second term in his State of the Union speech Thursday night, lacing into GOP front-runner Donald Trump for espousing “resentment, revenge and retribution” and for jeopardizing freedom at home and abroad. Biden repeatedly delivered broadsides at “my predecessor” without ever mentioning Trump by name. The scrappy tone from Biden was a sharp break from his often humdrum daily appearances and was designed to banish doubts about whether the 81-year-old is still up to the job. For 68 minutes, Biden goaded Republicans over their policies, invited call-and-response banter with fellow Democrats on economic issues, taxes and healthcare and seemed to relish the fight.

LEADVILLE, Colo. — What do you get when you cross rodeo with skiing? An extreme — and quirky — winter sport called skijoring. It’s a heart-pumping competition in which horses at full gallop tow skiers by rope over jumps and around obstacles as they try to lance suspended hoops with a baton. Every winter, thousands of people converge on the old Colorado mining town of Leadville to witness one of the most popular skijoring races in the country. Riders and skiers say they are drawn to the sport by the adrenaline rush, the speed, the raucous crowd and the camaraderie.

Brilliant yellow and gold mustard is carpeting Northern California’s wine country. The plants signal the start of spring and the celebration of all flavors sharp and mustardy in Napa and Sonoma counties. The plants are not just pretty to look at. They also work hard to protect world-famous vineyards. The plants contain high levels of biofumigants and suppress the growth of microscopic worms that can damage vines. But not everyone loves mustard, which are not native to California. They grow aggressively that they smother native flora such as blue lupine and poppies. Winemakers say they have made the plant work for them.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds few Americans want the U.S. to take a more active role in solving the world's problems. This comes as America navigates its involvement in the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The majority of both Democrats and Republicans agree that the U.S. should not get more involved than it currently is in the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas. The findings underscore the difficult dynamics that Joe Biden and Donald Trump face in the lead-up to November's election, with significant swathes of the electorate frustrated by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the costs of assisting Ukraine.

Nikki Haley has suspended her presidential campaign. Haley did not endorse former President Donald Trump on Wednesday and called on him to bring people into the conservative cause. The decision by the former South Carolina governor and former U.N. ambassador leaves Trump as the last remaining major candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination. Haley was Trump’s first GOP challenger and the only woman in the race. She argued she was a fresh alternative to Trump and said it was time to move past his “chaos." Haley's candidacy was slow to attract support. But Haley outlasted other high-profile candidates, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Super Tuesday didn't quite live up to its name. President Joe Biden won the states he needed to win, and so did Donald Trump. The former president's march to a third Republican presidential nomination was largely unimpeded by his last major GOP challenger, Nikki Haley. And on Wednesday, she suspended her campaign after being soundly defeated across the country on Super Tuesday. But Haley's strong showing in vote-rich suburbs highlights a potential problem in the long term for Trump. Meanwhile, enthusiasm for Biden wasn't the story of Tuesday's primary contests. Some Democrats even voted “uncommitted” rather than for the incumbent.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Authorities say five people were killed when their small plane crashed just west of downtown Nashville. The pilot told air traffic control that he lost engine power and had circled around after overflying John C. Tune airport. They cleared a runway and told him to glide in for a landing. But the pilot said the plane had already descended to 1,600 feet and wouldn't make it. The crash just off the shoulder of Interstate 40 shut down multiple lanes Monday night, leaving the charred wreckage in the grass. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.

Women over 35 and those facing serious diseases like cancer, lupus and sickle cell are among the most likely to turn to IVF to build the families they desperately want. But in Alabama, they are among those whose dreams are in limbo after three of the state's largest clinics paused IVF services. That happened in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling that described frozen embryos as “extrauterine children.” Doctors say the ruling has made an already difficult situation worse for these women. They hope that recent legislative efforts can protect Alabama clinics but worry that threats to IVF may emerge in other states.

A technical issue had caused widespread login issues for more than an hour across Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Messenger platforms on Tuesday. Andy Stone, Meta’s head communications, acknowledged the issues on X, formerly known as Twitter, and said the company “resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”

Women have long been at the forefront of gardening in America, whether passing on knowledge to the next generation or creating garden clubs or — in some cases — making significant contributions to science and landscape design. Some gained notoriety for their work. Many are not as well known. Examples include Jane Colden, who is credited with naming and cataloging hundreds of native plants in the 1750s in the Hudson River Valley. There's civil rights and agricultural activist Fanny Lou Hamer, whose cooperative in Mississippi gave poor Black farmers the tools to grow their own food and raise their own livestock. Or first lady Lady Bird Johnson, whose promotion of plantings along the nations' highways were a precursor to today's native-plant movement.

TRUCKEE, Calif. — A powerful blizzard that closed highways and ski resorts has moved through the Sierra Nevada but forecasters warn that more snow is on the way for Northern California mountains. A stretch of Interstate 80 from west of Lake Tahoe to the Nevada state line finally reopened to all but big rigs late Monday morning after a lengthy closure. Blizzard warnings have expired but a new system is expected to bring periods of moderate mountain snow. Several ski resorts were closed all weekend. Power has been restored to thousands who lost service but some outages continue.

Donald Trump easily won South Carolina’s GOP primary. but the biggest winner on that night last month might have been Tim Scott. The South Carolina senator's enthusiastic campaigning for the former president has been generating buzz about Scott's prospects as Trump's potential pick for a running mate. Scott played a starring role in his home state’s primary, hyping Trump at rallies and in interviews. During a Fox News town hall, Trump taped a segment in which the two men appeared together on stage in matching red ties. It was a visual that made them look like they were already a ticket.

Congressional leaders have come out with a package of six bills setting full-year spending levels for some federal agencies. The move Sunday is a step forward in a long overdue funding process beset by sharp political divisions between the two parties as well as infighting among House Republicans. The release of the text of legislation over the weekend is designed to meet the House’s rule to give lawmakers at least 72 hours to study the bill before voting on it. And it’s a promising sign that lawmakers will avoid a partial shutdown that would kick in at 12:01 a.m. Saturday for those agencies covered under the bill.

Caitlin Clark of Iowa has become the all-time NCAA Division I scoring leader, breaking the late Pete Maravich’s 54-year-old record when she made two free throws after a technical foul was called in the No. 6 Hawkeyes’ 93-83 win over No. 2 Ohio State. Clark finished with 35 points. She entered the game needing 18 to pass Maravich’s total of 3,667, which he amassed in just 83 games over three seasons at LSU. Maravich’s record fell four days after Clark broke Lynette Woodard’s major college women’s record when she scored 33 points against Minnesota.

Donald Trump has won Missouri’s and Idaho's Republican caucuses and he's captured all 39 delegates that were up for grabs at the Michigan party convention. The former president is gaining more ground toward clinching the GOP nomination. His last major rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, is still seeking her first election-season win. There are no Democratic contests Saturday. The next event on the Republican calendar is Sunday in the District of Columbia. Two days later is Super Tuesday, when 16 states and American Samoa will hold primaries.

Early estimates suggest flu shots are performing OK in the current U.S. winter flu season. The vaccines were around 40% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital. Children who were vaccinated were roughly 60% less likely to get treatment at a doctor’s office or hospital. Officials generally are pleased if a flu vaccine is 40% to 60% effective. Health officials talked about the numbers during a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccines meeting Wednesday. Annual flu vaccines are recommended for everyone 6 months and older in the U.S.

An inflation gauge favored by the Federal Reserve increased in January, the latest sign that the slowdown in U.S. consumer price increases is occurring unevenly from month to month. Prices rose 0.3% from December to January, up from 0.1% in the previous month. But in a more encouraging sign, prices were up just 2.4% from a year earlier, down from a 2.6% annual pace in December. The year-over-year cooldown in inflation is sure to be welcomed by the White House as President Joe Biden seeks re-election. Still, even though average paychecks have outpaced inflation over the past year, many Americans remain frustrated that overall prices are still well above where they were before inflation erupted.

A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that U.S. adults have become fractured along party lines in their support for military aid for Ukraine. Russia is making battlefield advances in the conflict, but a politically divided Congress is stalled on renewing funding for Kyiv. Democrats are much more likely to support additional aid for Ukraine than they were in November, but Republicans remain largely opposed. Most Republicans say the U.S. is spending too much on Ukraine. But support for Ukraine has grown among Democrats. About 4 in 10 Democrats polled say the U.S. is spending “too little” on aid to Ukraine in the war against Russia, up from 14% in November.

Presidential visits to the border are usually short on substance and long on political theater and symbolism, starting with the choice of location. President Joe Biden and his rival and immediate predecessor, Donald Trump, are going to the Texas border Thursday, but Biden’s choice of Brownsville and Trump’s pick of Eagle Pass provide different backdrops. Brownsville lies in an area where illegal crossings have plunged in recent months, even when they rose elsewhere along the border. Eagle Pass has gone in the opposite direction after years of relative quiet during Trump's presidency and before.

Mitch McConnell says he'll step down as Senate Republican leader in November. The 82-year-old Kentucky lawmaker is the longest-serving Senate leader in history. He's maintained his power in the face of dramatic changes in the Republican Party. He's set to make the announcement Wednesday McConnell on the Senate floor. The Associated Press obtained his prepared remarks in which he says, “One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter." McConnell says he plans to serve out his Senate term, which ends in January 2027, “albeit from a different seat in the chamber.”

Price increases for cars and trucks in the United States, which helped fuel inflation for nearly three years, are slowing and in some cases falling, helping cool overall inflation and giving frustrated Americans more hope of finding an affordable vehicle. Behind the price slowdown is a vastly expanded number of vehicles on dealer lots after years of severe shortages. With more autos available, the pressures that had sent prices surging have eased. Though inventories are still well below the levels that prevailed before the pandemic, the rising availability suggests that 2024 will be the most affordable year of the past five in which to buy a new car or truck.

Wendy’s says that it has no plans to increase prices during the busiest times at its restaurants. The burger chain clarified its stance on how it will approach pricing after various media reports said that the company was looking to test having the prices of its menu items fluctuate throughout the day based on demand. Wendy’s said that its digital menu boards “could allow us to change the menu offerings at different times of day and offer discounts and value offers to our customers more easily, particularly in the slower times of day.”

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian police have found the bodies of a couple shot and killed by an ex-boyfriend, who happened to be a police officer, hours after he admitted to killing and hiding them under rocks and debris on a rural property. The bodies of Jesse Baird and his partner Luke Davies were found on Tuesday in the same surfboard bags that police allege the killer used to carry them from Baird’s Sydney home, where they were killed last week. The breakthrough came when Senior-Constable Beau Lamarre-Condon spoke to detectives at a Sydney prison on Tuesday and told them where to look. Lamarre-Condon dated Baird until late last year and was charged on Friday with the murders of both men.

President Joe Biden is imploring the top four leaders of Congress to act quickly to avoid a looming government shutdown early next month and to pass emergency aid for Ukraine and Israel. But a legislative logjam in the GOP-led House shows no signs of abating. In a meeting at the White House, Biden said Tuesday that the need is urgent, “the consequences of inaction every day in Ukraine are dire.” Biden hosted Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the two minority leaders. Those leaders joined Biden in urging quick action to keep the government from beginning to cut back services as early as Friday.

The suspect in the killing of a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus used an object as a weapon in the crime and is accused of “disfiguring her skull." That's according to newly filed arrest affidavits. Jose Ibarra faces multiple murder and assault charges in the death of 22-year-old Laken Riley. Authorities have not said exactly how Riley was killed, only that her death was caused by blunt force trauma. The district attorney in Athens says she is appointing a special prosecutor to handle the case. And at the state Capitol, Republicans are pushing bills to force local police and sheriffs to cooperate more closely with federal immigration officials.

Off the charts “crazy” heat in the North Atlantic ocean and record-smashing Antarctic sea ice lows last year are far more severe than what Earth’s supposed to get with current warming levels. A new study says they are more like what happens at twice this amount of warming. The study’s main author worries that it’s a “harbinger of what’s coming in the next decades” and it’s got him not just concerned, but wondering why did those two climate indicators go off the charts more than the temperatures outside dictate?

American consumers are feeling less confident this month as concerns over a possible recession grew, despite most indicators pointing to a healthy U.S. economy. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 106.7 from a revised 110.9 in January. Analysts had been forecasting that the index remained steady from January to February. The index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months. The index measuring Americans short-term expectations for income, business and the job market fell to 79.8 from 81.5 in January. A reading under 80 often signals an upcoming recession.

Wendy’s is looking to test having the prices of its menu items fluctuate throughout the day based on demand, implementing a strategy that has already taken hold with ride-sharing companies and ticket sellers. During a conference call earlier this month, Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said that the Dublin, Ohio-based burger chain will start testing dynamic pricing, also known as surge pricing, as early as next year. Wendy’s also plans to invest about $20 million to launch digital menu boards at all of its U.S. company-run restaurants by the end of next year.

The scene in classrooms around the country is similar: Kids are on their phones, even when school rules forbid it. Teachers say they see students on Snapchat, listening to music and even watching Netflix in class, among countless other examples of how smartphones distract from teaching and learning. Increasingly, educators are speaking with one voice on the question of how to handle it: Ban phones during classes. A growing number of leaders at the state and federal levels have begun endorsing school cellphone bans and suggesting new ways to curb access to the devices.

A member of the jury that convicted a South Carolina man of a hate crime based on gender identity has opened up about the historic case. Jurors last Friday found Daqua Ritter guilty in the fatal shooting of Dime Doe, a transgender woman whom Ritter had been seeing secretly. A transgender woman, Dee Elder, served as jury foreperson. She told The Associated Press that text messages between Ritter and Doe were the key reason jurors concluded the crime was motivated by bias. The FBI has said Ritter feared that public knowledge of his connection to a transgender woman would bring humiliation. The case is considered the first federal trial over a hate crime motivated by gender identity.

PORTLAND, Maine — Organizers of the longest sled dog race in the eastern United States say they are canceling the event due to a lack of snow on the ground. The Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races have taken place in northern Maine for more than three decades, and they include a 250-mile event that is the marquee sled dog race in New England. But this year, snowfall has been well below average in Maine, and organizers said Monday that it’s not safe to run the races. It’s one of many cold weather events that has been jeopardized in recent years by increasingly warm winter temperatures in northern parts of the country.

A private U.S. lunar lander is expected to stop working Tuesday, its mission cut short after landing sideways near the south pole of the moon. Intuitive Machines, the Houston company that built and flew the spacecraft, said Monday that sunlight will likely stop shining on the solar panels Tuesday morning. That’s two to three days short of the week or so that NASA and other customers had been counting on. Last Thursday, the lander became the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years. Photos from a NASA satellite around the moon show it landed within a mile of its target.

Kayakers have been paddling in one of the driest places on Earth after a series of storms battered California’s Death Valley and replenished Lake Manly. In the past six months, Death Valley has received more than double its annual rainfall amount, recording more than 4.9 inches compared to a typical year that gets about 2 inches. An area once known as a top spot to photograph vast salt flats is now a lake. Park rangers say kayakers should come soon since water levels are expected to drop in a matter of weeks.

A judge has ruled that a Black high school student’s monthslong punishment by his Texas school district for refusing to change his hairstyle does not violate a new state law prohibiting race-based hair discrimination. Darryl George hasn’t been in his regular classes at his Houston-area high school since Aug. 31 because his school district says he’s violating its policy limiting the length of boys’ hair. George wears his hair in tied and twisted locs on top of his head, and his attorney says his hairstyle is protected by the CROWN Act. State District Judge Chap Cain III on Thursday ruled in favor of the Barbers Hill school district, which argued its policy doesn’t violate the law.

A number of Americans are dealing with cellular outages on AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Verizon, T-Mobile and other service providers, according to data from Downdetector. AT&T had more than 58,000 outages midday, in locations including Houston, Atlanta and Chicago. Cricket Wireless had more than 9,000, the outage tracking website said Thursday. AT&T, who was hardest hit, is actively working to restore service to all of its customers.

Scientists have confirmed what became of a star that exploded in a stunning supernova visible to Earth more than three decades ago. It morphed into a neutron star, one of the oddest objects in the universe. Thursday's study in the journal Science shows how NASA's newest space telescope cut through the dust surrounding the 37-year-old cosmic explosion to find key evidence of a neutron star. Scientists had long figured the supernova would result in a black hole, where nothing escapes, or the super-dense neutron star. But there was too much debris to see, until the Webb telescope looked in infrared light.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in January as homebuyers seized upon easing mortgage rates and a modest pickup in properties on the market. Existing home sales rose 3.1% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That’s the strongest sales pace since August. The modest sales increase is an encouraging start for the housing market, which has been mired in a slump the past two years. Sales fell 1.7% compared with January last year, however. Existing home sales sank to a nearly 30-year low last year, tumbling 18.7% from 2022.

Nikki Haley’s best-case scenario for her home state’s Republican primary might be to do well enough to be competitive on Super Tuesday. An upset in South Carolina, though, is a longshot in a state where Republicans like their former governor but love former President Donald Trump. Trump is looking to complete an early state sweep after posting wide margins in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. For Haley, who was twice elected South Carolina governor and then served as Trump’s U.N. ambassador, she has a chance to narrow the margin and dampen Trump’s momentum.


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