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Astronauts return to Earth with SpaceX

(AP) — Four astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after hustling to the International Space Station five months ago to relieve the stuck test pilots of Boeing’s Starliner. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Pacific off the Southern California coast a day after departing the orbiting lab. “Welcome home,” SpaceX Mission Control radioed. Splashing down were NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. They launched in March as replacements for the two NASA astronauts assigned to Starliner’s botched demo. Starliner ...

Flooding cancels last day of Wisconsin State Fair

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Flash flooding canceled the final day of the Wisconsin State Fair on Sunday as continued heavy rainfall in half a dozen Midwest states forced motorists to abandon their vehicles, cut power to thousands of households and closed busy roadways. Organizers of the Wisconsin State Fair said they were scrapping the final day of the 11-day event after rains flooded the fairgrounds in West Allis, which is just outside Milwaukee. “We are saddened we cannot deliver this final day of the Wisconsin State Fair, but know that this is the best decision with current conditions ...

Trump has said abortion is a state issue, but his judicial picks could shape it nationally for decades

CHICAGO (AP) — One called abortion a “barbaric practice.” Another referred to himself as a “zealot” for the anti-abortion movement. Several have played prominent roles in defending their state’s abortion restrictions in court and in cases that have had national impact, including on access to medication abortion. As President Donald Trump pushes the Senate to confirm his federal judicial nominees, a review by The Associated Press shows that roughly half of them have revealed anti-abortion views, been associated with anti-abortion groups or defended abortion ...

Apollo 13 moon mission leader James Lovell dies

CHICAGO (AP) — James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97. Lovell died Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois, NASA said in a statement on Friday. “Jim’s character and steadfast ...

Trump says he will meet with Putin to discuss Ukraine war

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that he will meet “very shortly” with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a major potential milestone after expressing weeks of frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting. Speaking to reporters at the White House after announcing a framework aimed at ending decades of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Trump refused to say exactly when or where he would meet with Putin but that he planned to announce a location later in the day. He also suggested that his meeting ...