Nation

Senators: Shared information key to protecting voting

WASHINGTON — Government efforts to protect state and local elections from cyberattacks in 2016 didn't go far enough, leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday as the panel released recommendations for protection from foreign interference in the 2018 primary season already underway.

Federal warnings last time did not provide enough information or go to the right people in state and local governments, the committee's leaders said, though they reiterated that there was no evidence votes were changed.

Trump calls Putin to congratulate him on re-election

MOSCOW (AP) — President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to congratulate him on his re-election to a fourth term, and they discussed arranging a meeting against the backdrop of heightened tensions between their two nations over election meddling.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the meeting could happen soon and they would likely follow up on Putin's recent declaration that he does not want an arms race with the United States.

Gunman dead, 2 hurt at Maryland HS

GREAT MILLS, Md. (AP) — A teenager with a handgun shot a girl inside his Maryland high school Tuesday before he was fatally wounded during a confrontation with a school resource officer, a sheriff said.

The officer and the student both fired a single shot at that point, and it wasn't immediately clear whether he took his own life or was killed by the officer's bullet, St. Mary's County Sheriff Tim Cameron said.

How likes on Facebook could profile voters for manipulation

NEW YORK — Facebook likes can tell a lot about a person. Maybe even enough to fuel a voter-manipulation effort like the one a Trumpaffiliated data-mining firm stands accused of — and which Facebook may have enabled.

The social network is now under fire after The New York Times and The Guardian newspaper reported that former Trump campaign consultant Cambridge Analytica used data, including user likes, inappropriately obtained from roughly 50 million Facebook users to try to influence elections.

Scandal-hit Weinstein Co. files for bankruptcy

NEW YORK CITY (AP) — The Weinstein Co. filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday with a buyout offer in hand from a private equity firm, the latest twist in its efforts to survive the sexual misconduct scandal that brought down co-founder Harvey Weinstein, shook Hollywood and triggered a movement that spread out to convulse other industries.

Quick challenge for Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban

JACKSON, Miss. — The nation's most restrictive abortion law is headed for a showdown before a federal judge only hours after it was signed by Mississippi's governor.

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves late Monday scheduled arguments Tuesday morning over whether he should immediately block the law after a request by the state's only abortion clinic and a physician who works there.

Republicans opt to wait out Trump’s storm against Mueller

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans made clear Tuesday they won't take steps to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired, insisting it's unnecessary and opting instead to wait out the storm.

As head of the Russia investigation, Mueller has become a favorite target of President Donald Trump's Twitter feed. Trump has declared the probe a "total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest!"

It's language no recent president has used for a federal inquiry. But House and Senate leaders have remained quiet, and decidedly unruffled.

Norfolk Southern moving derailed freight cars off tracks

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) — Norfolk Southern is moving derailed freight cars off the tracks after two trains collided in Georgetown, Kentucky, and sent four people to the hospital, the company said Monday in a statement.

Four train crew members were taken to the hospital after the crash as a precaution and have been released with no injuries, though one employee is still being evaluated, the statement said.

Death penalty is part of drug plan

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's plan to combat opioid drug addiction calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where appropriate under current law, a top administration official said. It's a fate for drug dealers that Trump has been highlighting publicly in recent weeks.

Serial bomber uses a tripwire in 4th Austin attack

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AUSTIN, Texas — Fear mounted across Texas' capital on Monday after the fourth bombing this month — a blast triggered this time by a nearly invisible tripwire, demonstrating what police called a "higher level of sophistication" than the package bombs used in the previous attacks.

Two men were wounded in the explosion Sunday night as they walked near a residential street.