Nation

Historians: Civil War statues need context and should be moved

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — As North Carolina grapples with whether to move three Confederate monuments from the state Capitol grounds, two historians are advising that they should be moved — but if that can’t happen, some historical context should be added so people can learn from the past.

‘Fox & Friends’: Influence comes with the president’s ear

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s the epicenter of television journalism, the most influential news show on the air. But “Fox & Friends” doesn’t feel that way.

Fox News Channel’s dayopener seems much like it has for 20 years, a peppy talk show about news that advances a conservative point of view, and is mocked by some critics for a lack of intellectual rigor.

The difference now is that one of its regular viewers is the most powerful person in the world, who takes his cues from what he sees.

SYMPATHETIC MINDS

Trump: Syria attack ‘very soon or not so soon at all!’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that an attack on Syria could take place “very soon or not so soon at all,” arguing he had never signaled the timing of retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack that he had suggested was imminent a day earlier.

Administration plan would allow drug testing for some recipients of food stamps

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is considering a plan that would allow states to require certain food stamp recipients to undergo drug testing, handing a win to conservatives who’ve long sought ways to curb the safety net program.

Anchorage voters 1st in the nation to reject bathroom bill

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Voters in Alaska’s largest city are on track to becoming the first in the U.S. to defeat a so-called bathroom bill in a referendum that asked them to require people using public bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender at birth.

California to join Guard border mission, but with conditions

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown accepted President Donald Trump’s call to send the National Guard to the Mexican border, but rejected the White House’s portrait of a burgeoning border crisis and insisted that his troops will have nothing to do with immigration enforcement.

The Democratic governor broke a week of silence Wednesday by agreeing to contribute 400 troops, though not all will be on the border. Brown’s commitment brought the pledges from four states that border Mexico to just shy of the low end of the president’s target of 2,000 to 4,000 troops.

Anti-extremism efforts falter 5 years after Boston bombing

“Extremism, radicalization and violence exists across cultures, religions and ethnicities,” Jibril wrote in an October email in withdrawing from the program. “Focusing efforts specifically on one subgroup will ultimately create deeper divisions in our fractured society, doing more harm than good.”

Chad Wood, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which is funding the efforts, stressed the agency’s approach to preventing terrorism isn’t based on race or religion and instead focuses on communities targeted by terrorists for recruitment.

Gun rights supporters: Bring your unloaded rifle to rallies

Organizers are encouraging gun rights supporters to bring unloaded rifles to rallies at state capitols across the U.S. this weekend, pushing back against a wave of student-led gun violence protests that some see as a threat to the Second Amendment.

A group called the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans spread word of the gatherings on social media. Organizers have permits for rallies Saturday outside 45 statehouses, said David Clayton, of West Virginia, one of the coalition’s founders.

Accusers confront Bill Cosby

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Bill Cosby’s lawyers sought to raise doubts Thursday about the allegations of a woman who testified that the 80-year-old comedian knocked her out with pills and raped her during a 1982 encounter in Nevada.

Janice Baker-Kinney returned to the witness stand after punctuating the first two hours of her testimony at Cosby’s sexual assault retrial in suburban Philadelphia with a firm declaration: “I was raped.” Baker-Kinney was a 24-yearold casino bartender in Reno when she says Cosby gave her pills she suspected to be quaaludes and had sex with her in 1982.

Publishers worry about newsprint costs with new tariffs

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Newspaper publishers across the U.S. already strapped by years of declining revenue say they’re dealing with an existential threat: Recently imposed tariffs on Canadian newsprint driving up their business costs.