MAINE — Opponents of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers in Maine filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after being dealt another legal defeat on Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Al Wolf is used to clearing one or two snakes from under houses but recently was called by a woman who said she had seen rattlesnakes scurry under her Northern California house and was surprised to find more than 90 rattlesnakes getting ready to hibernate.

BANGKOK (AP) — An American journalist detained almost five months in military-ruled Myanmar is being prosecuted for an offense allegedly carried out by a news service for which he had stopped working more than half-a-year previously, his lawyer said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has moved aggressively against close Trump adviser Steve Bannon, swiftly scheduling a vote to recommend criminal contempt charges against the former White House aide after he defied a subpoena.

LEIGH-ON-SEA, England (AP) — A long-serving member of Parliament was stabbed to death Friday during a meeting with constituents at a church in England, in what police said was a terrorist incident. A 25-year-old man was arrested in connection with the attack, which united Britain's fractious…

BEIJING (AP) — China’s central bank said Friday that financial risks from China Evergrande Group’s debt problems are “controllable” and unlikely to spill over, amid growing investor concerns that the crisis could ripple through other developers.

HENRICO, Va. (AP) — First lady Jill Biden campaigned Friday for Democrats in governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey, saying "this election will set a course for a year from now” during her first political trip of her husband's presidency.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An appellate court on Friday ordered a judge to consider a request to block an Alabama execution next week as attorneys argue the low-IQ inmate should have been given help understanding the prison paperwork that laid the groundwork for the planned lethal injection.

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AP) — At least 46 people were killed and another 41 injured after a fire broke out early Thursday in a run-down mixed commercial and residential building in the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung, officials said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A commission tasked with studying potential changes to the Supreme Court has released a first look at its review, a draft report that is cautious in discussing proposals for expanding the court but also speaks approvingly of term limits for justices.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A crowd of 100 people wreaked havoc in downtown Portland, Oregon, this week – smashing storefront windows, lighting dumpsters on fire and causing at least $500,000 in damage – but police officers didn't stop them.

WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC’s “This Week” — Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A former Boeing test pilot pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he deceived regulators by withholding information about a key system that played a role in two deadly crashes involving Boeing 737 Max jets.

BEIJING (AP) — China's Shenzhou-13 spacecraft carrying three Chinese astronauts on Saturday docked at its space station, kicking off a record-setting six-month stay as the country moves toward completing the new orbiting outpost.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — President Joe Biden said Friday he would prefer to cut the duration of programs in his big social services and climate change package rather than eliminate some entirely, as Democrats struggle to win support from moderates by trimming what had been a $3.5 trillion proposal.

PARIS (AP) — Hubert Germain, the last of an elite group of decorated French fighters who helped liberate France from Nazi control in World War II, has died. He was 101.

NEW YORK (AP) — A California man pleaded guilty Friday to threatening harm in text messages sent during the attack on the Capitol to a New York-based family member of a journalist.

PHOENIX (AP) — Ron Watkins, a prolific promoter of false conspiracies about the 2020 election who is closely tied to the QAnon movement, says he is running for Congress as a Republican in Arizona.

WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — Colby College is banning discrimination based on caste, a system of inherited social class, becoming one of the nation's earliest colleges to do so.

The company behind a digital token called Tether has agreed to pay $41 million to settle charges that it misled investors by claiming the token was fully backed at all times by U.S. dollars and other fiat currencies.

ORANGE, Calif. (AP) — Bill Clinton will remain hospitalized overnight as he recovers from a urological infection. But a spokesman said Friday that he was doing better and was in good spirits.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge on Friday denied a request by dozens of scientists and others at Los Alamos National Laboratory to block a vaccine mandate, meaning workers risk being fired if they don't comply with the lab's afternoon deadline.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Indigenous groups and other environmental activists marched to the Capitol Friday as they continued a weeklong protest demanding that Congress and the Biden administration stop new fossil fuel projects and act with greater urgency on climate change.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government watchdog group said Friday that it had filed an ethics complaint against White House press secretary Jen Psaki for a comment she made about former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat who is running for election to his old post.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt testified at a trial Friday, describing how his enthusiastic pursuit of big contributions from a Rudy Giuliani associate he met at a Trump hotel during his 2018 run for governor ended with a $10,000 check he had to reject.

BERLIN, El Salvador (AP) — At a geothermal power plant near El Salvador’s Tecapa volcano, 300 computers whir inside a trailer as they make complex mathematical calculations day and night verifying transactions for the cryptocurrency bitcoin.

Police departments around the U.S. that are requiring officers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are running up against pockets of resistance that some fear could leave law enforcement shorthanded and undermine public safety.

CUAUTLA, Mexico (AP) — Two young volunteers dressed in long sleeves, jeans and face masks dig into the steep side of stream bank reeking of sewage that flows from a shopping center.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The attorney for prominent South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, who discovered his wife and son dead at their home this summer, said Murdaugh is resigned that he will serve time in prison for stealing millions of dollars.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials are setting the stage for a national COVID-19 vaccination campaign for younger children, inviting state officials to order doses before the shots are authorized.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Defense Ministry said a Russian warship on Friday prevented a U.S. Navy destroyer from what it described as an attempt to intrude into Russia’s territorial waters in the Sea of Japan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health advisers endorsed a booster of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine Friday, citing concern that Americans who got the single-dose shot aren’t as protected as those given two-dose brands.

Amazon's audiobook service Audible and phone apps for reading the holy books of Islam and Christianity have disappeared from the Apple store in mainland China, the latest examples of the impact of the country's tightened rules for internet firms.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California has added the Pacific leatherback sea turtle to its endangered species list, guaranteeing more protections for a rapidly dwindling population.

Wall Street added to its recent gains Friday as stocks closed higher, driving the S&P 500 to its best week since July.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a year out of the White House, Donald Trump continues to circle the Republican Party, commanding attention and influence as he ponders another run for the presidency.

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A central California county executive has pledged immediate changes after a news report revealed that vulnerable children removed from their families were living in deplorable conditions inside an office building — sleeping on conference tables, eating fast food and uri…

NEW YORK (AP) — The Democrat who will likely become New York City's next mayor says he does not intend to get rid of the city's program for gifted and talented students, nipping plans that outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio just announced.