National News

An Arizona judge has ruled that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may not use the state's “clergy-penitent privilege” to refuse to answer questions or turn over documents in a child sex-abuse case. Clergy in Arizona and many other states are required to report information about child sexual abuse or neglect to authorities. But there's an exception if they learn of the abuse through spiritual confessions. Judge Laura Cardinal said the late Paul Adams waived his right to keep his confessions secret when he posted videos of himself sexually abusing his two daughters on the Internet and boasted of the abuse on social media.

The MTV Video Music Awards later this month will have not one emcee but three, with rap stars LL Cool J, Nicki Minaj and Jack Harlow all set to anchor the ceremony. They’ll introduce and present the famous Moonmen trophies alongside performers including Lizzo, Anitta, BLACKPINK, J Balvin, Måneskin, Kane Brown, Marshmello with Khalid, and Panic! At The Disco on Aug. 28 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Harlow, Lil Nas X and Kendrick Lamar have seven nominations. Harlow, Lil Nas X, Drake, Bad Bunny, Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles and Lizzo will compete for artist of the year. Styles and Doja Cat received the second-most nominations with six.

The world's smallest and most endangered sea turtle has hatched in Louisiana's wilds for the first known time in 75 years. Louisiana agencies say crews monitoring the Chandeleur Islands to help design a restoration project found tracks of females going to and from nests, and of hatchlings leaving nests. A news release from the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries included photos of two hatchlings crawling toward and swimming in the water. The statement says threatened loggerhead sea turtles also are nesting on the islands. It says loggerhead nests found on Grand Isle in 2015 were the first confirmed sea turtle nests in Louisiana in more than 30 years.

The 12-year-old suffered a fractured skull when he fell from a bunk bed at his dormitory at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Rosalynn Carter turns 95 Thursday, and her birthday is being marked with butterflies. A friend says the wife of former President Jimmy Carter has a fascination with butterflies dating back to her childhood in Plains, Georgia. That interest led to the formation of the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail, which was established after the former first lady grew concerned about the future of butterflies. The Carters made a rare public appearance last Saturday in Plains at the dedication of a new butterfly sculpture. And the butterfly trail is using her birthday to promote an annual count of butterflies in Georgia planned for Friday and Saturday. Rosalynn Carter is the second-oldest U.S. first lady ever.

One skyscraper stands out from the rest in the Manhattan skyline. It’s not the tallest, but it is the skinniest — the world's skinniest, in fact. New York architecture firm SHoP Architects designed Steinway Tower, which earns the title of “the most slender skyscraper in the world” due to its logic-defying ratio of width to height. The apartments in the 84-story residential tower range in cost as much as $66 million per unit and offer full views of the city. The tower is so tall and skinny that the luxury homes on the upper floors whip around by a few feet whenever the wind ramps up.

The first official federal calculations of the new spending package that President Biden signed this week show it will slice America's carbon pollution by more than 1 billion tons by the end of the decade. Thursday's Department of Energy calculations show emission reductions by 2030 will be about the same as the amount of greenhouse gases that U.S. homes produce each year. Overall, the analysis says the U.S. will reduce its emissions to about 40% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. That still does not reach the national goal of cutting carbon pollution in half.

Production of gasoline versions of the Dodge Challenger and Charger muscle cars is ending. GM has said it will build an all-electric Chevrolet Corvette. Here's what the future for muscle cars looks like.

Thundering gas-powered muscle cars will be closing in on their final Saturday-night cruises in the coming years. That's because automakers are replacing the vehicles with super-fast cars that run on batteries. Stellantis’ Dodge brand has long been the performance flag-bearer of the company formerly known as Fiat Chrysler. Now it is officially moving toward electricity. On Wednesday night, Dodge unveiled a battery-powered Charger Daytona SRT concept car. One like it will be in showrooms in 2024 as the sun sets on some petroleum models. Other automakers are moving — or have moved — in the same direction.

Home gardening has been on a tear during the pandemic, and now it's harvest time in many places. It's also vacation season. How do you maintain a garden and what do you do with your hard-won vegetables and flowers during extended trips away? Some home gardeners hire professional sitters. Others rely on neighbors and hope for the best. The New York Botanical Garden's Adam Choper suggests designating one trusted person to avoid a free-for-all in your garden. There also are steps you can take to help protect your plants while you're gone from water loss and competition from weeds.

The Columbia River, which natives call Nch’i-Wána, or “the great river,” has sustained Indigenous people in the region for millennia. The river’s salmon and the roots and berries that grow around the area, are known as “first foods” because of the belief that they volunteered to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of humans at the time of Creation. These foods are prominently featured in longhouse ceremonies and rituals. The foods and the river are still threatened by industrialization, climate change and pollution. Many Indigenous people still live along the river because their blood lines are here and the practice of their faith requires them to do so.

One skyscraper stands out from the rest in the Manhattan skyline. It's not the tallest, but it is the skinniest — the world's skinniest, in fact.

The Biden administration is taking new steps to accelerate the U.S. response to monkeypox. Here's the plan as reported cases in the U.S. reach 13,500.

Three men buried the children, ages 5 to 14, along with their bus driver in an old moving van. The victims were able to dig their way out more than a day later.

The former first lady turns 95 today. Here's how she's celebrating.

Kimi Raikkonen will take a break from his retirement to return to racing this weekend in the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York. The 2007 Formula One world champion will drive for TrackHouse Racing and its Project91, which is a program to give top international drivers exposure to NASCAR. Sunday's race with the Raikkonen is the debut of Project91. The Finnish driver has tried NASCAR racing once before. In 2011, he ran the Xfinity and Truck Series races at Charlotte. This will be his Cup debut. There are a NASCAR-record seven countries represented in Sunday's field.