CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — U.S. astronaut Mark Vande Hei has made it through nearly a year in space, but faces what could be his trickiest assignment yet: riding a Russian capsule back to Earth in the midst of deepening tensions between the countries.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted some of America’s most prominent evangelical leaders to raise a provocative question — asking if the world is now in the biblically prophesied “end of days” that might culminate with the apocalypse and the second coming of Christ.

WOODSTOCK, Ga. (AP) — An annual rattlesnake roundup in south Georgia recently changed the format of this month’s event to celebrate living snakes without skinning and butchering them, earning …

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) — This is the story of a mischievous mutt who turned out to be a very good girl. Such a good girl, in fact, that she saved a life.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Warsaw to thank Poland for taking in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion took an unexpected turn before she even left Washington. She’ll be parachuting into the middle of unexpected diplomatic turbulence over fighter jets.

The first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig has died, two months after the groundbreaking experiment, the Maryland hospital that performed the surgery announced Wednesday.

FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — A second case of a disease that's deadly to deer has been found in Lauderdale County in northwest Alabama, a state agency said, prompting stricter rules about feeding wildlife.

KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — A wooden boat carrying hundreds of Haitian migrants in a suspected human smuggling operation ran aground in shallow water in the Florida Keys, where 163 people swam ashore and many needed medical attention, federal authorities said.

MIAMI (AP) — Sanctions on Russia are starting to wreak havoc on global trade, with potentially devastating consequences for energy and grain importers while also generating ripple effects across a world still struggling with pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions.

The talks are over, at least for now. Opening day is gone, too, and now we’re forced to wait to see if we get any baseball at all. If there was any good news coming out of baseball’s labor …

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Ryan Small was trying to keep his ex-wife from moving out of state with their son early last winter when he found out the 16-year-old boy had been secretly married off to another teen, with his mother’s permission, in an apparent bid to end the custody battle.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Addressing a concerned nation and anxious world, President Joe Biden vowed in his first State of the Union address Tuesday night to check Russian aggression in Ukraine, tame soaring U.S. inflation and deal with the fading but still dangerous coronavirus.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Major League Baseball gave itself and the players' association six hours to salvage opening day. After a marathon of 13 bargaining sessions over 16 1/2 hours produced …

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Major League Baseball negotiations to end the lockout are extending to the limit. Management says a deal must be reached by the end of Monday's negotiations to salvage a …

WASHINGTON — The U.S. for the first time has approved the direct delivery of Stinger missiles to Ukraine as part of a package approved by the White House on Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and European nations agreed Saturday to impose the most potentially crippling financial penalties yet on Russia over its unrelenting invasion of Ukraine, going after the central bank reserves that underpin the Russian economy and severing some Russian banks from a vital global financial network.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia began evacuating its embassy in Kyiv, and Ukraine urged its citizens to leave Russia on Wednesday as the region braced for further confrontation after President Vladimir Putin received authorization to use military force outside his country and the West responded with sanctions.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed broadly lower Tuesday after Russia sent forces into Ukraine’s eastern region and the U.S., European Union and U.K. responded with economic sanctions.

COMMERCE CITY, Co. (AP) — Five adults were found dead in a Colorado apartment on Sunday along with substances described as “illicit narcotics,” authorities said. Another adult and a 4 month old child were alive inside the unit.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lost her libel lawsuit against The New York Times on Tuesday when a jury rejected her claim that the newspaper maliciously damaged her reputation by erroneously linking her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The families of nine victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have agreed to a $73 million settlement of a lawsuit against the maker of the rifle used to kill 20 first graders and six educators in 2012, their attorney said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday escalated dire warnings of a possibly imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying it could happen at any moment, even as emergency diplomatic efforts continued. Adding to the sense of crisis, the Pentagon ordered an additional 3,000 U.S. troops to Poland to reassure allies.

MARION, Ala. (AP) — Bullet holes pock a rusted mailbox outside the vacant home where Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott were married in 1953. Part of the old wooden structure has collapsed, as have nearby utility buildings.

ASHLAND, Ky. - She stood, as she did for the last 59 years, impressive and dignified, on a tract of land nestled between the Kentucky hills and the Ohio River.  Once a proud image of Armco Steel Works Ashland plant, Amanda, a 234-foot-tall blast furnace, was about to meet her end.

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Hours before a gunman opened fire at a bustling Colorado supermarket, Teri Leiker called her mother to tell her how excited she was to return from vacation to her job as a …