COLU @ CONCEPTS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Its conservative majority restored, the Supreme Court said Thursday it will return to an issue with the potential to financially cripple Democratic-leaning labor unions that represent government workers. After the justices deadlocked 4-4 in a similar case last year, the high court will consider a free-speech challenge from workers who object to paying money to unions they don’t support. The court, with conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch on board, could decide to overturn a 40-year-old Supreme Court ruling that allows public sector unions to collect fees from non-members to cover the costs of negotiating contracts for all employees. The union fees case is among nine new cases the justices added to their docket for the term that begins on Monday. Others deal with a defendant’s right to direct his own defense, police searches of vehicles and overtime pay for service advisers at car dealerships. Labor unions have been under sustained attack at the high court...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Last week Puerto Ricans hunkered down as Hurricane Maria raked the length of the island, killing at least 16 people, wrecking the electricity grid and grinding up homes, businesses, roads and farms. After the storm passed, islanders set about digging out from the mud and debris slung by worst storm to hit the island in nearly a decade. They went in search of basic necessities: water, food, gas for a generator, a cellphone signal or a Wi-Fi hotspot to connect with relatives. All of that remains in very short supply a week later, and now many are wondering how long it will take for life to return to normal in the U.S. territory of 3.4 million. Here are the stories of some of those who lived through the storm and are struggling in its aftermath: ___ OFFERING WHAT YOU CAN Days after the storm hit Sept. 20, Rosa Maria Almonte’s cafe in San Juan was still without power and all the other businesses nearby were boarded up. But she still managed t...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chris Wray was formally installed as the new FBI director on Thursday in a ceremony notable for the absence of the man who appointed him: President Donald Trump. The ceremony in a courtyard at FBI headquarters was largely a formality since Wray has been on the job for about two months. But in a reflection of the unusual circumstances of the event, it took place without Trump. And Wray’s two direct predecessors as FBI director, James Comey and Robert Mueller, were also absent, avoiding potentially uncomfortable encounters amid an investigation that touches the White House. Trump fired Comey in May, and Mueller was appointed as special counsel the following week to oversee an FBI investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Part of that probe includes an investigation into Comey’s firing. Trump’s absence was all the more striking given that President Barack Obama ...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A massive new rock fall hit Yosemite National Park on Thursday, cracking with a thundering roar off the El Capitan rock formation, injuring one person and sending huge plumes of white dust surging through the valley floor below. The slide came a day after a giant slab of granite plunged from the same formation, killing a British man on a hiking and climbing visit and injuring his wife. Climber Ryan Sheridan had just reached the top of El Capitan, a 7,569-foot (2,307-meter) formation, when the rock let loose below him Thursday. “There was so much smoke and debris,” he said by cellphone. “It filled the entire valley with smoke.” “It was in the same location of the previous rock fall. A larger rock fall let loose, easily three times the size,” Sheridan said. One person was injured and was flown to a hospital, park ranger and spokesman Scott Gediman said. There was no immediate word on the person’s condition. Meanwhile, the man killed Wednesday was i...

NEW DELHI (AP) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power on a euphoric wave of promises to boost India’s economy, add millions of jobs and bring “good times” to the developing nation. Three years later, India’s economic prospects look decidedly grimmer. India’s economic expansion has slowed to its lowest level in three years. Small businesses are struggling, or even shutting down, after overhauls of the nation’s currency and sales tax system. Modi’s own allies warn of a dire outlook, with some raising the specter of an economic depression. While government ministers have urged patience, analysts and others in Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party are not so sanguine about the current trends. “A hard landing appears inevitable,” Yashwant Sinha, a BJP lawmaker and former finance minister, said in a stinging commentary Wednesday in the Indian Express newspaper. He accused the government of rushing through poorly planned economic reforms, which he said will ho...

NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL says the message players and teams are trying to express is being lost in a political firestorm. The issues have been “overtaken by political forces,” NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said Thursday, referring to President Trump’s criticism of the league, team owners and players for kneeling during the national anthem. More than 200 players either knelt or used other means as expressions of unity last weekend. Lockhart said such actions are not a protest against the anthem or the flag. “One of the impacts is to distort the views of the NFL and particularly our players,” Lockhart said. Trump said NFL owners fear their players, and he renewed calls for action against those who kneel during the anthem. “I think they are afraid of their players, if you want to know the truth, and I think it’s disgraceful,” he said in an interview that aired Thursday on “Fox and Friends.” He says “most people agree” with him. The players knelt last weekend in response to ...

HONOLULU (AP) — A long-running effort to build one of the world’s largest telescopes on a mountain sacred to Native Hawaiians is moving forward after a key approval Thursday, reopening divisions over a project that promises revolutionary views into the heavens but has drawn impassioned protests over the impact to a spiritual place. Hawaii’s land board granted a construction permit for the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope atop the state’s tallest mountain, called Mauna Kea, but opponents likely would appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. Protesters willing to be arrested were successful in blocking construction in the past. “For the Hawaiian people, I have a message: This is our time to rise as a people,” said Kahookahi Kanuha, a protest leader. “This is our time to take back all of the things that we know are ours. All the things that were illegally taken from us.” Telescope officials don’t have any immediate construction plans and will consider its next steps...

BALI, Indonesia (AP) — More than 130,000 people have fled the region around the Mount Agung volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, fearing it will soon erupt. The disaster mitigation agency’s command post in Bali said the number of evacuees has swelled to about 134,200 by Thursday evening. That’s more than double the estimated population within the immediate danger zone, but people farther from the mountain are leaving too. Those who have fled are scattered in more than 500 locations across the island famed for its beaches, lush green interior and elegant Hindu culture, taking shelter in temporary camps, sports centers and other public buildings. The volcano has been at its highest alert level for a week, sparking the exodus. Thousands of cows were left behind in the rural communities where farming is an important livelihood, but local animal husbandry officials were arranging trucks to remove them. The exclusion zone around the mountain extends as far as 12 k...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Even without rescuing anyone from the rubble after Mexico’s big earthquake, a photogenic yellow Labrador retriever named Frida has gained an international social media following. At least 344 people died in the Sept. 19 earthquake, including 205 in Mexico City. For days, rescuers who tunneled into huge mounds of debris and selfless volunteers who threw themselves into work around the city were lauded for their efforts. But no individual captured the hearts of Mexicans and those watching the efforts from afar like Frida. Clad in goggles and neoprene booties, Frida with nose to the ground and clambering over crumbled buildings became a symbol of hope. “In social terms, this dog functioned like a transitional object because maybe she didn’t help us in anything real or concrete — meaning she didn’t rescue anyone — but she let us feel like there was hope and that there were things that could help us,” said Fatima Laborda, a psychoanalyst and director of Casa ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is making his second trip to China since taking office in February, and relations between the two world powers have rarely mattered so much. The standoff over North Korea’s nuclear weapons has entered a new, dangerous phase as its leader, Kim Jong Un, and President Donald Trump exchange personal insults and threats of war with no sign of a diplomatic solution. Even as Washington and Beijing grapple with that security crisis, Trump wants action from China for more balanced trade with America — a dispute with ramifications for the global economy. Tillerson, facing criticism at home for his muted impact as the top U.S. diplomat, will be laying the groundwork for Trump’s planned visit to China in November. He meets Saturday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other Chinese leaders. A look at what will be on the agenda: ___ NORTH KOREA Tillerson will be pushing China to fully implement the latest U.N. Securit...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on HHS Secretary Tom Price’s travels on charter flights (all times EDT): 10 p.m. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price says he’ll write a personal check to reimburse taxpayers for the cost of his travel on charter flights taken on government business. Price is also pledging to fly commercial with “no exceptions” as he fights to keep his job. Price’s office says the repayment, just under $52,000, covers only the secretary’s seat. Price hasn’t addressed the overall cost of the flights, which could amount to several hundred thousand dollars. Price says, “I was not sensitive enough to my concern for the taxpayer.” His mea culpa comes a day after a public rebuke from President Donald Trump. ___ 5:35 p.m. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is writing a check for nearly $52,000 to cover the cost of his own travel on charter planes while on government business. A department spokesman has disclosed the amount after Price a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Social media giant Twitter told congressional investigators it has suspended at least two dozen accounts that may have been tied to Russia, but the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee was anything but satisfied. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said Twitter’s explanations of its actions against Russia-linked accounts were “deeply disappointing,” and he suggested the company doesn’t understand the seriousness of Congress’ investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Warner made the comments after company executives met behind closed doors with staff members of both the Senate and House intelligence committees for several hours. Warner said the information Twitter shared “was frankly inadequate on almost every level.” The disclosures by Twitter follow Facebook revelations that some 3,000 ads were purchased by entities with likely ties to Russia and as congressional investigators are examining the spread of false news stories and prop...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Students at Harvard University staged a protest as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos delivered an address on school choice. Some held up fists. One held up a sign reading, “White supremacist.” Others called for protections for victims of campus sexual assault. DeVos last week revoked Obama administration guidance that instructed colleges on how to handle sexual assault cases. She did not interrupt her speech Thursday to address the protesters, but later took some pointed questions from the audience. The protest was mostly silent, though some students snapped their fingers or cheered in support of some questions. Asked about protections for transgender students, DeVos said she is committed to making sure all students are safe. Earlier this year, she rescinded guidance that allowed transgender students to use bathrooms that matched their gender identity. “With respect to any student that feels unsafe or discriminated against in their school, that is...

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball is set to smash through a previously untouched barrier Sunday: Some batter likely will walk back to his dugout after becoming the 40,000 strikeout of the season. There were 30,801 strikeouts in 2005. At the current rate, this year’s total will be about 40,060. “It kills me. I can’t watch the game. It’s not baseball,” Hall of Fame pitcher Goose Gossage said Thursday. “The only thing that’s the same in the game is the bases are 90 feet and the mound is 60 feet, 6 inches. That’s it.” The strikeout record has been broken for 10 consecutive seasons, and this year’s total will be well above the 38,982 who whiffed in 2016. There were 39,334 through Thursday, with three full days remaining. More batters are swinging for the fences, part of the computer revolution that transformed nearly every aspect of the game, from defensive shifts to shorter outings by starting pitchers, to more relief pitchers on each team’s roster. The season home run r...

GLEN FLORA, Texas (AP) — As John Locke looked down from a helicopter at his roughly 200 cattle struggling with Harvey’s rising floodwaters, he saw about 20 becoming entangled in a barbed wire fence and feared the worst. Bundled in a lifejacket, the 38-year-old rancher jumped in to try and help. But by the time he reached the Brahmans, a beef cow species that originated in India and is known for its distinctive hump, most had already freed themselves and headed for higher ground with the rest of the herd. “I thought they were going to die, and they’re fine, which is kind of a theme for the whole thing,” Locke said. The damage Harvey inflicted on Texas’ cattle industry hasn’t been calculated yet, but there’s evidence that it might be less than initially feared and perhaps not as costly as Hurricane Ike. That came ashore in 2008 as a weaker storm but with more salty storm surge that wiped out pastures for months. Even though Harvey unleashed catastrophic flooding on counties ...