by Hanna Arhirova KYIV, Ukraine  — Russian shelling damaged a landmark church Thursday in the Ukrainian city of Kherson that until last year held the remains of Prince Grigory Potemkin, an 18th-century Russian military commander who encouraged Catherine the Great to expand the Russian Empire into what is now southern Ukraine. Ukraine’s emergency service said four of its workers were wounded in a second round of shelling as they fought a fire at St. Catherine’s Cathedral. Four other people were wounded in the first shelling attack, which also hit a trolleybus, the prosecutor general’s office said. A missile strike severely damaged a…

by Jim Vertuno AUSTIN, Texas  — Texas A&M University reached a $1 million settlement Thursday with a Black journalism professor whose hiring was sabotaged by backlash over her past work promoting diversity. The nation’s largest public school agreed to pay Kathleen McElroy and apologized to her while admitting “mistakes were made during the hiring process.” Texas A&M, which is located in College Station, about 90 miles (144 kilometers) northwest of Houston, initially welcomed McElroy with great fanfare to revive its journalism department in June. A former New York Times editor and Texas A&M alum, McElroy had overseen the journalism school…

by Michael Goldberg JACKSON, Miss.  — Six white former law enforcement officers in Mississippi who called themselves the “Goon Squad” pleaded guilty Thursday to a racist assault on two Black men in a home raid that ended with an officer shooting one man in the mouth. The officers entered the house without a warrant on Jan. 24, assaulting the men with a sex object and using stun guns and other objects to abuse them over a roughly 90-minute period, court documents show. After one victim was shot and wounded in a “mock execution” that went awry, the documents say the officers conspired…

by Michael Kunzelman, Eric Tucker, Nomad Merchant and Lindsay WASHINGTON  — Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to trying to overturn the results of his 2020 election loss, answering for the first time to federal charges that accuse him of orchestrating a brazen and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to block the peaceful transfer of presidential power. The former president appeared before a magistrate judge in Washington’s federal courthouse two days after being indicted by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith. Of the three criminal cases he’s facing, the most recent charges are especially historic since they focus on Trump’s efforts as…

by Kimberlee Kruesi NASHVILLE, Tenn.  — Tennessee Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, who became Democratic heroes as members of the “Tennessee Three,” are hoping to once again reclaim their legislative seats Thursday after they were expelled for involvement in a gun control protest on the House floor. The young Black lawmakers were both reinstated by local officials, but only on an interim basis. To fully take back their positions, they must advance through a special election. Both easily cleared their primary election in June, and now face general election opponents for districts that heavily favor Democrats. Jones, who lives in Nashville, is…

by Jill Colvin NEW YORK  — The 2024 election will determine whether Donald Trump returns to the White House. It could also decide if he’ll face time behind bars. For Trump, who’s now facing his third criminal indictment — this time for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and block the transfer of presidential power — winning is about more than ego, redemption, score-settling or the future of the country. “This election may very well be about Donald Trump’s personal freedom,” said Ari Fleischer, a longtime Republican strategist. “It’s not an exaggeration to say, if convicted, he could be…

by Sam Mednick NIAMEY, Niger  — Niger’s new military ruler lashed out at neighboring countries and the international community in a nationally televised speech Wednesday night, and he called on the population to be ready to defend the nation. In one of few addresses to the West African country since seizing power from Niger’s democratically elected president a week ago, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani warned against foreign meddling and military intervention against the coup. “We therefore call on the people of Niger as a whole and their unity to defeat all those who want to inflict unspeakable suffering on our hard-working…

by Jill Colvin NEW YORK  — Mike Pence fought the Department of Justice in court to try to avoid testifying against his former boss. But the former vice president plays a central role in a new federal indictment unsealed Tuesday that outlines the first criminal charges against Donald Trump connected to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The 45-page indictment is informed, in part, by contemporaneous notes that Pence kept of their conversations in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, as Trump tried to pressure Pence to go along with his desperate — and prosecutors say illegal — scheme to…

by Marc Levy HARRISBURG, Pa.— Rhonda Hicks could have kept working into her 60s. She loved teaching and loved her students in Philadelphia’s public schools. As a Black woman, she took pride in being a role model for many children of color. But other aspects of the job deteriorated, such as growing demands from administrators over what and how to teach. And when she retires in a few weeks, she will join a disproportionately high number of Black and Hispanic teachers in her state who are leaving the profession. “I enjoy actually teaching, that part I’ve always enjoyed,” said Hicks,…

by Emma Burrows The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district dominate the skyline of the Russian capital. The sleek glass-and-steel buildings — designed to attract investment amid an economic boom in the early 2000s – are a dramatic, modern contrast to the rest of the more than 800-year-old city. Now they are a sign of its vulnerability, following a series of drone attacks that rattled some Muscovites and brought the war in Ukraine home to the seat of Russian power. The attacks on Sunday and Tuesday aren’t the first to hit Moscow — a drone even struck the Kremlin harmlessly in May.…