AP National News

The Latest: UN statement would urge end to Taliban offensive

By The Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

Security Council members are considering a proposed statement that would urge an immediate end to the Taliban offensive and warn that the U.N.’s most powerful body will not support any government in Afghanistan imposed by military force or restoration of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate that ruled the country from 1996 to 2001. The proposed presidential statement, a step below a resolution, would also condemn the Taliban’s attacks on cities across Afghanistan “in the strongest terms” and reaffirm that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan. The draft statement, obtained Friday by the AP, urges the Afghan government and the Taliban “to engage without delay.”

Huntsville now Alabama’s largest city, overtakes Birmingham

By KIM CHANDLER - Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

Huntsville has overtaken Birmingham as Alabama’s largest city.  U.S. Census numbers released Thursday show that Huntsville is now slightly more populous than Birmingham. Huntsville has a population of 215,006. Birmingham has a population of 200,733. Huntsville has seen rapid growth over the past decade. The population of the city has jumped by 19% since 2010. However, the Birmingham metro area remains the largest in the state. The Birmingham-Hoover Metro Statistical Area has 1.1 million people, while the Huntsville Metro Area has more than 490,000 people. 

Lawsuit challenges Wisconsin districts after census release

By SCOTT BAUER - Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

Democrats have filed a lawsuit asking a  federal court to throw out Wisconsin’s current congressional and legislative district boundaries, arguing the 10-year-old maps are unconstitutional and shouldn’t be used as the starting point for new districts set to be drawn in the coming months. The lawsuit filed Friday comes less than 24 hours after the census released the data to used in the redistricting process. Democratic elections attorney Marc Elias filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Madison on behalf of six Wisconsin voters. The current maps were drawn and enacted by Republicans.

FACT FOCUS: Indiana doctor’s speech spreads COVID falsehoods

By ALI SWENSON and TERRENCE FRASER - Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

An Indiana doctor’s recent appearance at a small community school board meeting northeast of Indianapolis has racked up tens of millions of views across social media this week, with users falsely claiming it included facts about COVID-19 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the federal government don’t want you to hear. In reality, Dr. Dan Stock’s 6-minute…

Census: Alabama more diverse, a few counties driving growth

AP
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by Rayos Syndication User

Alabama’s population has become slightly more diverse over the last 10 years. U.S. Census numbers released Thursday show that the percentage of people who identify as white dropped while the state saw an increase in the Hispanic population and people who identify as two or more races.  The percentage of people who identify as multiracial increased from 1.5% to 5.1%. The percentage of people who identify as Hispanic increased from 3.9% to 5.3%. Alabama’s population growth over the last decade has been largely fueled by a handful of booming counties, while the Black Belt region and other regions continue to shrink.

EXPLAINER: 5 takeaways from the release of 2020 census data

By MIKE SCHNEIDER - Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

The Census Bureau has issued its long-awaited portrait of how the U.S. changed over the past decade. The agency released a trove of demographic data Thursday that will be used to redraw political maps across an increasingly diverse country. Among the key takeaways are the fact that the white population declined for the first time on record. The U.S. also became more urban. Almost all of the growth of the past 10 years happened in metropolitan areas. Phoenix was the fastest growing of the nation’s top 10 cities. In other developments, the share of children in the U.S. declined because of falling birth rates.

California’s Asian population soars, new census data shows

By ADAM BEAM - Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

California’s Asian population has grown by 25% in the past decade. New data from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday shows California now has more than 6 million people of Asian descent. That’s more than the total population of most states. California’s white population plummeted by 24% between 2010 and 2020. It confirms California, Hawaii and New Mexico are the only states where whites are not the largest ethnic group. Hispanics passed whites in California in 2015 as the state’s largest ethnic group. California’s Hispanic population grew by 11% over the past decade to 15.5 million people.

Census shows US is diversifying, white population shrinking

By MIKE SCHNEIDER - Associated Press
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by Rayos Syndication User

The U.S. became more diverse and more urban over the past decade, and the non-Hispanic white population dropped for the first time on record. That’s according to the Census Bureau, which on Thursday released a trove of demographic data that will be used to redraw the nation’s political maps. The new figures offered the most detailed portrait yet of how the country has changed since 2010, and they are sure to set off an intense partisan battle over representation at a time of deep national division and fights over voting rights. The figures show continued migration to the South and West at the expense of counties in the Midwest and Northeast.