UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The 18-year-old gunman who slaughtered 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school barricaded himself inside a single classroom and “began shooting anyone that was in his way,” authorities said Wednesday in detailing the latest mass killing to rock the U.S.

Americans on the cusp of retiring are facing a tough choice as they watch their nest eggs shrink: Stay the course or keep working. A stock market slump this year has taken a big bite out of investors’ portfolios, including retirement plans like 401(k)s.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. births bumped up last year, but the number of babies born was still lower than before the coronavirus pandemic. The modest 1% increase was a bit of a rebound from 2020. The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic witnessed the largest one-year drop in births in nearly a half-century.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are becoming less supportive of punishing Russia for launching its invasion of Ukraine if it comes at the expense of the U.S. economy, a sign of rising anxiety over inflation and other challenges. That's according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Gail Curley began her job as Marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court less than a year ago, she would have expected to work mostly behind the scenes: overseeing the court’s police force and the operations of the marble-columned building where the justices work. Earlier this month, however, Curley was handed a bombshell of an assignment — overseeing an investigation into the leak of a draft opinion and apparent votes in a major abortion case.

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — An abortion clinic that serves women from all over the U.S. South had its license suspended this weekend under an emergency order from Florida health officials after two women who had undergone procedures at the clinic were hospitalized this year.

LAGUNA WOODS, Calif. (AP) — Survivors and church leaders are joining in prayer nearly a week after a deadly shooting at a Taiwanese American church congregation in California. They are also thanking community members in Laguna Woods for their support.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A military plane carrying enough specialty infant formula for more than half a million baby bottles has arrived in Indianapolis, the first of several flights expected from Europe aimed at relieving a shortage that has sent parents scrambling to find enough to feed their children.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. military officer challenged the next generation of Army soldiers on Saturday to prepare America's military to fight future wars that may look little like the wars of today.

GAYLORD, Mich. (AP) — A second person died in a tornado that hit northern Michigan, authorities reported Saturday, as crews searched a mobile home park that was virtually destroyed by a rare twister in an area with no weather sirens.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Boeing's crew capsule has blasted off on a repeat test flight to the International Space Station. Only a test dummy was on board for Thursday’s launch from Cape Canaveral.

COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — A judge says a driver who used a Tesla on autopilot must stand trial for a crash near Los Angeles that killed two people. The judge ruled Thursday that there's enough evidence to try 27-year-old Kevin Riad for manslaughter.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A group of Democratic congress members is proposing a binding plebiscite to decide whether Puerto Rico should become a state or gain some sort of independence. The draft proposal unveiled at an online news conference Thursday would commit Congress to accepting Puerto Rico into the United States if voters on the island approve it.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Abortion providers in Oklahoma say they will no longer provide the service in the state after the governor signs the latest pro-life measure heading to his desk.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white man accused of killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket appeared briefly in court Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on a first-degree murder charge. Assistant district attorney Gary Hackbush said the indictment of Payton Gendron, 18, was handed up Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials in California's Orange County are still trying to determine why a gunman opened fire in a Taiwanese Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods. They say 68-year-old David Chou, who has links to both Taiwan and China, was motivated by political hatred against Taiwan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and has authorized flights to import supply from overseas. He is facing mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — More than 2,000 firefighters battling the largest U.S. wildfire are digging back-up fire lines and rearranging fire engines around homes in northeast New Mexico. Fire officials say they expedited efforts Wednesday to get ahead of the flames in anticipation of a return to windy, dangerous conditions in the days ahead.

MIAMI (AP) — “The Greatest Show on Earth” is making a comeback — without animal acts _ five years after shutting down its three-ring circus. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey announced Wednesday that their show will go on in September 2023.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The roommate of the man charged with the mass shooting at a Southern California church says Chou was quiet and kind during the three months they lived together. Police say 68-year-old David Wenwei Chou was motivated by hatred of Taiwan when he opened fire Sunday on a congregation of mainly elderly Taiwanese.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress held its first hearing in half a century Tuesday on unidentified flying objects. And no, there is still no government confirmation of extraterrestrial life.

OVID, Colo. (AP) — The megadrought that has long gripped the western U.S. is moving eastward. And that's behind a simmering dispute over how much water Colorado and Nebraska are entitled to take from the South Platte River, which supplies both metro Denver's booming population and expansive agriculture on both sides of the border.

DETROIT (AP) — Nearly 43,000 people were killed on U.S. roads last year. That's the highest number in 16 years as Americans returned to the highways after the pandemic forced many to stay at home.

THOMASVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A handful of U.S. hospitals are facing a financial crisis that officials say was caused by the federal government's rules for pandemic relief money. A trio of hospitals in Alabama, Kansas and New Mexico say they're not getting as much assistance as other hospitals because they're so new they can't prove financial losses from before the pandemic.

LAGUNA WOODS, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say the man killed trying to stop a gunman at a Southern California church may have saved dozens of lives. Dr. John Cheng was shot after tackling David Chou on Sunday at a Taiwanese church in Orange County. Chou was then subdued by elderly parishioners.