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Novelist Robert Stone may not have the name recognition of some of his buzzed-about contemporaries, but his works have won top honors in the writing world. Critic Rosecrans Baldwin thinks Stone's latest, Death of the Black-Haired Girl — full of characters whose evil-doings are "a pleasure to watch" — might give him a shot at mainstream acclaim.

The U.S. State Department announced that it is bringing some U.S. diplomats home from Afghanistan to prepare for a U.S. troop withdrawal.

South Carolina's top prosecutor says state law prohibits the city of Columbia from instituting a school mask mandate intended to cover children who are age-ineligible for the coronavirus vaccine. Attorney General Alan Wilson wrote to Mayor Steve Benjamin that the recently-approved measure is "in conflict with state law and should either be rescinded or amended." Columbia leaders last week ratified an ordinance mandating the use of masks in the city's elementary and middle schools for at least the beginning of the school year. South Carolina is now averaging nearly 3,000 new cases of COVID-19 a day and hospitals in the state are filling up fast.

American snowboarder Julia Marino took silver in the women's snowboard slopestyle final on Sunday, coming in second after New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott.

Federal prosecutors in South Carolina say "Tiger King" star Bhagavan "Doc" Antle has been charged with buying or selling endangered lemurs, cheetahs, and a chimpanzee without the proper paperwork. The latest charges released Thursday are on top of money laundering counts, where authorities said Antle tried to hide more than half a million dollars made in an operation to smuggle people across the Mexican border into the United States. The U.S. Endangered Species Act requires permission to buy or move any endangered species in captivity and prosecutors said Antle, two of his employees and owners of safari tours in Texas and California all broke the law.

President Bush selects Rob Portman to be his new budget director. Portman takes the job vacated by the president's new chief of staff, Josh Bolten. Portman's current post of trade representative will go to his deputy, Susan Schwab. Bolten has suggested that more administration changes may come.

Peru's close presidential race features a leftist who opposes eradication of Peru's coca crop, a former congresswoman who would like to codify trade with the United States and a former president. Voters head to the polls on Sunday.

The University of California system, the nation's largest, has announced a tuition hike for the fifth year in a row. Students are angry, and some educators are beginning to question whether the costs of a college education in California are getting out of reach. California's state system was once the most affordable in the nation.

One Portland, Ore., company has scooped the competition with a new twist on some old summertime picnic standards and turned them into flavors of ice cream.

Prosecutors release court documents in suspect Payton Gendron's first appearance in federal court on hate crime charges.