National Obituaries

NEW YORK (AP) — Nikki Giovanni, the poet, author, educator and public speaker who rose from borrowing money to release her first book to decades as a literary celebrity sharing her blunt and conversational takes on everything from racism and love to

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Merv Rettenmund, an outfielder whose 13-year major league playing career included World Series titles with the Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds, has died. He was 81. The San Diego Padres announced Rettenmund's death Sunday.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Clarke Reed , a Mississippi businessman who developed the Republican Party in his home state and across the South starting in the 1960s, died Sunday at his home in Greenville, Mississippi. He was 96.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Clarke Reed , a Mississippi businessman who developed the Republican Party in his home state and across the South starting in the 1960s, died Sunday at his home in Greenville, Mississippi. He was 96.

TORONTO — York University says Alan Young, a lawyer and legal scholar known for leading the challenge of Canada’s prostitution laws before the country's top court, has died at age 69.

BERLIN (AP) — Adam Pemble, an Associated Press video journalist who covered some of the biggest global news of the past two decades, from earthquakes and conflicts to political summits and elections, has died. He was 52.

Adam Pemble, an Associated Press video journalist who covered some of the biggest global news of the past two decades, from earthquakes and conflicts to political summits and elections, has died. He was 52.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Darrell V. McGraw Jr., a former longtime West Virginia attorney general and state Supreme Court justice who fought back against the state's drug overdose crisis, died Saturday. He was 88.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Darrell V. McGraw Jr., a former longtime West Virginia attorney general and state Supreme Court justice who fought back against the state's drug overdose crisis, died Saturday. He was 88.

CHICAGO (AP) — Bill Melton, a star slugger for the Chicago White Sox in the 1970s who later became a fixture on their broadcasts as a pregame and postgame TV analyst for more than two decades, has died. He was 79.