Associated Press stories, Page 1056
Average 30-year mortgage rate dips as spring season opens
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dipped for the fourth straight week, a good sign for potential home buyers and a real estate market that’s been mostly cold since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates more than a year ago. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average...
States and companies compete for billions to make hydrogen
As fossil fuel emissions continue warming Earth’s atmosphere, the Biden administration is turning to hydrogen as an energy source for vehicles, manufacturing and generating electricity. It’s offering $8 billion to entice the nation’s industries, engineers and planners to figure out how to produce and deliver clean hydrogen. States and businesses...
Arkansas lawmakers reject proposed affirmative action ban
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’ Republican-led House has rejected and effectively killed legislation aimed at banning affirmative action by state and local governments after critics said it would have gone much further than its architects said it would and threatened a host of programs around the state. The bill rejected...
Authorities: Armed Ohio student planned to shoot classmates
CHESTERLAND, Ohio — A student who brought a gun and ammunition to a high school in northeastern Ohio and planned to shoot others there was arrested after a bullet was found in a bathroom and surveillance footage helped identify him, authorities said. The 18-year-old student was charged with attempted murder,...
Troubles shadow lingers as Northern Ireland marks 25 years of peace
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Peter Olphert was 14 when Irish Republican Army gunmen killed his father. Forty years later, he says it’s time to set aside the past. Mark Thompson lost his brother to British Army bullets, another victim of “the Troubles” that wracked Northern Ireland for three decades. He...
IMF head expects less than 3% global economic growth in 2023
WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund chief said Thursday the world economy is expected to grow less than 3% this year, down from 3.4% last year, increasing the risk of hunger and poverty globally. Kristalina Georgieva said growth is expected to remain around 3% for the next five years, calling...
FDA forces unproven premature birth drug Makena off market
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday ordered the immediate market withdrawal of a drug intended to prevent premature births, which has remained available for years despite data showing it doesn’t help pregnant women. The decision follows repeated efforts by Swiss drugmaker Covis Pharma to keep Makena on...
Panel affirms fines against coal mines owned by W.Va. governor
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A federal appeals panel has affirmed $2.5 million in penalties against Appalachian coal mines owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice over claims they violated a settlement meant to prevent pollution. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, made the...
Tennessee’s House expels 2 of 3 Democrats over gun protestVideo
NASHVILLE — In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest that called for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. The banishment of Reps. Justin Jones and...
China vows ‘forceful’ measures after U.S.-Taiwan meeting
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China vowed reprisals against Taiwan after a meeting between the United States House speaker and the island’s president, saying Thursday that the U.S. was on a “wrong and dangerous road.” Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday in a show of U.S. support for...
China’s Xi calls for Ukraine peace talks to resume
BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping called Thursday for peace talks over Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to him to “bring Russia to its senses,” but Xi gave no indication Beijing would use its leverage as Vladimir Putin’s diplomatic partner to press for a settlement. Xi gave no...
Japanese army helicopter carrying 10 crew members missing
TOKYO — Japan’s coast guard says it is searching for an army helicopter carrying 10 crew members that went missing off a southern Japanese island. The coast guard said it received information that a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60JA Black Hawk helicopter disappeared from radar on a mission Thursday evening in...
Snake on a plane! South African pilot finds cobra under seat
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A pilot in South Africa made a hasty emergency landing after discovering a highly venomous cobra hiding under his seat. Rudolf Erasmus had four passengers on board the light aircraft during Monday’s flight when he felt “something cold” slide across his lower back. He glanced...
LIV golfers add betting dynamic to Masters
LAS VEGAS — The addition of LIV golfers to this week’s Masters field has created betting options for those wanting to wager on golf’s first major of the year. Westgate SuperBook golf oddsmaker Jeff Sherman said his company’s properties have taken quite a bit of money on whether one of...
Anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. challenging Biden in 2024
NEW YORK — Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and scion of one of the country’s most famous political families, is running for president. Kennedy filed a statement of candidacy Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission. The 69-year-old’s campaign to challenge incumbent President Joe Biden for the Democratic...
Jury in defamation suit against Fox won’t hear about Jan. 6
DOVER, Del. — The upcoming trial in a voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News for airing false allegations of vote fraud in the 2020 presidential election will not include testimony about the Jan. 6 uprising at the U.S. Capitol, a judge ruled Wednesday. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems claims...
Kansas bans transgender athletes from women’s, girls’ sports
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports from kindergarten through college, the first of several possible new laws restricting the rights of transgender people pushed through by Republican legislators over the wishes of the Democratic governor. The Legislature on Wednesday overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s...
Masters Tournament Tee Times
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tee times for Thursday’s first round of the Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club 8 a.m. — Kevin Na, Mike Weir 8:12 a.m. — Matthew McClean, Vijay Singh, Scott Stallings 8:24 a.m. — Talor Gooch, Jason Kokrak, Sandy Lyle 8:36 a.m. — Fred Couples, Russell...
Mike Pence won’t appeal order compelling grand jury testimonyVideo
WASHINGTON — A spokesman for Mike Pence said Wednesday that the former vice president will not appeal a judge’s order compelling him to testify in the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The decision sets up a...
Maryland AG releases report on Catholic Church sex abuse
BALTIMORE — More than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused more than 600 children over the past 80 years, according to a state report released Wednesday that accused church officials of decades of cover-ups. The report, issued by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office,...
TikTok’s parent has a new app: What to know about Lemon8
NEW YORK — As lawmakers debate whether to ban TikTok nationwide, its Chinese parent company has introduced a new app that’s already getting some traction. The app, called Lemon8, is likely to face some of the same scrutiny as TikTok, which has been dogged by claims the Chinese government could...
Trump’s bravado tested as legal woes overlap with campaign
NEW YORK — When Donald Trump stepped into a Manhattan courthouse Tuesday afternoon, his usual bravado was replaced with palpable anger and notable silence as the former president was reduced to a criminal defendant in custody. By the time he returned to his Mar-a-Lago club hours later, he was ready...
Review: Arty movie ‘Showing Up’ about artists fails to sparkVideo
Michelle Williams plays a sculptor whose hot water heater has irritatingly busted in the languid “Showing Up.” That’s about it, plot-wise. Talk about nobody showing up. Director Kelly Reichardt, who also penned the film with her regular screenwriter, Jonathan Raymond, has created a tiresome bubble inside a bubble, focusing their...
Man kills 4 children with hatchet at daycare center in BrazilVideo
RIO DE JANEIRO — A man with a hatchet jumped over a wall and invaded a daycare center Wednesday in Brazil, killing four children and wounding at least five others, authorities said. The assailant turned himself in at a police station and did not appear to have any connection with...
Bob Lee, Cash App founder and MobileCoin exec, slain at 43
SAN FRANCISCO — Bob Lee, a technology executive who created Cash App and was currently chief product officer of MobileCoin, was fatally stabbed early Tuesday in San Francisco, according to the cryptocurrency platform and police. Officers responded to a report of a stabbing on Main Street at 2:35 a.m. Tuesday...
