Associated Press stories, Page 1081
AP source: Browns, safety Juan Thornhill agree to 3-year deal
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns went to the Super Bowl champions for a new safety. Cleveland reached an agreement with former Kansas City Chiefs free agent safety Juan Thornhill on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press on Wednesday night. Thornhill is getting a...
Pro Bowl safety Jordan Poyer agrees to 2-year deal to stay with BillsVideo
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Pro Bowl safety Jordan Poyer elected to stay put by reaching a two-year agreement to re-sign with the Buffalo Bills on Wednesday after briefly testing free agency. Poyer’s return immediately solidifies Buffalo’s secondary, which stood to lose a key leader and contributor who spent much of...
WVU’s Huggins looks to keep special year going in NCAA TournamentVideo
It has been quite a year for West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. Huggins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September. He became the winningest active Division I coach last week when Jim Boeheim retired at Syracuse. The Mountaineers (19-14) overcame a horrible start to Big...
Patriots add WR JuJu Smith-Schuster with 3-year deal
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Patriots made their first big pickup of free agency Wednesday, adding free agent wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. Smith-Schuster confirmed the move in a post on Twitter saying he was “Excited for my next chapter in New England!” “I will give this organization everything I have, thank...
Stormy Daniels meets with prosecutors investigating Trump
NEW YORK — Porn actor Stormy Daniels met Wednesday with prosecutors who are investigating hush money paid to her on former President Donald Trump’s behalf, her lawyer said Wednesday. The news emerged as Michael Cohen, a former Trump attorney who orchestrated the payment, was giving a second day of testimony...
Reports: Buccaneers, Baker Mayfield agree on 1-year dealVideo
TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers agreed on an $8.5 million, one-year contract with quarterback Baker Mayfield, according to multiple reports. Mayfield, the No. 1 overall pick by Cleveland in 2018, joins his third team since last July. He gets an opportunity to compete with Kyle Trask to replace...
Reports: Cowboys to release 2-time rushing champ Ezekiel ElliottVideo
The Dallas Cowboys plan to release running back Ezekiel Elliott, ending a seven-season run for a two-time rushing champion whose dominance faded, according to multiple reports Wednesday. Elliott will be designated a post-June 1 cut. The move will save Dallas about $11 million under the salary cap this season. While...
NBA suspends Ja Morant 8 games for having gun in video
MIAMI — The NBA suspended Memphis Grizzilies guard Ja Morant eight games without pay on Wednesday after determining that his displaying a firearm at a club in suburban Denver earlier this month was “conduct detrimental to the league.” Morant will miss his sixth game when the Grizzlies play in Miami...
Italian novelist: Leonardo’s da Vinci’s mother was a slave
MILAN — An Italian scholar and novelist has provided fresh fodder for an old debate over the identity of Leonardo da Vinci’s mother, proffering a recently unearthed document as evidence that she arrived on the Italian peninsula as a slave from the Caucasus region of Central Asia. Carlo Vecce, an...
Macron’s pension plan advances despite strikes across France
PARIS — French people hoping to preserve their retirement benefits took to the streets nationwide on Wednesday as President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension plan was validated by a committee of lawmakers meeting behind closed doors. Macron had the means on the joint Senate and National Assembly committee to advance his...
Aaron Rodgers says he intends to play for Jets in 2023Video
Aaron Rodgers says his intention is to play for the New York Jets in the coming season as the four-time NFL MVP quarterback waits for the Green Bay Packers to trade him. Rodgers made his comments Wednesday during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on YouTube and Sirius XM....
T-Mobile acquires Mint, partially owned by Ryan Reynolds
Mint Mobile, partly owned by actor Ryan Reynolds, is being acquired by T-Mobile as part of a cash-and-stock deal worth as much as $1.35 billion. T-Mobile’s purchase of Ka’ena Corp. will give it access to the budget wireless provider Mint, along with Ultra Mobile and wholesaler Plum. The brands, which...
Why U.S. troops remain in Iraq 20 years after ‘shock and awe’
WASHINGTON — Twenty years after the U.S. invaded Iraq — in blinding explosions of shock and awe — American forces remain in the country in what has become a small but consistent presence to ensure an ongoing relationship with a key military and diplomatic partner in the Middle East. The...
First major U.S. railroad merger in 2 decades will go forward
The first major railroad merger in more than two decades will go forward after federal regulators approved Canadian Pacific’s $31 billion acquisition of Kansas City Southern. The two are the smallest among the nations seven major railroads, but their coupling will create the only railroad linking Canada, Mexico and the...
What’s known and not about U.S. drone-Russian jet encounter
WASHINGTON — When a Russian fighter jet collided with a large U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea, it was a rare but serious incident that triggered a U.S. diplomatic protest and raised concerns about the possibility Russia could recover sensitive technology. U.S. and Russian officials had conflicting accounts of...
Fox’s Benjamin Hall talks survival after nearly dying in Ukraine
NEW YORK — A year after nearly being killed by Russian bombs while covering the war in Ukraine, Fox News’ Benjamin Hall credits a relentless optimism — and what he describes as an unexplained miracle — for getting him through. Truth is, it was probably several miracles that enabled Hall...
Kevin Hart signs new deal with SiriusXM, rebranded show airs
LOS ANGELES — Kevin Hart will keep his comedic candor going with SiriusXM. But this time he’ll bring along more recognizable figures from outside the comedy realm. The satellite radio company announced Wednesday that it has signed Hart and his entertainment company, Hartbeat, to a multi-year deal. As part of...
Beloved and debated, French bulldog becomes top U.S. dog breedVideo
NEW YORK — For the first time in three decades, the U.S. has a new favorite dog breed, according to the American Kennel Club. Adorable in some eyes, deplorable in others, the sturdy, push-faced, perky-eared, world-weary-looking and distinctively droll French bulldog became the nation’s most prevalent purebred dog last year,...
U.S. futures fall as bank anxiety hits global markets
U.S. futures tumbled Wednesday and bank stocks around the world slumped as anxiety over the health of the global banking system surfaced again with new potential troubles arising at Europe’s Credit Suisse. Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 slid 1.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6% before the...
Not magic: Opaque AI tool may flag parents with disabilities
PITTSBURGH — For the two weeks that the Hackneys’ baby girl lay in a Pittsburgh hospital bed weak from dehydration, her parents rarely left her side, sometimes sleeping on the fold-out sofa in the room. They stayed with their daughter around the clock when she was moved to a rehab...
How Washington came to rescue U.S. banks
WASHINGTON — After the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters started furiously working the phones to find out what was going on with the failed lender — and what would happen to its panicked depositors. Waters, former chair of the House Financial Services Committee, had...
‘Nazi’ references: BBC sportscaster’s tweet revives debate
NEW YORK — The references seem endless, and they can come from anywhere. In recent days, Pope Francis compared Nicaragua’s repression of Catholics to Hitler’s rule in Germany. In Britain, a BBC sportscaster likened the nation’s asylum policy to 1930s Germany, resulting in his brief suspension and a national uproar....
A bigger March Madness? Many obstacles stand in the wayVideo
NEW YORK — The number was supposed to be 96. The last time the NCAA seriously considered expanding the men’s Division I basketball tournament a plan emerged to add 16 more games and 32 more participants to grow that symmetrically satisfying 64-team bracket. The backlash that followed from college sports...
Texas A&M-CC ousts SE Missouri St 75-71 in NCAA First FourVideo
DAYTON, Ohio — Isaac Mushila had 15 points and 12 rebounds as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi held off Southeast Missouri State, 75-71, on Tuesday night to earn the first NCAA Tournament win in program history. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi went 3 of 4 at the free-throw line in the final 15 seconds...
NFL roundup: Cowboys get CB Stephon Gilmore in trade with ColtsVideo
The Dallas Cowboys acquired cornerback Stephon Gilmore from the Indianapolis Colts for a fifth-round draft pick Tuesday. The addition of the five-time Pro Bowler came on the same day Dallas brought back safety Donovan Wilson and linebacker Leighton Vander Esch as the Cowboys try to further bolster a defense that...
