Associated Press stories, Page 1103
‘Cocaine Bear’ gets high with $23.1M, ‘Ant-Man’ sinks fast
NEW YORK — The gonzo R-rated horror comedy “Cocaine Bear” sniffed up $23.1 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, while Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” was quickly dwarfed in its second weekend. “Quantumania” was still No. 1 with an estimated $32.2 million in ticket sales...
The SAG Awards, streaming Sunday, should offer Oscar preview
Last year, the top winners at the Screen Actors Guild Awards all corresponded exactly with the Academy Awards winners. Will Sunday’s SAGs offer the same preview? The 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will begin at 8 p.m. EST Sunday and be streamed live on Netflix’s YouTube page. After the...
Borsch without a ‘t’: Kyiv chef uses food to reclaim culture
KYIV, Ukraine — Don’t tell Ievgen Klopotenko that borsch is just food. For him, that bowl of beet-and-meat soup is the embodiment of everything Ukraine is fighting for. “Food is a powerful social instrument by which you can unite or divide a nation,” said Klopotenko, Ukraine’s most recognizable celebrity chef...
‘Powder keg’ for 9/11: 1993 trade center bombing remembered
NEW YORK — Lolita Jackson was at her 72nd-floor desk in the World Trade Center, feeling like she worked at the top of the world. Then came the boom, and smoke started curling in from an elevator shaft. Unsure what was happening, she joined thousands of other office workers on...
Failing at polls, election deniers focus on state GOP posts
PARKER, Colo — In a basement event space in the Denver suburb of Parker, Tina Peters surveyed a crowd of Colorado Republicans last week and made an unusual pitch for why she should become chair of their beleaguered party: “There’s no way a jury of 12 people is going to...
Contaminated waste shipments from Ohio derailment to resume
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Shipment of contaminated waste from the site of a fiery train derailment earlier this month in eastern Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line will resume Monday to two approved sites in Ohio, according to federal environmental authorities. The announcement came a day after the Environmental Protection...
Media drop Dilbert after creator’s Black ‘hate group’ remark
The creator of the Dilbert comic strip faced a backlash of cancellations Saturday while defending remarks describing people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.” Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments by Dilbert creator Scott Adams as racist,...
WVU’s upset bid falls just short against No. 3 KansasVideo
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Dajuan Harris was one point shy of a career high as he scored 17 points to help lift No. 3 Kansas over West Virginia, 76-74, on Saturday. The stifling Jayhawk defense kept West Virginia from attempting a shot in the final 20 seconds. The Mountaineers’ Joe Toussaint...
Farewell, Fontana: NASCAR’s last weekend at a racing gemVideo
FONTANA, Calif. — Most of NASCAR’s Cup Series drivers feel like they’re saying their final goodbye to a dear old friend this weekend. Auto Club Speedway’s racetrack seems to be adored by every professional driver on the continent. Those two miles of gloriously weathered asphalt allow racers to be their...
EU slaps sanctions on top Russia officials, banks, trade
BRUSSELS — The European Union agreed Saturday to impose new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine targeting more officials and organizations accused of supporting the war, spreading propaganda or supplying drones, as well as restricting trade on products that could be used by the armed forces. The EU’s...
Warner Bros. Discovery sues Paramount over ‘South Park’ deal
NEW YORK — Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is suing Paramount Global, saying its competitor aired new episodes of the popular animated comedy series “South Park” after Warner paid for exclusive rights. Warner says it signed a contract in 2019 paying more than $500 million for the rights to existing and...
Met Opera marks 1st year of Ukraine war with concert
NEW YORK — Emily D’Angelo made her point with attire before singing a single note at the Metropolitan Opera’s concert to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The 28-year-old Canadian mezzo-soprano walked onto the stage Friday night for the Mozart Requiem wearing a dark skirt covered with...
Inadequate investigation? Takeaways at Murdaugh murder trial
Investigators like to say the crime scene at a killing tells the story even if no one else does. In the double murder trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, his defense lawyers want jurors to believe the crime scene can’t tell them much about the deaths of his...
Bills would let transgender people seal name-change requests
SEATTLE — You can change your name, but in many states you can’t completely shed your old one — something that’s of particular concern to transgender people and that legislators in at least two states are trying to change. A bill in Washington would allow gender expression and identity as...
Appreciating Jimmy Carter, outspoken but ‘never irrelevant’
WASHINGTON — Ever the outsider, Jimmy Carter served a turbulent term in the White House. His presidency was beset by soaring interest and inflation rates, gasoline pump lines and the Iran hostage crisis that eventually led to his re-election defeat. But he rose to even greater heights with his post-presidential...
Some Democratic-led states seek to bolster voter protections
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in several Democratic-controlled states are advocating sweeping voter protections this year, reacting to what they view as a broad undermining of voting rights by the Supreme Court and Republican-led states as well as a failed effort in Congress to bolster access to the polls. Legislators in Connecticut,...
Ukraine: Zelenskyy seeks more sanctions, fighting grinds on
KYIV, Ukraine — Fighting is grinding on in Ukraine after the country marked the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, with Ukrainian authorities on Saturday reporting dozens of new Russian strikes and attacks on cities in the east and south. After a somber and defiant day of commemorations on Friday and a...
Schools reopen as Syrians live with quake’s devastation
IDLIB, Syria — Schools resumed classes in Syria’s rebel-held northwest Saturday after closing for nearly three weeks following an earthquake that devastated the region, local officials said, even as many schoolchildren suffer from shock. Many schools were turned into temporary shelters following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and...
Justice Thomas wrote of ‘crushing weight’ of student loans
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court won’t have far to look if it wants a personal take on the “crushing weight” of student debt that underlies the Biden administration’s college loan forgiveness plan. Justice Clarence Thomas was in his mid-40s and in his third year on the nation’s highest court when...
Key U.S. inflation measure surges at fastest rate since June
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose last month at its fastest pace since June, an alarming sign that price pressures remain entrenched in the U.S. economy and could lead the Fed to keep raising interest rates well into this year. Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed...
California faces more blizzards, floods in multistate storm
LOS ANGELES — A powerful winter storm lashing California threatened floods, blizzards and avalanches Saturday while adding frigid temperatures to the misery mix. Overnight lows could drop below freezing in some areas while downtown San Francisco could see record-breaking cold temperatures Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Projected...
Feds seek to limit telehealth prescriptions for some drugs
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration moved Friday to require patients see a doctor in person before getting attention deficit disorder medication or addictive painkillers, toughening access to the drugs against the backdrop of a deepening opioid crisis. The proposal could overhaul the way millions of Americans get some prescriptions after...
West Virginians clash over religious freedom bill at hearing
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some people said West Virginia needs a law to codify the right of residents to challenge government regulations that interfere with their religious beliefs because of growing threats to their constitutional freedoms. Others who spoke during a public hearing at the state Capitol Friday said they are...
Suh leads; Kirk fires a 62 in 2nd round of Honda ClassicVideo
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — There have been about 7,200 rounds played at the Honda Classic since it moved to PGA National 17 years ago. Only two of those were better than the one turned in Friday by Chris Kirk. Kirk shot an 8-under-par 62 in the second round, moving...
After Ohio train wreck, Biden orders door-to-door checks
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday directed federal agencies to go door-to-door in East Palestine, Ohio, to check on families affected by the toxic train derailment that has morphed into a heated political controversy. Under Biden’s order, teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency...
