Associated Press stories, Page 1114

MIAMI — Skip Schumaker was a candidate to take over as manager of the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets in recent years, only to see those clubs pick someone else. The Miami Marlins didn’t let him get away. Schumaker has been hired by the Marlins to become the...

HARRISBURG — Senior Pennsylvania elections officials argued in a new court filing Tuesday that handwritten dates on the envelopes that many state voters use to mail in ballots should not be deemed mandatory, in part because of a half-century-old legislative ruling deemphasizing their importance. The filing, made under a compressed...

WASHINGTON — Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who opened combat jobs to women and ended a ban on transgender people serving in the military, has died at age 68. Carter died Monday evening after suffering a heart attack in Boston, his family said in a statement Tuesday. Known as a...

WASHINGTON — A group of progressive Democrats in Congress said Tuesday it had retracted a letter to the White House urging President Joe Biden to engage in direct diplomatic talks with Russia after it triggered an uproar among Democrats and raised questions about the strength of the party’s support for...

MOSCOW — A Russian court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner of her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession, a step that could move her closer to a possible high-stakes prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington. The eight-time all-star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury...

NEW YORK — By the Nielsen company’s count, 7.8 million people watched Amazon Prime’s coverage of last Thursday’s NFL game between New Orleans and Arizona. But Amazon says no, there were actually 8.9 million people watching. So which is it? You’ll have to judge for yourself. After each of its...

HARTLAND, Wis. — The six people found dead after an apartment fire in a southern Wisconsin village last week had been shot in an apparent case of murder-suicide, according to police. The bodies of a couple and their four children were found early Friday after firefighters were called to their...

NEW YORK — The number of Americans who do not have a bank account fell to a record low last year, as the proliferation of online-only banks and an improving economy is bringing more Americans into the traditional financial system. A new report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued...

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer confidence waned this month as concerns about inflation took hold after receding somewhat in recent months. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 102.5 in October, from 107.8 in September. Consumers had grown more confident in the two previous months as...

NEW YORK — Amazon is rolling out a feature that allows shoppers to pay for items using their Venmo accounts. The option to pay with Venmo will be available for select Amazon.com customers beginning Tuesday, the e-commerce giant said in a news release. By Black Friday — the day after...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden was scheduled to get his updated covid-19 booster shot on Tuesday and urge the public to get theirs to ensure a healthy holiday season. Biden was to appear at the White House with the doctors who are leading administration efforts against the spread of the...

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator said Tuesday that Russian forces were performing secret work at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, activity that could shed light on Russia’s claims that Kyiv’s forces are preparing a “provocation” involving a radioactive device. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made an unsubstantiated allegation...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Stephanie Terrell bought a used Nissan Leaf this fall and was excited to join the wave of drivers adopting electric vehicles to save on gas money and reduce her carbon footprint. But Terrell quickly encountered a bump in the road on her journey to clean driving: As...

LONDON — Adidas ended a partnership that helped make the artist formerly known as Kanye West a billionaire and lent the German sportswear an edgy appeal, but ultimately couldn’t survive a mounting outcry over the rapper’s offensive and antisemitic remarks. The split will leave Adidas searching for another transcendent celebrity...

CAIRO — A truck slammed into a minibus in Egypt’s fertile Nile Delta region early on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people, authorities said. Officials blamed speeding for the crash; local media said women and children were among those killed. The collision in the province of Dakahlia, around 93 miles...

LONDON — Rishi Sunak became Britain’s third prime minister of the year on Tuesday and now must turn his attention to taming an economic crisis that has left the country’s finances in a precarious state and millions of Britons struggling to afford food and energy bills. Sunak, the U.K.’s first...

Justin Fields threw for 179 yards and a touchdown and ran for 82 yards and another score, and the Bears defense forced returning Patriots starter Mac Jones back to the bench Monday night to give Chicago a 33-14 victory over New England. In a matchup of quarterbacks from the 2020...

CLEVELAND — Two right-wing operatives pleaded guilty on Monday in Cleveland to single felony counts of telecommunications fraud for having placed thousands of false robocalls in Ohio that told people they could be arrested or be forced to receive vaccinations based on information they submitted in votes by mail. Jacob...

NEW YORK — Jim Nantz will step away from calling the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament after next year and will be succeeded by Ian Eagle. CBS Sports confirmed the move on Monday night. It was first reported by the New York Post. Nantz has been a part of the CBS...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service is honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as “an icon of American culture” with a stamp in the new year. The design, unveiled on Monday, is a painted portrait based on a photo of Ginsburg in a black robe with an...

Stocks shook off a shaky start and closed higher Monday, extending their gains from last week, as investors geared up for a heavy week of earnings from big technology companies. The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, with technology, health care and financial stocks accounting for a big share of the gains....

Children’s hospitals in parts of the U.S. are seeing a surge in a common respiratory illness that can cause severe breathing problems for babies. RSV cases fell dramatically two years ago as the pandemic shut down schools, day cares and businesses. With restrictions easing in the summer of 2021, doctors...