Associated Press stories, Page 1211
Gabby Petito family settles $3M suit in killing by fiance
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The families of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie have reached a $3 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed after authorities concluded he strangled her during a cross-country trip in August 2021. The settlement was signed Thursday by Sarasota County Circuit Judge Hunter W. Carroll....
‘I thought I was going to die’: Abuses widespread in Ukraine
KYSELIVKA, Ukraine — For 10 days, Alesha Babenko was locked in a basement and regularly beaten by Russian soldiers. Bound, blindfolded and threatened with electric shocks, the 27-year-old pleaded for them to stop. “I thought I was going to die,” he told The Associated Press. In September, Babenko and his...
Rodgers, NFL players urge league to nix turf, go with grass
Aaron Rodgers has hit the ground in every NFL stadium except one. And while the “frozen tundra” of Lambeau Field has delivered its share of bumps and bruises, the venues with artificial turf have been even rougher on Rodgers’ nearly 39-year-old body. “I do think it’s time to go all...
Penn State’s Abdul Carter among impactful freshmen for Nittany Lions
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Of all the teammates and opponents Penn State safety Ji’Ayir Brown has lined up with and against over the years, none has caught his eye quite like Abdul Carter. The more Carter plays, the more Brown’s initial impression is confirmed. The rookie linebacker is something special....
Starbucks workers strike at more than 100 stores
Starbucks workers at more than 100 U.S. stores are on strike Thursday in their largest labor action since a campaign to unionize the company’s stores began late last year. The walkouts coincide with Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day, when the company gives free reusable cups to customers who order a...
Robert Morris matches single-game scoring record in win over West Virginia Wesleyan
Enoch Cheeks’ 21 points helped Robert Morris defeat West Virginia Wesleyan, 111-56, on Wednesday night. RMU matched its single-game record for points in the victory. It was the most points scored by an RMU team since a 111-107 overtime loss at Seton Hall in 2007 and a 1981 win over...
Idaho police: No suspect in slaying of 4 college students
BOISE — Police in the college town of Moscow said Wednesday they have not identified a suspect or found a weapon in the weekend slayings of four University of Idaho students in a rental house near campus. Authorities continue to believe the attack was targeted but walked back a previous...
Astros’ Justin Verlander, Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara unanimous Cy Young winnersVideo
HOUSTON — Houston’s Justin Verlander in the American League and Miami’s Sandy Alcantara in the National League were unanimous winners of the Cy Young Award on Wednesday night. It’s the second time the winners in both leagues were unanimous since the award began in 1956 and the first since Detroit’s...
Wisconsin man who killed 6 in Christmas parade gets life, no releaseVideo
A judge sentenced a man who killed six people and injured many others when he drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee to life in prison with no chance of release Wednesday, rejecting arguments from him and his family that mental illness drove him to do it....
Los Angeles elects U.S. Rep Karen Bass mayor, first Black woman in post
LOS ANGELES — U.S. Rep. Karen Bass defeated developer Rick Caruso to become the next mayor of Los Angeles on Wednesday, making her the first Black woman to hold the post as City Hall contends with an out-of-control homeless crisis, rising crime rates and multiple scandals that have shaken trust...
Ohio defendant denies knowledge of plot to kill 8 people in 2016Video
WAVERLY, Ohio — A man on trial in the 2016 slayings of eight current and prospective members of another family in southern Ohio testified Wednesday that he had no idea his relatives planned to kill the victims and that he would have taken action to prevent the slayings had he...
GOP wins slim House majority, complicating ambitious agenda
WASHINGTON — Republicans won control of the U.S. House on Wednesday, returning the party to power in Washington and giving conservatives leverage to blunt President Joe Biden’s agenda and spur a flurry of investigations. But a threadbare majority will pose immediate challenges for GOP leaders and complicate the party’s ability...
Vehicle plows into 25 Los Angeles County sheriff’s academy recruits on runVideo
WHITTIER, Calif. — The driver of an SUV veered into the wrong lane and plowed through dozens of Los Angeles County sheriff’s academy recruits running in formation during a training exercise early Wednesday, injuring 25 of the cadets, authorities said. The most serious injuries included head trauma, broken bones and...
Shake it off? Parents come up short for Taylor Swift tickets
NEW YORK — They were supposed to be birthday presents. They were supposed to be Christmas presents. They were supposed to be the most special of special treats for young fans of Taylor Swift. Instead, for many parents, the hours-long Ticketmaster debacle they endured Tuesday trying to score concert seats...
Running QBs in ACC sacrifice their bodies to get more yards
Drake Maye is the frontrunner for Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, a redshirt freshman with 34 touchdown passes in just 10 games, tied for the most in the Bowl Subdivision. He’s also the leading rusher for the No. 13 Tar Heels, and his running style is more like...
Pennsylvania House impeaches Philly prosecutor Larry Krasner over policies
HARRISBURG — Philadelphia’s elected Democratic prosecutor faces a state Senate trial and possible removal from office after the Republican-led state House voted Wednesday to impeach him over progressive policies he has enacted amid rising crime in the city. Lawmakers voted 107-85 to impeach District Attorney Larry Krasner, setting the stage...
Airbnb aims to convince more people to rent out their homes
Convinced that the boom in leisure travel is permanent, Airbnb aims to expand its listings by convincing more people to turn their homes into short-term rentals. The company said Wednesday that it will increase the amount of liability coverage for hosts, up to $3 million, in a play for owners...
Same-sex marriage legislation clears key Senate hurdleVideo
WASHINGTON — Legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriages crossed a major Senate hurdle Wednesday, putting Congress on track to take the historic step of ensuring that such unions are enshrined in federal law. Twelve Republicans voted with all Democrats to move forward on the legislation, meaning a final vote...
U.S. overdose deaths may be peaking, but experts are wary
NEW YORK — Have U.S. drug overdose deaths stopped rising? Preliminary government data suggests they may have, but many experts are urging caution, noting that past plateaus didn’t last. U.S. overdose death rates began steadily climbing in the 1990s driven by opioid painkillers, followed by waves of deaths led by...
Happy hygge! Scrabble dictionary adds hundreds of words
NEW YORK — Here’s the sitch, Scrabble stans. Your convos around the board are about to get more interesting with about 500 new words and variations added to the game’s official dictionary: stan, sitch, convo, zedonk, dox and fauxhawk among them. Out this month, the add-ons in the seventh edition...
Musk says he expects to find a new Twitter CEO ‘over time’
NEW YORK — Billionaire Elon Musk, who just took over as the chief executive at Twitter after buying the company, said he does not want to be the CEO of any company. Musk took the witness stand Wednesday in a Delaware court to defend himself in a shareholder lawsuit challenging...
Maradona ‘Hand of God’ World Cup ball sold for $2.4M
LONDON — The ball punched in by Diego Maradona for his “Hand of God” goal at the 1986 World Cup has been sold at auction for nearly $2.4 million by the referee who missed soccer’s most famous handball. Ali Bin Nasser, the Tunisian former match official who refereed the quarterfinal...
‘The Lion King’ hits a key milestone in its circle of life
NEW YORK — In the summer of 1997, audiences in Minneapolis at the Orpheum Theatre saw something no one had ever seen before: leaping antelopes, fluttering birds and elephants lumbering through the orchestra seats. “The audience started screaming so early. When the animals came down the aisle everybody shot up,”...
University of Virginia cancels football game; shooting suspect due in court
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The University of Virginia canceled its final home football game of the season Wednesday, the same day a student accused of killing three members of the team and wounding two other students in an on-campus shooting was due in court for his first hearing. University officials and...
Poland, NATO say missile strike wasn’t a Russian attack
PRZEWODOW, Poland — NATO member Poland and the head of the military alliance both said Wednesday a missile strike in Polish farmland that killed two people did not appear to be an intentional attack, and that air defenses in neighboring Ukraine likely launched the Soviet-era projectile against a Russian bombardment...
