Associated Press stories, Page 1342
McCarthy defends Jan. 6 audio, House GOP backs ‘next speaker’
WASHINGTON — House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy assured colleagues Wednesday he never asked then-President Donald Trump to resign over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, defending private conversations that have spilled into the open and jeopardized his leadership. It was McCarthy’s first face-to-face meeting with House Republicans amid...
Fauci: ‘Pandemic phase’ over for U.S., but covid still hereVideo
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday the coronavirus is under better control in the United States. but the pandemic isn’t over — and the challenge is how to keep improving the situation. “We are in a different moment of the pandemic,” said Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, in an...
Post-Floyd probe finds discrimination by Minneapolis police
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minneapolis Police Department has engaged in a pattern of race discrimination, according to the findings released Wednesday of a two-year investigation by the state’s Department of Human Rights launched after George Floyd was killed by a city police officer. The report said the department will...
In a multigenerational home, design choices can be emotional
ALLISON PARK — Should the hanging from Thailand stay on the living-room wall where it has lived since I was born? Should we lay out the family room as it was when I was 8, when I was 17 or in a completely new configuration? Should we leave my mother’s...
Police union backs Michigan officer in Patrick Lyoya killing
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The union representing police officers in a Michigan city is defending the officer who shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head. The Grand Rapids Police Officers Association called Lyoya’s death “tragic” but said an “officer has the legal right to protect themselves and community...
Georgia tax cut could hit $2 billion, but maybe not by 2029
BONAIRE, Ga. — A major state income tax cut signed by Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp as he seeks reelection could eventually total more than $2 billion, but the reductions may only happen by a 2029 target date if state revenue holds up. For Kemp, Tuesday’s signing was a tax-cutting...
Russia cuts off gas to 2 NATO nations in bid to divide West
POKROVSK, Ukraine — Russia cut off natural gas to NATO members Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday and threatened to do the same to other countries, using its most essential export in what was seen as a bid to punish and divide the West over its support for Ukraine. The move,...
Fruity near-miss for France’s Macron, targeted by tomatoes
PARIS — Newly reelected French President Emmanuel Macron narrowly avoided being pelted by what looked like a small sackful of cherry tomatoes Wednesday as he waded through a boisterous and packed crowd in a market northwest of Paris. About six of the small fruits, some orange, some red, contained in...
Boeing posts $1.24 billion loss for the 1st quarter
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost $1.2 billion in the first quarter as it and took large write-downs and lost money in both its civilian-airplane and defense businesses. The loss was bigger than Wall Street had forecast, and the company’s quarterly revenue also fell short of expectations. Shares of Boeing...
Russia releases U.S. Marine vet as part of prisoner exchange
WASHINGTON — Russia and the United States have carried out a dramatic prisoner exchange, trading a Marine veteran jailed in Moscow for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long prison sentence in America, both countries announced Wednesday. The surprise deal involving Trevor Reed, an American jailed for nearly three...
Court says U.K.’s nursing home covid-19 policy was illegal
LONDON — A British court ruled Wednesday that the government’s decision to discharge hospital patients into nursing homes without testing them for covid-19, which led to thousands of deaths early in the pandemic, was illegal. Two High Court judges said the policy from March and April 2020 was unlawful because...
Researchers: Covid, Israel-Gaza war fueled antisemitism
JERUSALEM — The coronavrius pandemic and Israel’s overwhelming force during the Gaza war helped fuel a worldwide spike in antisemitism last year, Israeli researchers reported on Wednesday. The prominence of political extremism and the reach of social media also may have intensified the ancient phenomenon of scapegoating Jews in recent...
Los Angeles sheriff investigates how reporter obtained leaked videoVideo
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County sheriff on Tuesday disputed allegations he orchestrated a cover-up of an incident where a deputy knelt on a handcuffed inmate’s head and said a Los Angeles Times reporter who used leaked documents and video to first report on the case is part of...
Billions in surplus have Pennsylvania lawmakers thinking business tax cut
HARRISBURG — Hundreds of millions of dollars in business profit tax cuts passed the Republican-majority state House on Tuesday, and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said he was optimistic a final deal can be struck in the coming months. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly for a bill that would reduce the corporate net...
House Jan. 6 committee wants to hear from Kevin McCarthy after new audioVideo
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol is redoubling its efforts to have GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy appear for an interview amid new revelations concerning his private conversations about the deadly attack, the chairman said Tuesday. Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the panel...
Delta to begin paying flight attendants during boarding
Delta Air Lines, which is facing another attempt to unionize its flight attendants, will begin paying cabin crews during boarding, a first for a major U.S. airline. Across the airline industry in the United States, hourly pay for flight attendants starts when all the passengers are seated and the plane’s...
NCAA President Mark Emmert stepping down no later than 2023Video
INDIANAPOLIS — NCAA President Mark Emmert is stepping down after 12 tumultuous years of leading an association that has become marginalized while college sports has undergone massive changes and been besieged by political and legal attacks. NCAA Board of Governors Chairman John DeGioia announced the move Tuesday and said it...
Nuclear chief: Russia’s Chernobyl seizure risked accidentVideo
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine — Thirty-six years after the world’s worst nuclear disaster, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that Russian troops risked causing an accident with their “very, very dangerous” seizure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Standing under an umbrella during a rain shower...
Tech stocks slump again; Nasdaq has worst loss since 2020
NEW YORK — Stocks closed broadly lower Tuesday on Wall Street, weighed down by sharp declines in Big Tech stocks that also left the Nasdaq with its worst drop since September 2020. Investors are busy reviewing the latest round of corporate earnings and are facing a particularly heavy week with...
Explainer: Covid-19 pills must be taken within 5 days of symptoms
Newly infected covid-19 patients have two treatment options that can be taken at home. But that convenience comes with a catch: The pills have to be taken as soon as possible once symptoms appear. The challenge is getting tested, obtaining a prescription and starting the pills in a short window....
U.S. preps for even busier border amid lifting of health order
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration released a plan Tuesday to deal with an expected increase in already high numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border because of the planned lifting of a public health order that has kept people from seeking asylum — and that Republican and some Democratic lawmakers...
Will Musk’s hands-off ideal for Twitter have broad appeal?
Coming up with $44 billion to buy Twitter was the easy part for Elon Musk. Next comes the real challenge for the world’s richest person: fulfilling his promise to make Twitter “better than ever” as a lightly regulated haven for free speech. His vision for improving the 16-year-old company leans...
Wisconsin’s GOP-ordered election investigation will continue
MADISON, Wis. — The Republican-ordered investigation into the 2020 election in Wisconsin that was supposed to wrap up this week will continue just as Donald Trump urged, but with no more taxpayer money to pay for it, the state’s top Republican said Tuesday. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ announcement that the...
Gaudreau? Matthews? Shesterkin? NHL MVP race at least 7 deep
Auston Matthews leads the NHL in goals, Connor McDavid has the most points and Igor Shesterkin has been the best goaltender in the league. It’s entirely possible none of them wins the Hart Trophy as MVP. Matthews, McDavid and Shesterkin are among the front-runners, but the pool of candidates goes...
CDC estimates 3 in 4 kids have had coronavirus infections
NEW YORK — Three out of every four U.S. children have been infected with the coronavirus and more than half of all Americans had signs of previous infections, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers estimated in a report Tuesday. The researchers examined blood samples from more than 200,000 Americans...
