Associated Press stories, Page 1392
3 dead in crashes amid fog and smoke on I-95 in Florida
EDGEWATER, Fla. — Three people were killed in a series of crashes involving 17 vehicles early Thursday along a stretch of Interstate 95 in Florida where visibility was very low due to fog combined with smoke from prescribed burns of vegetation, officials said. The crashes began around 1:30 a.m. south...
Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, Mansfield universities to merge into Commonwealth University
HARRISBURG — Three state-owned universities in Pennsylvania will soon be known as the consolidated Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania after a vote by the State System Board of Governors on Wednesday. The board voted unanimously to make the change involving Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities, although those previous names will...
New York City man charged with hate crimes in attacks on 7 Asian women
NEW YORK — A 28-year-old homeless man has been charged with hate crimes after a string of unprovoked attacks on women of Asian descent in New York City, police said. Steven Zajonc was arrested Wednesday in connection with assaults on seven women in different Manhattan neighborhoods over a two-hour period...
Kentucky jury clears ex-officer in shooting during Breonna Taylor raid
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky jury on Thursday cleared a former police officer of charges that he endangered neighbors when he fired shots into an apartment during the 2020 drug raid that ended with Breonna Taylor’s death. The panel of eight men and four women delivered its verdict about three...
Fayette priest gets prison term for sexually abusing altar boy
UNIONTOWN — A western Pennsylvania Roman Catholic priest who sexually assaulted an altar boy for several years has been sentenced to 2 1/2 to five years in state prison. The Rev. Andrew Mark Kawecki of Greensburg will also have to register as a sex offender for 10 years once he’s...
Purdue Pharma, U.S. states agree to new opioid settlement
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a nationwide settlement Thursday over its role in the opioid crisis, with the Sackler family members who own the company boosting their cash contribution to as much as $6 billion. The deal follows an earlier settlement that had been appealed by eight states and the...
NFL suspends all covid protocols, cites ‘encouraging trends’
The NFL suspended all aspects of its covid-19 protocols, citing recent trends showing that the spread of the coronavirus is declining. In an agreement with the players’ association, the league sent a memo to the 32 teams Thursday in which it mentioned “encouraging trends regarding the prevalence and severity of...
UN report paints dire picture of the Gulf of Mexico’s future
NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain on parts of the Texas coast in 2017. Then in 2020, ferocious winds from Hurricane Laura destroyed homes across coastal Louisiana. Hurricane Ida hit in 2021, leaving the entire city of New Orleans without power for days. Such...
Neutral Finland, Sweden warm to idea of NATO membership
HELSINKI — Through the Cold War and the decades since, nothing could persuade Finns and Swedes that they would be better off joining NATO — until now. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has profoundly changed Europe’s security outlook, including for Nordic neutrals Finland and Sweden, where support for joining NATO has...
How to help Ukrainians affected by Russian invasion
More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine, and at least 160,000 have been displaced inside the country as fighting continues between Russian and Ukrainian forces in Europe’s largest ground war since World War II. The United Nations issued an appeal this week for $1.7 billion to help with aid...
As covid vaccine demand falls, states are left with huge stockpile
As demand for covid-19 vaccines collapses in many areas of the U.S., states are scrambling to use stockpiles of doses before they expire and have to be added to the millions that have already gone to waste. From some of the least vaccinated states, like Indiana and North Dakota, to...
California Gov. Newsom proposes to force some homeless people into treatment
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s governor proposed a plan on Thursday to force homeless people with severe mental health and addiction disorders into treatment. The proposal by Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, would require all counties in California to set up a mental health branch in civil court to assist people...
Russia’s war spurs corporate exodus, exposes business risks
LONDON — Car factories idled, beer stopped flowing, furniture and fashion orders ceased, and energy companies cut their pipelines. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has thrown business plans into disarray and forced a growing number of the world’s best known brands — from Apple to Mercedes-Benz and BP — to pull...
Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim says there’s a plan for retirement
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said Wednesday on a sports radio call-in show that there’s a plan in place for when he steps down. “There’s a plan,” Boeheim told ESPN Radio in Syracuse. “I’m just telling you there’s a plan.” Boeheim did not reveal any details of the...
‘Slap Shot’ organist finds new career with expansion Kraken
SEATTLE — It started with an unsolicited email that landed in the inbox of the game presentation executives for the Seattle Kraken. The name Rod Masters didn’t immediately resonate with Jonny Greco and Lamont Buford, who are in charge of overseeing entertainment and game production for the expansion franchise, though...
High court sides with government in Gitmo state secrets case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for the U.S. government in a case involving a Guantanamo Bay detainee seeking what the government said is secret information. Abu Zubaydah, who was captured in Pakistan in 2002, was once thought to be a high-ranking member of the terrorist group al-Qaida....
Biden risks progressives, Blacks with pivot to the center
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is signaling an election-year shift to the center, embracing a strategy he hopes will protect fragile Democratic majorities in Congress. But he’s risking a revolt from key voices across his party’s sprawling coalition. In his first State of the Union address Tuesday night, the Democratic...
Sri Lankan ministers sacked for criticizing economic policy
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s president has dismissed two more Cabinet ministers after they publicly criticized the government’s handling of the economy, which they said is causing severe hardships for people. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa sacked Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila and Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa, the president’s office said...
Justices allow new defense of blocked Kentucky abortion law
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Kentucky’s Republican attorney general may continue defending a restriction on abortion rights that had been struck down by lower courts. The underlying issue in the case is a blocked state law that abortion rights supporters say would have effectively banned a standard...
Stocks end another bumpy day lower and crude oil prices ease
NEW YORK — Stocks fell and oil prices eased back Thursday after another bumpy day of trading on Wall Street as markets remained anxious about the broader impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Major indexes veered up and down for much of the day before a late-day slide pushed them...
UN atomic watchdog: Iran further raising nuclear stockpile
VIENNA — The United Nations’ atomic watchdog says it believes that Iran has further increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in breach of a 2015 accord with world powers. The International Atomic Energy Agency told member nations in its confidential quarterly report Thursday that Iran has an estimated stock...
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on fire after shelling
KYIV, Ukraine —Russian forces shelled Europe’s largest nuclear plant early Friday in the battle for control of a crucial energy-producing city, and the power station was on fire. Plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells were falling directly on the Zaporizhzhia plant and had set fire to one...
Democrats see ‘no reason to wait’ on Supreme Court vote
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson began courting senators on Capitol Hill, making her case for confirmation in private meetings as Democrats worked to move her through the Senate within weeks. Senate Democrats concerned about their narrow 50-50 majority — Vice President Kamala Harris breaks the tie —...
China denies asking Russia not to invade until post-Olympics
BEIJING — China on Thursday denounced a report that it asked Russia to delay invading Ukraine until after the Beijing Winter Olympics as “fake news” and a “very despicable” attempt to divert attention and shift blame over the conflict. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also repeated China’s accusations that Washington...
Jan. 6 panel claims Trump engaged in ‘criminal conspiracy’
WASHINGTON — The House Committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection said Wednesday night that its evidence shows former President Donald Trump and his associates engaged in a “criminal conspiracy” to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election, spread false information about it and pressured state officials to...
