Associated Press stories, Page 1439
Alexander Ovechkin, Connor McDavid headline NHL All-Star roster
NEW YORK — Washington star Alexander Ovechkin and high-scoring Edmonton Oilers teammates Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl headline the rosters for the NHL All-Star Weekend announced Thursday. Selected for the eighth time, Ovechkin led voting in the Metropolitan Division to earn the captaincy for the Feb. 4-5 event at T-Mobile...
U.S. Olympic men’s hockey roster includes 15 college playersVideo
Matty Beniers called his parents to ask them to answer a group FaceTime request so he could deliver some big news. Of course that’s how the 19-year-old would tell loved ones he is going to the Olympics. Beniers was one of 15 college players named Thursday to the U.S. Olympic...
Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby charged with lying in home purchases
BALTIMORE — A federal grand jury indicted Baltimore’s top prosecutor Thursday on charges of perjury and making false mortgage applications in the purchase of two Florida vacation homes, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland said. The four-count indictment alleges that Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby...
MLB talks resume after 42-day gap, little progress evidentVideo
NEW YORK — Baseball labor talks to end the lockout resumed Thursday for the first time in 1 1/2 months with little evident progress during a bargaining session that lasted about an hour, jeopardizing a timely start to spring training. MLB imposed the lockout Dec. 2 as soon as the...
Twitter, Meta among tech giants subpoenaed by Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — Months after requesting documents from more than a dozen social platforms, the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has issued subpoenas targeting Twitter, Meta, Reddit and YouTube after lawmakers said the companies’ initial responses were inadequate. The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, demanded records Thursday from the companies...
RNC threatens to boycott commission’s presidential debatesVideo
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee said Thursday it is planning a rules change that would force presidential candidates seeking the party’s nomination to sign a pledge saying they will not participate in any debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. If ultimately enacted and enforced, the move would...
Steelers must deal with Travis Kelce, full-strength Tyreek Hill this time vs. ChiefsVideo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The last time the Kansas City Chiefs played the Pittsburgh Steelers, their record-setting wide receiver had just recovered from covid-19 and their star tight end was sitting at home and still dealing with the virus. They still rolled to a 36-10 victory at Arrowhead Stadium. That...
Texans fire David Culley after just 1 season as coachVideo
HOUSTON — The Houston Texans have fired coach David Culley after just one season, a person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on Thursday on condition of anonymity because the move hadn’t been announced. His firing comes days after Houston closed a...
Navient settles predatory student loan claims for $1.85B
BOSTON — Navient, a major student loan collecting company, agreed to cancel $1.7 billion in debt owed by more than 66,000 borrowers across the U.S. and pay over $140 million in other penalties to settle allegations of abusive lending practices. The $1.85 billion deal with 39 state attorneys general was...
Supreme Court blocks vaccine-or-test rule for U.S. businesses
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has stopped the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against covid-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate...
Oath Keepers head charged with Jan. 6 seditious conspiracyVideo
WASHINGTON — Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, and 10 other members or associates have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, authorities said Thursday. Despite hundreds of charges already brought in the year since pro-Trump rioters...
Biden all but concedes defeat on voting, election billsVideo
WASHINGTON — All but acknowledging defeat, President Joe Biden said Thursday he’s “not sure” his elections and voting rights legislation can pass Congress this year. He spoke at the Capitol after a key fellow Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, dramatically announced her refusal to go along with changing Senate...
Iraqi officials: 4 rockets target U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
BAGHDAD — At least four rockets targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday, two Iraqi security officials said. The area is home to diplomatic missions and the seat of Iraq’s government, Three of the missiles struck within the perimeter of the American Embassy, the officials...
Biden to double free covid tests, add N95s, to fight omicron
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the government will double to 1 billion the rapid, at-home covid-19 tests to be distributed free to Americans, along with the most protective N95 masks, as he highlighted his efforts to “surge” resources to help the country weather the spike in coronavirus...
U.S. average long-term mortgage rates jump; 30-year now 3.45%
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this past week, reaching their highest level since March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was breaking in the U.S. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan rose to 3.45%...
Iowa man arrested after hundreds of pigs die from neglect
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — An Iowa man has been arrested after hundreds of pigs died at his farm last month when they went without adequate food and were kept in conditions so cold that some of their ears froze off. Black Hawk County sheriff’s deputies arrested the 38-year-old man Monday...
Polish church says it’s wrong to ask if abuse victim is gay
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s Catholic bishops have strongly criticized a local diocese for asking a court to determine whether a man who was sexually abused as a child by a priest is gay, and whether the sexual contact may have consequently been pleasurable for him. The victim, Janusz Szymik, who...
Train derails in India’s West Bengal state; at least 5 dead
NEW DELHI — At least five people died and more than 45 were injured when a train derailed Thursday in India’s West Bengal state, officials said. Twelve coaches of the train went off the rails and three capsized. Images from the scene showed passengers stuck in twisted metal and debris...
GOP leader McCarthy says he won’t cooperate with 1/6 panel
WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is refusing a request by the House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection to submit to an interview and turn over records pertaining to the deadly riot. The panel is seeking first-hand details from members of Congress on then-President Donald Trump’s actions on...
Australian Open draw delayed amid uncertainty over Djokovic
MELBOURNE, Australia — The Australian Open draw was delayed indefinitely on Thursday amid uncertainty over top-ranked Novak Djokovic’s visa status. The draw, to determine men’s and women’s singles brackets at the year’s first tennis major, was scheduled to be held at 3 p.m. local time in Melbourne, but a tournament...
These aren’t the same Eagles the Buccaneers beat in Week 6
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles are a better team than the one that lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 6. Still, there are plenty of reasons why the defending Super Bowl champions are 8 1/2-point favorites in Sunday’s NFC wild-card game. High among them is the fact the...
Texas doctor charged with giving Olympic athletes performance drugs
NEW YORK — U.S. prosecutors charged a Texas man on Wednesday with providing performance-enhancing drugs to athletes competing in last summer’s Olympics in Tokyo, including star Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare. Eric Lira, 41, of El Paso, is the first person to be charged under a new U.S. anti-doping law governing...
NFL sees big TV ratings increase from 2020 seasonVideo
An extra week of games, close finishes and a non-election year helped propel the NFL to its highest regular-season ratings in six years. The 272 regular-season games averaged 17.1 million viewers across television and digital platforms, that is a 10% increase over 2020 and is the league’s highest average since...
Draft picks key Bengals’ resurgence, return to playoffs
CINCINNATI — Many in Cincinnati scoffed when the Bengals passed on elite Oregon offensive tackle Penei Sewell to take Ja’Marr Chase with the fifth overall pick in the NFL Draft last spring. Cincinnati sorely needed offensive line help, and Sewell seemed an obvious choice. Chase, like Sewell, sat out the...
Veteran safety Eric Weddle rejoining LA Rams for playoffsVideo
LOS ANGELES — Safety Eric Weddle is coming out of retirement to rejoin the Los Angeles Rams for the playoffs. Weddle turned 37 last week, and he hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2019 season, but the Rams signed him to their practice squad Wednesday to address their glaring...
