Associated Press stories, Page 1462
NFL updates protocols in response to covid-19 cases
The NFL has updated its protocols in reaction to an increase in covid-19 cases around the league, and it is pushing booster shots as the most effective protection against the coronavirus. As part of its protocol changes, the NFL is requiring masks regardless of vaccination status and remote or outdoor...
Panel gives state House, Senate district maps preliminary OK
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted Thursday in favor of new preliminary district maps over sharp objections from the House’s Republican leader, as a large increase in the state’s minority population helped shape big changes. The maps also reflect general population changes over the past decade, which have...
Army vet, 3-year-old among the dead in widespread twisters
Details about the fathers and mothers, children, friends and siblings who died during a tornado outbreak that ripped through the Midwest and South are still coming into focus nearly a week after the onslaught. At least 89 people have been confirmed dead across multiple states after more than 40 tornadoes...
Ambridge woman gets 2 life terms in February deaths of 2 children
BEAVER — A western Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without possibility of parole in the deaths of her two children earlier this year. Krisinda Bright, 58, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder charges as part of a plea agreement that spared her a...
Mortgage rates up slightly this week to a still-low 3.12%
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The average interest rate on a long-term mortgage in the U.S. ticked up slightly this week but remains historically low just as the Federal Reserve announces that it will begin tightening credit. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year,...
Young Americans motivated to make change: AP-NORC, MTV poll
WASHINGTON — There are plenty of reasons for Sebastian Garcia to feel downbeat about the future. After his family immigrated from Mexico, he was raised on a farm in northwest Texas, where he says there aren’t many racial slurs he hasn’t heard. When the now-24-year-old graduated from college, he decided...
British surge seen as warning on omicron but responses vary
LONDON — Spiraling infections in Britain driven in part by the new omicron variant of the coronavirus sent shockwaves Thursday into the rest of Europe, fueling a familiar dread that tighter restrictions will scuttle holiday plans again this year. Much remains unknown about omicron, but increasingly officials are warning that...
Urban Meyer fired by Jaguars after 13 games
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Urban Meyer’s tumultuous NFL tenure ended after just 13 games — and two victories — when the Jacksonville Jaguars fired him early Thursday because of an accumulation of missteps. Owner Shad Khan made the move hours after former Jaguars player Josh Lambo told a Florida newspaper Meyer...
Jimmie Johnson to run Indy 500, complete IndyCar schedule in 2022Video
Jimmie Johnson will enter the Indianapolis 500 next year and run a full IndyCar schedule. The seven-time NASCAR champion had been speeding toward the Indy 500 decision he finally announced Wednesday since he moved to IndyCar earlier this year. Johnson ran only the road and street courses in his first...
bell hooks, groundbreaking feminist thinker, dies at 69
NEW YORK — bell hooks, the groundbreaking author, educator and activist whose explorations of how race, gender, economics and politics intertwined helped shape academic and popular debates over the past 40 years, has died. She was 69. In a statement issued through William Morrow Publishers, hooks’ family announced that she...
Amid signing day chaos, SEC powers grab top recruitsVideo
Through all the changes to the college sports landscape with money-making opportunities for athletes and open transfers, one thing remains the same. A bunch of SEC schools along with venerable programs such as Ohio State and Texas are at or near the top of the national recruiting rankings. The three-day...
Ravens QB Lamar Jackson misses practice with injured ankleVideo
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Lamar Jackson missed practice because of his injured ankle, and the Baltimore Ravens are bringing in another quarterback just in case. Jets coach Robert Saleh announced that Josh Johnson was heading to Baltimore from New York’s practice squad. Ravens coach John Harbaugh discussed the acquisition before...
Pennsylvania asks FEMA for help with covid surge
Pennsylvania asked the federal government on Wednesday to send health care workers to hospitals and nursing homes that are increasingly under stress from persistent staffing shortages and the latest covid-19 surge. The Wolf administration requested Federal Emergency Management Agency “strike teams” for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and ambulance companies in...
NFL plans changes to covid-19 protocolsVideo
IRVING, Texas — The NFL is planning “significant changes” to its covid-19 protocols amid the worst three-day stretch for the league during the pandemic, a person familiar with the plans told the Associated Press on Wednesday night. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details haven’t been finalized,...
Chicago Blackhawks settle lawsuit with Kyle Beach
CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks settled a lawsuit by a former player who said he was sexually assaulted by assistant coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s 2010 Stanley Cup title run. After representatives for the Blackhawks and former first-round pick Kyle Beach met Wednesday with a mediator for the first...
Top recruit spurns Florida State to play for Deion Sanders, Jackson StateVideo
The No. 1 high school football recruit in the country pulled a signing day shocker Wednesday, deciding to attend Jackson State and play for coach Deion Sanders after being verbally committed to Florida State for months. Travis Hunter, a cornerback from Suwanee, Ga., made the unprecedented announcement during a ceremony...
AP source: NHL reintroducing enhanced covid-19 restrictions
With the number of coronavirus cases and game postponements climbing, the NHL is reintroducing enhanced covid-19 protocols that include restricting players to staying in their hotels while on the road in a bid to limit a growing outbreak among players and staff. The enhanced protocols will be put into effect...
U.S. releases new batch of documents about JFK assassination
WASHINGTON — The National Archives on Wednesday made public nearly 1,500 documents related to the U.S. government’s investigation into the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The disclosure of secret cables, internal memos and other documents satisfies a deadline set in October by President Joe Biden and is in...
Senate sends Biden big defense bill, plans new war memorial
WASHINGTON — Congress sent President Joe Biden a $768.2 billion defense bill on Wednesday that makes landmark changes to the way the military handles sexual assaults, keeps women out of the draft and lays the groundwork for a new war memorial on the National Mall. The annual bill, which has...
Fed will tighten credit faster and sees 3 rate hikes in 2022
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve will quicken the pace at which it’s pulling back its support for the economy as inflation surges, and it expects to raise interest rates three times next year. In an abrupt policy shift, the Fed announced Wednesday that it will shrink its monthly bond purchases...
Health worker vaccine mandate blocked in half the states
NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday lifted a nationwide ban against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for health care workers, instead blocking the requirement in only certain states and creating the potential for patchwork enforcement across the country. The decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S....
Stocks fall on Wall Street ahead of Fed policy statement
Stocks fell in afternoon trading on Wall Street Wednesday as investors wait to hear from the Federal Reserve after its last policy meeting of the year. The S&P 500 index fell 0.2% as of 1:32 p.m. Eastern and is coming off of two days of losses. The Dow Jones Industrial...
4 dead in related crashes on Interstate 78 in Berks County
HAMBURG — Four people were killed Tuesday night in two related crashes on an eastern Pennsylvania interstate, state police said. The first crash happened around 8:30 p.m. when a 69-year-old Georgia woman who was driving an empty school bus failed to stop in a construction zone on Interstate 78 near...
Omicron to be dominant variant in EU by mid-January
BRUSSELS — Omicron is expected to be the dominant coronavirus variant in the European Union’s 27 nations by mid-January, the bloc’s top official said Wednesday amid concerns that a dramatic rise in infections will leave Europe shrouded in gloom during the holiday season. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen...
AP source: Biden-Manchin talks on $2T Dem bill going poorly
WASHINGTON — Negotiations between President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin over the Democrats’ huge social and environment bill are going poorly, a person familiar with the talks said Wednesday, the latest sign that leaders’ hopes of moving the bill through the Senate before Christmas were increasingly bleak. Manchin, D-W.Va.,...
