Associated Press stories, Page 1574
Lionel Messi breaks down, says tearful goodbye BarcelonaVideo
MADRID — Lionel Messi began crying before he even started speaking. The “most difficult” moment of his career had arrived and he wasn’t ready for it. It was time to say goodbye to Barcelona after more than two decades with the Catalan club. “I don’t know if I’ll be able...
Kyle Larson wins at Watkins Glen, eyes regular-season title
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.— Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, building a big lead in the final stage and keeping Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott at bay over the final laps. Elliott was seeking his third straight victory at The Glen but was...
Sheriff: Caretaker charged with murder in North Carolina woman’s death
NEWLAND, N.C. — A caretaker for a western North Carolina woman who was found dead last week in her home, buried in concrete, has been arrested and charged with murder, a sheriff said on Sunday. Elizabeth Carserino, 53, of Goose Creek, S.C. was in the Avery County jail on secured...
1 Chicago officer killed, 1 wounded in traffic stop shootingVideo
CHICAGO — A 29-year-old Chicago police officer was killed and another was wounded in an exchange of gunfire during a traffic stop, officials said Sunday. The death of the female officer Saturday night was the first fatal shooting of a Chicago officer in the line of duty since 2018. Speaking...
Californians endure intense weekend of wildfire fearsVideo
After four years of homelessness, Kesia Studebaker thought she finally landed on her feet when she found a job cooking in a diner and moved into a house in the small community of Greenville. She had been renting for three months and hoped the stability would help her win back...
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy knocks bans on local mask mandates
WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy says he disagrees with GOP governors in Florida and Texas who are blocking mask mandates even as covid-19 cases spike higher. Cassidy, a Louisiana physician, said Sunday that “local officials should be listened to” if hospital ICUs in a community are full because of...
Phillies retire Halladay’s No. 34 in tribute to late ace
On the same diamond where Roy Halladay pitched himself into baseball history and the hearts of Philadelphia fans, the Phillies retired the late Hall of Famer’s No. 34 jersey in a touching tribute Sunday. Former teammates Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Raúl Ibañez as well as pitching coach Rich Dubee...
Cuomo digs in, shows no sign of heeding calls to resign
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has dug in for the fight of his political life despite the threat of potential criminal investigations and widespread calls for his impeachment over findings that he sexually harassed 11 women, including close aides. Scores of Democrats, including President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...
With coronavirus rising, ‘The Suicide Squad’ opens softly
Moviegoing, once expected to be closer to semi-normal levels by now, continues to be battered by the pandemic, the delta variant of the coronavirus and in-home streaming. The latest casualty: James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad,” a critically acclaimed, carnage-ridden would-be smash that disappointed with $26.5 million in estimated ticket sales....
Weary U.S. businesses confront new round of mask mandates
Businesses large and small, from McDonald’s and Home Depot to local yoga studios, are reinstituting mask mandates as U.S. coronavirus cases rise. Bars, gyms and restaurants across the country are requiring vaccines to get inside. After a largely mask-free summer, it’s a reversal no one wanted to see, brought on...
Hundreds in Warsaw protest political repression in Belarus
Hundreds of people, among them many Belarusians living in exile in Poland, marched Sunday in Warsaw to protest political repression in neighboring Belarus — a demonstration held on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Belarus presidential election that they consider rigged. Many carried the Belarusian opposition’s red-and-white flag...
Census experts puzzled by high rate of unanswered questions
Census Bureau statisticians and outside experts are trying to unravel a mystery: Why were so many questions about households in the 2020 census left unanswered? Residents did not respond to a multitude of questions about sex, race, Hispanic background, family relationships and age, even when providing a count of the...
Crime historian conducts dig for D.B. Cooper case evidence
Nearly 50 years after skyjacker D.B. Cooper vanished out the back of a Boeing 727 into freezing Northwest rain — wearing a business suit, a parachute and a pack with $200,000 in cash — a crime historian is conducting a dig on the banks of the Columbia River in Vancouver,...
Mark Zuckerberg’s cash fuels GOP suspicion and new election rules
When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated $400 million to help fund election offices as they scrambled to deal with the coronavirus pandemic late last summer, he said he hoped he would never have to do it again. Republican legislatures are granting him that wish. At least eight GOP-controlled states have...
Fauci hopeful covid vaccines get full OK by FDA within weeks
The U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Sunday that he was hopeful the Food and Drug Administration will give full approval to the coronavirus vaccine by month’s end and predicted the potential move will spur a wave of vaccine mandates in the private sector as well...
New push to disband Minneapolis police after Floyd’s death
On a hot summer afternoon, Latrell Snider and his partner knocked on Abdullahi Mohamed’s door, introduced themselves and launched their pitch: Minneapolis, they said, has a chance to replace its police department with something new, and they wanted Mohamed’s support. With his children looking on from a living room window,...
Taliban takes key northern Afghan cities as battles rage on
KABUL — Taliban fighters seized most of the capital of northern Afghanistan’s key Kunduz province on Sunday, and took another neighboring provincial capital after a monthlong siege. The advances were the latest in a series of blows to government forces as U.S. troops complete their pullout after nearly two decades...
Some praise, some doubts as Facebook rolls out a prayer tool
Facebook already asks for your thoughts. Now it wants your prayers. The social media giant has rolled out a new prayer request feature, a tool embraced by some religious leaders as a cutting-edge way to engage the faithful online. Others are eyeing it warily as they weigh its usefulness against...
Markie Post, TV veteran actor of ‘Night Court,’ dies at 70
Markie Post, who played the public defender in the 1980s sitcom “Night Court” and was a regular presence on television for four decades, has died. She was 70. Post’s manager, Ellen Lubin Sanitsky, said Post died Saturday in Los Angeles after a years-long battle with cancer. Post was a longtime...
Pandemic set off deadly rise in speeding that hasn’t stopped
Motorists put the pedal to the metal during the pandemic and police are worried as roads get busy with the final stretch of summer travel. The latest data shows the number of highway deaths in 2020 was the greatest in more than a decade even though cars and trucks drove...
Legendary Florida State coach Bobby Bowden dies at 91
Bobby Bowden, the folksy Hall of Fame coach who won more than 350 games and built Florida State into one of college football’s great dynasties with two national championships, has died. He was 91. Bobby’s son, Terry, confirmed to The Associated Press that his father died at home surrounded by...
U.S. women win 1st Olympic volleyball gold
TOKYO — The decades-long quest for the first Olympic gold medal for the U.S. women’s volleyball team ended Sunday when the Americans finally broke through with a 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 victory over Brazil. The United States, which had won three silver medals and two bronze since first getting on the...
U.S. women’s basketball team beats Japan to give Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi 5th golds
SAITAMA, Japan — Sue Bird capped off her unblemished 17-year Olympics run with a record fifth gold medal. All she and longtime U.S. teammate Diana Taurasi have done on the international stage is win and now stand alone with five gold medals — the first basketball players ever to accomplish...
Jimmie Johnson has sights set on bigger, better finishes in IndyCarVideo
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jimmie Johnson dodged tractors and skirted around workers putting the finishing touches on the city-street track on his first laps riding a golf cart through the downtown course. Heavy machinery and employees failed to make it on the race simulator when Johnson took a seat as he...
Chasing history: Elliott goes for 3-peat at Watkins GlenVideo
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Three-peat at Watkins Glen? Not on Chase Elliott’s radar. OK, maybe a little bit. “I’m just excited to be going back. I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Elliott, the reigning NASCAR Cup champion, said this week on a Zoom call. “Every time you go to the...
