Associated Press stories, Page 1592
Pa. Republicans criticize decision to decertify voting machines
HARRISBURG — Republican state lawmakers are criticizing the decision by Pennsylvania’s top election official to decertify the voting machines a sparsely populated county used in the 2020 presidential election. Acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid decertified the machines after Fulton County disclosed it had agreed to requests by local Republican...
Confederate bust moved from Tennessee Capitol building
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader that had been displayed prominently inside of the Tennessee Capitol for decades was removed from its pedestal on Friday. The image of Nathan Bedford Forrest has sparked protests ever since its installation in 1978. Some...
Naomi Osaka lights flame as toned-down opening ceremony kicks off pandemic Olympics
TOKYO — Belated and beleaguered, the virus-delayed Tokyo Summer Olympics finally opened Friday night with cascading fireworks and made-for-TV choreography that unfolded in a near-empty stadium, a colorful but strangely subdued ceremony that set a striking tone to match a unique pandemic Games. As their opening played out, devoid of...
Cleveland’s baseball team changing name from Indians to Guardians
CLEVELAND — Known as the Indians since 1915, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team will be called Guardians. The ballclub announced the name change Friday — effective at the end of the 2021 season — with a video on Twitter narrated by actor and team fan Tom Hanks. The decision ends...
Western wildfires: Crews make progress on huge Oregon blaze
BLY, Ore. — The nation’s largest wildfire raged through southern Oregon on Friday but crews were scaling back some night operations as hard work and weaker winds helped reduce the spread of flames even as wildfires continued to threaten homes in neighboring California. The Bootleg Fire, which has destroyed an...
Crafty cockatoos master dumpster diving and teach each other
WASHINGTON — A few years ago, a Sydney scientist noticed a sulfur-crested cockatoo opening his trash bin. Not every resident would be thrilled, but ornithologist Richard Major was impressed by the ingenuity. It’s quite a feat for a bird to grasp a bin lid with its beak, pry it open,...
With muted ceremony and empty stadium, Tokyo Olympics begin
TOKYO — Belated and beleaguered, the virus-delayed Tokyo Summer Olympics finally opened Friday night with cascading fireworks and made-for-TV choreography that unfolded in a near-empty stadium, a colorful but strangely subdued ceremony that set a striking tone to match a unique pandemic Games. As their opening played out, devoid of...
Rickie Fowler part of 3-way tie atop PGA Tour’s 3M leaderboardVideo
BLAINE, Minn. — Rickie Fowler’s improved driving helped him shoot a 5-under-par 65 on Sunday in the final round of the British Open. Looking for a late push in the FedEx Cup standings, Fowler carried over the strong play Thursday with a 7-under 64 in the first round of the...
Trimmer Ezekiel Elliott feeds off motivation from Cowboys’ 2020 downerVideo
Ezekiel Elliott is the lightest he has been in nearly a decade and believes he hasn’t lost the breakaway ability that helped make him a two-time NFL rushing champion for the Dallas Cowboys. The star running back didn’t need much motivation to get in that kind of shape coming off...
Sabres to open NHL Draft featuring Michigan, mystery, KrakenVideo
The focus of attention falls squarely on the Buffalo Sabres to kick off an NHL Draft heavily themed by Michigan, mystery and the expansion Seattle Kraken. General manager Kevyn Adams isn’t tipping his hand on whether Buffalo will use the No. 1 pick to select defenseman Owen Power, the consensus...
Michael Jordan, Bubba Wallace struggle in 1st year together as NASCAR teamVideo
LOUDON, N.H. — The 23XI Racing team posted a slideshow of the Bubba Wallace firesuit collection and asked fans to comment on their favorite. The designs were from business plucked straight out of Super Bowl ad space: Wallace was dressed by top companies in fast food, fantasy sports and auto...
Kraken create nucleus in expansion draft, but more to comeVideo
SEATTLE — For the entirety of his NHL career, anytime Mark Giordano pulled on a jersey, there was always a heavy dose of red. When he pulled on the sweater of the Kraken, the only red visible was from the menacing eye in the center of the Seattle logo. “After...
Rays land slugger Nelson Cruz in trade with TwinsVideo
CLEVELAND — Nelson Cruz packed up his big bat and joined a contender. The Tampa Bay Rays acquired Cruz, one of baseball’s most proven sluggers, in a four-player trade with the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night. Moments before opening a four-game series at Cleveland, the Rays, who entered the night...
Jets assistant coach Greg Knapp dies of injuries from bicycle accident
NEW YORK — New York Jets assistant coach Greg Knapp died Thursday of injuries suffered in a bicycle accident Saturday near his home in California. He was 58. Knapp’s family released a statement through the team that the longtime NFL assistant coach died at 2:32 p.m. EDT. “Greg Knapp (aka...
Potential Texas, Oklahoma move to SEC could tip realignment dominosVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Barry Alvarez lived through the tidal wave of conference realignment that swept over college sports in the early 2010s as Wisconsin’s athletic director, watching the Big Ten grow to 14 teams from the Midwest to the East Coast. Another round of shuffling could be on the horizon, with...
Harbaugh, Frost resolute about resurrecting programsVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — As their paths crossed at Big Ten media days, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and Nebraska coach Scott Frost appeared to have one thing in common: They are at a crossroads in their careers. Both have been humbled in recent years. Both need to win now, quite possibly to...
Mississippi argues Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade
JACKSON, Miss. — The U.S. Supreme Court should overturn its landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide and let states decide whether to regulate abortion before a fetus can survive outside the womb, the office of Mississippi’s Republican attorney general argued in papers filed Thursday with the high court. “Under...
Testing slowdown during covid shutdown raises issues about clean OlympiansVideo
TOKYO — The low numbers came in from across the globe and covered most every distance, from 100 meters through the marathon. The reasons behind all the improving times throughout the sport of track and field were every bit as diverse: better shoe technology, better running surfaces, less wear and...
DOJ won’t investigate how Pennsylvania handled nursing homes
HARRISBURG — The Justice Department told Gov. Tom Wolf’s office on Thursday that it has decided not to open an investigation into whether Pennsylvania violated federal law by ordering nursing homes to accept residents who had been treated for covid-19 in a hospital. The letter comes 11 months after the...
Indexes inch higher on Wall Street, preserving weekly gainsVideo
Stocks eked out modest gains Thursday on Wall Street, extending the market’s winning streak into a third day and keeping the major indexes on pace to end the week higher. The S&P 500 shrugged off a midday slide and rose 0.2%. Banks, energy companies and industrial stocks weighed on the...
China rebuffs WHO’s terms for further covid-19 origins studyVideo
BEIJING — China cannot accept the World Health Organization’s plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of covid-19, a senior Chinese health official said Thursday. Zeng Yixin, the vice minister of the National Health Commission, said he was “rather taken aback” that the plan includes further...
Gov. Tom Wolf says his position on voter ID has not changed
LOGANVILLE — With talks on wider election-related legislation at a standstill, Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday that his position on expanding Pennsylvania’s voter identification requirements has not changed, and that he is against anything that would “suppress the vote.” An expansion of Pennsylvania’s voter ID requirements became one of the...
Pennsylvania Supreme Court says leaving scene of triple fatal is 1 charge, not 3
HARRISBURG — A truck driver who killed three people on an interstate outside Harrisburg can’t be sentenced to three consecutive prison terms for leaving the scene of the crash he caused while driving drunk, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The high court unanimously overturned a county judge’s decision to...
NHL roster freeze lifts, flat cap prompts money-saving movesVideo
Carolina traded its playoff starting goaltender to Detroit to avoid arbitration. Philadelphia sent a high draft pick to Arizona to take on a pricey defenseman. The New York Rangers gave a back-to-back Stanley Cup winner a contract reigning champion Tampa Bay never could have afforded. The moves made Thursday when...
Dems renew questions about FBI background check of Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are raising new concerns about the thoroughness of the FBI’s background investigation into Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after the FBI revealed that it had received thousands of tips and had provided “all relevant” ones to the White House counsel’s office. FBI Director Christopher Wray, responding...
