Associated Press stories, Page 1630

LAS VEGAS — To Mike Anger in Midland, Mich., a $100 round-trip airline flight and $260 for five nights at a Las Vegas hotel made it too easy to say yes. “How could I turn that down?” the 39-year-old electrician asked, holding a tall vodka drink, basking in 90-degree temperatures,...

GETTYSBURG — Authorities say a man was rescued after a tree that fell during high winds trapped him inside a portable toilet at Gettysburg National Military Park in south-central Pennsylvania. The Barlow Volunteer Fire Department said on its Facebook page that the crew was called to Little Round Top shortly...

ORLANDO, Fla. — When Rep. Matt Gaetz vacationed in the Bahamas in 2018, he was joined by a doctor who donated to his campaign and a former colleague in the Florida Legislature. The Republican congressman, Dr. Jason Pirozzolo and Halsey Beshears were united in their enjoyment of politics, fancy travel...

NEW YORK — Don Mattingly starred in the action-packed 1980s. Now the Miami Marlins manager, Donnie Baseball worries about a record lack of hits — and not just from his team’s bats. “I don’t think it’s cyclical at this point,” he said. “There’s so much swing and miss, it’s kind...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After Malathaat outdueled Search Results down the stretch to win the 147th Kentucky Oaks by a neck, runner-up jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. patted Malathaat’s jockey, John Velazquez, on the shoulder to congratulate him. “We just got beat today,” Ortiz said. “She ran a really solid effort and...

MINNEAPOLIS — Alex Kirilloff hit the first two home runs of his major league career, including a three-run drive that broke open the game in the third inning and led the Minnesota Twins over the AL Central-leading Kansas City Royals 9-1 on Friday night. Kirilloff, a Plum native who debuted...

KABUL, Afghanistan — The death toll in a powerful suicide truck bombing that struck a guest house in eastern Afghanistan rose to 21 with as many as 90 others wounded, officials said Saturday. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the late Friday night bombing in Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar...

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The National Park Service is opening a rare opportunity for skilled shooters to help reduce the number of bison roaming the far reaches of northern Arizona. Come Monday, potential volunteers will have 48 hours to submit an application to kill the massive animals at Grand Canyon National...

HOUSTON — More than 90 people were found in a house in southwestern Houston that investigators suspect was part of a human smuggling operation, police said Friday. Authorities initially served a search warrant at the house after someone called police Thursday night to report a loved one was being held...

MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors are asking a judge to give Derek Chauvin a more severe penalty than state guidelines call for when he is sentenced in June for George Floyd’s death, arguing in court documents filed Friday that Floyd was particularly vulnerable and that Chauvin abused his authority as a police...

MEDIA — A Pennsylvania man who illegally voted for Donald Trump on behalf of his long-dead mother in last year’s presidential election was sentenced Friday to five years of probation. Bruce Bartman, 70, of Marple pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of perjury and one count of unlawful voting. Besides...

HARRISBURG — The Republican and Democratic floor leaders of the Pennsylvania House and Senate said Friday they can’t agree who should be the tie-breaking fifth member of the panel that will redraw the state’s legislative district lines. The announcement means the chairperson of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission will be selected...

Now that’s a whopper — a very old whopper! A 240-pound sturgeon that could be more than 100 years old was caught last week in the Detroit River by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The “real life river monster” was nearly 7 feet long, the agency said Friday on...

SpaceX this weekend will attempt the first U.S. splashdown of returning astronauts in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot in 1968. Elon Musk’s company is targeting the predawn hours of Sunday to bring back three NASA astronauts and one from Japan, after dangerously high wind scuttled a pair of earlier...

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball says nine teams have had 85% of players, coaches and others with Tier 1 access receive their final dose of the coronavirus vaccine, allowing those clubs to ease some health and safety protocols. Four of those teams have already begun relaxing some protocols after...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The bourbon is flowing again, flowery hats and humans are on the scene and 20 horses are ready to run the most chaotic race of their lives. After being disrupted by a pandemic, the Kentucky Derby is back with many of its traditions intact. America’s longest continuously...

NEW YORK — Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar has been fired as a consultant by Major League Baseball and placed on the league’s ineligible list after an investigation into an allegation of sexual misconduct. Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the firing Friday, saying in a statement that a baseball...

TORONTO — Canada will start getting Pfizer covid-19 vaccines from the United States next week, a company spokesperson said Friday, in what will be the first time the U.S. has allowed that company’s vaccine exported to Canada. Despite Canada’s tightly woven commercial ties with the U.S., it has been getting...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police in Ohio’s capital city ran “amok” last year when responding to demonstrations against racial injustice and police brutality by using physical violence, tear gas and pepper spray against protestors without provocation, a federal judge said Friday in a ruling ordering officers to approach such scenarios differently....

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Former reality TV star Josh Duggar faces charges of downloading and possessing child pornography under a federal indictment unsealed Friday. Federal prosecutors announced the indictment a day after Duggar was arrested by U.S. Marshals in northwest Arkansas. Prosecutors said Duggar possessed the material, some of which depicts...

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands — Elize Lutz and Harrie Dekkers’ new home is a 1,011-square foot, two-bedroom bungalow that resembles a boulder with windows. The curving lines of its gray concrete walls look and feel natural. But they are actually at the cutting edge of housing construction technology in the Netherlands and...

Stocks fell broadly in afternoon trading as investors backed away from technology and communications companies. Despite the decline, the market is on pace for its best month so far this year, as investors remain optimistic that the pandemic is slowly and steadily coming to a close. The S&P 500 was...