Associated Press stories, Page 1632
Covid cases delay long-awaited Royal Caribbean cruise
MIAMI — Royal Caribbean International is postponing for nearly a month one of the highly anticipated first sailings from the U.S. since the pandemic began because eight crew members tested positive for covid-19, the company’s CEO said. The brand new Odyssey of the Seas was to set sail from Fort...
Jared Kushner has book deal, publication expected in 2022
NEW YORK — Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump and one of his top advisers during his administration, has a book deal. Broadside Books, a conservative imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced that Kushner’s book will come out in early 2022. Kushner has begun working on the memoir,...
West Virginia Sen. Manchin proposes changes to Democrats’ voting bill
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin is proposing an extensive list of changes to his party’s sweeping elections and voting bill, raising hopes among Democrats that they could unite behind the legislation even if the measure is nearly certain to be blocked by Republicans in a showdown Senate vote next week....
Aide says former Homeland Security head, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge had stroke
HARRISBURG — Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge suffered a stroke Wednesday at his home in suburban Washington, D.C., a longtime aide to the former Pennsylvania governor said. Ridge was taken by ambulance from the home in Bethesda, Md., to a hospital for treatment, Ridge spokesman Steve Aaron said....
Vaccine effort turns into slog as infectious variant spreads
As cases tumble and states reopen, the potential final stage in the U.S. campaign to vanquish covid-19 is turning into a slog, with a worrisome variant gaining a bigger foothold and lotteries and other prizes failing to persuade some Americans to get vaccinated. “The last half, the last mile, the...
Man who drove at Minneapolis protesters charged with murder
MINNEAPOLIS — A St. Paul man accused of speeding up and driving into a group of protesters in Minneapolis while he was drunk, killing one person, was charged Wednesday with intentional second-degree murder. Prosecutors say Nicholas Kraus, 35, was visibly intoxicated Sunday night when he sped up and tried to...
Biden administration extends protections to transgender students
The Education Department on Wednesday expanded its interpretation of federal sex protections to include transgender and gay students, a move that reverses Trump-era policy and stands against proposals in many states to bar transgender girls from school sports. In a new policy directive, the department said discrimination based on a...
Longtime Mount St. Mary’s coach Jim Phelan dies at age 92Video
EMMITSBURG, Md. — Jim Phelan, the bow-tied basketball coach who won 830 games during nearly a half-century at Mount St. Mary’s, has died. He was 92. The athletic department at Mount St. Mary’s said Phelan died in his sleep at home Tuesday night. Phelan spent his entire 49-season career at...
Fed sees faster time frame for rate hikes as inflation risesVideo
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that it may act sooner than previously planned to start dialing back the low-interest rate policies that have helped fuel a swift rebound from the pandemic recession but have also coincided with rising inflation. The Fed’s policymakers forecast that they would raise their...
Ohio House expels former Republican speaker in historic vote
COLUMBUS — Former Republican Speaker Larry Householder was expelled from the Ohio House in a vote Wednesday as a result of his indictment in an alleged $60 million federal bribery probe, only the second time the state Legislature has pushed out a member and the first time in 150 years....
Dead ‘murder hornet’ near Seattle is 1st found in U.S. in 2021
Scientists have found a dead Asian giant hornet north of Seattle, the first so-called murder hornet found in the country this year, federal and state investigators said Wednesday. Entomologists from the state and U.S. Agriculture departments said it’s the first confirmed report from Snohomish County, north of Seattle, and appears...
Millions fear eviction as housing crisis worsens
More than 4 million people say they fear being evicted or foreclosed upon in the coming months just as two studies released Wednesday found that the nation’s housing availability and affordability crisis is expected to worsen significantly following the pandemic. The housing crisis, the studies found, risk widening the housing...
Stocks down, yields up as Fed discusses dialing back supportVideo
Stocks fell and bond yields climbed Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled it may start easing off the accelerator on its massive support for the economy earlier than previously thought. The S&P 500 fell 22.89, or 0.5%, to 4,223.70 after the Fed unveiled a highly anticipated set of projections by...
Portland, scarred by unrest and violence, tries to come back
PORTLAND, Ore. — The smell of fresh empanadas wafted through the stands at Portland’s Saturday Market. People talked through their masks with artists as others sifted through fork windchimes, crystal necklaces, tie dye dresses and clay mugs. The weekly event was smaller than in years past, but longtime attendees say...
Hours after 4 killed in Chicago, 5 more hurt in shooting
Five people standing outside on Chicago’s West Side were shot in a violent end to a day that began with a mass shooting on the city’s South Side that left four people dead and four more injured, police said. Four men and one woman were shot about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday...
‘You stabbed me,’ boy tells father at double-murder trial
TAMPA, Fla. — Acting as his own lawyer, a double-murder defendant opened his death penalty trial by shouting at jurors that he did not attack his girlfriend and disabled daughter. Now he’s cross-examined his son, forcing the 11-year-old to describe exactly how he hurt him. Ronnie Oneal III claimed in...
U.S. Army has hidden or downplayed loss of firearms for years
The U.S. Army has hidden or downplayed the extent to which its firearms disappear, significantly understating losses and thefts even as some weapons are used in street crimes. The Army’s pattern of secrecy and suppression dates back nearly a decade, when The Associated Press began investigating weapons accountability within the...
Senators would stop ‘micropolitan’ label for 144 U.S. cities
Some lawmakers are trying to stop 144 U.S. cities from losing their designations as “metropolitan areas” as the federal government updates its standards, doubling the minimum number of residents required in a city’s urban core to 100,000 people. Sens. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, and Mark Kelly, a...
Athletes abused by late doctor demand University of Michigan probe
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Former athletes on Wednesday urged the University of Michigan’s governing board to launch a full investigation of sexual abuse committed by a late doctor and how the school failed to stop him during his decades on campus. Standing near the school’s historic football stadium, they said...
Computer trouble hits Hubble Space Telescope, science halted
The Hubble Space Telescope has been hit with computer trouble, with all astronomical viewing halted, NASA said Wednesday. The orbiting observatory has been idle since Sunday when a 1980s-era computer that controls the science instruments shut down, possibly because of a bad memory board. Flight controllers at NASA’s Goddard Space...
Venus Williams, Andy Murray get Wimbledon wild cards; prize money reduced
LONDON — Former Wimbledon champions Venus Williams and Andy Murray will receive wild cards to compete in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament when it starts in less than two weeks. The men’s and women’s singles winners will each get $2.4 million, a nearly 28% decrease from 2019, although the overall...
‘Pure business’ at Biden-Putin summit: No hugs, no brickbatsVideo
GENEVA — President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded their summit on Wednesday with an agreement to return their nations’ ambassadors to their posts in Washington and Moscow and a plan to begin work toward replacing the last remaining treaty between the two countries limiting nuclear weapons. But...
Nikita Kucherov shines, Lightning beat Islanders in Game 2
TAMPA, Fla. — Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat delivered early goals and NHL playoff scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had three more assists to help the Tampa Bay Lightning rebound from a series-opening loss and beat the New York Islanders, 4-2, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup semifinals Tuesday night....
Senate approves bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday
WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would make Juneteenth, or June 19th, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The bill would lead to Juneteenth becoming the 12th federal holiday. It is expected to easily pass the House, which would send it...
Israelis march in east Jerusalem in test for new governmentVideo
JERUSALEM — Hundreds of Israeli ultranationalists, some chanting “Death to Arabs,” paraded Tuesday in east Jerusalem in a show of force that threatened to spark renewed violence just weeks after a war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians in Gaza responded by launching incendiary balloons that caused at...
