Associated Press stories, Page 1646
Stocks end lower on Wall Street; AMC sinks after stock saleVideo
Technology companies helped drag stocks lower on Wall Street Thursday, knocking the S&P 500 into the red for the week. The benchmark S&P 500 index dropped 0.4% and is now on track for a 0.3% weekly loss. Technology companies, whose pricey valuations make them more sensitive to inflation fears, were...
U.S. to swiftly boost global vaccine sharing, Biden announcesVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Thursday the U.S. will swiftly donate a first tranche of 25 million doses of surplus vaccine overseas through the U.N.-backed COVAX program, promising infusions for South and Central America, Asia, Africa and others at a time of glaring shortages abroad and more than ample...
James Madison stuns No. 1 seed Oklahoma in WCWS openerVideo
OKLAHOMA CITY — James Madison looked like a Women’s College World Series regular on Thursday. It actually was the Dukes’ first trip, and they made their first game memorable. Kate Gordon hit a solo homer in the top of the eighth inning and Odicci Alexander threw a complete game to...
No. 1 Ash Barty withdraws; Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer advance at French OpenVideo
PARIS — Bothered by a painful hip, top-ranked Ash Barty retired Thursday from her second-round match at the French Open, leaving the clay-court Grand Slam tournament without its top two women’s seeds and any of the top three women in the rankings. The 2019 champion trailed 6-1, 2-2 when she...
Celebrity attorney F. Lee Bailey dead at 87
WALTHAM, Mass. — F. Lee Bailey, the celebrity attorney who defended O.J. Simpson, Patricia Hearst and the alleged Boston Strangler, but whose legal career halted when he was disbarred in two states, has died, a former colleague said Thursday. He was 87. The death was confirmed Thursday by Peter Horstmann,...
Jaguars owner unveils plans to develop downtown Jacksonville
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Before Urban Meyer agreed to coach the Jacksonville Jaguars, he needed some assurances from team owner Shad Khan. Meyer wanted facility upgrades that included improved nutrition, training, recovery and treatment areas for players. The “culture of excellence,” Meyer calls it. “If it’s not the very best, it’s...
Traffic deaths up 7% last year, highest number since 2007
DETROIT — U.S. traffic deaths rose 7% last year, the biggest increase in 13 years even though people drove fewer miles because of the coronavirus pandemic, the government’s road safety agency reported Thursday. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration blamed the increase on drivers taking more risks on less-congested roads...
SpaceX launches tiny critters, solar panels to space stationVideo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched thousands of tiny sea creatures to the International Space Station on Thursday, along with a plaque-fighting toothpaste experiment and powerful solar panels. The 7,300-pound shipment — which also includes fresh lemons, onions, avocados and cherry tomatoes for the station’s seven astronauts — should arrive...
GOP fight over 2020 election audit brews in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — A key member of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is flatly rejecting talk of any sort of audit of the 2020 presidential election, a day after three fellow Republican state lawmakers toured the Arizona Senate GOP’s audit. Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, who chairs the committee that handles election matters,...
Georgia school officials condemn some teaching about race
ATLANTA — Georgia’s education board on Thursday approved a resolution that says the U.S. and Georgia are not racist and students should not be taught that racism or slavery are anything but deviations from the country’s “authentic founding principles.” The measure — approved by an 11-2 vote — was introduced...
Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski eager for a final run with the Blue Devils
DURHAM, N.C. — Mike Krzyzewski had pondered for years when it would be the right time to leave a Hall of Fame coaching career that he has long loved. Now Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils have committed to a plan: coach a final season in a farewell tour of sorts...
USFL relaunching next year, 4 decades after its birth
The USFL is relaunching in 2022, four decades after the spring football league’s short-lived run that featured such stars as Reggie White, Herschel Walker, Steve Young, Jim Kelly and future president Donald Trump. The new USFL announced Thursday it will play next spring with a minimum of eight teams “and...
Crews remove barriers, memorials at George Floyd Square
MINNEAPOLIS — Crews have removed concrete barriers, artwork, flowers and other items from a Minneapolis intersection that became a sprawling memorial to George Floyd, whose death last year at the hands of police galvanized the racial justice movement. It took the city crews less than four hours Thursday morning to...
Twitter starts subscription service in Canada, Australia
Twitter is rolling out a subscription service, starting in Canada and Australia, that offers perks like an undo button for subscribers. The “Twitter Blue” subscription service will offer features that users have long asked for — but still no edit button. It includes bookmark folders for organizing saved content; an...
Biden announces international covid-19 vaccine sharing plan
WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday unveiled President Joe Biden’s plans to share covid-19 vaccines with the world, including its intent to direct 75% of excess doses through the U.N.-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing program. The White House has previously stated its intent to share 80 million vaccine doses...
EU plans digital ID wallet for bloc’s post-pandemic life
LONDON — The European Union unveiled plans Thursday for a digital ID wallet that residents could use to access services across the 27-nation bloc, part of a post-pandemic recovery strategy that involves accelerating the shift to an online world. The European Digital Identity Wallet proposed by the EU’s executive commission...
Danish military to lease electric training planes as a trialVideo
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The Danish defense ministry said Thursday that it will lease two electric trainer airplanes as a test, adding that it is the first country in the world to do so. The single-engine, two-seater Pipistrel Velis Electro is an electric-powered Slovenian light aircraft intended primarily for training use....
Report: Inmate’s death at Ohio prison ruled a homicide
ORIENT, Ohio — The death of an inmate who died in his cell at an Ohio prison earlier this year has been ruled a homicide. Michael McDaniel, 55, died Feb. 6 after he became combative and injured two guards who had tried to remove him from his cell at the...
Canadiens’ Game 1 win tempered by late hit on Jake Evans
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Eric Staal scored early goals and Montreal beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3, on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the second-round series, a victory tempered by a scary late-game hit on Canadiens center Jake Evans. Playing on his 25th birthday, Evans was taken off...
Walmart aims to empower workers with own devices, new app
NEW YORK — Walmart is coming out with a new app for its store workers’ phones that allows them to do a variety of tasks from digitally clocking into work to helping locate merchandise and answering customers’ questions. It also has a push-to-talk feature to let them communicate directly with...
Princess Diana’s wedding dress goes on display in London
LONDON — The dress Princess Diana wore at her 1981 wedding to Prince Charles went on public display Thursday at the late princess’s former home in London. The taffeta-ruffled white dress designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel, with its 25 foot sequin-encrusted train, helped seal the fairytale image of the...
3 Pa. lawmakers visit Arizona GOP election audit
PHOENIX — Three Pennsylvania lawmakers were in Arizona on Wednesday to check out the state Senate GOP’s partisan audit of the 2020 election. They’re the latest Republicans to make a pilgrimage to Phoenix, ground zero in the “stop the steal” movement’s push to find support for conspiracy theories suggesting the...
‘Stand your ground’ defense rejected in iguana killing by Florida man
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A judge has rejected the “stand your ground” defense of a Florida man who said he beat an iguana to death only after it attacked him, biting him on the arm. PJ Nilaja Patterson, 43, must stand trial on a felony animal cruelty charge, Palm...
Last-place Sabres win draft lottery; Kraken get No. 2 pick
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres won the NHL Draft lottery, and the expansion Seattle Kraken jumped up the order to take the No. 2 pick Wednesday night. The Sabres have the No. 1 pick for the fourth time in franchise history and second in three years. It marks a...
Same strong field at Memorial gets new look for golf course
DUBLIN, Ohio — Jon Rahm was motoring to victory along the back nine of Muirfield Village last year at the Memorial, and just as compelling was the activity on the front nine. Heavy equipment was inside the ropes, ripping out huge strips of turf. Rahm returned to what tournament host...
