Associated Press stories, Page 1655

Athletes, coaches and advocates are calling on the NCAA to act in response to state laws banning transgender athletes from competing in organized sports. “Simply put, trans inclusion makes our sports, our teams and our communities stronger,” said Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, who was among those speaking out. Reeve...

His time due as the next face of WWE, Drew McIntyre imagined what his crowning achievement would look like in the build toward last year’s WrestleMania in his American hometown of Tampa, Fla. “I beat ‘The Beast’ Brock Lesnar, I raise the title, I jump into the crowd,” he said....

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Brad Keselowski didn’t get the finish he hoped for two weeks ago when NASCAR’s Cup Series ran on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, but the 2012 series champion didn’t dwell too long on his 11th-place finish. “When we got out of Bristol, I left with a...

UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations urged the international community to take “concrete action” against the military in Myanmar on Friday including an arms embargo and sanctions against its holding companies and those who profit from them, saying this is the only way to change the...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed a partial ban on no-knock warrants Friday after months of demonstrations set off by the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in her home during a botched police raid last year. The law signed by the Democratic governor is not the total ban...

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida judge sentenced a 21-year-old man to 24 years in prison for killing an Ohio mother and her young daughter in a 2018 traffic crash. Hillsborough Circuit Judge Christopher Nash heard hours of testimony on Thursday before announcing his decision to send Cameron Herrin to prison....

HOUSTON — A judge on Friday ordered that the name of one of the 22 women who have filed lawsuits accusing Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual assault and harassment must be made public. Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, has asked that all the women, who have sued under the...

NEW YORK — DMX, the raspy-voiced hip-hop artist behind the songs “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” and “Party Up (Up in Here)” who had one of rap’s most distinctive voices — literally and metaphorically — has died, according to a statement Friday from his family. He was 50. The Grammy-nominated performer died...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden released a $1.5 trillion wish list for the federal budget on Friday, asking for an 8.4% increase in agency operating budgets with substantial gains for Democratic priorities like education, health care, housing and environmental protection. The request by the White House budget office spells out...

LANSING, Mich. — Faced with the country’s highest rate of new coronavirus infections, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday urged a two-week suspension of in-person high school classes, all youth sports and indoor restaurant dining. She stopped short of ordering restrictions, instead asking for voluntary compliance to slow the spread...

WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation of Rep. Matt Gaetz, citing reports of sexual and other misconduct by the Florida Republican. The committee said in a statement Friday that it has begun the investigation and will gather additional information about the allegations. “The committee is aware...

ATLANTA — A transgender woman held in a Georgia men’s prison says she has been sexually assaulted repeatedly and denied necessary medical treatment and that prison officials retaliated against her after she filed complaints and a lawsuit. Lawyers for Ashley Diamond asked a federal judge in court filings Friday to...

MADISON, Wis. — A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers can exclude members of a conservative think tank from attending press briefings and keep them off his email list sent to other reporters, upholding a ruling from a lower court. The MacIver Institute for Public...

MINNEAPOLIS — The chief county medical examiner who ruled George Floyd’s death a homicide testified Friday that the way police held him down and compressed his neck “was just more than Mr. Floyd could take,” given the condition of his heart. Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner, took...

Technology companies helped lift stocks higher on Wall Street in afternoon trading Friday, placing the market within striking distance of more record highs. The gains are in line with the market’s modest upward tack this week as investors weigh concerns about the virus tripping up a steady economic recovery against...

Amazon workers voted against forming a union at a warehouse in Alabama, handing the online retail giant a decisive victory and cutting off a path that labor activists had hoped would lead to similar efforts throughout the company and beyond. After months of aggressive campaigning from both sides, 1,798 warehouse...

Airlines pulled dozens of Boeing Max 737s out of service for inspections after the aircraft maker told them about a possible electrical problem, the latest setback for the plane. Boeing said Friday that the issue affected planes used by 16 airlines. The company did not say how many planes are...

At the front desk, the kindly nun who greeted visitors at St. Anne’s Home is missing, and in the chapel, where stained glass paints the walls with pastels, she no longer waves hello from the last pew on the left. In the convent’s living room, Sister Mary Evelyn Labik isn’t...

MOSCOW — A Russian-U.S. trio of space travelers launched successfully Friday, heading for the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov blasted off as scheduled at 3:42 a.m. EDT aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in...

LONDON — Prince Philip, the irascible and tough-minded husband of Queen Elizabeth II who spent more than seven decades supporting his wife in a role that both defined and constricted his life, has died, Buckingham Palace said Friday. He was 99. His life spanned nearly a century of European history,...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — An explosive eruption rocked La Soufriere volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent on Friday following mandatory evacuation orders from the local government. Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies Seismic Center, said the ash column is estimated to have...

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Dustin Johnson found conditions much more challenging Thursday than they were in November for his record-setting romp to the Masters green jacket. The result was a lackluster 2-over-par 74 that ended his unprecedented streak of below-par rounds at Augusta National. Johnson finished with a sloppy, double-bogey 6...