Associated Press stories, Page 1662
Americans spent less in July as covid-19 cases surged
NEW YORK — Americans cut back on their spending last month as a surge in covid-19 cases kept people away from stores. Retail sales fell a seasonal adjusted 1.1% in July from the month before, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday. It was a much larger drop than the 0.3%...
Germany: 1 dead, 1 missing after flood brings down bridge
BERLIN — German rescue teams have recovered the body of a woman who was swept off a bridge by floods in Bavaria, the German news agency dpa reported Tuesday. They are still searching for a second person person who was also swept off the bridge by sudden floods in southern...
Sudoku maker Maki Kaji, who saw life’s joy in puzzles, dies
TOKYO — Maki Kaji, the creator of the popular numbers puzzle Sudoku whose life’s work was spreading the joy of puzzles, has died, his Japanese company said Tuesday. He was 69 and had bile duct cancer. Known as the “Godfather of Sudoku,” Kaji created the puzzle to be easy for...
Walmart ups outlook as back-to-school sales take off
NEW YORK — Walmart is raising its sales outlook for the year as Americans returned to shopping for back-to-school clothes and travel goods during the fiscal second quarter. Still, concerns are mounting over spending in the months ahead as the delta variant of covid-19 surges across the U.S. and mask...
Sources: U.S. to recommend covid vaccine boosters at 8 months
WASHINGTON — U.S. health experts are expected to recommend covid-19 vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, eight months after they received their second dose of the shot, to ensure lasting protection against the coronavirus as the delta variant spreads across the country. Federal health officials have been actively...
3 shot dead outside San Antonio sports bar; suspect arrested
SAN ANTONIO — A man was arrested Monday on a capital murder warrant in the shooting of five people, three fatally, outside a San Antonio sports bar following an argument, police said. The shooting happened about 3:30 a.m. Sunday in the Boom Boom Sports Bar parking lot, Police Chief William...
Fred drenches U.S. Southeast; Grace again a tropical stormVideo
Fred weakened from a tropical storm to a depression early Tuesday as it trekked inland, spreading heavy rains over the U.S. Southeast. The National Weather Service said it spawned several tornadoes in Georgia, and flash flooding and mudslides were possible in mountainous areas as it moves toward the mid-Atlantic states....
Browns’ Dick Schafrath, who blocked for 3 Hall of Famers, dies
CLEVELAND — Dick Schafrath, a star offensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns who blocked for Hall of Fame running backs Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly and Bobby Mitchell before going into politics after retiring, died. He was 84. The team said Schafrath died Sunday night. No cause of death was given....
Haiti quake death toll rises to 1,419, injured now at 6,000Video
LES CAYES, Haiti — Rescuers and scrap metal scavengers dug into the floors of a collapsed hotel Monday in this quake-ravaged coastal town, where 15 bodies had already been extracted. Jean Moise Fortunè, whose brother, the hotel owner, was killed in the quake, believed there were more people trapped in...
Ravens’ Trace McSorley to miss weeks with back issues
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Baltimore Ravens quarterback Trace McSorley (Penn State) is expected to miss a few weeks because of back problems. The team announced Monday they had signed quarterback Kenji Bahar, but McSorley’s injury leaves Tyler Huntley as the clear top option to back up Lamar Jackson for the...
Trevor Bauer lawyer: Woman made him believe she wanted rougher sex
LOS ANGELES — An attorney for Trevor Bauer told a judge Monday that the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher had every reason to believe that a woman wanted the choking and other rough treatment he gave her in two sexual encounters that led to her seeking a five-year restraining order against...
U.S. forward Carli Lloyd retiring after decorated careerVideo
U.S. forward Carli Lloyd is retiring after a decorated career that included a pair of World Cup titles and two Olympic gold medals, as well as a bronze medal at the Tokyo Games. The two-time FIFA World Player of the Year known for her dramatic hat-trick in the 2015 World...
S&P hits new record amid rising concerns about pandemicVideo
A choppy day on Wall Street ended Monday with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average notching new highs after recovering from an early slide. The indexes each rose 0.3%, extending their winning streak to a fifth day, while the Nasdaq fell 0.2%. Technology and health care stocks accounted...
Pennsylvania to offer weekly covid-19 testing for schools
ENOLA — Pennsylvania will offer voluntary covid-19 testing in all K-12 schools, state health and education officials announced Monday. School districts will have to opt in, and parents must give consent. For participating school districts, the weekly tests will be conducted in classrooms. Students’ nasal swabs will be pooled and...
Tennessee tops 1-month covid hospitalization high in 2 weeks
NASHVILLE — Tennessee’s top health official said Monday that just halfway through August, the state has already shattered its single-month record for new covid-19 hospitalizations. Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey told reporters the surge in covid-19 patients “really tips the scales” in hospitals even if there aren’t as many people currently...
Cardinal who expressed vaccine skepticism hospitalized with covid, breathing with ventilator
MADISON, Wis. — Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of the Catholic Church’s most outspoken conservatives and a vaccine skeptic, said he has covid-19 and his staff said he is breathing through a ventilator. Burke tweeted Aug. 10 that he had caught the virus, was resting comfortably and was receiving excellent medical...
7 killed in Kabul airport chaos as Taliban patrols capital
KABUL, Afghanistan — Thousands of Afghans rushed into Kabul’s main airport Monday, some so desperate to escape the Taliban that they held onto a military jet as it took off and plunged to their deaths. At least seven people died in the chaos, U.S. officials said, as America’s longest war...
Chasing Tide: Alabama is No. 1 in preseason AP Top 25 again
Another college football season will start with everyone chasing the Tide. Alabama is No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll for fourth time in the past six seasons. Coming off their sixth national championship under Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide enter the season loaded with potential replacements...
Many Bible Belt preachers silent on shots as covid-19 surges
Dr. Danny Avula, the head of Virginia’s covid-19 vaccination effort, suspected he might have a problem getting pastors to publicly advocate for the shots when some members of his own church referred to them as “the mark of the beast,” a biblical reference to allegiance to the devil, and the...
Biden says he stands ‘squarely behind’ Afghanistan decisionVideo
WASHINGTON — Striking a defiant tone, President Joe Biden said Monday that he stands “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan and that the Afghan government’s collapse was quicker than anticipated. Biden said he was faced with a choice between sticking to a previously negotiated agreement to...
Greece wildfires: New blazes burning outside of Athens
More wildfires broke out Monday in hard-hit Greece, with two blazes fanned by strong winds triggering evacuation alerts for villages southeast and northwest of the Greek capital. The first blaze, which broke out in the morning in the Keratea region southeast of Athens, quickly burned through shrubland and was heading...
Column: Why would the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 form an alliance?
The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten and Pac-12 are exploring ways to counter the Oklahoma-Texas expansion and curtail the Southeastern Conference’s growing power in college football. The commissioners of the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 have discussed how creating an alliance between leagues that span the country could provide both...
Taliban take over Afghanistan: What we know and what’s next
The Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan two weeks before the U.S. was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war. The insurgents stormed across the country, capturing all major cities in a matter of days, as Afghan security forces trained and equipped by the U.S. and...
U.S. agency opens formal probe into Tesla Autopilot system
DETROIT — The U.S. government has opened a formal investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot partially automated driving system after a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles. The investigation covers 765,000 vehicles, almost everything that Tesla has sold in the U.S. since the start of the 2014 model year. Of the...
This Date in Sports History: Aug. 16
1920 — Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman is hit in the head with a pitch by New York’s Carl Mays. Chapman suffers a fractured skull and dies the next day. It’s the only field fatality in major-league history. 1924 — Helen Wills Moody beats Molla Bjurstedt Mallory again 6-1, 6-3 to...
