Associated Press stories, Page 167
Tampa Bay Rays’ Wander Franco found guilty in sex abuse case, receives suspended sentence
PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic — Wander Franco, the suspended Tampa Bay Rays shortstop charged in a sexual abuse case, was found guilty on Thursday but received a two-year suspended sentence. Franco was arrested last year after being accused of having a four-month relationship with a girl who was 14 at...
Justice Department says Kilmar Abrego Garcia will face US trial before any move to deport him again
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Thursday that it intends to try Kilmar Abrego Garcia on federal smuggling charges in Tennessee before it moves to deport him, addressing fears that he could be expelled again from the U.S. within days. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville, Tennessee, recently ruled...
Islanders’ new GM eager to place stamp on team in NHL Draft
Barely a month into his new role overseeing the New York Islanders, Mathieu Darche understands there is not much he can take credit for yet in placing his stamp on the franchise. The 48-year-old first-time general manager was still employed by Tampa Bay in early May when the NHL lottery...
Gemma Dryburgh, Cassie Porter lead Dow Championship
MIDLAND, Mich. — Cassie Porter drove the green on a reachable par 4 and chipped in to start a streak of three straight birdies Thursday, teaming with Gemma Dryburgh in foursomes for a 4-under-par 66 to lead the Dow Championship in the LPGA Tour’s only team event. The duo dropped...
Music history is littered with projects planned, anticipated, even completed — and then scrapped
NEW YORK — The idea that Bruce Springsteen wrote, recorded and ultimately shelved entire albums of music may seem odd to the casual listener. Why put yourself through all that work for nothing? Yet “lost albums” are embedded in music industry lore. Some were literally lost. Some remained unfinished or...
Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary turned acclaimed TV journalist, dead at 91
NEW YORK — Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary who became one of television’s most honored journalists, masterfully using a visual medium to illuminate a world of ideas, died Thursday at age 91. Moyers died in a New York City hospital, according to longtime friend Tom Johnson, the...
Prosecutor tells jury ‘it’s time’ to convict Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs as sex trafficking trial near end
NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs “committed crime after crime” but thought his “fame, wealth and power” put him above the law, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday as the hip-hop mogul’s sex trafficking trial shifted to closing arguments. “That ends now,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik said. “It’s time to...
NHL and NHLPA are close to agreeing on a new CBA that includes an 84-game season, AP sources say
The NHL and NHL Players’ Association are on the verge of extending the collective bargaining agreement more than a year before it expires and expanding the regular season to 84 games. The league and union have been in talks since April and are closing in on a memorandum of understanding...
Super Bowl halftime performer arrested on disturbing the peace, resisting charges
A performer at Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance in February has been arrested after holding up a Sudanese flag with the message “Sudan and Free Gaza,” Louisiana State Police announced Thursday. The performer, Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, 41, of New Orleans surrendered to authorities after an arrest warrant was obtained,...
NFL suspends Justin Tucker for first 10 weeks of season for violating personal conduct policy
NEW YORK — The NFL has suspended former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker for the first 10 weeks next season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The league announced the punishment Thursday. It takes effect Aug. 26, roster cutdown day, and Tucker is eligible for reinstatement Nov. 11. Tucker...
Longtime editor-in-chief Anna Wintour steps down at Vogue after 37 years
NEW YORK — Anna Wintour is seeking a head of editorial content to handle more of the day-to-day operations at Vogue while retaining plenty of power to keep her a force at the magazine that built her reputation in fashion, a person familiar with the decision said Thursday. Wintour will...
Wimbledon 2025: Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz give tennis 2 young superstars
LONDON — Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz are helping usher in a new era for tennis. With Wimbledon beginning Monday, the sport’s most recent Grand Slam champions are Gauff, a 21-year-old American, and Alcaraz, a 22-year-old Spaniard, who are both at No. 2 in the rankings and are both coming...
Cincinnati Bengals, county reach tentative $470 million deal to renovate Paycor Stadium and extend lease
CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals and local officials have reached a tentative deal to make $470 million in renovations to Paycor Stadium and keep the team there for at least the next 11 years. The preliminary agreement announced Thursday still needs final approval from the team and Hamilton County commissioners....
Israeli strike kills 18 Palestinians in central Gaza as turmoil mounts over food distribution
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike hit a street in central Gaza on Thursday where witnesses said a crowd of people was getting bags of flour from a Palestinian police unit that had confiscated the goods from gangs looting aid convoys. Hospital officials said 18 people were killed....
U.S. economy shrank 0.5% between January and March, worse than 2 earlier estimates had revealed
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.5% annual pace from January through March as President Donald Trump’s trade wars disrupted business, the Commerce Department reported Thursday in an unexpected deterioration of earlier estimates. First-quarter growth was weighed down by a surge of imports as U.S. companies, and households,...
Vatican unveils last of restored Raphael Rooms after 10-year cleaning that yielded new discoveries
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican Museums on Thursday unveiled the last and most important of the restored Raphael Rooms, the spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace that in some ways rival the Sistine Chapel as the peak of high Renaissance artistry. A decade-long project to clean and restore...
States can cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court rules
WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court allowed states to cut off Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood in a ruling handed down Thursday amid a wider Republican-backed push to defund the country’s biggest abortion provider. The 6-3 opinion comes in a case that wasn’t directly about abortion. It’s instead about Medicaid...
Trump’s latest rejection of intelligence assessments reflects a long distrust of spy agencies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s fights with the intelligence community were a running theme of his first term as he raged against an investigation into his campaign’s alleged links to Russia. Now, a sequel is playing out as Trump battles to shape the public’s understanding of his foreign policy gamble...
Key Medicaid provision in Trump’s bill found to violate Senate rules. The GOP is scrambling
WASHINGTON — The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a Medicaid provider tax overhaul central to President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending bill does not adhere to the chamber’s procedural rules, delivering a crucial blow as Republicans rush to finish the package this week. Guidance from the parliamentarian is rarely...
Pro wrestling gets its own 24/7 SiriusXM channel
Pro wrestling has gone from a once a week show on SiriusXM to having its own channel. The satellite radio provider announced Thursday that Pro Wrestling Nation 24/7 will take over Channel 156 beginning Tuesday. Channel 156 has been SiriusXM Fight Nation, which has carried pro wrestling, MMA and boxing...
Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week as layoffs remain low
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, a sign that companies aren’t cutting many jobs. Jobless claims dropped 10,000 to 236,000, a historically-low level. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out weekly volatility, dipped 750 to 245,000. Applications...
North Korea will open its biggest tour site next week, though it still largely blocks foreigners
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea next week will open a signature coastal tourist site that it says will usher in a new era in its tourism industry, though there is no word on when the country will fully reopen to foreign visitors. The Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone has hotels...
A driver has hit children with a car near an elementary school in Beijing
BEIJING — A driver hit an unknown number of children with their car near an elementary school in an outlying district of Beijing, police and media reports said Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear if it was another case of a driver intentionally running into people in China. A short statement...
International Space Station welcomes its 1st astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first astronauts in more than 40 years from India, Poland and Hungary arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, ferried there by SpaceX on a private flight. The crew of four will spend two weeks at the orbiting lab, performing dozens of experiments. They...
Iran’s supreme leader warns against further American attacks in 1st statement since ceasefire
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday his country had delivered a “slap to America’s face” with its strike on an American base in Qatar, and warned against any further U.S. attacks in his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared with...
