Associated Press stories, Page 1677
Front-line, farm-state Democrats push back against Biden tax plan
WASHINGTON — A group of 13 House Democrats, led by Iowa’s Cindy Axne and California’s Jim Costa, is pressing party leaders to exempt family farms from a tax increase President Joe Biden has proposed on inherited assets to help pay for new child care, education and other spending. Under Biden’s...
Main stage of Chinese rocket likely to plunge to Earth soonVideo
BEIJING — The largest section of the rocket that launched the main module of China’s first permanent space station into orbit is expected to plunge back to Earth as early as Saturday at an unknown location. Usually, discarded core, or first-stage, rockets reenter soon after liftoff, normally over water, and...
South Carolina cuts federal unemployment boost from weekly payments
COLUMBIA — South Carolina will leave the federal unemployment programs providing extra money to jobless residents in light of “unprecedented” workforce shortages across the state, Gov. Henry McMaster announced on Thursday. The state will opt out of the coronavirus pandemic assistance programs beginning June 30. The federal benefits include an...
Blast from past as Mickelson opens with 64 at Quail HollowVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Phil Mickelson has gone nine months since he finished among the top 20, and it looks as though that streak is about to end at the Wells Fargo Championship. The 50-year-old Mickelson kept his focus Thursday at Quail Hollow and blistered the course for a 7-under-par 64...
2 women freed from ongoing Minnesota bank robbery standoff
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — A standoff between police in St. Cloud, Minn., and an alleged hostage-taker continued into the evening Thursday despite the release of two employees. The women were released from a Wells Fargo Bank branch, according to authorities. The first woman ran from the bank toward members of...
Paul Newberry: The NHL embarrasses itself again as MMA On IceVideo
The National Hockey League is an embarrassment. This is not a new development, but it’s worth revisiting. As long as the league condones the sort of mindless, reckless violence we’ve seen this week, it will never be anything more than MMA On Ice. To contend the carnage that went on...
Mandaloun and Essential Quality won’t run in PreaknessVideo
Kentucky Derby favorite Essential Quality and runner-up Mandaloun will not run against Medina Spirit in the Preakness, trainer Brad Cox said Thursday. Cox said he will skip the second jewel of the Triple Crown with those two horses and Caddo River, who was scratched from the Derby for spiking a...
U.S. sends more warplanes to protect pullout from AfghanistanVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States has deployed a dozen additional warplanes to bolster protection of American and coalition troops making a final withdrawal from Afghanistan as Taliban insurgents step up pressure on Afghan government forces, top Pentagon officials said Thursday. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,...
New York City aims to offer coronavirus vaccinations to touristsVideo
NEW YORK — See the sights — and get a shot. New York City hopes to begin offering coronavirus inoculations to tourists by stationing vaccination vans at Times Square and other attractions, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. The city needs state approval to vaccinate visitors and hopes to get...
Fed warns U.S. financial system remains vulnerable to threats
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is warning that the U.S. financial system remains vulnerable to threats stemming from the global pandemic, including the possibility of a sharp rise in global interest rates that could strain developing countries. A worsening of the pandemic could stress the financial systems in emerging markets...
Colorado GOP lawmaker who used racist term is reprimandedVideo
DENVER — A Republican lawmaker in Colorado was reprimanded Thursday after calling a colleague “Buckwheat” during debate on legislation — a racist term that provoked outcry from Democrats at a time when America is confronting its history of discrimination. It wasn’t clear who state Rep. Richard Holtorf was directing the...
U.S. women’s soccer team to play Summer Series in Texas ahead of Olympics
The U.S. women’s national team will play Portugal, Jamaica and Nigeria during a five-match Summer Series next month in Texas. U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski will use the matches as a final evaluation before he names an 18-player Olympic roster. The United States also plans to play two as-yet unannounced Tokyo...
NFL sets offseason schedule, still plans mandatory minicampsVideo
NEW YORK — The NFL has set its schedule for offseason workouts and still plans to have mandatory in-person minicamps, something the players’ union has opposed. The league released the schedule through mid-June, with all 32 teams listing required-attendance minicamps next month. NFLPA president JC Tretter, a center for the...
Ohio latest state to see GOP-backed voting law rewrite
COLUMBUS — Ohio became the latest state Thursday where Republicans are proposing a significant rewrite of state election laws, an effort that comes despite sweeping GOP victories in the state last year and a smooth election. Legislation introduced in the Ohio House calls for prohibiting placement of ballot drop boxes...
Slugger Albert Pujols designated for assignment by Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Albert Pujols was cut by the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday, abruptly ending the 41-year-old superstar slugger’s decade with his second major league team. The Angels surprisingly announced the move to designate Pujols for assignment one day after he wasn’t in the lineup for the slumping club’s...
At least 25 dead during Brazilian police raid in Rio
RIO DE JANEIRO — Police targeting drug traffickers raided a slum in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and at least one officer and 24 suspects died after being shot, authorities said. A police helicopter flew low over the Jacarezinho favela as heavily armed men fled police by leaping from roof...
NHL fines New York Rangers $250,000 for ‘demeaning’ public comments about player safety head George Parros
The New York Rangers in less than 72 hours lost their best player to injury, fired their president and general manager, and will likely see another player suspended. They are also out a quarter-million dollars in the latest chaotic chapter for the storied franchise. The NHL fined the Rangers an...
Steelers’ Justin Layne reaches plea deal to resolve Ohio gun charge
WILLOUGHBY HILLS, Ohio — Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Justin Layne reached a plea deal to resolve charges stemming from a traffic stop in Ohio last month where authorities said they found a loaded gun in his car. Layne, 23, was arrested on a fourth-degree felony charge of improper handling of a...
Kentucky adds former Pitt star Orlando Antigua to coaching staff
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky has added former Illinois assistants Orlando Antigua and Ron Coleman to the coaching staff. Antigua, who served five years with the Wildcats before becoming head coach at South Florida for 2½ seasons, will be an associate coach while Coleman will be an assistant. In his previous...
Blinken reaffirms U.S. support for Ukraine amid Russia tension
KYIV, Ukraine — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed Washington’s support for Ukraine at a meeting Thursday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the wake of Kyiv’s heightened tensions with Russia, fueled by Moscow’s recent troop buildup near their border. The top American diplomat met with Zelenskyy during his one-day...
Sheriff: Girl shoots 3 at Idaho school; teacher disarms her
RIGBY, Idaho — A sixth-grade girl brought a gun to her Idaho middle school, shot and wounded two students and a custodian and then was disarmed by a teacher Thursday, authorities said. The three were shot in their extremities and were expected to survive, officials said at a news conference....
India’s government eases hospital oxygen shortage as demand jumps
Under order by the Supreme Court, India’s government agreed on Thursday to provide more medical oxygen to hospitals in the capital, potentially easing a 2-week-old shortage that worsened the country’s exploding coronavirus crisis. Government officials also denied reports that they have been slow in distributing life-saving supplies donated from abroad....
Google says 20% of workers will be remote, many more hybrid
Google says it expects about 20% of its workforce to still work remotely after its offices reopen this fall, while some 60% will work a hybrid schedule that includes about three days in the office and two days “wherever they work best.” The remaining 20% can change their location to...
U.S. proposes ending rule that weakened wild bird protections
The Biden administration on Monday proposed revoking a rule imposed under former President Donald Trump that weakened the government’s power to enforce a century-old law that protects most U.S. bird species. The Interior Department announcement comes after officials in March said they were reversing a Trump policy that ended criminal...
Nebraska launches ‘beef passport’ program for meat eating
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts ramped up his crusade for the meat industry on Wednesday by endorsing a new “beef passport” program to promote meat eating, a few weeks after he blasted Colorado’s governor for a resolution encouraging its residents to eat less. Ricketts, a Republican, cast meat as essential to...
