Associated Press stories, Page 1718
Unique 4/3/21 date draws lines for Vegas wedding licenses
LAS VEGAS — Soon-to-be newlyweds lined up out the door of the marriage license office in Las Vegas on Friday, ahead of a unique date to tie the knot: 4/3/21. Nearly 700 couples obtained licenses for the Saturday date, said Jeff Klein, a spokesman for the Clark County Marriage Bureau,...
Taiwan prosecutors probe train crash that killed 51
HUALIEN COUNTY, Taiwan — Prosecutors in Taiwan said Saturday they questioned the owner of an unmanned truck that rolled onto a rail track and caused the country’s worst train disaster in decades that killed 51 people and injured 146, though no charges have been filed. The train was carrying 494...
Unopened Super Mario Bros. game from 1986 sells for $660,000
DALLAS — An unopened copy of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. that was bought in 1986 and then forgotten about in a desk drawer has sold at auction for $660,000. Heritage Auctions in Dallas said the video game sold Friday. The auction house said the video game was bought as a...
Cameron Tringale leads after 2nd round at Texas Open, nears 1st PGA winVideo
SAN ANTONIO — Cameron Tringale made a move for his first PGA Tour victory with a 3-under-par 69 Friday and a two-shot lead after two rounds of the Valero Texas Open. Tringale, a 12-year veteran, was at 9-under 135 after a round that included five-straight birdies and leads Jordan Spieth...
Officer killed in attack outside Capitol an 18-year veteran
WASHINGTON — A U.S. Capitol Police officer who died Friday after a man rammed his car into him and another officer at a barricade was identified as an 18-year veteran of the force. William “Billy” Evans joined the department in 2003 and was a member of its first responders unit....
Texas-sized party as Baylor, Houston reunite in Final FourVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Somebody will be doing a joyful Texas two-step after Baylor and Houston meet Saturday night in the Final Four. It could be Bears coach Scott Drew, who built his now-mighty program from the ashes of one of the worst scandals in sports history. Led by guards Jared Butler,...
Underdog UCLA next up against undefeated GonzagaVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Next up on the long list of wannabes eager to stop, or even slow, the undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs is a team basketball fans might have heard of: UCLA. In a strange twist that typifies a strange year, the legacy program with more national championships than anyone is a...
Video shows Oklahoma jailer being brutalized by inmates
The Oklahoma City Police Department released a video Friday showing inmates drag, beat and stab a jailer before police shot and killed one who was holding a homemade knife to the jailer’s neck. The graphic video also shows police and sheriff’s deputies enter the pod at the Oklahoma County Detention...
April, the giraffe that became an online star, dies
HARPURSVILLE, N.Y. — April, the giraffe that became a sensation when a rural New York zoo livestreamed her 2017 pregnancy and delivery, was euthanized Friday because of advancing arthritis, the zoo said. “She is a precious member of our family, and while we knew this day would eventually come, our...
Police: West Virginia woman killed children, self
MOOREFIELD, W.Va. — Police say a West Virginia woman fatally shot her two children, including an infant, before shooting and killing herself on Thursday night. Police responded to a report of shots fired in Moorefield around 6:30 p.m., news outlets reported. They found Brandi Baker, 38, and her 9-month-old infant...
An advanced-stats look at this year’s Final Four teams
Gonzaga and Baylor breezed through their regions without much difficulty. Houston played four double-digit seeds but was still tested in a couple close games. UCLA started in the First Four and needed overtime just to advance from that — but the Bruins have kept winning ever since. The participants in...
MLB moving All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to voting restrictions
NEW YORK — Atlanta lost Major League Baseball’s summer All-Star Game on Friday over the league’s objections to sweeping changes to Georgia voting laws that critics — including the CEOs of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola — have condemned as being too restrictive. The decision to pull the July...
MMA fighter has finger severed in Philly match; doctors reattach it
A mixed martial arts fighter had his finger severed during a match in Philadelphia, but doctors were eventually able to reattach it. Khetag Pliev was injured Thursday night during the second round of his fight, which was stopped when the referee noticed Pliev was missing his left ring finger. “In...
Many still hesitate to get covid vaccine, but reluctance is easing
So few people came for covid-19 vaccinations in one county in North Carolina that hospitals there now allow anyone 16 or older to get a shot, regardless of where they live. Get a shot, get a free doughnut, the governor said. Alabama, with the country’s lowest vaccination rate, launched a...
Big effort aims to elect candidates with science backgrounds
RALEIGH, N.C. — An advocacy group plans to spend millions next year to elect more doctors, scientists and other professionals to office, arguing the pandemic and Donald Trump’s handling of it have powerfully underscored a need to bring people with scientific backgrounds into policymaking. 314 Action, a nonprofit organization with...
Amid glow of Opening Day, cloud looms over MLB All-Star Game
ATLANTA — Amid the glow of baseball’s opening day, there is a cloud looming over the All-Star Game still more than three months away. Georgia’s new voting law — which critics say unfairly limits access to the ballot box, especially for people of color — has prompted calls from as...
Russia fines Twitter for not taking down calls to protest
A court in Moscow on Friday fined Twitter for not taking down calls encouraging minors to take part in unauthorized rallies, the latest in a series of moves against the social media giant that has been used to amplify dissent in Russia. The court found Twitter guilty on three counts...
Prosecutors examine possible payments for sex in Gaetz probe
Federal prosecutors are examining whether Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and a political ally who is facing sex trafficking allegations may have paid underage girls or offered them gifts in exchange for sex, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday. The scrutiny of Gaetz stemmed from...
MLB foreign-born players drop slightly for 4th straight year
NEW YORK — More than 28% of Major League Baseball players were born outside the 50 states. That represents a drop for the fourth straight season, although this decrease was particularly small. MLB said Friday there were 256 such players of the 906 on opening day rosters, injured lists, the...
Florida Gov. DeSantis issues order banning ‘vaccine passports’
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order Friday banning businesses from requiring customers to show proof they have been vaccinated against covid-19 in order to get service. The Republican governor had previously announced his intent to issue an order banning so-called “vaccine passports.” His action also...
Man rams car into 2 Capitol police; 1 officer, driver killed
WASHINGTON — A Capitol Police officer was killed Friday after a man rammed a car into two officers at a barricade outside the U.S. Capitol and then emerged wielding a knife. It was the second line-of-duty death this year for a department still struggling to heal from the Jan. 6...
Global stocks rise; Treasury yields rally after jobs report
NEW YORK — Stocks rose in many of the markets worldwide that were open on Good Friday, while Treasury yields rallied after a report showed U.S. employers added hundreds of thousands more jobs last month than economists expected. The U.S. bond market closed early after an holiday-shortened session that saw...
Stick man: Black Keys drummer to fill in for Indians regular
CLEVELAND — The Indians will use a pinch-drummer for their home opener. With long-time drummer and ballpark fixture John Adams recovering from heart surgery and unable to attend his first opener in Cleveland in 48 years, Black Keys drummer and life-long Indians fan Patrick Carney will fill in and pound...
Fully vaccinated can travel again, says new CDC guidance
NEW YORK — Add travel to the activities vaccinated Americans can enjoy again, according to new U.S. guidance issued Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance to say fully vaccinated people can travel within the U.S. without getting tested for the coronavirus or going into quarantine...
Lieutenant: Kneeling on Floyd’s neck ‘totally unnecessary’
MINNEAPOLIS — Kneeling on George Floyd ‘s neck while he was handcuffed and in the prone position was “top-tier, deadly force” and “totally unnecessary,” the head of the Minneapolis Police Department’s homicide division testified Friday. “If your knee is on a person’s neck, that can kill him,” said Lt. Richard...
