Associated Press stories, Page 1727
Now vaccinated, older adults emerge from covid hibernation
PORTLAND, Maine — Bill Griffin waited more than a year for this moment: Newly vaccinated, he embraced his 3-year-old granddaughter for the first time since the pandemic began. “She came running right over. I picked her up and gave her a hug. It was amazing,” the 70-year-old said after the...
New York lawmakers agree to legalize recreational marijuana
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York is poised the join the growing number of states that have legalized marijuana after state lawmakers reached a late-night deal to allow sales of the drug for recreational use. Democrats who now wield a veto-proof majority in the state Legislature have made passing it a...
White House says it’s working on access to migrant centersVideo
WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to provide a specific date for when the media will get access to Border Patrol facilities temporarily holding thousands of migrant children seeking to live in the United States, but said Sunday the Biden administration was committed to transparency and “we’re...
U.S. waives FBI checks on caregivers at new migrant facilities
HOUSTON — The Biden administration is not requiring FBI fingerprint background checks of caregivers at its rapidly expanding network of emergency sites to hold thousands of immigrant teenagers, alarming child welfare experts who say the waiver compromises safety. In the rush to get children out of overcrowded and often unsuitable...
What a Mess: NASCAR worried about first Bristol dirt race
BRISTOL, Tenn. — NASCAR feverishly tried to save its ballyhooed first Cup Series dirt race since 1970 from turning into a total disaster, the likes not seen since the 2008 tire debacle at Indianapolis made for one of the worst events in the sport’s history. The Cup Series is slated...
NCAA Tournament roundup: Oregon State Elite after beating Loyola
INDIANAPOLIS — Picked to finish dead last in the Pac-12, Oregon State instead might be the last one standing. Led by unflappable guard Ethan Thompson, whose 20 points included a pair of clinching foul shots with 35 seconds left, the No. 12 seed Beavers and their brilliant defense shut down...
Police in Belarus capital arrest more than 100 protesters
KYIV, Ukraine — Police in the capital of Belarus arrested more than 100 people who assembled for a protest march Saturday to call for the resignation of the country’s authoritarian president. The planned event in Minsk indicated that supporters of the political opposition seek to revive the wave of mass...
China sanctions U.S., Canadian officials over Xinjiang
BEIJING — China on Saturday announced new sanctions against U.S. and Canadian officials in a growing political and economic feud over its policies in the traditionally Muslim region of Xinjiang. A statement from the Foreign Ministry said the head of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Gayle Manchin, would...
Police: 2 dead in Virginia Beach oceanfront shootings
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Overnight shootings along the beachfront in Virginia Beach left two people dead and eight wounded in a scene described by authorities on Saturday as “very chaotic.” In a statement, the Virginia Beach Police Department said the first shooting occurred shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, when police...
No timeline given for extracting wedged ship from Suez Canal
SUEZ, Egypt — A giant container ship remained stuck sideways in Egypt’s Suez Canal for a fifth day Saturday, as authorities made new attempts to free the vessel and reopen a crucial waterway whose blockage is disrupting global shipping and trade. Meanwhile, the head of the Suez Canal Authority said...
This date in sports history: March 27Video
1939 — Oregon beats Ohio State, 46-33, in the NCAA’s first national basketball tournament. 1942 — Joe Louis knocks out Abe Simon in the sixth round at Madison Square Garden to retain his world heavyweight title. 1945 — Oklahoma A&M beats New York University, 49-45, for the NCAA basketball championship....
Myanmar forces kill scores in deadliest day since coup
YANGON, Myanmar — As Myanmar’s military celebrated the annual Armed Forces Day holiday with a parade Saturday in the country’s capital, soldiers and police elsewhere reportedly killed dozens of people as they suppressed protests in the deadliest bloodletting since last month’s coup. The online news site Myanmar Now reported late...
Cheery Garcia comes up aces on frenetic Friday at Match PlayVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — Needing to win the final hole to advance, Bob MacIntrye drilled a driver to 3 feet of the cup on he 371-yard 18th hole. Moments later, Sergio Garcia ended one of the record eight sudden-death playoffs with a hole-in-one. Already the most fickle event in golf, the...
Pa. court again backs limits on abortion coverage
HARRISBURG — Planned Parenthood and other operators of abortion clinics lost in court on Friday in their bid to reverse a decades-old Pennsylvania court decision upholding limits on the use of state Medicaid dollars to cover the cost of abortions. The plaintiffs will appeal to the state Supreme Court, the...
Sharon Osbourne off ‘The Talk’ after inquiry into racism discussion
LOS ANGELES — CBS says Sharon Osbourne will no longer appear on its daytime show “The Talk” after a heated on-air discussion about racism earlier this month. The network said Friday Osbourne had decided to leave the show after a review that found in part that “Sharon’s behavior toward her...
Court sides with photographer in fight over Andy Warhol art
NEW YORK — A U.S. appeals court sided with a photographer Friday in a copyright dispute over how a foundation has marketed a series of Andy Warhol works of art based on one of her pictures of Prince. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the...
Shaka Smart leaves Texas for Big East’s MarquetteVideo
MILWAUKEE — Shaka Smart is leaving Texas to coach Marquette. Marquette announced the hiring Friday. It comes a week after Marquette fired Steve Wojciechowski and Smart’s Texas team was upset 53-52 by Abilene Christian in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. “Throughout the search, one individual continued to rise...
Thanks to Syracuse and others, Midwest Regions puts madness in MarchVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — It is the region that has caused more busted NCAA Tournament brackets than any other, the quadrant where No. 1 seed Illinois was sent packing by Loyola Chicago, West Virginia was dumped by a team that barely made the field, and Tennessee and Oklahoma State failed to survive...
Florida State charts course for ACC as its ‘new blood’Video
INDIANAPOLIS — North Carolina is long gone. Duke never made it. To find the ACC’s biggest threat at March Madness this year, look past Tobacco Road and into the panhandle of Florida. That’s the home of Florida State, a school where hoops has moved out from the shadows of the...
Beloved children’s author Beverly Cleary dies at 104
NEW YORK — Beverly Cleary, the celebrated children’s author whose memories of her Oregon childhood were shared with millions through the likes of Ramona and Beezus Quimby and Henry Huggins, has died. She was 104. Cleary’s publisher HarperCollins announced Friday that the author died Thursday in Carmel Valley, California, where...
Arizona GOP wants felony for protesters who damage statues
PHOENIX — Republicans in the Arizona Legislature are reacting to last year’s wave of damage to Confederate monuments by civil rights protesters here and across the nation by working to make it a felony to damage or destroy any public or private monument or statue. Rep. John Kavanagh supported his...
Sacrifices paying off for foreign players in NCAA women’s basketball tournament
Michigan’s Hailey Brown says she came very close to opting out of this women’s basketball season. The 6-foot-1 senior forward from Hamilton, Ontario, was struggling with a fear of covid-19 and the travel restrictions she faced as a Canadian with the border being closed. “She’s battled with that, with her...
Flyers make ugly plunge from contenders to a mess in MarchVideo
PHILADELPHIA — Shayne Gostisbehere came out swinging on the state of the Flyers, and the maligned defenseman sprinkled profanities in his R-rated critique of the team. Seems appropriate these days in Philly. The Flyers are certainly NSFW: Not Suitable For Watching. A crowd of about 2,800 inside a dreary Wells...
Sabres begin overhaul by trading Eric Staal to CanadiensVideo
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres’ overhaul has begun, with the spiraling team trading veteran center Eric Staal to the Montreal Canadiens on Friday. Buffalo acquired the Canadiens’ third- and fifth-round selections in the 2021 draft. The Sabres also agreed to retain $1.625 million of the final year of Staal’s...
Colorado shooting suspect passed check in legal gun purchase
BOULDER, Colo. — The suspect in the Colorado supermarket shootings bought a firearm at a local gun store after passing a background check, and he also had a second weapon with him that he didn’t use in the attack that killed 10 people this week, authorities and the gun store...
