Associated Press stories, Page 1730
AstraZeneca confirms strong vaccine protection after U.S. riftVideo
AstraZeneca insisted Wednesday that its covid-19 vaccine is strongly effective even after counting additional illnesses in its disputed U.S. study, the latest in an extraordinary public rift with American officials. In a late-night press release, AstraZeneca said it had recalculated data from that study and concluded the vaccine is 76%...
Son of former Steeler Ryan Switzer going to Boston hospital for care
CLEVELAND — Browns wide receiver Ryan Switzer said his 9-month-old son is being transferred to a Boston hospital specializing in rare children’s illnesses. Switzer provided an update Wednesday with a live video on his Instagram account from his son Christian’s hospital room at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina....
Ruling upholds Hawaii limits on carrying guns in public
HONOLULU — Hawaii’s strict limit on openly carrying firearms is lawful, a panel of federal appeals court judges ruled Wednesday in a lawsuit by a man who tried unsuccessfully several times to obtain a license to carry a loaded gun in public. George Young’s lawyer said he will ask the...
Police: Florida mom attacked student while wearing boxing glove
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Florida woman was wearing a boxing glove as she attacked a student on a middle school campus, police said. Edith Riddle, of Jacksonville, was arrested on a child abuse charge on March 18 by Duval County School Police, First Coast News reported. Police said a school...
Gas driller to pay Pennsylvania $1.9M for damage to wetlands, waterways
HARRISBURG — One of the most active natural gas exploration firms in Pennsylvania has agreed to pay $1.9 million after it disclosed in 2014 that its construction work had damaged waterways and wetlands, without proper permits, according to paperwork filed in federal court on Wednesday. Officials from Chesapeake Energy Corp....
White headmaster of N.Y. school who made Black student kneel resigns
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The white headmaster of a New York Catholic school who made a Black student kneel as part of an apology to a teacher has resigned, the school said Wednesday. The St. Martin de Porres Marianist school on Long Island posted a statement on its website saying it...
Blues hockey great Bob Plager dies in car accident
ST. LOUIS — Former St. Louis Blues defenseman Bob Plager was killed Wednesday in a car crash in St. Louis. He was 78. Police said Plager was alone in his vehicle when it collided with a vehicle carrying two women on Interstate 64 in St. Louis about 1:30 p.m. One...
Match Play championship brings out emotions, upsetsVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay thrust their fists in celebration with birdies on the final hole to win, the kind of emotions typical for a final round. In the Dell Technologies Match Play, every day can feel like Sunday. The opening round of group play Wednesday featured...
Experience still matters to teams in NCAA Sweet 16Video
Michigan’s second-round game against LSU was intense from the start. Up and down the court the teams went, trading runs and momentum swings with the season on the line. One player for the Wolverines seemed calm and steady: guard Eli Brooks. “I think just all the amount of reps we...
Florida woman says she was lost in sewer for weeks; police skeptical
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — A South Florida woman was rescued from a sewer system three weeks after she was reported missing when a passerby heard her cries for help, officials said. The 43-year-old woman, who has a history of mental illness and drug abuse, told Delray Beach officers she went...
A first: U.S. Senate confirms transgender doctor, Rachel Levine, for key postVideo
Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. The final vote was 52-48. Levine had been serving as Pennsylvania’s top health...
Treasury Secretary Yellen sees room for U.S. to borrow, opens door to tax hikeVideo
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen believes the U.S. government has more room to borrow, but said higher taxes would likely be required in the long run to finance future spending increases. Yellen appeared Wednesday before the Senate Banking Committee with the Biden administration considering up to $3 trillion in...
U.S. women’s soccer stars join Biden to promote closing pay gap
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is making the case Wednesday that the pay disparity between men and women has hurt the economy, bringing members of the U.S. women’s national soccer team to the White House to help set new goals for equality. Wednesday marked “Equal Pay Day” — which is...
Ex-U.S. vaccine chief fired over sexual harassment allegations
The former chief science adviser for the U.S. effort to rapidly develop covid-19 vaccines has been fired from the board of directors of a medical research company over sexual harassment allegations, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said Wednesday. The company said it is firing Moncef Slaoui from his position as board chair at...
Highway construction firms oppose PennDOT’s bridge toll plan
HARRISBURG — A prominent highway construction trade association on Wednesday came out against a state plan to toll up to nine major bridges around Pennsylvania in need of repairs as lawmakers move to block the plan, although Gov. Tom Wolf’s top transportation official disputed the trade association’s criticisms. The Associated...
Syracuse stay defenders of the zone as other NCAA powers man upVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — It had been nearly a decade since West Virginia coach Bob Huggins had to draw up a game plan to beat the infuriating zone defense run by Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, going all the way back to their time together in the old Big East. The job hasn’t...
Mother of man fatally shot by Mesa police files $15M claim
MESA, Ariz. — The mother of a man fatally shot last September by Mesa police has filed a $15 million claim against the city, alleging officers killed her unarmed her son without reason and failed to provide him medical assistance after he was fatally wounded. The Police Department did not...
Lower cap leads to more cuts than usual in NFL
If it seemed as if NFL teams have been shedding contracts nearly as fast as signing them in recent weeks that’s because it’s almost true. With a shrinking salary cap in a sport with few contracts that are fully guaranteed, teams have spent the weeks leading up to free agency...
MLB steps up ball monitoring to suppress foreign substances
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball is increasing its monitoring of baseballs in an attempt to suppress any use of foreign substances by pitchers. Mike Hill, newly hired as executive vice president of baseball operations and disciplinarian, wrote in a memorandum to team officials on Tuesday that “players are subject...
West Virginia to target young people for vaccinations
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s coronavirus vaccination campaign will turn to young people to stem transmission rates after giving shots to most senior citizens. The new strategy to focus on shots for residents aged 16 to 29 comes after officials said they are seeing an increase in doses. “When you...
Betting sites offer software blocks for compulsive gamblers
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Some sports betting companies are offering tools that allow compulsive gamblers to block themselves from most online sites. Unibet last week announced it was making software from U.K.-based Gamban available to customers in the U.S. The tools allow customers to in effect ban themselves from gambling...
Kenya wants United Nations agency to shut down refugee camps
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya says it has given the United Nations 14 days to come up with a plan to close refugee camps in the country that host hundreds of thousands from war-torn neighboring nations. Internal Security Minister Fred Matiangi said there is no room for further negotiations, in a...
Ohio State player E.J. Liddell speaks out about social-media abuse
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State star E.J. Liddell says he’ll continue speaking out against social-media users who direct racist, abusive and threatening messages at him and other athletes. Liddell was rattled by a social-media rant directed at him after the Buckeyes were upset by Oral Roberts in the first round...
White House officials, lawmakers to tour border facility
WASHINGTON — A delegation of White House officials and members of Congress was traveling to the southern border on Wednesday to tour a facility being used to house migrant children as increasing numbers of unaccompanied young people cross into the United States. The visit to a facility in Carrizo Springs,...
U.S. outlook improving as covid vaccinations rise, deaths fall
More than three months into the U.S. vaccination drive, many of the numbers paint an increasingly encouraging picture, with 70% of Americans 65 and older receiving at least one dose of the vaccine and covid-19 deaths dipping below 1,000 a day on average for the first time since November. Also,...
