Associated Press stories, Page 1781
Basketball conference tournaments still on schedule despite concernsVideo
Gonzaga’s Mark Few isn’t being asked the usual question of where his team should be seeded for next month’s NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs remain unbeaten and have been the top-ranked team all season, making them a virtual shoo-in for a top seed. Instead, he is being asked if it makes...
AP source: NHL adding game-day rapid covid-19 testing
The NHL is adding game-day rapid tests for players, team personnel and on-ice officials as part of a series of expanded safety protocols unveiled Thursday in its latest bid to stem potential covid-19 outbreaks. Rapid tests initially will be made available to the league’s 24 U.S.-based teams and provide results...
Tensions rising: NHL multigame series ratchet up animosity
It turns out Saturday night was all right for fighting between Arizona and St. Louis. Monday night, too. Coyotes and Blues players dropped the gloves in both games, which were the third and fourth consecutive against each other. They will play three more times in four days — that’s right,...
Lasting legacy: Dale Earnhardt’s death saved lives, forced change
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Newman was lying in bed one morning, his two daughters still tucked in down the hall, when a YouTube video of his death-defying crash popped up as a recommended watch. He hit play, absorbing every angle of the terrifying wreck that nearly killed him on...
Kentucky man held for trial in pepper spraying of Capitol officers
A federal judge has ruled there is probable cause in the case against a man accused of spraying at least two officers with an irritant during the violent siege on the Capitol in January. During a probable cause hearing Thursday, federal prosecutors presented videos and photos of the Jan. 6...
Charges dropped for officers seen shoving Buffalo protesterVideo
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Criminal charges have been dropped against two police officers seen on video last spring shoving a 75-year-old protester to the ground in Buffalo, New York, prosecutors said Thursday. A grand jury declined to indict Buffalo Officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski on felony assault charges, ending the...
Chick Corea, jazz great with 23 Grammy Awards, dies at 79Video
NEW YORK — Chick Corea, a towering jazz pianist with a staggering 23 Grammy Awards who pushed the boundaries of the genre and worked alongside Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, has died. He was 79. Corea died Tuesday of a rare form of cancer, his team posted on his website....
Biden says U.S. is securing 600 million vaccine doses by JulyVideo
BETHESDA, Md. — President Joe Biden visited some of the nation’s leading scientists on the frontlines of the fight against covid-19 on Thursday, as he announced the U.S. will have enough supply of the vaccine by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans. Biden toured the Viral...
Feds: Man charged in riot suggested bringing weapons by boat to Capitol
A man authorities say is a leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group and led other extremists in the attack on the U.S. Capitol discussed the possibility of getting a boat to ferry “heavy weapons” across the Potomac River, prosecutors said Thursday. Court papers filed in the case against...
Pa. state trooper, 3 others accused of illegal activity at strip club
MAYFIELD — A Pennsylvania state trooper and three other people were charged Thursday with operating a corrupt organization involving prostitution, gambling and money laundering at a Lackawanna County strip club the trooper co-owns. Robert Covington Jr., 48, who has served with the state police for 13 years, surrendered at the...
Officials: AG Barr blocked ex-officer Derek Chauvin from pleading guilty in George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was prepared to plead guilty to third-degree murder in George Floyd’s death before then-Attorney General William Barr personally blocked the plea deal last year, officials said. The deal would have averted any potential federal charges, including a civil rights offense, as part of...
White House says it will defer to CDC on reopening schoolsVideo
Facing criticism that President Joe Biden has not acted aggressively enough on reopening schools, the White House on Thursday said it’s aiming for a full reopening but will defer to science experts on how to achieve it in the middle of a pandemic. The White House drew criticism this week...
Wisconsin judge declines new arrest warrant for Kyle Rittenhouse
MADISON, Wis. — A judge on Thursday refused prosecutors’ request to issue a new arrest warrant for an 18-year-old from Illinois who is accused of killing two people during a police brutality protest in Wisconsin last summer. Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder also rejected prosecutors’ request for a $200,000...
GOP attacks Dems’ $1.9T covid relief bill from all angles
WASHINGTON — Republicans are attacking the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief package as too costly, economically damaging and overtly partisan, an all-angles attempt to derail new President Joe Biden’s top priority as it starts moving through a Congress his party controls only narrowly. Four House committees worked Thursday on their...
Rioters acted on Trump’s ‘order,’ Democrats insist in impeachment trialVideo
WASHINGTON — House prosecutors concluded two days of emotional arguments in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial late Thursday, insisting the Capitol invaders believed they were acting on “the president’s orders” to stop Joe Biden’s election, the deadly culmination of Trump’s pattern of spreading false and violent rhetoric that will continue to...
Driver who plunged off Wisconsin ramp thankful to be aliveVideo
MILWAUKEE — A driver who survived when his pickup truck plunged about 70 feet off a slippery interchange exit ramp in Wisconsin said he feels thankful to be alive. Richard Lee Oliver, in an interview that aired Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” said he was on his way to...
U.S. distances itself from Trump attempts to ban WeChat
A day after it put a hold on a proposed ban of TikTok, the Biden administration is distancing itself from attempts by former President Donald Trump to ban the Chinese messaging app WeChat. The Commerce Department is reviewing recent actions, such as the rules undermining TikTok and WeChat, to ensure...
Raptors to keep calling Tampa home for rest of NBA season
The Toronto Raptors aren’t going back to Toronto this season. Ongoing challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic and how that affects the process of crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada will keep the Raptors in their adopted Tampa, Florida, home for the remainder of the regular season, the...
6 killed in 130-vehicle pileup on icy Texas interstate near Fort WorthVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — A massive crash involving more than 130 vehicles on an icy Texas interstate left six people dead and dozens injured Thursday amid a winter storm that dropped freezing rain, sleet and snow on parts of the U.S. At the scene of the crash on Interstate 35...
U.K. judge rules that newspaper invaded Meghan’s privacy
A British judge ruled Thursday that a newspaper invaded Duchess of Sussex’s privacy by publishing personal letter to her estranged father. Judge Mark Warby said Associated Newspapers misused the duchess’s private information in five February 2019 articles in the Mail on Sunday and on the MailOnline website, which published portions...
U.S. jobless claims fall slightly to 793,000 with layoffs high
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell slightly last week to 793,000, evidence that job cuts remain high despite a substantial decline in new confirmed viral infections. Last week’s total declined from 812,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. That figure was revised higher from the previously...
Autoworkers face dimmer future in a new era of electric cars
When General Motors boldly announced its goal last month to make only battery-powered vehicles by 2035, it didn’t just mark a break with more than a century of making internal combustion engines. It also clouded the future for 50,000 GM workers whose skills — and jobs — could become obsolete...
How a leading anti-Trump group ignored a crisis in its ranks
Last June, the Lincoln Project was on a high. Led by several prominent former Republican consultants, its slickly produced ads attacking President Donald Trump made it perhaps the best known of the so-called Never Trump organizations. The group tried to claim a higher moral ground in an effort to purge...
Congo officials confirm 2nd death from Ebola in the east
BENI, Congo — A second case and death of Ebola has been recorded in Congo’s North Kivu province, according to officials. The victim was a 60-year-old woman who died Wednesday in the health zone of Biena, according to provincial health minister Nzanzu Syalita. He said she had been to the...
U.S. stocks edge lower as investors weigh caution, optimism
Stocks edged lower on Wall Street in afternoon trading Thursday as investors remain cautiously optimistic about prospects for a new round of government aid as the economic recovery seemingly stalls. Wall Street continued to digest solid corporate earnings and updates on a decline of new virus cases. The latest government...
