Associated Press stories, Page 1801
Panel overturns 4 Facebook content takedowns in first ruling
LONDON — Facebook’s quasi-independent oversight board issued its first rulings Thursday, overturning four out of five decisions by the social network to take down questionable content. The social media giant set up the oversight panel to rule on thorny issues about content on its platforms, in response to furious criticism...
N.Y. nursing home virus deaths were undercounted, AG says
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York may have undercounted covid-19 deaths of nursing home residents by as much as 50%, the state’s attorney general said in a report released Thursday. Attorney General Letitia James has, for months, been examining discrepancies between the number of deaths being reported by the state’s Department...
Apple to crack down on tracking iPhone users in early spring
Apple says it will roll out a new privacy control in the spring to prevent iPhone apps from secretly shadowing people. The delay in its anticipated rollout aims to placate Facebook and other digital services that depend on such data surveillance to help sell ads. Although Apple didn’t provide a...
New home sales rise in December after sharp November drop
Sales of new homes rose 1.6% in December after a big decline in November that was even worse than previously thought. The increase last month pushed sales of new homes to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 842,000, the Commerce Department reported Thursday, though that was fewer than analysts had...
Pelosi denounces GOP leaders over Georgia lawmaker’s posts
WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi intensified pressure Thursday on House Republican leaders for their handling of a controversial GOP freshman, denouncing them for placing a lawmaker who Pelosi says has “mocked the killing of little children” on the chamber’s education committee. Pelosi’s comments focused on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.,...
Stocks claw back some lost ground; GameStop swings wildly
Stocks closed broadly higher Thursday on Wall Street, helping the market recoup some of its losses a day after its biggest pullback in nearly three months. Investors continued to closely watch the wild swings in GameStop, AMC and several other stocks which have become targets for hordes of online investors...
U.S. economy shrank 3.5% in 2020 after growing 4% last quarterVideo
WASHINGTON — Stuck in the grip of a viral pandemic, the U.S. economy grew at a 4% annual rate in the final three months of 2020 and shrank last year by the largest amount in 74 years. For 2020 as a whole, a year when the coronavirus inflicted the worst...
Tom Brokaw: Journalists should get out of power centers
NEW YORK — If Tom Brokaw has one piece of advice to leave for television journalists upon his retirement, it’s to get out to more of the country —and not just to visit. The Capitol insurrection is but one example of a story that might not have seemed as much...
Interest continues to grow in inaugural poet Amanda Gorman
Within hours of Amanda Gorman’s reading of the inaugural poem last week, bookstores were hearing from their customers. “Hopefully this will be a bridge that brings a lot of people to poetry,” says Mike Wysock, who manages The Book Stall in Winnetka, Illinois. Interest in the 22-year-old Gorman and demand...
Here’s why it’s hard to make coronavirus vaccines and boost supplies
With demand for covid-19 vaccines outpacing the world’s supplies, a frustrated public and policymakers want to know: How can we get more? A lot more. Right away. The problem: “It’s not like adding more water to the soup,” said vaccine specialist Maria Elena Bottazzi of Baylor College of Medicine. Makers...
U.S. jobless claims drop; still at 847,000 as pandemic rages
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell but remained at a historically high 847,000 last week, a sign that layoffs keep coming as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage. Last week’s claims dropped by 67,000, from 914,000 the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. Before...
Partygoers fined for flouting covid rules on Thai island
BANGKOK, Thailand — More than a hundred participants in a party in a bar on a popular Thai island, including 89 foreigners, received suspended jail terms and fines Thursday for breaking national coronavirus restrictions. Police arrested the 109 partygoers in a raid Tuesday night on the Three Sixty Bar on...
In duel over GameStop, small investors cause Wall Street elite to lose billions
Across most of America, GameStop is just a place to buy a video game. On Wall Street, though, it’s become a battleground where swarms of smaller investors see themselves making an epic stand against the 1%. The funds serving the financial elite are starting to walk away in defeat. Big...
N.C. man hits 2 deer with new car, then he hits $2M in lottery
LELAND, N.C. — An unlucky start to a North Carolina man’s day turned upside down when he discovered he won a $2 million lottery prize hours after hitting two deer with his new car. Anthony Dowe, of Leland, had an accident on his way to work, the North Carolina Education...
Poland: Near-total abortion ban takes effect amid protests
WARSAW, Poland — A near-total ban on abortion has taken effect in Poland and triggered a new round of nationwide protests three months after a top court ruled that the abortion of congenitally damaged fetuses is unconstitutional. Led by a women’s rights group, Women’s Strike, people poured onto the streets...
In Wyoming, Cheney faces blowback for vote to impeach Trump
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — When Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, decided to vote to impeach a president from her own party, she knew she’d cause some waves. She might not have expected the seismic impact at home. But Cheney’s vote against Donald Trump has put her...
New Biden health care orders begin to unspool Trump policies
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is set to take his first steps to reverse Trump administration health care policies. The White House said Biden plans on Thursday to sign orders on a range of issues including getting more Americans covered and removing curbs on abortion counseling. The most concrete short-term...
This date in sports history: January 28
1901 — The American League is founded. The league plans for a 140-game schedule, set player rosters at 14 and recognizes the Players Protective Association, the players’ union. 1943 — Max Bentley of the Chicago Black Hawks has four goals and three assists in a 10-1 rout of the New...
‘Sharp decline’ in covid cases among L.A. firefighters after vaccinations
LOS ANGELES — The number of Los Angeles firefighters testing positive for the coronavirus has dropped significantly since the city fire agency began offering its members vaccinations, Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said in a memo to firefighters this week. Terrazas, in a memo dated Tuesday and obtained by The Times,...
AP sources: Michael Strahan tests positive for covid-19
Pro Football Hall of Famer and “Good Morning America” host Michael Strahan tested positive for covid-19 and is self-quarantining, according to people familiar with the situation. Strahan is currently not experiencing any severe symptoms from covid-19. The people spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because of...
E.J. Liddell’s late FTs lift Ohio State over Penn State
COLUMBUS, Ohio — E.J. Liddell scored 22 points, including the tiebreaking free throws with 59.7 seconds left, and No. 13 Ohio State held off Penn State, 83-79, on Wednesday night. The Buckeyes (13-4, 7-4 Big Ten) squandered a 12-point first-half lead but rallied from a seven-point deficit in the second...
Far-right influencer charged in 2016 Clinton voter scheme
NEW YORK — A self-styled far-right propagandist was arrested in Florida on Wednesday on charges he used social media to try to suppress votes for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. A criminal complaint accused 31-year-old Douglass Mackey — known on the internet...
Buccaneers fans set to cheer inside, outside Super Bowl stadium
TAMPA, Fla. — Warren Sapp wishes fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could pack the stands for the first Super Bowl played in a host team’s home stadium. Because of coronavirus pandemic concerns, the NFL’s decision to limit capacity to 22,000 at Raymond James Stadium and soaring prices for a...
San Francisco to strip Washington, Lincoln from public school namesVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — The names of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and other prominent figures including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California will be removed from 44 San Francisco public schools, a move that stirred debate Wednesday on whether the famously liberal city has taken the national reckoning on America’s racist...
McIlroy looking for win, U.S. Open prep at Torrey PinesVideo
SAN DIEGO — Rory McIlroy is playing the Farmers Insurance Open for just the third time, looking for his first tour victory since 2019 while getting a feel for the course that will host the U.S. Open in June. With seven-time winner Tiger Woods missing one of his favorite tournaments...
