Associated Press stories, Page 1817
Colts GM contemplates possibility of Philip Rivers returning to teamVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard heard the locker room talk. Coach Frank Reich wants Philip Rivers back as the starting quarterback next fall. Two-time All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard wants another chance to get Rivers his missing Super Bowl ring. So do Leonard’s teammates. Now, the Colts general...
Packers’ Davante Adams finally gets to face off with Rams’ Jalen RamseyVideo
Green Bay’s Davante Adams has caught more touchdown passes over the last five seasons than any other player. Jalen Ramsey of the Los Angeles Rams is one of the NFL’s premier cornerbacks. They finally will face each other in a game that matters Saturday when the top-seeded Packers (13-3) host...
Cleveland school therapist charged in Capitol Hill riots
CLEVELAND — A Cleveland school occupational therapist who resigned after the riots at the U.S. Capitol was charged Thursday with taking part in the breach. Christine Priola, 49, was arrested at her home and charged with entering a restricted building, violent entry and unlawful activities on Capitol grounds, said FBI...
Browns’ Kareem Hunt set for emotional playoff reunion with Chiefs
CLEVELAND — Kareem Hunt’s about to face the team that drafted and developed him before deciding to push the running back away. The Kansas City Chiefs won a Super Bowl without Hunt. He wants to stop them from getting another one. Hunt, whose career briefly derailed in Kansas City before...
FBI tracking ‘extensive’ online chatter about armed protestsVideo
WASHINGTON — The FBI is tracking an “extensive amount of concerning online chatter,” including calls for armed protests leading up to next week’s presidential inauguration, Director Chris Wray said Thursday. Wray, in his first public appearance since the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, said in a security briefing...
Biden unveils $1.9T plan to stem virus and steady economyVideo
WILMINGTON, Del. — Saying the nation faces “a crisis of deep human suffering,” President-elect Joe Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan Thursday to turn the tide on the pandemic, speeding up vaccines and pumping out financial help to those struggling with the prolonged economic fallout. Called the “American Rescue...
Most major U.S. airlines ban guns in luggage for D.C. flightsVideo
Airlines and airports say they are stepping up security before next week’s presidential inauguration, with Delta and other major airlines saying they will prohibit passengers flying to the Washington area from putting guns in checked bags. The moves follow the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of...
Expanded vaccine rollout in U.S. spawns new set of problems
The rapid expansion of covid-19 vaccinations to senior citizens across the U.S. has led to bottlenecks, system crashes and hard feelings in many states because of overwhelming demand for the shots. Mississippi’s Health Department stopped taking new appointments the same day it began accepting them because of a “monumental surge”...
Delaware man photographed with Confederate flag during Capitol siege arrestedVideo
A Delaware man photographed carrying a Confederate battle flag during a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol was arrested Thursday after authorities used the image to help identify him, federal prosecutors said. A news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said that Kevin Seefried, who...
Australia to kill pigeon that crossed Pacific from Oregon
A racing pigeon has survived an extraordinary 8,000-mile Pacific Ocean crossing from the United States to find a new home in Australia. Now authorities consider the bird a quarantine risk and plan to kill it. Kevin Celli-Bird said Thursday he discovered the exhausted bird that arrived in his Melbourne backyard...
UFC won’t punish fighters for marijuana use in policy change
The UFC will no longer punish fighters for using marijuana in most cases, making a major change to its anti-doping policy. The world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion confirmed Thursday that it will no longer worry about positive tests for carboxy-THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, unless it believes a...
Heartbeat abortion ban may finally pass in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina lawmakers are again considering a bill that would ban most abortions in the state and it seems much more likely to pass this time thanks to conservative gains in the General Assembly and at the U.S. Supreme Court. The ban on abortions once a fetal...
Kevin Stefanski out of basement, back with Browns after covid-19
CLEVELAND — Browns coach Kevin Stefanski doesn’t plan a trip downstairs to his basement any time soon. “Those walls were closing in on me,” he said. Stefanski returned to the team’s facility Thursday, 10 days after the first-year coach tested positive with the virus and after he missed Cleveland’s playoff...
Pennsylvania Capitol closing; more security being added
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday ordered the Pennsylvania Capitol closed for two days next week around the swearing-in of three statewide officials and the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. The complex is already closed to the general public because of the coronavirus pandemic, and most Capitol employees under...
Charges: Retired Pa. firefighter threw extinguisher at Capitol Police
PHILADELPHIA — A retired Pennsylvania firefighter was arrested Thursday on federal charges that he threw a fire extinguisher that hit three Capitol Police officers during the violent siege on the Capitol last week. Robert Sanford, who retired last March from the Chester Fire Department, was arrested on charges that include...
Toyota fined for failing to report, fix emissions defects
DETROIT — Toyota will pay $180 million to settle U.S. government allegations that it failed to report pollution control system defects in its vehicles for a decade. The company also agreed in court to investigate emissions-related defects quickly and report them to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a timely...
Trump impeachment trial could begin on Inauguration Day
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial could begin on Inauguration Day, just as Democrat Joe Biden takes the oath of office in an extraordinary end to the defeated president’s tenure in the White House. The trial timeline and schedule are largely set by Senate procedures and will start as...
N.Y. congressman tests positive for virus, latest since breach
NEW YORK — U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat said Thursday that he has the coronavirus, making the New York Democrat the latest House member to report testing positive since dozens huddled together for protection during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Espaillat said in a release that he was...
Urban Hire: Meyer returns to sidelines with NFL’s Jaguars
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Urban Meyer has won everywhere he’s coached. Small colleges. Big-time programs. He’s been a difference maker at each stop during his storied career. He’s ready to try something new: the NFL. Meyer agreed to become head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday, leaving the broadcast booth...
Flint water probe brings charges against ex-Gov. Rick Snyder, others
FLINT, Mich. — A new investigation of the Flint water disaster led to charges against nine people, including former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and key members of his administration, who are accused of various crimes in a calamitous plan that contaminated the community with lead and contributed to a fatal...
Bucs, Browns, Bills out to follow footsteps of champ Chiefs
Aside from winning the final Super Bowl before the merger in 1970, the Kansas City Chiefs’ biggest claim to fame for over half a century was team founder Lamar Hunt coining the phrase Super Bowl. Patrick Mahomes changed all of that a year ago when he led a furious fourth-quarter...
NFL wild-card games show potential for alternate broadcasts
LOS ANGELES — Brian Robbins directed “Varsity Blues” and was the producer of “Coach Carter,” but both of those might have been eclipsed last Sunday with Nickelodeon’s successful kids-oriented broadcast of an NFL playoff game. Even a couple days after last Sunday’s game, the president of Nickelodeon as well as...
Illusionist Siegfried Fischbacher dies in Las VegasVideo
BERLIN — German news agency dpa is reporting that illusionist Siegfried Fischbacher, the surviving member of duo Siegfried & Roy, has died in Las Vegas at age 81. The news agency said Thursday that Fischbacher’s sister, a nun who lives in Munich, confirmed his death of cancer. “He was at...
U.S. unemployment claims jump to 965,000 as virus takes toll
WASHINGTON — The number of people seeking unemployment aid soared last week to 965,000, the most since late August and evidence that the resurgent virus has caused a spike in layoffs. The latest figures for jobless claims, issued Thursday by the Labor Department, remain at levels never seen until the...
Andy Murray tests positive for coronavirus before Australian Open
Andy Murray has tested positive for the coronavirus days before he was due to leave Britain for the Australian Open, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday. The three-time Grand Slam champion is isolating at home near London and still hopes to compete in...
