Associated Press stories, Page 1866
Lon Adams, Slim Jim jerky recipe creator, dies of covid-19
RALEIGH, N.C. — Alonzo “Lon” T. Adams II, the man who created the formula for Slim Jim beef jerky sticks, has died from complications of covid-19. He was 95. Lynn Barrow of Brown-Wynne Funeral Home in Raleigh, N.C., confirmed Wednesday that Adams died on Nov. 28. A graveside funeral service...
California governor: Most of state nears stay-home order
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will likely order most of its businesses to close or limit capacity in the coming days, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday, part of new rules triggered when fewer than 15% of beds are available in intensive care units for regional hospital networks. Newsom said four of...
Wisconsin high court declines to hear Trump election lawsuit
MADISON, Wis. — A split Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear President Donald Trump’s lawsuit attempting to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the battleground state, sidestepping a decision on the merits of the claims and instead ruling that the case must first wind its way...
Trump aide banned from Justice Department after trying to get case info
WASHINGTON — The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up sensitive information about election fraud and other matters she could relay to the White House, three people familiar with the...
In seismic shift, Warner Bros. to stream all 2021 filmsVideo
NEW YORK — In the most seismic shift by a Hollywood studio yet during the pandemic, Warner Bros. Pictures on Thursday announced that all of its 2021 film slate — including a new “Matrix” movie, “Godzilla vs. Kong” and the Lin-Manuel Miranda adaptation “In the Heights” — will stream on...
Charitable donations on ‘Giving Tuesday’ up 25%
NEW YORK — Donations on Giving Tuesday, an 8-year-old campaign to get people to give money to charities, rose 25% from last year, organizers said. Nearly $2.5 billion was donated in the U.S. on Tuesday, according to estimates by GivingTuesday, the nonprofit behind the campaign. That’s up from last year’s...
Senate confirms Christopher Waller to serve on Fed’s board
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed the nomination of Christopher Waller for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, placing another of President Donald Trump’s picks on the Fed’s influential board after a string of high-profile rejections. The vote in favor of Waller was 48-47. Waller, research director at...
OPEC, Russia agree to nudge up oil production from January
VIENNA — OPEC and a group of allied countries including Russia agreed Thursday to increase oil production by 500,000 barrels per day from January and will meet monthly after that to decide whether to further adjust output. The decision followed days of wrangling among the oil producing countries over whether...
Nestle to spend $3.6 billion on improving climate footprint
GENEVA — Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, said Thursday that it will spend $3.6 billion over five years to improve its climate footprint. Nestle said the investment will increase the Switzerland-based company’s use of renewable energy, which it aims to use exclusively by 2025. The money will also boost...
Theater uses its creativity to defy pandemic and stage shows
NEW YORK — There’s theater on Broadway. You just have to adjust your sights. More than a hundred blocks north of Manhattan’s shuttered theater district but on that same famed thoroughfare, an actor recently read his lines from a huge stage. But there was no applause. Instead, all that was...
Optimism growing for covid relief bill as pressure buildsVideo
WASHINGTON — Optimism about delivering long-sought covid-19 relief is building on Capitol Hill after additional rank-and-file lawmakers voiced support for a bipartisan, middle-of-the-road plan taking shape in the Senate and as top congressional leaders connected on the topic for the first time in months. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate...
Chinese moon probe begins return to Earth with lunar samples
BEIJING — A Chinese lunar probe lifted off from the moon Thursday night with a cargo of lunar samples on the first stage of its return to Earth, state media reported. Chang’e 5, the third Chinese spacecraft to land on the moon and the first to take off from it...
U.S. stocks tick higher, as Wall Street coasts following surge
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are inching further into record heights Thursday, as Wall Street continues to coast following its rocket ride on hopes for coming COVID-19 vaccines. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in afternoon trading, a day after inching up to set another all-time high. The Dow Jones...
U.S. virus deaths top 3,100 in a single day for the first time
The U.S. recorded over 3,100 covid-19 deaths in a single day, obliterating the record set last spring, while the number of Americans hospitalized with the virus has eclipsed 100,000 for the first time and new cases have begun topping 200,000 a day, according to figures released Thursday. The three benchmarks...
MTV Entertainment commits $250 million to diversify reality
MTV Entertainment Group says it’s making a $250 million commitment to spur reality production over the next three years by companies owned and operated by women and people of color. ViacomCBS’ MTV Entertainment, which includes MTV and VH1, will provide funding, staff and other support to foster new ideas that...
Biden facing high hopes, tough choices on border wall
LOS EBANOS, Texas — The U.S. government has been trying to take Pamela Rivas’ land for a border wall since before Joe Biden was vice president. From a brushy bluff, Rivas can look across the Rio Grande to Mexico on the other side. She spent her childhood fishing on the...
Police: Couple flew to Hawaii despite positive virus tests
HONOLULU — A couple was arrested at a Hawaii airport for traveling on a flight from California despite knowing they were infected with covid-19, authorities said. Wesley Moribe, 41, and Courtney Peterson, 46, boarded a United Airlines flight to Lihue with a 4-year-old child after San Francisco International Airport officials...
Walmart to give 4th round of bonuses to workers since virus
NEW YORK — Walmart says for the fourth time during the pandemic it will be giving its 1.5 million U.S. part-time and full-time employees additional cash bonuses for their work. The move, announced Thursday, follows similar announcements in recent weeks by such retailers as Target, Lowe’s and Amazon, which are...
U.S. jobless claims fall slightly, still high at 712K as virus surges
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell as the nation celebrated Thanksgiving last week to a still-high 712,000, the latest sign that the U.S. economy and job market remain under stress from the intensified viral outbreak. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department said that initial claims...
VP-elect Harris picks Tina Flournoy to be her chief of staff
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has named Tina Flournoy, a veteran Democratic strategist and aide to the Clintons, as her chief of staff, the transition team announced Thursday. Flournoy’s appointment as Harris’ top staffer adds to a team of advisers led by Black women. Harris, who is of...
Police say 4 dead after explosion at U.K. waste water plant
LONDON — Four people have died following an explosion at a waste water treatment plant near the southwest England city of Bristol, police said Thursday. Chief Inspector Mark Runacres of Avon and Somerset Police said that a fifth person was injured during the explosion at Avonmouth but that his condition...
Mural at Black archive in Amsterdam vandalized
AMSTERDAM — Vandals daubed white paint over the faces of Black historical figures on a mural outside a Black cultural archive in Amsterdam in what one of the archive’s founders called a racist attack Thursday. The vandals also stuck stickers on the mural saying in Dutch “soot-smudge Pete is genocide,”...
China hits out at U.S. after report of new visa restrictions
BEIJING — China on Thursday accused critics in the U.S. government of “an escalation of political suppression” against Beijing following a report of new visa restrictions on members of China’s ruling Communist Party and their immediate family members. Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China would “make representations” to the...
School closings threaten gains of students with disabilities
Without any in-school special education services for months, 14-year-old Joshua Nazzaro’s normally sweet demeanor has sometimes given way to aggressive meltdowns that had been under control before the pandemic. The teenager, who has autism and is nonverbal, often wanted no part of his online group speech therapy sessions, and when...
NASA: Mystery object is 54-year-old rocket, not asteroid
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A mysterious object temporarily orbiting Earth is a 54-year-old rocket, not an asteroid after all, astronomers confirmed Wednesday. Observations by a telescope in Hawaii clinched its identity, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The object was classified as an asteroid after its discovery...
