Associated Press stories, Page 1917
Maine marijuana shops report brisk business despite pandemic
PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s rollout of legal marijuana sales has been muted compared with other states because of the coronavirus pandemic, but shops are reporting brisk business nonetheless. Maine wasn’t able to replicate the grand opening scenes that have followed the first sales in other states. But regulators reported more...
U.S. motions expand drug claims against Honduras president
NEW YORK — U.S. federal prosecutors have filed motions saying that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández took bribes from drug traffickers and had the country’s armed forces protect a cocaine laboratory and shipments to the United States. The documents quote Hernández as saying he wanted to “‘shove the drugs right...
AP Explainer: Who has been charged in the deadly Capitol riot?
Dozens of people have already been arrested and prosecutors across the U.S. have vowed to bring to justice those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, sending lawmakers into hiding as they began their work to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. The top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia...
Georgia’s GOP governor under fire after U.S. Senate losses
ATLANTA — Even though he wasn’t on the ballot, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has been painfully bruised by the 2020 elections. In a state long dominated by Republicans, Democrats won Georgia’s electoral votes for president in November and two U.S. Senate seats in runoff elections Tuesday, defeating Kemp’s hand-picked Senate...
More arrests in Capitol riot as more video reveals brutality
Police charged more Capitol rioters on Saturday, including a man who carried off the House speaker’s lectern, as more graphic details of the insurrection emerged, revealing the violence and brutality of the mob that stormed a seat of American political power. A bloodied officer was crushed in a doorway screaming...
Queen Elizabeth II and husband receive covid-19 vaccinations
LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, have received their covid-19 vaccinations, royal officials said Saturday. Buckingham Palace officials said in a statement that the 94-year-old monarch and Philip, 99, received their jabs Saturday, joining some 1.5 million people in Britain who have been given a first...
Snow blizzard kills 4, brings much of Spain to standstill
MADRID — A persistent blizzard has blanketed large parts of Spain with 50-year record levels of snow, killing at least four people and leaving thousands trapped in cars or in train stations and airports that had suspended all services as the snow kept falling on Saturday. The bodies of a...
Under Ryan Day, Ohio State’s offense and QBs have taken off
Much has been made of Alabama’s transformation from a dynasty built on Nick Saban’s lock-down defense to one powered by a prolific offense. No. 3 Ohio State, which faces top-ranked Alabama on Monday night in the national championship game, has undergone an offensive evolution of its own in recent years....
Browns get back 3 players off covid list to face Steelers
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns flew to Pittsburgh for the playoffs with some reinforcements — and missing some regulars. Top cornerback Denzel Ward stayed in Cleveland as he recovers from covid-19, leaving a massive hole in the Browns’ secondary as they get ready to face Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh...
Indonesia jet carrying 62 goes missing on domestic flight
JAKARTA, Indonesia — A jet carrying 62 people lost contact with air traffic controllers minutes after taking off from Indonesia’s capital on a domestic flight on Saturday, and debris found by fishermen was being examined to see if it was from the missing plane, officials said. Transportation Minister Budi Karya...
Haley: Trump was ‘badly wrong’ in stoking crowd before riot
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, often mentioned as a possible 2024 GOP presidential contender, is among the latest from her party to denounce President Donald Trump’s comments stoking supporters to mount a violent assault on the Capitol. “He was badly wrong with his words,” Haley said Thursday...
Lawyers: Woman on U.S. death row not competent for execution
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for the only woman on federal death row are asking a judge to halt her execution and arguing she isn’t competent and can’t be put to death. Lisa Montgomery’s lawyers filed a petition Friday in federal court in Indiana seeking to halt the execution, which is scheduled...
A farewell to @realDonaldTrump, gone after 57,000 tweets
WASHINGTON — realDonaldTrump, the Twitter feed that grew from the random musings of a reality TV star into the cudgel of an American president, died Friday. It was not quite 12 years old. The provocative handle was given birth by a New York real estate tycoon who used it to...
White man who drove into Iowa protesters avoids prison
IOWA CITY, Iowa — A white man who deliberately sped his car through a crowd of racial injustice protesters in Iowa City, striking several, will avoid prison and have the incident erased from his record if he stays out of trouble for three years. A judge last month granted a...
Colorado officers won’t be charged for detaining Black girls
DENVER — Suburban Denver police officers won’t be charged after detaining four Black girls by gunpoint this summer and handcuffing two of them after wrongly suspecting they were riding in a stolen car, prosecutors said Friday. The same day, the Colorado attorney general opened a grand jury investigation into the...
PBS’ ‘Masterpiece’ marks 50th year with challenges ahead
LOS ANGELES — As PBS’ “Masterpiece” marks its 50th anniversary Sunday, the drama and mystery showcase could rest on its reputation built with acclaimed programs including “I, Claudius” and “Elizabeth R” and polished anew by surprising pop-culture hits “Sherlock” and “Downton Abbey.” But “Masterpiece” executive producer Susanne Simpson says it’s...
FBI arrests Arkansas man from photo inside Pelosi’s office
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The FBI on Friday arrested an Arkansas man who was photographed sitting at a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office following the storming of the Capitol by a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters, authorities announced. Richard Barnett turned himself in to FBI agents at...
U.S. judge blocks Trump administration’s sweeping asylum rules
PHOENIX — A U.S. judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s most sweeping set of asylum restrictions less than two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The rules had been set to take effect Monday. The court order has limited immediate impact because the government has largely suspended asylum...
Hyundai recalls 471K more SUVs, tells owners to park outside
DETROIT — Hyundai is adding about 471,000 SUVs to a September U.S. recall for an electrical short in a computer that could cause fires. And the company is warning owners to park the SUVs outdoors until they are repaired. The latest recall covers certain model-year 2016 through 2018, and additional...
Sentimental video tribute opens Alex Trebek’s final ‘Jeopardy!’
More than two months after Alex Trebek’s death, fans of “Jeopardy!” finally got the chance to say goodbye. A video tribute to the host closed Friday’s episode of the quiz show, the final one that Trebek taped before pancreatic cancer claimed his life on Nov. 8. The 90-second montage, set...
Twitter bans Trump, citing risk of incitement
Twitter banned President Donald Trump’s account Friday, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence” following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Twitter has long given Trump and other world leaders broad exemptions from its rules against personal attacks, hate speech and other behaviors. But in a...
Michigan decides to stick with Jim Harbaugh with 5-year deal
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan has decided to stick with coach Jim Harbaugh, finalizing a new, five-year deal on Friday. The school will pay him $4 million per year and as much as $8 million annually if he meets certain benchmarks, according to a person familiar with the contract who...
Jim Harbaugh gets 5-year deal from Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan has decided to stick with coach Jim Harbaugh, finalizing a new, five-year deal Friday. The school will pay him $4 million per year and as much as $8 million annually if he meets certain benchmarks, according to a person familiar with the contract who spoke...
New campaign, and logo, for GM in a bid to electrify image
General Motors is changing its corporate logo and launching an electric vehicle marketing campaign to reshape its image as clean vehicle company, rather than a builder of gas-powered pickups and SUVs. The 112-year-old Detroit automaker has promised to roll out 30 new battery-powered vehicles globally by the end of 2025...
W.Va. state lawmaker charged after entering Capitol with rioters
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia state lawmaker has been charged with entering a restricted area of the U.S. Capitol after he livestreamed himself rushing into the building with a mob of pro-Trump supporters, the Justice Department announced Friday. Ken Kohl, a top deputy federal prosecutor in Washington, announced the...
