Associated Press stories, Page 1961
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...
No. 1 Gonzaga pulls away from West Virginia in second halfVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Joel Ayayi matched his career high with 21 points, and Andrew Nembhard and Corey Kispert had 19 each, and No. 1 Gonzaga rallied to beat No. 11 West Virginia, 87-82, on Wednesday night in the Jimmy V Classic. The Bulldogs (3-0) struggled to get in sync early and...
Search persists for parents of 628 kids separated at border
SAN DIEGO — A court-appointed committee has yet to find the parents of 628 children separated at the border early in the Trump administration, according to a court filing Wednesday that also said the government last week provided additional phone numbers to aid the long-running search. Parents of 333 children...
Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree turns on, with coronavirus rules
NEW YORK — Rockin’ around the Christmas tree looks different for visitors at Rockefeller Center this year, starting with the tree lighting ceremony on Wednesday. What’s normally a chaotic, crowded tourist hotspot during the holiday season was instead a mask-mandated, time-limited, socially distanced locale because of the coronavirus pandemic. The...
Seth Lundy scores 32, Myles Dread hits 3 at buzzer in Penn State win
UNIVERSITY PARK — Seth Lundy hit five 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 32 points, Myles Dread made a 3 at the buzzer and Penn State beat VCU, 72-69, on Wednesday night. Dread was scoreless and 0 for 4 from the field, all 3-point shots, before he took a pass...
Gary Bettman: NHL players have to decide to pay now or later
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman warned players Wednesday they are likely going to have to pay one way or another to make up for the league’s projected lost revenue whenever the 2020-21 season gets underway. Speaking on a Sports Business Journal panel, Bettman stressed the NHL is not attempting to reopen...
In video, Trump recycles unsubstantiated voter fraud claimsVideo
WASHINGTON — Increasingly detached from reality, President Donald Trump stood before a White House lectern and delivered a 46-minute diatribe against the election results that produced a win for Democrat Joe Biden, unspooling one misstatement after another to back his baseless claim that he really won. Trump called his address,...
Agency: LeBron James inks 2-year extension with Lakers
LOS ANGELES — LeBron James has agreed to a contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers. James’ agency, Klutch Sports, confirmed the deal Wednesday during the first week of training camp for the NBA champions. The Lakers still are finalizing their new contract with Anthony Davis, who is also represented...
Police: Officer in West Virginia shooting unlikely to surviveVideo
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia police officer who was shot by a suspect is unlikely to survive, a police chief said Wednesday. Charleston officer Cassie Johnson was shot Tuesday while responding to a parking complaint. She was sworn in as a police officer in January 2019. Charleston Police Officer...
Stock indexes shake off a weak start and end mostly higherVideo
Stocks shook off a sluggish start to finish with modest gains Wednesday, nudging the S&P 500 index to an all-time high for the second straight day. The benchmark index rose 0.2% after spending much of the day drifting between small gains and losses. About 54% of the stocks in the...
Nurses wanted: Swamped hospitals scramble for pandemic helpVideo
OMAHA, Neb. — U.S. hospitals slammed with covid-19 patients are trying to lure nurses and doctors out of retirement, recruiting students and new graduates who have yet to earn their licenses and offering eye-popping salaries in a desperate bid to ease staffing shortages. With the virus surging from coast to...
