Associated Press stories, Page 2009
FDA approves first covid-19 drug: antiviral remdesivir
U.S. regulators on Thursday approved the first drug to treat covid-19: remdesivir, an antiviral medicine given through an IV for patients needing hospitalization. The drug, which California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. is calling Veklury, cut the time to recovery by five days — from 15 days to 10 on average —...
Colorado wildfires drag on later than normal, break records
Orange skies, winds gusting up to 70 mph, smoke tornadoes and hazardous air. While it could be an apocalyptic scene out of a movie, it’s become the reality of Colorado’s wildfire season. The blazes have burned the second-most acreage since 2000 and included the state’s two largest on record. One...
NHL cancels 2021 Minnesota Winter Classic, All-Star Weekend
The NHL won’t take it outside and open 2021 with the Winter Classic in Minnesota but still hopes to get the hockey season going around the start of the new year. The league on Thursday canceled the Winter Classic scheduled for Jan. 1 at Target Field in Minneapolis and All-Star...
Ex-Pirates favorite Josh Harrison agrees to deal with Nationals
WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals agreed to terms on a one-year contract Thursday with utility man and former Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Josh Harrison. The 33-year-old returns to Washington after hitting .278 with two doubles, three home runs, 14 RBIs, six walks and 11 runs scored with the Nationals last season....
Update: Raiders put 5 on covid-19 list, game time vs. Buccaneers moved
The Las Vegas Raiders placed four starting offensive linemen and safety Johnathan Abram on the reserve/covid-19 list after they were determined to be close contacts with a teammate who had tested positive for the coronavirus. Two people familiar with the moves Thursday confirmed that Abram, Kolton Miller, Denzelle Good, Rodney...
Gap to move away from the mall
Gap is moving away from the nation’s malls. The retailer, which was for decades a fixture at shopping malls around the country, said that it will be closing 220 stores — or one-third of its store base — by early 2024. That will result in 80% of its remaining Gap...
French PM says 2nd virus wave is here, vastly extends curfew
French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Thursday a vast extension of the nightly curfew that is intended to curb the spiraling spread of the coronavirus, saying “the second wave is here.” The curfew imposed in eight regions of France last week, including Paris and its suburbs, is being extended...
Self-driving shuttle debuts in high-traffic Virginia spot
MERRIFIELD, Va. — The future of transportation arrived in northern Virginia, looking like a big blue toaster on wheels that seats six and drives itself through the region’s notorious traffic. State and local officials debuted the Relay system Thursday, an all-electric, autonomous vehicle that will provide free shuttle rides back...
Trump posts unedited ’60 Minutes’ interview before it airs
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump posted full, unedited interviews that he and Vice President Mike Pence did with “60 Minutes” on Facebook on Thursday before the show’s scheduled broadcast this weekend. The footage shows Trump growing increasingly agitated as interviewer Lesley Stahl presses him on his response to the...
Browns WR Jarvis Landry playing despite broken rib
CLEVELAND — One of Jarvis Landry’s ribs is broken. The Cleveland Browns wide receiver’s playing and receiving streaks are unharmed. Landry revealed Thursday that he played the past two weeks with a broken rib, an injury he suffered early in the Browns’ 32-23 win over Indianapolis on Oct. 11 and...
Ravens trade draft picks for Vikings DE Yannick Ngakoue
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings traded defensive end Yannick Ngakoue to the Baltimore Ravens for draft picks Thursday, less than two months after acquiring the fifth-year pass rusher in a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Vikings didn’t disclose specifics of the acquired draft selections. ESPN reported the Ravens will...
New lawsuit targets Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot deadline
HARRISBURG — A new lawsuit filed Thursday is challenging Pennsylvania’s court-ordered deadline to count mail-in ballots that are received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election in the presidential battleground state. Plaintiffs include a Republican congressional candidate and four registered voters from Somerset County. The lawsuit comes 12...
Trucker who drove through George Floyd protesters is charged
MINNEAPOLIS — A truck driver who drove into a large crowd of protesters on a bridge in Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd was charged Thursday with two criminal counts. Hennepin County prosecutors charged Bogdan Vechirko, of Otsego, with making threats of violence, a felony, and criminal vehicular operation,...
GOP to high court: Move up North Carolina absentee deadline
RALEIGH, N.C. — Republican officials have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to move up North Carolina’s recently extended deadline for accepting late-arriving absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day. State Republican legislative leaders filed an appeal on Thursday. The North Carolina State Board of Elections had announced in late September that...
Judge dismisses 1 charge against former cop in George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota judge has dismissed a third-degree murder charge filed against the former Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee against George Floyd’s neck, but the more serious second-degree murder charge remains. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill’s ruling was dated Wednesday and made public Thursday. Cahill said...
Power cut in parts of Northern California to prevent fires
SAN FRANCISCO — Power was shut off in wind-prone parts of Northern California on Thursday to prevent sparking wires from igniting new wildfires during a new round of gusty, dry weather. Pacific Gas & Electric’s online map of public safety power shutoffs showed outages in the northern Sacramento Valley, northern...
Santa Claus won’t be coming to Macy’s this year
NEW YORK — Macy’s said Santa Claus won’t be greeting kids at its flagship New York store this year because of the coronavirus, interrupting a holiday tradition started nearly 160 years ago. More than a quarter of a million people come to see Santa at Macy’s in New York each...
Poland’s top court rules out abortions for birth defects
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s top court has ruled that a law allowing abortion of fetuses with congenital defects is unconstitutional. The decision by the country’s Constitutional Court on Thursday effectively bans terminating pregnancies in cases where birth defects are found and will further limit access to abortions in Poland. The...
Kevin Hart: Hosting MDA telethon is a ‘major level-up’
Kevin Hart says hosting a re-imagined online fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association is “a major level-up for me.” “It’s different from anything that you’ve really seen me do. And there’s a great reason behind it,” said the comic and actor, who is leading the MDA Kevin Hart Kids Telethon...
GOP-led Senate panel advances Amy Coney Barrett despite Dems’ boycott
WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate as Republicans powered past Democrats’ boycott of the session. Democratic senators refused to show up in protest of the GOP’s rush to install President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace the...
Plot thickens over origins of pope’s civil union endorsement
VATICAN CITY — Question swirled Thursday about the origins of Pope Francis’ bombshell comments endorsing same-sex civil unions, with all evidence suggesting he made them in a 2019 interview that was never broadcast in its entirety. The Vatican refused to comment on whether it cut the remarks from its own...
U.S. jobless claims drop to 787,000, but layoffs remain high
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 787,000, a sign that job losses may have eased slightly but are still running at historically high levels. With confirmed infections having neared 60,000 in the past week, the highest level since July, many consumers have been...
Banksy artwork sells for almost $10 million at auction
Banksy’s playful take on a famous Impressionist painting has sold at auction for 7.6 million pounds ($9.8 million), the second-highest price ever paid for a work by the British street artist. “Show Me the Monet” sold to an unidentified bidder at Sotheby’s in London on Wednesday evening, surpassing its upper...
Taliban rockets kill 4 civilians in northern Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — At least four civilians were killed in their homes by militant rocket fire in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, the country’s Ministry of Defense said. The ministry statement blamed the Taliban for the firing, which it said wounded another 14 civilians and destroyed several houses in the Sharin...
Coca-Cola recovery continues a it grows leaner in pandemic
Coca-Cola measured gradual improvement in the third quarter as it focused on emerging leaner from the global pandemic. Revenue fell 9% to $8.7 billion, edging out Wall Street expectations of $8.4 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet. It was far better than the 28% drop in revenue in the...
