Associated Press stories, Page 2093
After protests, Va. Gov. Northam orders removal of iconic Lee statueVideo
RICHMOND, Va. — A towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee will be removed as soon as possible from Richmond’s Monument Avenue, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Thursday, pledging the state will no longer “preach a false version of history.” The bronze equestrian statue, which sits on an enormous...
`Get your knee off our necks!’: Floyd mourned in MinneapolisVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Hollywood celebrities, musicians and political leaders gathered in front of the golden casket of George Floyd at a fiery memorial Thursday for the man whose death at the hands of police sparked global protests, with a civil rights leader declaring it is time for black people to demand,...
Vote counting drags into 3rd day after Pennsylvania primary
HARRISBURG — Counting an avalanche of 1.4 million mail-in votes dragged into a third day in Pennsylvania on Thursday as some races from Tuesday’s primary remained too close to call. The Associated Press has not yet called a number of races where the contest was close or had a large...
Testimony: Shooter used racist slur as Ahmaud Arbery lay dying
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A state investigator alleged Thursday that a white man was heard saying a racist slur as he stood over Ahmaud Arbery’s body, moments after fatally shooting the black man with a pump-action shotgun. The inflammatory revelation came amid a week of angry nationwide protests over law enforcement...
Police think Madeleine McCann is dead; parents still hope
PRAIA DA LUZ, Portugal — German police said Thursday they presume a British girl who went missing in southern Portugal 13 years ago is dead, but Madeleine McCann’s parents still nurture hope their daughter will be found alive. McCann was 3-years-old at the time of her disappearance from an apartment...
Saints’ Drew Brees takes first step toward mending relationships
NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees now realizes he had fallen out of touch. His contemporaries drove that home when they pilloried him this week for repeating a long-held conviction he had always felt comfortable expressing. In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Brees repeated his opposition to...
Detained U.S. Navy veteran freed by Iran, making his way home
WASHINGTON — A Navy veteran detained in Iran for nearly two years has been released and started making his way home, with the first leg on a Swiss government aircraft, U.S. officials said Thursday. “The nightmare is over,” his mother said. The U.S. special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, flew...
Pentagon-Trump clash breaks open over military and protests
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is not only drawing criticism from his usual political foes but also facing backtalk from his defense secretary, his former Pentagon chief and a growing number of fellow Republicans. A day after Defense Secretary Mark Esper shot down Trump’s idea of using active-duty troops to...
8:46: A number becomes a potent symbol of police brutality
MINNEAPOLIS — All protest movements have slogans. George Floyd’s has a number: 8:46 Eight minutes, 46 seconds is the length of time prosecutors say Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was pinned to the ground under a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee before he died last week. In the days since,...
Duchess of Sussex speaks out on racial divisions in U.S.Video
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has shared her sadness about racial divisions in the United States, telling students at her former high school that she felt moved to speak out because the life of George Floyd mattered. Meghan told graduates at Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles that she...
Florida officer on leave after pressing knee into man’s neck
SARASOTA, Fla. — A bystander video showing a Sarasota police officer pressing his knee into the neck of a handcuffed black man a week before the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has prompted an investigation and promises of transparency. Two Sarasota officers are seen on video holding down Patrick...
Protests eclipse pandemic, but White House fears resurgence
WASHINGTON — For weeks, President Donald Trump has been eager to publicly turn the page on the coronavirus pandemic. Now fears are growing within the White House that the very thing that finally shoved the virus from center stage — mass protests over the death of George Floyd — may...
China easing airline access amid conflict with WashingtonVideo
BEIJING — Chinese regulators said Thursday more foreign airlines will be allowed to fly to China as anti-coronavirus controls ease, but it was unclear whether the change will defuse a fresh conflict with the Trump administration over air travel. The announcement came after Washington said Wednesday it would bar four...
Protests turn subdued after new charges in Floyd caseVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Demonstrations in cities across the United States to condemn racism and police abuses remained large but turned notably more subdued on the eve of a Thursday memorial service for George Floyd that kicks off a series of events to mourn the man whose death empowered a national movement....
Hong Kong outlaws insulting China’s national anthemVideo
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s legislature approved a contentious bill Thursday that makes it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem. The legislation was approved after pro-democracy opposition lawmakers tried to disrupt the vote. It passed with 41 lawmakers voting for it and just one voting against. Most of the...
Deputies: White Virginia man assaulted 3 people because of their race
LOCUST GROVE, Va. — Deputies in Virginia said a white man who called to report an assault turned out to be the aggressor, and has been charged with attacking three people because of their race. Authorities responding to a call from Edward Halstead in Locust Grove on Tuesday night “interviewed...
Outrage as a result of video footage of Charlotte police tacticsVideo
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The police department in North Carolina’s largest city is coming under criticism after a video posted to social media appeared to show officers using chemical agents on demonstrators who were boxed in while protesting the death of George Floyd. The video was recorded on Tuesday night by...
Virginia governor to announce removal of Robert E. Lee statue
RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to announce plans Thursday to remove one of the country’s most iconic monuments to the Confederacy, a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee along Richmond’s prominent Monument Avenue, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. The move would be an extraordinary...
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice says he welcomes all, except Obama
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday said he would welcome any president to the state besides former President Barack Obama. The unprompted comment came during a coronavirus news conference in which the Republican governor took a phone call from President Donald Trump and sought to highlight...
Ex-defense chief Jim Mattis rips Trump for dividing AmericansVideo
WASHINGTON — In an extraordinary rebuke, former defense secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday denounced President Donald Trump’s heavy-handed use of military force to quell protests near the White House and said his former boss was setting up a “false conflict” between the military and civilian society. “I have watched this...
Coronavirus case count surges as 40 new Arizona deaths reportedVideo
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Arizona officials reported nearly 1,000 new coronavirus cases Wednesday amid a recent surge in hospitalizations, a little over two weeks after Gov. Doug Ducey ended his stay-at-home order. The surge of new cases is a troubling sign for former state health director Will Humble, who said the...
Drew Brees draws ire of Steelers’ Cameron Heyward, LeBron James, othersVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees was criticized sharply by fellow high-profile athletes including some of his own teammates on Wednesday after the Saints’ quarterback reiterated his opposition to kneeling during the National Anthem. In an interview with Yahoo, Brees was asked to revisit former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 protest...
Horse named for Dr. Anthony Fauci finishes second in debutVideo
A racehorse named for Dr. Anthony Fauci finished second in his debut Wednesday at Belmont Park in New York. Fauci, a 2-year-old colt, was beaten by a horse named Prisoner in the third race. Fauci was the even-money favorite. Co-owner Phillip Antonacci named the horse for Fauci in mid-March after...
Nevada betting on health safety as Las Vegas casinos reopen
LAS VEGAS — After 78 days of historic quiet, cards will be cut, dice will roll and jackpots can jingle again 12:01 a.m. Thursday at casinos in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada. There will be big splashes — even amid ongoing protests over the death of a man in police...
West Virginia University to require coronavirus tests before return
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University will require testing of all students, faculty and staff for the coronavirus before they can return to campus for the start of fall classes. The university said Wednesday that in setting Aug. 19 as the start of fall classes students must wear masks on...
