Associated Press stories, Page 2116
Democrats investigating Trump firing of State Department watchdogVideo
WASHINGTON — Democrats demanded on Saturday that the White House hand over all records related to President Donald Trump’s latest firing of a federal watchdog, this time at the State Department, and they suggested Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was responsible, in what “may be an illegal act of retaliation.”...
Lawyer: Iran sentences dual national academic to 6 years in prison
An Iranian court has sentenced a prominent researcher with dual French-Iranian citizenship to six years in prison on security charges, her lawyer said Saturday. Fariba Adelkhah was sentenced to five years for “gathering and collusion” against the country’s security and one year for “spreading propaganda” against the Islamic system, her...
Group buys Alabama abortion clinic to keep it from closing
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Conservative lawmakers in Alabama last year tried to enact the nation’s most stringent abortion ban, but the attempt to outlaw the procedure may have had one ironic twist. An Alabama-based abortion rights group used a flood of donations that poured in from across the country after the...
Virus rules tighten illegal immigration on northern border
Five Mexican citizens apprehended this week after illegally entering the United States in remote northern Maine were returned to Canada within hours under a rule put into place as part of the U.S. government response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A similar policy by the Canadian government allows the return to...
Report: Bryant crash pilot had no drugs, alcohol in system
LOS ANGELES — The pilot flying Kobe Bryant and seven others to a youth basketball tournament did not have alcohol or drugs in his system, and all nine sustained immediately fatal injuries when their helicopter slammed into a hillside outside Los Angeles in January, according to autopsies released Friday. The...
Judge orders Los Angeles to move thousands of homeless
LOS ANGELES — The city of Los Angeles and LA County must find shelter for thousands of homeless people who are living near freeways, a federal judge ordered Friday, saying their health is at risk from pollution, earthquakes and the coronavirus. U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter issued a...
Alaska lawmaker likens virus screening stickers to Star of David
JUNEAU, Alaska — An Alaska lawmaker on Friday defended asking whether stickers that individuals may be asked to wear as part of a Capitol coronavirus screening process will be “available as a yellow Star of David.” Republican Rep. Ben Carpenter of Nikiski said he was serious in making the comment...
Tesla picks Austin, Tulsa as finalists for new US factory
DETROIT — Tesla has picked Austin, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, as finalists for its new U.S. assembly plant, a person briefed on the matter said Friday. The person says company officials visited Tulsa in the past week and were shown two sites. It wasn’t clear if there were any other...
WNBA working on scenarios to play this summerVideo
NEW YORK — WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert is focusing on about a half dozen scenarios for the league to begin play this summer Engelbert did not go into detail about each scenario but told the Associated Press on Friday the league is looking at playing at one site — and...
Man paroled over coronavirus concerns charged in slaying
DENVER — A parolee suspected of killing a woman in Denver had been released from prison three weeks before the slaying because of concerns over the coronavirus. Cornelius Haney, 40, was released April 15 under powers granted to the Colorado Department of Corrections by Gov. Jared Polis, The Denver Post...
Will Congress help California? Governor’s budget banks on it
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom may call California a nation state, but he’s hanging his hopes for avoiding drastic state budget cuts squarely on the federal government. The money may not come easily in a divided Congress, even with two Californians in the top roles in the U.S. House....
Aaron Rodgers says Packers’ decision to draft Jordan Love surprised himVideo
Packers star Aaron Rodgers acknowledges Green Bay drafting a quarterback in the first round surprised him and complicated his hopes of playing his entire career with the same team. The Packers traded up four spots in the first round last month to take Utah State quarterback Jordan Love with the...
NFL teams can begin opening facilities Tuesday if certain conditions are metVideo
NFL teams can begin reopening their facilities Tuesday if state and local governments allow it. In a memo sent to the 32 teams Friday by commissioner Roger Goodell and obtained by the Associated Press, he stressed the clubs must be “in compliance with any additional public health requirements in their...
Nebraska court orders disclosure of execution drug records
OMAHA, Neb. — Nebraska prison officials cannot withhold public records that reveal where they purchased their supply of lethal injection drugs, the state’s highest court said Friday in a ruling that could threaten Nebraska’s ability to carry out executions for the dozen men on its death row. In ordering the...
Homeless tax in Portland, Ore., tests voter mood in pandemic
PORTLAND, Ore. — Voters in metropolitan Portland, Oregon, will be asked Tuesday to approve taxes on personal income and business profits that would raise $2.5 billion over a decade to fight homelessness even as the state grapples with the coronavirus and its worst recession in years. The ballot measure was...
Many struggling in horse racing hope return brings lifelineVideo
Instead of the Preakness running Saturday in Baltimore with perhaps another heralded Kentucky Derby winner looking to capture the second jewel of the Triple Crown, horse racing is in the midst of transition. And lower and middle class owners are in the cross hairs. Owner Maggi Moss was concerned about...
Historically black colleges work to help students amid virus
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ja’nayla Johnson worked hard in high school with the dream of being the first in her family to graduate from college, but she started to doubt herself as several colleges rejected her. Then Bennett, a small historically black women’s college in North Carolina, saw Johnson’s potential and...
Nevada highway reopens after largest area quake in 65 years
LAS VEGAS — The cracked main highway between Las Vegas and Reno reopened Friday, 10 hours after a predawn magnitude 6.5 earthquake that a researcher called the largest to strike the remote area of western Nevada in 65 years. No injuries were reported, but officials said goods tumbled from market...
All eyes on Germany as Bundesliga gets ball rolling on soccerVideo
Basketball and hockey arenas shuttered along with ballparks. Tennis and golf tournaments wiped out or postponed. Motor sport circuits silenced. The spread of the coronavirus paused every major sport and left a hole in the lives of billions during two months of weekends without any live elite competition to watch...
NASCAR puts its safety plans to test as racing prepares to returnVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Crew chief Chad Knaus won’t get a look at the car Hendrick Motorsports built for Darlington Raceway until he gets to the track Sunday morning, a few hours before the race. Kurt Busch? He already sat in his Chip Ganassi Racing car and met with his crew...
FDA probes accuracy issue with Abbott’s rapid virus test
WASHINGTON — Federal health officials are alerting doctors to a potential accuracy problem with a rapid test for covid-19 used at thousands of hospitals, clinics and testing sites across the U.S., including the White House. The Food and Drug Administration said late Thursday it is investigating preliminary data suggesting Abbott...
NASCAR restart is latest chapter in Darlington Raceway’s storied historyVideo
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Harold Brasington III recalls riding around the infield at Darlington Raceway as a youngster with his late grandfather, track builder Harold Brasington, watching as his granddad said hello to the likes of Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough and Dale Earnhardt. The younger Brasington, 52, will see...
Bowling Green drops baseball to save money amid pandemicVideo
Bowling Green dropped baseball as part of a move to ease financial stress because of the covid-19 pandemic. The school said it’s reducing its athletic budget by $2 million. “This is a very difficult but necessary, decision,” athletic director Bob Moosbrugger said. “As a baseball alumnus, my heart breaks for...
U.S. on track to pull troops from Afghanistan despite turmoil
WASHINGTON — The United States is on track to meet its commitment to the Taliban to withdraw several thousand troops from Afghanistan by summer, even as violence flares, the peace process is stalled, and Kabul struggles in political deadlock. U.S. officials say they will reduce to 8,600 troops by July...
‘We are desperate’: French hospital staff confront Macron
PARIS — French nurses and doctors faced off with President Emmanuel Macron at a leading Paris hospital Friday, demanding better pay and a rethink of a once-renowned public health system that found itself quickly overwhelmed by tens of thousands of virus patients. “We are desperate. We no longer believe in...
