Associated Press stories, Page 2163
Disney plans to reopen California theme parks in July
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Disney is proposing to reopen its Southern California theme parks in mid-July after what will be a four-month closure due to the coronavirus, the company said on Wednesday. Disney Parks, Experiences and Products said in a statement that the goal is to reopen Disneyland and Disney California...
Buffalo adops policing changes after protester is hurt
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo will replace its police Emergency Response Team with a new “Public Protection Unit” following the suspension and arrest of two ERT members seen on video shoving a 75-year-old protester who fell and cracked his head, Mayor Byron Brown said Wednesday. The city also will halt arrests...
Amazon bans police use of its face recognition for a year
NEW YORK — Amazon on Wednesday banned police use of its face-recognition technology for a year, making it the latest tech giant to step back from law-enforcement use of systems that have been criticized for incorrectly identifying people with darker skin. The Seattle-based company did not say why it took...
Detroit Tigers draft Arizona State slugger Spencer Torkelson with No. 1 pickVideo
NEW YORK — Spencer Torkelson slugged his way through college, bashing baseballs all around the country with eye-popping power. All those impressive long balls made the decision easy for the Detroit Tigers, who made the Arizona State star the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball amateur draft Wednesday...
Rob Manfred says ‘100%’ chance of MLB season, new proposal soonVideo
NEW YORK — Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said there is “100 percent” chance of big league ball this year. MLB will make another proposal to start the pandemic-delayed season, but Manfred vowed Wednesday to unilaterally order opening day if an agreement is not reached. The players’ association made its second...
Women sue USA Swimming over sexual abuse by coachesVideo
Six women have filed civil lawsuits against USA Swimming, its local associations in California and three now-banned coaches claiming the national governing body failed to protect them from abuse by those coaches. Debra Grodensky, Suzette Moran and Tracy Palmero, along with three other women who remain anonymous, filed three lawsuits...
Golf passes initial test with no positive results from virusVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — The PGA Tour is not simply picking up where it left off. Very little about the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial resembles the opening round of The Players Championship on March 12, the last professional golf played before the covid-19 pandemic shut down golf and most...
NASCAR bans Confederate flag from its races and propertiesVideo
NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its races and venues Wednesday, formally severing itself from what for many is a symbol of slavery and racism. The move comes amid social unrest around the globe following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis while being...
Man found dead near scene of California deputy’s shooting
PASO ROBLES, Calif. — A man was found fatally shot near where a sheriff’s deputy was wounded Wednesday while responding to a report that a gunman was firing shots at a central California police station, and the two incidents were believed to be connected, authorities said. The shooter has yet...
Rights groups, athletes ask NCAA to move tourney from IdahoVideo
BOISE, Idaho — Groups that advocate for civil rights and women’s rights have joined notable athletes in asking the NCAA to move 2021 men’s basketball tournament games out of Idaho after the state passed a law banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports. A letter sent Wednesday and signed...
Fed to keep buying bonds and sees no rate hike through 2022
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve says it will keep buying bonds to maintain low borrowing rates and support the U.S. economy in the midst of a recession. And it says nearly all the Fed’s policymakers foresee no rate hike through 2022. The Fed has cut its benchmark short-term rate to...
Ex-judge says push to dismiss Flynn case is abuse of power
WASHINGTON — A former federal judge appointed to review the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss criminal charges against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn said there was evidence of a “gross abuse” of prosecutorial power and that the request should be denied. Former U.S. District Judge John...
‘Stop the pain,’ a brother of George Floyd tells Congress
WASHINGTON — Philonise Floyd challenged Congress on Wednesday to “stop the pain” so that his brother George wouldn’t be just “another name” on a growing list of those killed during interactions with police. Floyd’s appearance before a House hearing came a day after funeral services for his bother, the 46-year-old...
‘Legendary’ heralds loud, proud ball culture
FX’s fictionalized hit show “Pose” introduced many to the underground world of ballroom culture, in which historically black and Latino LGBT youths compete in elaborate performances on a runway. Now “Legendary” on HBO Max is serving up real ballroom battles to the mainstream, with competitors in eight “houses” vying to...
Facing electoral headwinds, Trump brings back his 2016 team
As anyone who has ever heard him speak knows, President Donald Trump loves to relive 2016. He recycles old attack lines once aimed at Hillary Clinton. He recounts the drama of election night, complete with impersonations of stunned news anchors putting state after state (Pennsylvania! Wisconsin!) in the Republican’s column....
Minneapolis police chief takes on union, promises reform
The Minneapolis Police Department will withdraw from police union contract negotiations, Chief Medaria Arradondo said Wednesday as he announced the first steps in what he said would be transformational reforms to the agency in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Arradondo said a thorough review of the contract is planned....
Police: Officer shot, wounded man with box cutter in Philadelphia
An officer shot and wounded a man officials said was armed with a box cutter in north Philadelphia, police said. Police said the female officer was at a property in the city’s Olney section when a 22-year-old man attacked her with a box cutter. The officer tried to get away...
HBO Max removes ‘Gone With the Wind,’ will add historical contextVideo
HBO Max has temporarily removed “Gone With the Wind” from its streaming library in order to add historical context to the 1939 film long criticized for romanticizing slavery and the Civil War-era South. Protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death have forced entertainment companies to grapple with the appropriateness...
Strange case of 2 kids who vanished in Idaho takes grim turnVideo
BOISE, Idaho — It was the extended family who grew suspicious first, and then at their urging, local police: Seven-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and his 17-year-old sister Tylee Ryan hadn’t been seen in far too long, and their mother wouldn’t give a straight answer about where they were. Soon strangers...
What makes an American a patriot? Spike Lee has some answersVideo
Spike Lee was just 10 when Muhammad Ali, in 1967, refused to be drafted into the Vietnam War. It wasn’t his fight, Ali said then. The Vietnamese “never lynched me.” Ali’s stand, and the subsequent vitriol that came his way, made an enormous impression on Lee. His latest film, “Da...
AP sources: MLB players cut to 89 games, want prorated money
NEW YORK — Baseball players moved toward teams but remained far apart economically in their latest proposal for starting the pandemic-delayed season, adamant they receive full prorated salaries while offering to cut the regular season to 89 games. The proposal by the players’ association, given to Major League Baseball electronically...
Eastern Pennsylvania fireworks explosion kills 1, injures another
COOPERSBURG — The explosion of two tractor-trailers filled with fireworks, killing one person and injuring another, is under investigation, officials said Wednesday. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents joined state investigators at the scene in eastern Pennsylvania to comb through the trailers and a building that were destroyed by the...
U.S. military rethinking links to Confederate Army symbols
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is rethinking its traditional connection to Confederate Army symbols, mindful of their divisiveness at a time the nation is wrestling with questions of race after the death of George Floyd in police hands. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, both former Army...
Confederate monument in Virginia covered with trash bagsVideo
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Protesters in Portsmouth, Va., covered a Confederate monument in the city with trash bags and sheets Wednesday, several hours after the city’s council members had a meeting to figure out ways to relocate it. A white sheet that read “BLM” covered the fence in front of the...
Ford, VW to collaborate on vans, pickup, electric vehicleVideo
DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford and Volkswagen will each offer a small city van, a larger cargo van, a small pickup truck and an electric vehicle as part of their global alliance announced last year. The companies announced some details of what the venture will yield Wednesday, with the city van...
