Associated Press stories, Page 2300

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Hints that Tevin Bush could make an impact for West Virginia in 2019 began at a simple team-building exercise during preseason camp. During a game of musical chairs, 300-pound linemen were knocking each other over to get to empty seats when the song stopped. The speedy, 5-foot-6...

Ezekiel Elliott was finishing the early stretching at the first practice since ending his long holdout with the Dallas Cowboys when the star running back was called to the front of the group. Cheers rose from teammates Wednesday before Elliott led a brief set of jumping jacks to get the...

WASHINGTON — Veteran Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner announced his retirement from Congress on Wednesday, making the former House Judiciary Committee chairman the 15th GOP lawmaker to say he will step aside before next year’s elections. Sensenbrenner, 76, was first elected in 1978 and is the second-longest serving current member...

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration turned its deregulatory focus Wednesday to light bulbs, scrapping a rule that would have phased out less energy efficient incandescent bulbs. The move slows a years-long push by Congress and past administrations to switch Americans to LED bulbs and other lighting using less electricity. President...

POWELL, Ohio — Seven Ohio middle school students accused of being involved in serving teachers crepes tainted with bodily fluids face juvenile felony charges. The Columbus Dispatch reports several teachers at Olentangy Hyatts Middle School in Powell ate crepes reportedly laced with semen and urine during a cooking class May...

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles man was arrested Wednesday on charges that he sold counterfeit opioid pills to Mac Miller two days before the rapper died of an overdose. A Drug Enforcement Agency affidavit unsealed after the arrest of Cameron James Pettit alleges that Miller asked him for oxycodone...

MILWAUKEE — A federal judge has ordered Anheuser-Busch to stop using packaging that implies MillerCoors’ light beers contain corn syrup. U.S. District Judge William Conley granted a preliminary injunction sought by MillerCoors. Bud Light’s packaging says “No Corn Syrup” in bold letters. Conley says Anheuser-Busch can use the packaging it...

LONDON — British lawmakers battling Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to leave the European Union without a divorce deal cleared their first big hurdle Wednesday, approving in principle a bill to block his actions and sending it on for further debate. In a second straight day of parliamentary turmoil, the...

WESTERLY, R.I. — Police say a man who broke into Taylor Swift’s beachfront mansion in Rhode Island took his shoes off because he wanted to be polite. Westerly police who responded to the home just after 5 p.m. Friday found 26-year-old Richard Joseph McEwan inside. Police Chief Shawn Lacey tells...

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis has acknowledged his growing opposition within the conservative right-wing of the U.S. Catholic Church and says it is “an honor if the Americans attack me.” Francis made off-hand comments about critics of his papacy as he received a copy of a new book...

For a long time, Buku Abi ran away from pursuing music. Although she is the daughter of one of pop music’s most popular and successful singer-songwriters, her father is also among the most infamous: He is R. Kelly, currently in jail, facing multiple charges of sexual abuse and sex trafficking....

CHICAGO — Jussie Smollett’s attorneys have filed a motion arguing that the actor should not have to pay Chicago $130,000 for a police investigation into what he claimed was a racist and homophobic attack, because he couldn’t have known how much time and money the department would spend looking into...

Pennsylvania’s highest court will determine if a woman shot seven years ago in the psychiatric clinic where she worked can sue the University of Pittsburgh over the assailant’s treatment before the attack. The Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will decide whether a former Allegheny County judge made the right decision...

NEW YORK — Starbucks shares tumbled Wednesday after the company lowered its 2020 earnings forecast. In a presentation to Goldman Sachs’ Global Retaining Conference, the Seattle-based coffee giant said it expects adjusted earnings to grow less than 10% in its 2020 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Its prior outlook...

MOSCOW — A Moscow court has convicted two people of using force on police at a July 27 protest rally and given them multi-year prison sentences. The court ruled on Wednesday that 28-year-old Kirill Zhukov used illegal force by pulling up a riot police officer’s visor. Zhukov received a three-year...

HARRISBURG — Lack of interest has thwarted Pennsylvania’s latest casino expansion attempt. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board received no bidders Wednesday in a casino license auction ordered by lawmakers as part of an aggressive gambling expansion launched in 2017 by a cash-hungry state government. It was Pennsylvania’s second failed effort...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit declined in July, including the gap with China that has been the focus of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the gap between the goods and services the United States buys and what it sells abroad fell 2.7% to $54...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Alabama couple has been sentenced to prison on charges related to producing child porn. A Justice Department statement says 36-year-old Kenneth Earl Hooks got two life sentences and 120 years, to run consecutively. Sarah Pauline Morris, 28, was sentenced to about 16 years. The statement says...

LOS ANGELES — Oprah Winfrey is taking her motivational spirit on the road early next year with an arena tour to promote a healthier lifestyle. The former talk-show host and OWN television network chief announced Wednesday that the “Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus” tour will begin Jan. 4...

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is moving to make Michigan the first state to ban flavored e-cigarettes. The Democrat announced Wednesday that she ordered the state health department to issue emergency rules. They will prohibit the sale and misleading marketing of flavored nicotine vaping products. Whitmer says in a...

PHILADELPHIA — Authorities say an SUV being pursued by police crashed into a commuter bus in Philadelphia, injuring nine people. The pursuit started in Upper Merion, as police tried to capture three robbery suspects. State police soon joined in, and the SUV eventually rear-ended the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s bus...