Associated Press stories, Page 2330

BAYTOWN, Texas — A fire burning at an Exxon Mobil refinery in Texas is sending a large plume of smoke into the air, the latest in a series of fires in Houston area involving the petrochemical industry. The fire broke out Wednesday at an Exxon Mobil facility in Baytown, about...

Pennsylvanians who prefer not to be identified as male or female will soon have a gender-neutral option on their state-issued driver’s licenses. The Daily Item of Sunbury reported PennDOT expects to have the new procedure in place by the middle of next year. It will let motorists use “X” as...

JERUSALEM — The Israeli Cabinet unanimously approved a proposal to build over 700 housing units for Palestinians in addition to 6,000 Israeli settlement housing units in the West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government advanced the proposal late on Tuesday, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of...

NEW YORK — Harold Prince, a Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as “The Phantom of the Opera,” ”Cabaret,” ”Company” and “Sweeney Todd” and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards, has died. Prince was 91. Prince’s publicist Rick Miramontez said Prince...

NEW YORK — The country’s biggest TV networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX — are suing Locast, a streaming service that transmits their broadcasts for free. The companies say that Locast is violating their copyrights. Locast has held that under the law, it is allowed to stream the networks...

LONDON — The Duchess of Sussex is launching a clothing line to support a charity that helps unemployed women find work. Meghan Markle has teamed up with designer and friend Misha Nonoo and British retailers Marks & Spencer, John Lewis & Partners and Jigsaw to create a workwear collection to...

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — The clock strikes 10 p.m. on a Friday night when the “Parent Patrol” enters a popular playground in suburban Reykjavik. The teens turn down the music and reach for their phones to check the time: It’s ticking into curfew. Every weekend, parents all over the Icelandic capital...

WASHINGTON — U.S. companies added a healthy 156,000 jobs in July with larger firms accounted for much of the gains, a private survey found. Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that there was solid hiring in the construction, transportation, health care and leisure and hospitality sectors. But smaller companies are struggling...

MOSCOW — An unmanned Russian spaceship carrying supplies for the International Space Station has launched from Russia’s space complex in Kazakhstan. The Progress 73 cargo ship blasted off atop a Soyuz rocket at 8:10 a.m. EST Wednesday. It is to dock with the ISS about 3½ hours later after two...

EAGLEVILLE — A former Pennsylvania attorney general who served about eight months in jail for leaking grand jury material and lying about it was released Wednesday. Kathleen Kane left the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in the Philadelphia suburbs about 8:20 a.m. When asked by a reporter how she felt, Kane...

Rapper Cardi B postponed an Indianapolis concert following what police described as an unverified threat to the Grammy-winning artist. A post on her Twitter account offered an apology to fans about Tuesday’s planned show at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, saying: “My safety and your safety first.” Dear Indiana people I’m so...

The celebrity ancestry show “Finding Your Roots” has a message to counter divisive political rhetoric, said its host, educator Henry Louis Gates Jr. The PBS series demonstrates that “we’re all descended from immigrants,” whether they came to America willingly or as slaves, and all share a common origin, Gates told...

CINCINNATI — Jared Hughes’ errant pitch threw a load of fuel on one of the majors’ most flammable rivalries. Call it Pirates vs. Reds, round two — and a fitting farewell for Yasiel Puig. Hughes hit Starling Marte with his first pitch in the ninth inning Tuesday night, setting the...

DETROIT — Liberal firebrands Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren slapped back against moderate rivals who ridiculed “Medicare for All” during a fierce Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night in which lesser-known pragmatists warned that “wish-list economics” would jeopardize the presidency. The tug-of-war over the future of the party early in the...

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast Wednesday in defiance of U.N. resolutions, South Korea’s military said, less than a week after Pyongyang’s first weapons tests in more than two months. Observers say the launches were aimed at ramping up pressure on...

NEW YORK — If Madison Bumgarner, Noah Syndergaard, Trevor Bauer, Mike Minor or Robbie Ray is going to get dealt to a contender desperate for arms, it will happen this week or not at all. Baseball’s trade window shuts Wednesday afternoon — completely, not like in years past. Marcus Stroman,...

National team coach Jill Ellis is stepping down after leading the United States to back-to-back Women’s World Cup titles. Ellis has been coach of the team since 2014 and has led it to eight overall tournament titles, including victories at the World Cup in 2015 in Canada and earlier this...

SAN DIEGO — More than 900 children have been separated from their families at the border since a judge ordered that the practice be sharply curtailed, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday. One parent was separated for property damage valued at $5, the ACLU said. Six parents were separated...

A former Pennsylvania attorney general will be released from a county jail after serving about eight months for leaking grand jury material and lying about it, the warden said Tuesday. Montgomery County Correctional Facility Warden Julio Algarin said Kathleen Kane shaved about two months off her minimum sentence by serving...

The past few weeks have been a blur to Zion Williamson. Picked No. 1 in the NBA draft by the New Orleans Pelicans. Signed his first pro contract that could be worth as much as $45 million over the next four years. Went to summer league and got hurt after...