Associated Press stories, Page 2336

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. — The Southern country-rock group Confederate Railroad lost a second summer fair gig after objections over the use of the Confederate flag in its logo. The band’s Aug. 1 date at the Ulster County Fair in New York’s Hudson Valley has been canceled, a spokesman for Ulster...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The ex-wife of slain former NBA player Lorenzen Wright agreed to a deal Thursday in which she pleads guilty to facilitation to first-degree murder and receives a 30-year prison sentence. Sherra Wright entered the plea during a hearing in Shelby County Criminal Court. Lorenzen Wright’s body was...

Drake has two new partners: SiriusXM and Pandora. The two companies which merged earlier this year announced Thursday that they have signed a new creative partnership with the superstar rapper. The new deal includes “a dedicated station, curated music, and collaborations with creative talent.” The roll-out will start later this...

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A Florida man struck by lightning over the weekend has died. Clearwater police say 32-year-old Garry Perks of New Port Richey died on Wednesday, three days after he and seven other people were injured by a lightning strike on Clearwater Beach. Witnesses said people were moving off...

CLEVELAND — Casino operator MGM Resorts International said Tuesday that an inquiry by a weekly Cleveland newspaper has prompted the company to begin removing a six-pointed star logo from the yellow shirts of security guards that a casino guest said “screams” the Jude star Nazi Germany forced Jews to wear....

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Police in Virginia say a bystander shot two males as they robbed a convenience store and one of them has died. Virginia Beach police said in a statement that the shooting occurred early Thursday at a 7-Eleven. They said they believe three people tried to rob...

MOSCOW — The Ukrainian Security Service said Thursday it had seized a Russian tanker in a Black Sea port, a move that could undermine an anticipated prisoner swap between the two countries. The security service said it detained the Russian tanker in a Ukrainian port on Wednesday. Authorities said the...

NEW YORK — Soccer star Megan Rapinoe has scored again, this time with a book deal. Penguin Press announced Thursday that Rapinoe’s book, currently untitled, will be published in Fall 2020. Penguin is calling the book a “perfect vehicle” for an “honest, thoughtful, unapologetic” take on everything from soccer to...

NEW YORK — Wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein was found on the floor of his jail cell with bruises on his neck early this week while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday. It was not clear whether the injuries were self-inflicted or from...

SANGATTE, France — Looking like a superhero, the French inventor of an airborne hoverboard glided partway over the English Channel on his personal flying machine then crashed in the sea Thursday. Unharmed and undeterred, 40-year-old Franky Zapata said he plans to try again. Perhaps within days. The inventor collided with...

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the European Union on Thursday to rethink its refusal to renegotiate the Brexit deal, setting himself on a collision course with both the bloc and his own lawmakers over his vow to leave the EU by Oct. 31. Addressing a rowdy session...

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department says it will carry out executions of federal death row inmates for the first time since 2003. The department says five inmates will be executed, starting in December. In 2014, President Barack Obama directed the department to conduct a review of capital punishment and issues...

PARIS — Record temperatures are being set across Europe, including Paris, as the continent swelters Thursday in what is its second heat wave this summer. Climate scientists warn this could become the new normal in many parts of the world. But temperate Europe — where air conditioning is rare —...

SPIRO, Okla. — The owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in eastern Oklahoma is under arrest after being accused of selling methamphetamine from his business. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics says 38-year-old Jeffrey Peregrino was arrested Wednesday at his store, Left Handed Okies, in Spiro, about 165 miles east of...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is encouraging Republican lawmakers to back a sweeping bipartisan budget deal his administration struck with Democrats. Trump tweeted on Thursday morning that “House Republicans should support the TWO YEAR BUDGET AGREEMENT which greatly helps our Military and our Vets.” He adds in a note of...

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine president has offered a bounty to anybody who can deliver to him the head of the communist insurgent leader behind the killings of four police intelligence officers last week in an insurgency-hit central province. President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he raised a reward of 3...

WASHINGTON — Medicare could save $1.57 for every dollar spent delivering free healthy meals to frail seniors after a hospitalization, according to a new study that comes as lawmakers look to restrain costs by promoting patients’ well-being. The report Thursday from the Bipartisan Policy Center addresses ways that Medicare can...

WASHINGTON — After months of anticipation, Congress finally heard testimony from former special counsel Robert Mueller. So what now? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Mueller’s appearance was “a crossing of a threshold,” raising public awareness of what Mueller found. And Democrats after the hearing said they had clearly laid out...

WHEELING, West Virginia — A triumphant President Donald Trump celebrated Wednesday evening after Robert Mueller’s testimony, telling attendees at a closed-door fundraiser in West Virginia that the former special counsel’s appearance was a dud. Trump, who arrived at the fundraiser energized and excited, told a crowd at the WesBanco Arena...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said late Wednesday that he will resign Aug. 2 after nearly two weeks of furious protests and political upheaval touched off by a leak of crude and insulting chat messages between him and his top advisers. A crowd of...

KATHMANDU, Nepal — In the forests of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu near the revered Hindu temple of Pahsupatinath, some 300 monkeys eagerly await their pieces of roti, or flat bread. For the past four years, Saraswati Dangol has been bringing the bread every day to feed the monkeys. She buys some...

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, the first weapons launches in more than two months as North Korean and U.S. officials struggle to restart nuclear negotiations. The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles fired from...

CANBERRA, Australia — About a quarter of shark habitats are actively targeted by global commercial fishing fleets, leaving the predators with limited places to hide from the longlines, or baited hooks, on which they frequently get caught, according to study published Wednesday. The researchers found areas frequented by protected species...

A Pennsylvania school district that warned parents behind on their lunch bills that their children could end up in foster care, and then rejected a businessman’s offer to pay the overdue charges, is apologizing and says it wants to accept the donation after all. The Wyoming Valley West school board...