Associated Press stories, Page 2389
Giant emoji painted on house roil California community
A Southern California seaside community is in an uproar after a home was given a new paint job featuring two huge emoji on a bright pink background. Manhattan Beach residents railed against the makeover during a City Council meeting Tuesday night, citing problems with spectators and asserting that it was...
3 killed when small plane crashes in backyard of Pa. home
A small plane has crashed in the backyard of an eastern Pennsylvania home, killing three people aboard the aircraft. The single-engine plane went down around 6:20 a.m. Thursday in Willow Grove, shortly after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport. It wasn’t immediately known where it was headed. Upper Moreland Police...
Willie Nelson cancels tour, cites ‘breathing problem’
NEW YORK — Willie Nelson has canceled his tour because of a “breathing problem.” The 86-year-old singer apologized on Twitter late Wednesday, writing “I need to have my doctor check out.” Nelson had just finished performing with Alison Krauss in Toledo, Ohio, and he was next scheduled to appear Friday...
Trump says he’s considering commutation for Blagojevich
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he’s “very strongly” considering commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is serving a 14-year prison term on multiple federal corruption convictions. Trump suggested more than a year ago that he was considering a commutation for Blagojevich, who then filed paperwork...
Mayors push Senate to return to Washington for gun bill vote
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 200 mayors, including two anguished by mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, are urging the Senate to return to the Capitol to act on gun safety legislation amid criticism that Congress is failing to respond to back-to-back shootings that killed 31 people. In a letter...
New UN warming report sees hungry future that can be avoided
WASHINGTON — On the ground, climate change is hitting us where it counts: the stomach — not to mention the forests, plants and animals. A new United Nations scientific report examines how global warming and land interact in a vicious cycle. Human-caused climate change is dramatically degrading the land, while...
Attacker kills 4 in series of stabbings in California cities
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Investigators believe a man who stabbed four people to death and wounded two others targeted his victims at random during a bloody rampage across two Southern California cities, authorities said. The 33-year-old man from the city of Garden Grove was “full of anger” when he carried...
With AI and other tech, researcher focuses on helping people with disabilities
SEATTLE — While walking beneath a canopy of trees on the winding Burke Gilman trail, artificial intelligence researcher Anat Caspi pointed to the evenness of the terrain along the University of Washington campus periphery. “A lot of times we don’t want the shortest path,” Caspi said over the din of...
How to keep your razors from contributing to landfill waste
NEW YORK — How bad is your disposable razor for the environment? The question is gaining attention among consumers amid a growing global campaign against plastic waste, with cities and countries introducing bans on single-use plastic bags and straws. Don’t worry, there’s no talk of banning your razor, which isn’t...
Largest U.S. immigration raids in a decade net 680 arrests
MORTON, Miss. — U.S. immigration officials raided seven Mississippi chicken processing plants Wednesday, arresting 680 mostly Latino workers in the largest workplace sting in at least a decade. The raids, planned months ago, happened just hours before President Trump visited El Paso, Texas, the majority-Latino border city where a man...
Train station experiment reveals one way to counteract bias against Muslims
An experiment conducted in German train stations involving paper cups and escaping oranges has found that people are less likely to help a woman if she appears to be Muslim — but they’re more likely to help that same woman if she somehow proves that she shares their social values....
House Judiciary sues to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to testifyVideo
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee took another step toward possible impeachment proceedings, filing a lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday aimed at forcing former White House counsel Donald McGahn to testify about his interactions with President Trump. McGahn was a star witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation who...
Simone Biles on USA Gymnastics’ failures: ‘You couldn’t protect us’
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The mix of rage, disappointment and grief are still there. Just under the surface. And while Simone Biles tries to stay focused on the healing process more than 18 months after the Olympic gymnastics champion revealed she was among the hundreds of athletes abused by disgraced...
Micah Parsons primed to be Penn State’s next star linebackerVideo
STATE COLLEGE — Micah Parsons hardly could wait to see his face on the massive video board atop Beaver Stadium. He imagined how cool it would be to hear 107,000 fans roar when he was announced as a starting linebacker for Penn State — as a freshman. Parsons rolled into...
Offensive continuity could have Chiefs flying high againVideo
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — The day Patrick Mahomes checked into Scanlon Hall on the campus of Missouri Western for the start of training camp, he was greeted by Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka. That’s the same trio that guided the...
In video, Colin Kaepernick says he’s ‘still ready’ to return
Colin Kaepernick says he’s “still ready” to return to the NFL, even though he is set to enter his third season out of the league. In a video posted Wednesday on social media, the 31-year-old Kaepernick is shown working out in a gym. He says in the video: “5 a.m....
Yellowstone officials warn of dangerous behavior with bison
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A man reaches over a railing to pet a bison on the head in yet another example of dangerous behavior by visitors to Yellowstone National Park. A video shows the bison stepped away from the man standing on a crowded boardwalk near a thermal area. Nobody was...
Canadian police say 2 bodies found, believed to be teen fugitivesVideo
TORONTO — Canadian police said Wednesday they believe two fugitives suspected of killing a North Carolina woman and her Australian boyfriend as well as another man have been found dead in dense brush in northern Manitoba. Authorities located two male bodies and are confident they are 19-year-old Kam McLeod and...
32 busted in federal drug crackdown in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they charged nearly three dozen people, mostly Honduran nationals, after investigators uncovered twin international trafficking operations that poured heroin, meth and cocaine into a notorious San Francisco neighborhood crawling with rampant drug use. The drug charges are the first step in a...
Fox: Jussie Smollett won’t be on final season on ‘Empire’
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Fox Entertainment chief Charlie Collier says Jussie Smollett won’t be back on “Empire.” Collier, speaking to TV critics Wednesday, affirmed series co-creator Lee Daniels’ decision to drop Smollett from the drama’s upcoming final season. Daniels had initially supported Smollett after the actor claimed he suffered a...
Puerto Rico high court overturns Pedro Pierluisi as governor
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the swearing in of Pedro Pierluisi as the island’s governor less than a week ago, clearing the way for Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez to take up the post after weeks of turmoil. The unanimous ruling said Pierluisi must...
Fox chief says Emmy Awards won’t have a host this year
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The Oscars did it, and now the Emmys will too. There will be no host at the ceremony honoring TV’s best next month. Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier said Wednesday that going hostless allows more time to salute departing shows, including “Game of Thrones.” The HBO...
U.S. hopes for North Korea nuclear talks despite missile tests
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is still hoping to hold another round of nuclear talks with North Korea despite the country’s recent missile tests, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. Those talks could be held within a “a couple of weeks,” Pompeo said, speaking shortly after returning from Asia and...
Florida woman bites intruder who forced his way into home
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A nearly toothless South Florida woman says she bit a man who forced his way into her apartment. Alice Coleman tells WSVN she woke up early Monday morning to a fire alarm going off. The 61-year-old says that when opened the door, a man pushed his...
USA Today HQ search concludes without incident after report of man with weapon
McLEAN, Va. —Police have cleared the northern Virginia office building that houses USA Today without incident after receiving a report of an armed man. Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler said Wednesday afternoon that SWAT teams had concluded their search and found no evidence that any crime had occurred. Police...
