Associated Press stories, Page 2402
Crews make progress on large Southern California wildfire
LOS ANGELES — Authorities lifted evacuation orders for a farm community Saturday as firefighters make progress on a large wildfire in Southern California that continues to threaten about 2,500 homes and buildings. Ventura County officials allowed an unknown number of residents in Somis to return home Saturday morning after firefighters...
‘Chalkbus’ inspires drawings and connectivity
AMERICAN FORK, Utah — No matter where he parks his VW bus coated in chalkboard paint, Jonathan Sherman comes back to find great new art adorning the sides. Once a week, he washes it and creates a new canvass for the amateur artists of American Fork who are inspired to...
Long-running coal plant on Navajo reservation nears its end
ALONG THE BLACK MESA AND LAKE POWELL RAILROAD, Ariz. — One of the largest coal-fired power plants in the American West will close before the year ends and others in the region are on track to shut down or reduce their output in the next few years. Owners of the...
Space shipment launched with sports car parts, cookie ovenVideo
A supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station on Saturday with sports car parts, an oven for baking cookies and a vest to protect against radiation. Northrop Grumman launched its Cygnus capsule for NASA from Wallops Island, Virginia. The 8,200-pound shipment should reach the orbiting lab Monday. “Good launch...
Fitbit buy is Google’s latest step into gadgetry
Google’s acquisition of wearable pioneer Fitbit may be a bold plunge into health and fitness technology. But it’s also just the latest step in the internet giant’s often-halting effort to become a force in consumer hardware. Once a pure software company known for its search engine, apps like Gmail and...
South Dakota set to execute man who stabbed former co-worker
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Donnivan Schaeffer was delivering supplies to the South Dakota doughnut shop where he worked when a former co-worker who was in the middle of burglarizing the place ambushed the 22-year-old, stabbing him in the stomach. Bleeding from his wound, Schaeffer begged to be taken to a...
Greta Thunberg call to fight global warming cheers LA rally
LOS ANGELES — Greta Thunberg, Sweden’s 16-year-old climate-change activist, joined fellow teenagers from throughout California Friday in telling a cheering crowd of hundreds at a Los Angeles rally that they can and will fight to save their planet from global warming. Thunberg, who has been traveling across the United States...
Denny Hamlin racing for NASCAR title with torn labrum in shoulderVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — Denny Hamlin can put off until after the season the surgery he needs to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder that has bothered him for some time. There is still the push to try to win his first NASCAR Cup championship, and a lingering...
Broncos place injured QB Joe Flacco on injured reserveVideo
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Joe Flacco’s Denver debut lasted half a season. The Broncos placed the veteran quarterback they acquired from the Baltimore Ravens on injured reserve Friday and promoted rookie QB Brett Rypien from their practice squad to back up new starter Brandon Allen. Coach Vic Fangio said though Flacco...
Mets hire Carlos Beltran as managerVideo
NEW YORK — Carlos Beltran, two years removed from his playing career and with no managerial experience, was picked by the New York Mets to replace Mickey Callaway. The Mets announced the move Friday. A nine-time All-Star during 20 major league seasons, Beltran played for the Mets from 2005-11. He...
After beating cancer, ex-Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk continues fight
Eddie Olczyk was ready to give up. The NHL player turned coach turned broadcaster was on his second round of chemotherapy for stage 3 colon cancer, and the effects were so severe he told his wife, Diana, he couldn’t do it anymore. Diana told her husband to fight for her,...
Mississippi’s Jim Crow-era election system stands, for now
JACKSON, Miss. — A federal judge ruled Friday that he will not immediately block Mississippi’s unique, multistep process for electing a governor and other statewide officials, which was enacted at a time of Jim Crow segregation to maintain white rule. However, in a ruling handed down days before Tuesday’s election,...
Groups ask California governor to deter parolee deportations
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Immigrant rights groups called Friday for Gov. Gavin Newsom to end policies they say ease the transfer of prison inmates to federal authorities despite California’s efforts to provide a sanctuary to those who are in the country illegally. The groups asked Newsom to stop prison officials from...
Theater owners: ‘The Irishman’ ‘deserved better’ release
NEW YORK — Martin Scorsese’s crime epic “The Irishman” landed in theaters Friday, but not nearly enough of them for theater owners. John Fithian, president and chief executive of National Association of Theater Owners on Friday lamented Netflix’s rollout of one of the year’s most acclaimed films, from one of...
Louisiana man gets probation in whooping crane death
A Louisiana man was sentenced to probation Friday for killing one of the state’s oldest whooping cranes . Gilvin P. Aucoin Jr., of Ville Platte, shot the endangered whooping crane in July 2018 in Evangeline Parish. In a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carol B. Whitehurst, Aucoin changed his plea...
Beto O’Rourke announces he’s dropping 2020 presidential bid
Democrat Beto O’Rourke has announced he’s dropping his 2020 presidential bid. O’Rourke tweeted Friday that his campaign “has always been about seeing clearly, speaking honestly, and acting decisively.” He writes, “In that spirit: I am announcing that my service to the country will not be as a candidate or as...
Stocks hit records as strong jobs report calms trade worries
NEW YORK — Stocks powered to records Friday after an encouraging jobs report gave reassurance that the economy is still solid, despite the pain U.S. factories are feeling from President Donald Trump’s trade war. The Labor Department’s report showed that employers added more jobs in October than economists expected, and...
U.K. police say truck victims from Vietnam; 3 suspects held
LONDON — All 39 people found dead in a refrigerated container truck in England last week were Vietnamese nationals, British police said Friday, as three more people were arrested in Ireland and Vietnam in the sprawling international investigation into what appears to be a people-smuggling tragedy. British detectives initially said...
Trump taps cancer specialist from Texas hospital to run FDA
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday picked a cancer specialist and hospital executive to lead the Food and Drug Administration. If confirmed, Dr. Stephen Hahn of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston would inherit a raft of high-profile public health issues, including leading the agency’s response to the...
Minnesota company snubs time change by removing clocks
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — While most everyone wishes they could turn back time, one of the largest corporations in the country is sick of it. Minnesota-based 3M is taking advantage of the end of daylight saving time and removing about 1,000 wall clocks at its 400-acre Maplewood campus. For decades, nearly...
Trump fires up religious critics with job for televangelist
The ascension of Paula White as an official member of Donald Trump’s White House highlights how closely the president is relying on his inner circle of evangelical Christian supporters as he fights an impeachment probe during his reelection bid — while giving liberal evangelicals a new opening to push back...
Autopsy shows 8-foot python fatally strangled Indiana woman
OXFORD, Ind. — An autopsy has determined that an Indiana woman found with an 8-foot-long python wrapped around her neck was killed by the reptile. State Police said Friday the autopsy found that 36-year-old Laura Hurst’s cause of death was “asphyxiation due to strangulation by a snake.” Those findings are...
University of Texas fraternity closes over hazing claims
AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas chapter of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity has been shut down following a university investigation into hazing allegations. The investigation found that during the 2018-19 school year fraternity pledges were shot with air soft guns and forced to eat spicy soup made with...
Storms kill 1, knock out power, downs trees on East Coast
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Storms that began on Halloween killed at least one person, caused flooding, down trees and power lines and damaged homes from the Deep South to the Northeast on Friday. More than 500,000 customers — from South Carolina to Maine and in Ohio — were without electricity Friday...
Fire crews take advantage of calmer weather in CaliforniaVideo
LOS ANGELES — Calmer weather allowed crews to increase containment of wildfires after a three-week siege of gusts fanned blazes across California and led utilities to cut power to prevent winds from blowing branches into electric lines and igniting an inferno. Winds subsided in virtually all parts of the state,...
