Associated Press stories, Page 2438
Walmart’s Sam’s Club launches health care pilot to members
NEW YORK — Walmart’s Sam’s Club is teaming up with several health care companies to offer discounts on routine care that customers might delay or skip because of the cost. Starting next month, Sam’s Club members in Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina will be able to buy bundles of health...
3rd man charged with drug counts in Mac Miller’s death
LOS ANGELES — A third man has been arrested and charged with drug offenses in connection with rapper Mac Miller’s overdose death last year. Court documents show Stephen Walter is suspected of selling counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl that Miller possessed before he died last September of an accidental...
Hal Steinbrenner: Yankees never gave up through injury adversityVideo
TAMPA, Fla. — New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner thinks manager Aaron Boone has the team ready for the postseason after an unprecedented run of injuries. New York won the AL East for the first time since 2012 and will open the playoffs in the Division Series at home Oct....
Ex-French President Chirac embraced European unity, opposed U.S. invasion of Iraq
PARIS — Jacques Chirac, a two-term French president who was the first leader to acknowledge France’s role in the Holocaust and who defiantly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, died Thursday at 86. President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute in a nationally televised speech to a predecessor he said...
Penn State, Maryland not worried about past results in lopsided series
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland first-year coach Mike Locksley has no desire to look into the past before leading the Terrapins into Friday night’s matchup with No. 12 Penn State. And with good reason: It has been all Penn State. But Locksley insists recent results in the terribly lopsided Penn...
U.S. deploys air defense systems, troops to Saudi Arabia
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is sending one Patriot missile battery and four ground-based radar systems to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said Thursday, in what officials describe as the first steps to help the kingdom protect itself against Iranian attacks. Two more Patriot batteries and a THAAD missile defense system will...
Uber adds more services to its app in its quest for profit
SAN FRANCISCO — Uber is cramming more services into its ride-hailing app as it explores ways to generate more revenue and finally turn a profit. The makeover announced Thursday includes force-feeding its food delivery service, “Eats,” into the Uber app that millions of people use to summon a ride. That...
Egypt rights group: Nearly 2,000 detained since protests
CAIRO — An Egyptian rights groups said Thursday the number of people arrested and detailed in the wake of last weekend’s protests has risen to nearly 2,000 amid fresh calls for new rallies demanding President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi step down. Rare protests erupted in Cairo and several other provinces last Friday...
‘Gross’ lanternflies causing big bug problem for someVideo
KUTZTOWN, Pa. — In the Great Spotted Lanternfly War, Pennsylvania’s citizen-soldiers are fighting back with fly swatters and vacuums, dish soap and sticky tape. They’re stomping and spraying and zapping and bragging about their kills on social media. “DESTROY THEM,” a propaganda poster urges. “Die, die, die, spotted lanternfly,” a...
McDonald’s takes a nibble of the plant-based burgerVideo
McDonald’s is finally taking a nibble of the plant-based burger. McDonald’s said Thursday that will sell the PLT, or the plant, lettuce and tomato burger for 12 weeks in 28 restaurants in Southwestern Ontario by the end of the month. The small-market test is rolling out about six months after...
Health officials: It’s time to give flu vaccine another shot
WASHINGTON— The flu forecast is cloudy and it’s too soon to know if the U.S. is in for a third miserable season in a row, but health officials said Thursday not to delay vaccination. While the vaccine didn’t offer much protection the past two years, specialists have fine-tuned the recipe...
Census: Inequality grew, including in heartland states
ORLANDO, Fla. — The gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States grew last year to its highest level in more than 50 years of tracking income inequality, according to Census Bureau figures. Income inequality in the United States expanded from 2017 to 2018, with several heartland states...
‘OK’ hand gesture, ‘Bowlcut’ added to hate symbols databaseVideo
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The “OK” hand gesture, a mass killer’s bowl-style haircut and an anthropomorphic moon wearing sunglasses are among 36 new entries in a Jewish civil rights group’s online database of hate symbols used by white supremacists and other far-right extremists. The Anti-Defamation League has added the symbols...
Whistleblower: White House tried to ‘lock down’ details of Ukraine call
WASHINGTON — A secret whistleblower complaint at the center of an impeachment inquiry alleges that President Donald Trump abused the power of his office to “solicit interference from a foreign country” in next year’s U.S. election. The White House then tried to “lock down” the information to cover it up,...
Court to hear Alex Jones’ appeal in Sandy Hook case
HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut’s highest court is set to hear arguments on whether conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was wrongly penalized for an outburst on his internet show against a lawyer for relatives of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims. The state Supreme Court hearing is scheduled for Thursday. Relatives of...
Washington plunges into Trump impeachment investigation
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pressed the leader of Ukraine to “look into” Joe Biden, Trump’s potential 2020 reelection rival, as well as the president’s lingering grievances from the 2016 election, according to a rough transcript of a summer phone call that is now at the center of Democrats’ impeachment...
How Trump’s Ukraine call could violate campaign finance laws
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s repeated prodding of the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden and his son could amount to an illegal request for a campaign contribution from a foreign citizen. Federal law states it is illegal to “knowingly solicit, accept, or receive from a foreign national any contribution...
Texas inmate executed for stabbing deaths of 2 stepsons
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas inmate who claimed he was intellectually disabled was executed Wednesday for fatally stabbing his two stepsons during a 2007 attack in which his wife also died. Robert Sparks received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the slayings of 9-year-old Harold Sublet...
Guilty plea in case of man forced by police to lick urinal
HONOLULU — A Honolulu homeless man fearing he would be arrested reluctantly obeyed a police officer’s orders to lick a public urinal, according to court document made public Wednesday after a former officer pleaded guilty to failing to report the incident. And it wasn’t the first time. Officer John Rabago...
Facebook says it isn’t fact checking politicians on the site
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook says it does not fact check politicians’ statements on its site, even if they might be false. The social network operator says that’s because such statements could be newsworthy — and it doesn’t want to act as a “referee” for political debates. Facebook works with third-party...
Report critical of sheriff’s post-Parkland suspension
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The sheriff suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis over the Parkland high school shooting should be reinstated, a Florida Senate official said Wednesday, arguing the governor failed to show the sheriff’s policies or alleged negligence were to blame for the massacre of 17 people. Florida Senate special...
U.S. stocks rebound on housing data, Trump trade deal remark
U.S. stocks finished broadly higher Wednesday after President Donald Trump indicated that a deal to resolve the long-running, costly trade dispute with China could happen soon. Trump’s remarks, in addition to a sharp increase in sales of new U.S. homes, helped reverse an early slide for stocks. Technology companies led...
An unrepentant Boris Johnson faces raucous Parliament
LONDON — An unrepentant Prime Minister Boris Johnson brushed off cries of “Resign!” and dared his foes to try to topple him Wednesday at a raucous session of Parliament, a day after Britain’s highest court ruled he acted illegally in suspending the body ahead of the Brexit deadline. Amid shouts,...
California farm region faces furry new threat: swamp rodents
LOS BANOS, Calif. — One of the most recent threats to California’s environment has webbed feet, white whiskers, shaggy fur and orange buck teeth that could be mistaken for carrots. “Boy, they’re an ugly-looking thing,” said David Passadori, an almond and walnut grower in central California. “And the way they...
More than 136K eggs fall off semitrailer onto Pa. roadway
Police say a tractor-trailer driving through Hegins Township lost over 136,000 eggs when its load shifted. The Republican Herald reports 11,340 dozen eggs and 2,260 gallons of egg product were lost as 66-year-old driver lost control of the rig Tuesday morning. Hegins Township police say Miles had just picked the...
