Associated Press stories, Page 2439
GM seeks to avoid Takata recalls for fourth straight year
DETROIT — General Motors is trying to avoid recalling potentially deadly Takata air bag inflators in thousands of full-size pickup trucks and SUVs for the fourth straight year, leaving owners to wonder if vehicles are safe to drive. The automaker petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to exempt it...
New England newspaper owner fights to save local journalism
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — These days, the news about local news seems relentlessly bad: Newsroom employment, down by nearly half over the past 15 years. Waves of layoffs continuing to hit both traditional newspaper chains and digital news startups. Cities and towns so denuded of coverage that they’re described as “news...
Arctic Norway island wants to be ‘time-free’ during summer
Residents on an Arctic Norwegian island with 69 days of constant light in the summer say they want to go “time-free” and be more flexible with school and working hours to make the most of the long days. Resident Kjell Ove Hveding says people on the island of Sommaroey —...
Polar bear spotted in Russian city, far from normal habitat
An emaciated polar bear has been sighted in a Russian industrial city in Siberia, far south of its normal hunting grounds. Emergency officials in the city of Norilsk in a statement on Tuesday warned local residents about a bear that has been spotted in one city district. Anatoly Nikolaichuk, chief...
Driver dead after carjacking, being run over by officer
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Police in Alabama say a person is dead after being assaulted during a carjacking and then run over by an off-duty officer. Birmingham police Sgt. Johnny Williams tells news outlets a driver crashed into a motorcycle early Wednesday and was then carjacked by people who stopped at...
Woman trapped in St. Louis jail stairwell for 2.5 days
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Authorities say a woman was trapped in a St. Louis jail stairwell for more than two days after not understanding how to get out of the building. St. Louis Corrections Commissioner Dale Glass said the woman didn’t appear to be suffering when she was found and...
Hicks rebuffs questions on Trump White House in interview
WASHINGTON — Former top White House adviser Hope Hicks on Wednesday refused to answer questions related to her time in the White House in an interview with the House Judiciary Committee, dimming Democrats’ chances of obtaining new or substantive information about President Trump as part of their investigation into obstruction...
Trial over downing of MH17 to start in March; 4 suspects charged
NIEUWEGEIN, Netherlands — The mother of one of the 298 victims of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 says at least four suspects will be tried for murder in a case set to start in March 2020. Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son Bryce was among the dead, expressed relief that...
Urn with Pa. man’s ashes stolen after funeral
YORK — Family members say someone stole an urn with a man’s ashes after his funeral in Pennsylvania. A service for 42-year-old Sam Abreght was held over the weekend at the Salvation Army in York. His cremains were divided into three urns, one of which was to go to his...
Trump EPA rolls back Obama rule on coal-fired power plants
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration on Wednesday completed one of its biggest rollbacks of environmental rules, replacing a landmark Obama-era effort that sought to wean the nation’s electrical grid off coal-fired power plants and their climate-damaging pollution. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, signed a...
Trump rehashes gripes, rips ‘radical’ Dems in 2020 launch
ORLANDO — Jabbing at the press and poking the eye of the political establishment he ran against in 2016, President Trump officially kicked off his reelection campaign Tuesday with a grievance-filled Florida rally that focused more on settling scores than laying out his agenda for a second term. Addressing a...
Fans arrive in droves to honor Broncos’ Pat Bowlen at public tributeVideo
DENVER — Some wore full costumes and others sported jerseys, including one Denver Broncos supporter with “P. Bowlen” on the back. Quite a few devotees stood in the rain for about an hour before making their way inside the stadium. The fans arrived in droves Tuesday to pay respect to...
U.S. women welcome tough test vs. Sweden in World Cup
LE HAVRE, France — Victory is the goal for the United States in its group stage finale against Sweden, even though a loss might give the Americans an easier path through the knockout rounds of the Women’s World Cup. “I think it’s in our team’s DNA to want to win...
NFL teams up with NCAA for next round of safety improvements
INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL’s top medical experts are asking college football physicians and trainers to help make the game safer. They want the NCAA to pitch in, too. Dr. Allen Sills and Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president for health and safety initiatives, spent Monday and Tuesday in Indianapolis...
Texas’ Jaxson Hayes headlights big men in NBA Draft
Jaxson Hayes needed only a year at Texas to put himself at the front of the class of big men in Thursday’s NBA Draft. The freshman could go late in the lottery, headlining a list of intriguing talents as the role of the big man has evolved in the NBA...
France detains soccer great Michel Platini in 2022 World Cup probe
PARIS — French police investigating whether corruption played a role in the stunning decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar took 1980s soccer superstar and former top executive Michel Platini into custody Tuesday for questioning. Platini’s representatives denied any wrongdoing on his part, saying he is “absolutely confident...
Sharks re-signing Erik Karlsson sets table for busy NHL offseason
Erik Karlsson had no wanderlust to test the free-agent market before re-signing in San Jose. “I never thought outside that box,” Karlsson said. “I’m happy that it didn’t get to that.” A handful of other teams aren’t so happy because the two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman would have been the best...
U.S. air quality is slipping after years of improvement
After decades of improvement, America’s air may not be getting any cleaner. Over the last two years the nation had more polluted air days than just a few years earlier, federal data shows. While it remains unclear whether this is the beginning of a trend, health experts say it’s troubling...
Doug Ferguson: Score not true measure of when U.S. Open is good test
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The leaderboard next to the 18th green at the U.S. Open again was filled with red numbers under par. The only difference was the scenery. This was Pebble Beach, set along the rugged California coast. Gary Woodland finished at 271 for a three-shot victory over Brooks...
Over 16 tons of cocaine intercepted at Philadelphia port in one of the largest busts in U.S. historyVideo
PHILADELPHIA — U.S. authorities seized 33,000 pounds, or 15,000 kilograms, of cocaine from a ship at Philadelphia’s port in what they described as one of the largest drug busts in American history. They said the haul could have been worth more than $1 billion on the street. The U.S. attorney’s...
Hiker rescued from New Hampshire summit may have to foot the bill
CONCORD, N.H. — An 80-year-old hiker who was rescued trying to reach the summit of Mount Washington could end up footing the bill for the emergency services, New Hampshire officials said Tuesday, amid efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of the popular tourist destination. Authorities may even file criminal...
Police: Arizona man beheads roommate’s dog as she moves out
BUCKEYE, Ariz. — An Arizona man has been arrested on suspicion of mutilating and beheading his roommate’s dog as she moved out of the home that the two shared in a Phoenix suburb. Jose Vega Meza, 21, told investigators that he killed the dog on Saturday because his roommate owed...
Facebook plans its own currency for 2 billion-plus users
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook already rules daily communication for more than two billion people around the world. Now it wants its own currency, too. The social network unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday to create a new digital currency similar to Bitcoin for global use, one that could drive more e-commerce...
Police: Mom intentionally drives into Michigan river; 3 dead
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Authorities say they’ve found the body of a woman and her 9-year-old twin daughters after she intentionally drove a car carrying them into a southwestern Michigan river. The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety says two upset girls told officers late Monday that a family member had driven...
‘Baby’ found dead near park turns out to be realistic doll
NEW YORK — Police say what appeared to be a dead infant found outside a park in New York City turned out to be a realistic-looking doll. A runner spotted what she thought was a baby shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday in a grassy area outside Crocheron Park in the...
