Associated Press stories, Page 244

NEW YORK — Christmas marked a milestone in media history: more streaming than any day ever before, according to the Nielsen company. Netflix streamed two NFL games on that day, with Beyonce appearing as the halftime entertainment when the Houston Texans hosted the Baltimore Ravens in addition to the Pittsburgh...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Katherine Bartle said she spent her years growing up in Alabama trying anything to “fix” herself and exist as a man. Eventually she realized it wasn’t possible. “I am a woman. I assure you that this is not a costume, nor is it by my own choice,”...

NEW YORK — Eugene Levy’s trademark eyebrows fly off for Little Caesars. A tongue dances to Shania Twain to promote Nestle’s Coffee Mate Cold Foam. And Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reunite at Katz’s Deli in an ad for Hellmann’s. A frenzied mix of silliness and celebrities is hitting the...

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed on Friday that its forces had captured the coal mining town of Toretsk in their latest breakthrough in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where Ukrainian defenses are creaking. Ukrainian officials did not immediately make any comments on the Russian claim. A Ukrainian officer in...

A New Hampshire man fought for the chance at a pig kidney transplant, spending months getting into good enough shape to be part of a small pilot study of a highly experimental treatment. His effort paid off: Tim Andrews, 66, is only the second person known to be living with...

CHICAGO — The Trump administration sued Chicago on Thursday alleging that ‘sanctuary’ laws in the nation’s third-largest city “thwart” federal efforts to enforce immigration laws. The lawsuit, which also names the state of Illinois, is the latest effort to crack down on places that limit cooperation between federal immigration agents...

Nineteen Democratic attorneys general sued President Donald Trump on Friday to stop Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records that contain sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans. The case, filed in federal court in New York City,...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Rescuers searched Friday for any sign of a plane that went missing while carrying 10 people across Alaska’s Norton Sound south of the Arctic Circle. The Bering Air Caravan, a single-engine turboprop, was heading from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday afternoon with nine passengers and a pilot,...

NEW ORLEANS — Jason Kelce stood on stage during a taping of his late-night talk show when he spotted his former boss and Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman hanging out in the balcony. Kelce turned the cameo into a Q&A and asked what every fan in Philadelphia — heck,...

NEW YORK — Federal government payments to news outlets like Politico, The New York Times and The Associated Press for subscriptions or to license content are in the crosshairs of Trump administration spending hawks, with the president on Thursday calling it potentially “THE BIGGEST SCANDAL OF THEM ALL.” It’s the...

WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Russell Vought as White House budget director on Thursday night, putting an official who has planned the zealous expansion of President Donald Trump’s power into one of the most influential positions in the federal government. Vought was confirmed on a party-line vote of 53-47. With...

SANTA ANA, Calif. — The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani was sentenced Thursday to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between...

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration presented a plan Thursday to dramatically cut staffing worldwide for U.S. aid projects as part of its dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, leaving fewer than 300 workers out of thousands. Two current USAID employees and one former senior USAID official told The...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel, a close U.S. ally. Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a member of or recognizes the court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin...

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal workers by offering them financial incentives, the latest tumult for government employees already wrestling with upheaval from the new administration. The ruling came hours before the midnight deadline to apply for the deferred...

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan duo in the the U.S. House is proposing legislation to ban the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek from federal devices, similar to the policy already in place for the popular social media platform TikTok. Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill., on Thursday introduced the...

NEW ALBANY, Ohio — A warehouse worker said in a frantic 911 call that he was shot in the neck and then took the gun from a co-worker after he had shot several others. Two people died and four were injured in the Ohio shooting that sent panicked employees fleeing....