Associated Press stories, Page 2502

Over the past decade, teams from California, Florida or Texas have competed in more than half the championship series in the four major professional sports — including every NBA final. That may be no surprise, considering the three states account for 27 percent of all franchises in those leagues. The...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The two Sacramento police officers whose fatal shooting of an unarmed black man last year prompted nationwide protests will not face criminal charges, prosecutors announced Saturday. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said Officers Terrance Mercadal and Jared Robinet used lethal force lawfully. The officers have...

NEW YORK — Bernie Sanders kicked off his presidential campaign Saturday miles from the rent-controlled apartment where he grew up in Brooklyn and forcefully made the case that he is nothing like fellow New Yorker Donald Trump, proclaiming himself the Democrat best prepared to beat the incumbent in 2020. “My...

PLATTEKILL, N.Y. — A police officer with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has been arrested on charges of manufacturing guns at his upstate home and selling them to motorcycle gang members. Thirty-eight-year-old Gregg Marinelli is also charged with tipping off a suspect in a major drug investigation,...

GERSHIN, Iraq — A group of Yazidi women and children reunited with their families in Iraq Saturday after five years of captivity at the hands of the Islamic State group, hugging and kissing relatives in emotional scenes that underscored their yearslong ordeal and that of their devastated community. Elated families...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Prosecutors are expected to announce Saturday whether two police officers will face charges in last year’s fatal shooting in Sacramento of an unarmed black man that generated nationwide protests. Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert will hold a news conference to announce whether the officers broke any...

MONTPELIER, Vt. — About 18 months after the Trump administration threatened to withhold law enforcement grants from nearly 30 places around the country it felt weren’t doing enough to work with federal immigration agents, all but one have received or been cleared to get the money, the Justice Department said....

OXON HILL, Md. — In a slashing speech packed with braggadocio and grievance, President Donald Trump denounced Democrats as the party of “the socialist nightmare,” relitigated his crowd sizes back to the inauguration and took on “sick,” ”lunatic” and “dirty” foes at every turn, earning him the unvarnished adoration of...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — America’s newest capsule for astronauts rocketed Saturday toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX. The only passenger was a life-size test dummy, named Ripley after the lead character in the “Alien” movies. SpaceX needs to nail the debut of its crew...

HONOLULU — The rate of shark bites in Hawaii has been increasing slightly in recent years, but the risk remains extremely low — roughly 5-in-1 million — according to new research. Recently published research that looked at 55 years of global data showed shark bites around the world are highly...

One of the nation’s largest neo-Nazi groups appears to have an unlikely new leader: a black activist who has vowed to dismantle it. Court documents filed Thursday suggest James Hart Stern wants to use his new position as director and president of the National Socialist Movement to undermine the Detroit-based...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Dozens of members of Congress are making a weekend-long civil rights pilgrimage through Alabama, visiting historic spots and memorials to the struggle for racial equality. The mostly Democratic group made its first stop Friday at Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church, where four black girls died in a...

GUERNEVILLE, Calif. — Jason Flint prepared for flooding in Northern California by putting his deli’s valuable equipment on pallets and milk crates stacked several feet above the ground. It wasn’t enough, as he found out Friday when he returned to Guerneville after two days of flooding in Sonoma County’s famed...

SAN DIEGO — A U.S. Marine veteran who rose to power as a reputed Mexican drug kingpin has been named in a massive cocaine-trafficking indictment in San Diego. The investigation into Angel Dominguez Ramirez Jr.’s organization revealed “an unprecedented level of corruption within the Mexican government, local police departments, federal...

NEW YORK (AP) — Declaring “I’m not a homewrecker,” Jordyn Woods sat down Friday on Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook Watch show to clear up wild social media speculation over exactly what happened between her and Cleveland Cavalier Tristan Thompson: One kiss on the lips, she said, that took her by...

GUERNEVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A two-day winter storm rendered two Northern California communities reachable only by boat. The rain-swollen Russian River reached nearly 46 feet (14 meters) Wednesday night, its highest level in more than 20 years. About 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures were flooded by water up to...

NEW YORK (AP) — John Mayer is launching a foundation focused on improving the health of veterans through scientific research. The Grammy-winning singer on Friday announced The Heart and Armor Foundation, which plans to focus on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and meeting the emerging needs of women veterans. Though...

NEW YORK — EBay said Friday that it is considering the sale or spin-off its ticket-reselling site StubHub and its classified ads business after a push from an activist investor. Back in January, Elliott Management said in a letter to the company in that it believed the e-commerce company would...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Police in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale say a man is accused of killing his 4-year-old golden retriever service dog at his home and dumping the dog’s body in a garbage can where it was found by family members. Police say in a statement that 29-year-old Jacob...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Chaos erupted outside Texas’ death chamber Thursday night when the son of the condemned inmate pounded on the chamber windows, shouted obscenities and threw fists after his father spoke his final words. Billie Wayne Coble, a Vietnam War veteran who killed his estranged wife’s parents and brother...

SEATTLE — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will seek the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, mixing calls for combating climate change and highlights of his liberal record with an aggressive critique of President Donald Trump. The 68-year-old governor is launching his bid Friday in Seattle, following recent visits to the first primary...

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending tumbled 0.5 percent in December, the biggest decline in nine years. Meanwhile, incomes were rose sharply in December but edged down in January. The Commerce Department says the fall in consumer spending followed sizable gains of 0.7 percent in October and 0.6 percent in November....

After more than a week of backlash, Walmart is pledging to make “every effort” to find other roles for disabled workers who’d accused the retailer of targeting them as it prepares to eliminate the “people greeter” job at 1,000 stores. Greg Foran, president and CEO of Walmart’s U.S. stores, said...

LAS VEGAS — A former Las Vegas illusion show headliner from Germany appeared to faint Thursday while being sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined more than $500,000 in a federal child pornography case. Jan Rouven Fuechtener, 40, stiffened and fell backward over his chair after Chief U.S. District...

No, you’re not smoking something. Martha Stewart has entered the fast-growing — but still legally murky — cannabis market. The domestic diva who brought us hemp yarn is now partnering with Canada’s Canopy Growth Corp. to develop new products containing CBD, a compound derived from hemp and marijuana that doesn’t...