Associated Press stories, Page 2504
Sen. Bob Casey lobbies for Democratic primary debate in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania is lobbying for a presidential primary debate in his home state, which is a projected battleground in the 2020 presidential election. Casey’s letter Monday to Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez says holding a primary debate in Pennsylvania would benefit the...
Homeless activists outside Notre Dame demand ‘a roof, too’
PARIS — Dozens of public housing advocates protested outside the gutted Notre Dame in Paris Monday to demand that France’s poorest be remembered after donors pledged $1 billion to rebuild the cathedral and its destroyed roof. Around 50 people from a French homeless association gathered with placards reading “1 billion...
Home sales fall 4.9% in slow start to spring buying season
WASHINGTON — Sales of existing U.S. homes fell in March after a huge gain the previous month, held back partly by a sharp slowdown among the most expensive properties. The National Association of Realtors says home sales fell 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.21 million, down from...
‘Today’ co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager expecting 3rd child
NEW YORK — “Today” show co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager is pregnant with her third child. The 37-year-old journalist shared the news with colleagues during Monday morning’s show. The announcement comes less than a week after her co-anchor, Hoda Kotb, announced she had adopted her second child. She joined the fourth...
Video caught woman dumping 7 puppies behind California storeVideo
COACHELLA, Calif. — Authorities are trying to identify a woman captured by security cameras tossing seven newborn puppies into a dumpster in Southern California. The Riverside County Department of Animal Services released surveillance video of the woman pulling up to a dumpster behind an auto parts store in Coachella Thursday...
U.S. won’t renew sanctions waivers for importing Iranian oil
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday told five nations — Japan, South Korea, Turkey, China and India — that they will no longer be exempt from U.S. sanctions if they continue to import oil from Iran. President Donald Trump has decided not to reissue the waivers when they expire...
Kansas patrol: Vulture causes crash that kills husband, wife
MEDICINE LODGE, Kan. — Authorities say a vulture caused a crash that killed a married couple as they rode a motorcycle in southern Kansas. The Kansas Highway Patrol says the bird came out of a ditch Saturday afternoon and struck 42-year-old Brandon Husband of Fowler in the head on a...
Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate, payrolls set new records
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped in March to the lowest rate on record, as payrolls hit a new record. The state Department of Labor and Industry said Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped by one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.9%. Pennsylvania’s rate had twice previously hit 4% since 1976, which...
Official: Sri Lanka failed to heed warnings of attacks
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan officials failed to heed warnings from intelligence agencies about the threat of an attack by a domestic radical Muslim group that officials blame for Easter Sunday bombings which killed more than 200 people, the country’s health minister said Monday. The coordinated bombings that ripped...
TV actor wins Ukraine presidential vote in a landslide
KIEV, Ukraine — With nearly all the votes counted in Ukraine, TV star Volodymyr Zelenskiy is projected to win the country’s presidential runoff vote in a landslide. The Central Election Commission says Monday that Zelenskiy has won 73% of the vote while the incumbent President Petro Poroshenko got just 24%...
Harry and Meghan’s royal baby: Questions asked and answered
LONDON — The time is drawing near for the impending birth of the first child for Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. The couple is keeping many details about Meghan’s pregnancy and birth plan private and say they don’t know the baby’s gender yet. Here are...
Prince memoir ‘The Beautiful Ones’ coming out in the fall
NEW YORK — The memoir Prince was working on at the time of his death is coming out Oct. 29. Random House confirmed Monday to The Associated Press that “The Beautiful Ones” will combine Prince unfinished manuscript with rare photos, scrapbooks and lyrics. First announced just weeks before his 2016...
Notre Dame fire was a warning bell. But will Europe listen?
PARIS — It’s a thin line where the patina of age on Europe’s countless monuments gives way to the onset of neglect. Like with so many loved ones, all is assumed to be fine, until suddenly it’s not. In the wake of the fire last week that gutted Notre Dame,...
Tesla gears up for fully self-driving cars amid skepticism
SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla CEO Elon Musk appears poised to transform the company’s electric cars into driverless vehicles in a risky bid to realize a bold vision that he has been floating for years. The technology required to make that quantum leap is scheduled to be shown off to Tesla...
9 steps to get your grill ready for summer
There are die-hard grillers who don’t see why a little cold or sleet should stand between them and a juicy grilled steak. The rest of us in colder climes throw a cover over our grills for the winter and wheel them into a garage or storage spot, wheeling them out...
Colorado dog reunited with Florida family after 2017 theft
SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Fla. — A dog found abandoned in Colorado has been returned to its family, nearly two years after it was stolen in Florida as a puppy. Animal charity organization Wings of Rescue says the German Shepherd named Cedar was covered with snow in a rural Colorado ditch, apparently...
Greensburg’s Rocco Mediate loses way in Champions Tour event
Scott McCarron completed a wire-to-wire victory in the Mitsubishi Electric Classic for his third victory at TPC Sugarloaf on Sunday, leaving Greensburg native Rocco Mediate behind in a tie for 10th place. The winner of the PGA Tour defunct BellSouth Classic at the course in 1997 and 2001, McCarron closed...
Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears headed for landslide victory in Ukraine
KIEV — A comedian whose only political experience consists of playing a president on TV cruised toward a huge landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election Sunday in what was seen as a reaction against the country’s entrenched corruption and low standard of living. Exit polls and early results from about...
‘Panic mode’: Witness describes aftermath of Sri Lanka bombsVideo
Bhanuka Harischandra was running a little late for his meeting Sunday. As a car carrying him pulled into the back entrance of the luxury Shangri-La Hotel in Sri Lanka’s capital of Colombo, he realized something was wrong. People were telling him not to come in, it wasn’t safe. Still, the...
‘The Curse of La Llorona’ reigns over weekend box office
LOS ANGELES — “The Curse of La Llorona” brought good fortune at the box office. The Warner Bros. horror film based on a Mexican legend about a woman who murdered her children and wanders the world looking for them brought in $26.5 million according to studio estimates Sunday, putting it...
Bonnets, costumes on display at NYC’s Easter Parade
NEW YORK — The fancy hats and finery were out and on display for New York City’s annual Easter extravaganza. Participants in the annual Easter Parade made their way along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on Sunday in a processional of the wild and whimsical. The annual event is a New York...
Pennsylvania eyes retirement-savings plan for its portfolio
HARRISBURG — With Pennsylvania facing a wave of retirees leaving the workforce with no savings, top state officials are working to head off the financial blow. A task force organized by Treasurer Joe Torsella has spurred an effort that now has key state lawmakers writing legislation to create a potentially...
Giuliani: Trump camp did no wrong by taking Russian help
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani insisted Sunday the president’s 2016 campaign did nothing wrong by taking information from the Russians, as House Democrats pledged stepped-up investigations into campaign misconduct and possible crimes of obstruction detailed in the special counsel’s report. Giuliani called the Trump campaign’s effort to...
Trump attends Easter service following slew of tweets
PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump on Easter morning offered condolences to the people of Sri Lanka, continued his attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and attended service at the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea near his Florida estate. The president tweeted happy Easter to his many followers earlier in...
Texas town reflects on dragging death ahead of execution
JASPER, Texas — A technology company was almost ready to bring up to 300 new jobs to Jasper, Texas, but in the final stages of recent negotiations, a potential deal-breaker emerged: the community’s history as the place where three white men dragged a black man behind a pickup, killing him....
