Associated Press stories, Page 2511

DURHAM, N.C. — Freshman sensation Zion Williamson was knocked out of the North Carolina-Duke rivalry game by a knee injury after his Nike shoe blew out during the top-ranked Blue Devils’ opening possession. Williamson grabbed his right knee in pain after slipping awkwardly and falling when his left shoe fell...

DETROIT — Former Pittsburgh Pirates utilityman Josh Harrison agreed to a one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the deal was subject to a successful physical. The 31-year-old Harrison spent his first eight major...

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Andrew McCutchen is ready to boost the Philadelphia Phillies with his bat, glove and brain. Signed to a $50 million, three-year contract, McCutchen said he enjoys his role as the veteran in the outfield and likes what he has seen from his younger teammates. The 32-year-old McCutchen...

The United Methodist Church’s top legislative assembly convenes Sunday for a high-stakes, three-day meeting likely to determine whether America’s second-largest Protestant denomination will fracture over divisions on same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay clergy. While other mainline Protestant denominations — such as the Episcopal and Presbyterian (U.S.A.) churches —...

LIMA, Peru — A living member of species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galapagos island of Fernandina. An adult female Chelonoidis phantasticus, also known as the Fernandina Giant Tortoise, was spotted Sunday...

MEXICO CITY — Two small openings on both sides of a tree-covered path were packed with fans young and old, some with caps they wanted signed, others holding phones to capture the moment. They were screaming one word that translates in any language at the Mexico Championship. “Tiger!” Tiger Woods...

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Kevin Love relaxed on the beach under the warm Caribbean sun during the All-Star break. He hopes it finally shines on him and the Cavaliers in the second half of a depressing, gloomy season. Offering optimism about his future and Cleveland’s, Love returned to the practice floor...

CHARLESTON — Unions for West Virginia teachers ended their two-day strike Wednesday night after lawmakers did not act on a doomed, broad-based education bill. Leaders of three unions representing teachers and school service personnel said at a news conference that classrooms would reopen statewide on Thursday. The House of Delegates...

BERLIN — Commodities giant Glencore said Wednesday it will cap how much coal it mines amid shareholder pressure for it to help reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases. The move is a sharp reversal for a company that has long championed the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, and which...

Wall Street capped another day of listless trading Wednesday with a slight gain, extending the market’s winning streak to a third day. Financial, materials and industrial companies accounted for much of the gain, outweighing losses in health care and real estate stocks as investors reviewed the latest batch of company...

DENVER — After months of mostly silence from authorities investigating the disappearance of a Colorado mother on Thanksgiving Day, grim details about her suspected demise emerged this week, including accusations that the woman’s fiance beat her to death with a baseball bat while their baby was in the next room....

SAN FRANCISCO — Samsung has unveiled a highly anticipated smartphone with a foldable screen that breaks new ground in a market that has been stuck in an innovative funk. The phone announced Wednesday in San Francisco will be called the Galaxy Fold and will sell for $1,980 when it is...

WASHINGTON — An Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State group in Syria is not a U.S. citizen and will not be allowed to return to the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday. In a brief statement that gave no details as to...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Neptune’s newest and tiniest moon is probably an ancient fragment of a much larger moon orbiting unusually close. In the journal Nature on Wednesday, California astronomers shine a light on the 21-mile-wide moon Hippocamp, named after the mythological sea horse. SETI Institute’s Mark Showalter discovered Neptune’s...

SALT LAKE CITY — Actress Gwyneth Paltrow denied Wednesday that she skied into a man who accused her in a lawsuit of seriously injuring him at a Utah ski resort, alleging in a counter claim that the man actually plowed into her from behind and delivered a full “body blow.”...

NEW YORK — A judge has agreed to postpone the start of ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s prison sentence by two months to May 6. New York Judge William Pauley signed off on the delay Wednesday after Cohen’s lawyers said he needed more time to recover from shoulder surgery. They noted...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top elections official is warning that failing to replace voting machines by 2020 could make the state the only one without a voter-verifiable paper trail. Kathy Boockvar, Pennsylvania’s acting state secretary, also told senators Wednesday during an Appropriations Committee hearing that election-security experts agree that moving to...

HANOI, Vietnam — U.S. and North Korean special envoys are to meet in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, to make final preparations for a second summit next week between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Steve Biegun was to arrive in Hanoi...

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin sternly warned the United States against deploying new missiles in Europe, saying Wednesday that Russia will retaliate by fielding new weapons that will take just as little time to reach their targets. While the Russian leader didn’t say what specific new weapons Moscow could...

NASHVILLE — Chris Stapleton and Dan + Shay lead the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards with six nominations each while Grammy album of the year winner Kacey Musgraves comes in with five nominations. Reba McEntire, who is hosting the show for a record 16th time, announced the nominees in...

RIMINI, Mont. — Every day many millions of gallons of water loaded with arsenic, lead and other toxic metals flow from some of the most contaminated mining sites in the United States and into surrounding lakes and streams without being treated, the Associated Press has found. That torrent is poisoning...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The State Highway Patrol says inmates at an Ohio maximum security prison were plotting “a possible escape attempt and possible riot” when the plan was interrupted. The patrol is investigating the Feb. 12 incident in which authorities confiscated three fake handguns, drawings of handguns, and a fake...

ST. LOUIS — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is launching his own investigation of a St. Louis day care center where two workers were accused of facilitating a “fight club” among small children, his office said Wednesday. The announcement came two weeks after St. Louis prosecutors dropped criminal charges against...

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — California’s Yosemite National Park is again wowing visitors and photographers with its annual “firefall.” Every February for a few days, the setting sun illuminates Horsetail Fall to make it glow like a cascade of molten lava. The natural wonder draws scores of people to Yosemite...