Associated Press stories, Page 2551
Pa. proposal aims to ease government efforts to reclaim records
State and local government records that have been stolen or have otherwise ended up in private hands without authorization would be much easier to reclaim under legislation that could pass the Pennsylvania House in the coming days. A bill scheduled for a vote this week would give the Pennsylvania Historical...
Michigan man receives congratulatory telegram 50 years later
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A man who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1969 has finally received a congratulatory telegram from family friends that was sent more than 50 years ago. Robert Fink received the Western Union telegram this year. Western Union ended its telegram business in 2006. The...
Wanted: More pastures for West’s overpopulated wild horses
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — If you ever wished to gaze at a stomping, snorting, neighing panorama of Western heritage from your living-room window, now could be your chance. A classic image of the American West — wild horses stampeding across the landscape — not only has endured through the years but...
R. Kelly: ‘We’re going to straighten all this stuff out’
CHICAGO — R. Kelly walked out of a Chicago jail on Saturday after someone who officials say did not want to be publicly identified paid $161,633 that the R&B singer owed in back child support. Kelly, who was ordered taken into custody on Wednesday by a judge after Kelly said...
Richmond exhibit seeks to reimagine Confederate statues
RICHMOND, Va. — They are towering figures, larger-than-life statues that honor heroes of a bygone era. The Confederate leaders memorialized on Richmond’s Monument Avenue were once revered, but have become flashpoints in a national debate about how symbols of slavery and white supremacy should be treated today. The angst over...
Motorcyclist killed after hitting dead pig in roadway
LITTLEROCK, Calif. — Authorities say a motorcycle rider has died after he hit a dead pig on a Southern California road and was thrown from his bike. KABC-TV says 57-year-old Bradley St. John was doing about 55 mph Thursday night in Littlerock when he struck the animal, which was directly...
More women work in construction that’s still a man’s world
NEW YORK — Tameeka Gwyn is used to schlepping concrete weighing as much as 60 pounds (27 kilograms) around a construction site. For Janna Rojas, it’s a cinch to carry metal pipes as heavy as 100 pounds going into new plumbing. “When you first do it, it’s quite a shock,...
CDC: Unvaccinated Oregon boy almost dies of tetanus
PORTLAND, Ore. — An unvaccinated 6-year-old Oregon boy was hospitalized for two months for tetanus and almost died of the bacterial illness after getting a deep cut while playing on a farm, according to a case study published Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 2017...
Utah teacher forces student to wash off Ash Wednesday cross
SALT LAKE CITY — A teacher in the predominantly Mormon state of Utah was placed on administrative leave after she forced a Catholic student to wash off the Ash Wednesday cross from his forehead. William McLeod, 9, had just returned to his school near Salt Lake City after attending Catholic...
Manafort case sparks conversation about sentence disparities
A judge’s decision to sentence President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman to less than four years in prison — a fraction of the penalty called for in government guidelines — sparked widespread anger Friday and opened up a conversation about whether the justice system treats different crimes and criminals fairly....
Trump surveys devastation, pays respects to tornado victims
BEAUREGARD, Ala. — Standing near the slab that’s all that is left of one family’s garage, President Donald Trump on Friday surveyed the devastation wrought by a powerful tornado that ripped through a rural Alabama town, uprooting trees, tearing homes from their foundations and killing nearly two dozen people. “We...
‘He said, he said’ – Who can you trust in Cohen-Trump saga?
NEW YORK — It’s a “he said, he said” where the “he” — no matter who he is — has a credibility problem. The latest White House legal drama — whether or not the president’s former legal fixer asked him for a pardon — has pulled back the curtain on...
Smollett indicted on 16 counts stemming from reported attack
CHICAGO — A grand jury in Chicago indicted “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett on 16 felony counts related to making a false report that he was attacked by two men who shouted racial and homophobic slurs. The Cook County grand jury indictment dated Thursday and made public on Friday gives details...
New Mexico moves toward legalizing recreational marijuana
SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico took a step toward legalizing recreational marijuana when its House approved a bill that would allow state-run stores and require customers to carry a receipt with their cannabis or face penalties. The measure, narrowly approved Thursday following a late-night debate, mixes major provisions of...
California man learns he’s dying from doctor on robot video
FREMONT, Calif. — A California family is devastated that their relative was told he didn’t have long to live by a doctor appearing on a robot’s video screen. San Francisco Bay Area news station KTVU reported Thursday that 79-year-old Ernest Quintana went Sunday to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center’s emergency department...
Quirky moments from China’s annual Congress
BEIJING (AP) — The annual meeting of China’s legislature is a highly scripted affair, but quirky moments and offbeat details lurk around the edges and behind the scenes. Hundreds of military officers serving as delegates march to the event in formation, carrying identical navy satchels, their red name tags dangling...
Philly man accused of stealing homes, empty plots from the dead
Authorities say a man forged deeds to steal six properties and homes, including some from the deceased, in a burgeoning Philadelphia neighborhood. Robert Stokes was charged Friday with theft, forgery and tampering with records. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office says the 50-year-old Stokes transferred bogus deeds that had forged signatures....
Elizabeth Warren says tech giants have ‘too much power,’ need breakup
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Friday rolled out a proposal to break up the biggest U.S. technology companies, saying they have too much control over the economy and Americans’ lives. In her pitch to rein in the influence of tech giants, the Massachusetts senator envisions legislation targeting...
Leaked text messages reveal Maine mayor’s racist remark
LEWISTON, Maine — Text messages made public by a woman who said she had an affair with a mayoral candidate who was later elected in Maine’s second-largest city reveal a racist remark he sent her while the two were working to undermine a political opponent. Heather Berube Everly has called...
Kate’s pregnancy takes center stage in wildly different episode of ‘This Is Us’
LOS ANGELES — “This Is Us” routinely brings viewers to tears. Next week, it’s taking them to the theater. The hit NBC series will air an episode modeled on a one-act play and confined almost entirely to a hospital waiting room and to a single day, a sharp detour from...
Police: Puppy stabbed during house break-in
MIDDLETON, N.H. — Police in New Hampshire say a 3-month-old puppy was stabbed during a break-in at a home. WMUR-TV reports police said no one was home during the burglary on Thursday in Middleton. When the residents came home, they found the puppy, named Jax, with stab wounds to his...
‘Simpsons’ producers pull iconic Michael Jackson episode
LOS ANGELES — The producers of “The Simpsons” are removing a classic episode that featured the voice of Michael Jackson. Executive producer James L. Brooks told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday “it feels clearly the only choice to make.” He said fellow executive producers Matt Groening and Al Jean...
U.S. housing starts climbed 18.6 percent in January
WASHINGTON — U.S. housing starts jumped 18.6 percent in January, as builders ramped up construction of single-family houses to the fastest pace in eight months. The Commerce Department said Friday that January ground breakings occurred at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23 million. Home construction rebounded sharply from December,...
U.S. wages rise by most in decade even as hiring tumbles
WASHINGTON — The pace of hiring in the United States fell last month to its lowest point in nearly a year and a half, a surprise drop likely reflecting harsh weather and other temporary factors that led most economists to see the slowdown as a temporary blip. Employers added just...
Judge OKs wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of aborted embryo
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — An Alabama judge has approved a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a 21-year-old man on behalf of an aborted embryo. Al.com reported Wednesday that Ryan Magers is calling the 6-week-old embryo “Baby Roe” in his suit seeking damages from the Alabama Women’s Center for Reproductive Alternatives. Magers...
