Associated Press stories, Page 2559
Critics say FCC report overstates broadband availability
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Federal Communications Commission’s broadband report is being hammered by critics who say it paints too rosy a picture of high-speed internet availability in the U.S. U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia joined two dissenting FCC commissioners in criticizing the report released Wednesday. The FCC’s annual...
Pompeo to Europe to seek backing, easing of Iran tensions
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was off to Europe on Thursday to seek support and a potential diplomatic climb-down to ease rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Even as the Trump administration revels in its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, Pompeo is traveling to Germany, Switzerland, the...
MLB attendance down another 1.4%, 4th straight drop
NEW YORK — The Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins drew 12,653 on Wednesday night — combined. Baltimore, Cincinnati, Minnesota and Tampa Bay set stadium lows this year. Kansas City had its smallest home crowd since 2011 and Toronto and San Francisco since 2010. The Marlins’ average attendance is less...
Is it ‘molecules of freedom’ or just natural gas?
It’s hard to generate interest in a news release about liquefied natural gas exports, but a high-ranking Trump administration official succeeded by calling the stuff “molecules of U.S. freedom.” Words matter after all. Earlier this week, the Energy Department announced it was approving more exports of liquefied natural gas from...
Fire destroys barn at popular Amish country produce stand
STRASBURG — A barn fire in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Amish country sent up a plume of smoke visible for miles and required a hazardous materials team to respond to runoff into a stream. LNP newspaper reported the Wednesday night blaze in Strasburg occurred on the site of Pop’s Produce...
Bounce-back Jordan Binnington out to beat Bruins who took him inVideo
BOSTON — The resolve Jordan Binnington is showing in the playoffs was forged in Boston Bruins black and gold. Now it’s being used to try to beat the organization that took him in. Binnington bounced back from a rough start to the Stanley Cup Final to make 21 saves in...
Ryan Moore leads strong Memorial field; shaky start for Tiger Woods
DUBLIN, Ohio — Tiger Woods got off to a slower start than he would have liked Thursday at the Memorial. That had more do with a stopwatch than a scorecard. Ryan Moore opened with five birdies in seven holes and never missed a fairway after the first one, posting a...
What to know about these most-international NBA Finals
TORONTO — Sometime in the next couple of weeks, either the Toronto Raptors or Golden State Warriors will proclaim themselves to be world champions. They won’t be true “world” champions, of course. But these NBA Finals have a distinct international feel. Game 1 of the series Thursday night is in...
Mixed verdict reached in Penn State frat-fall death case
BELLEFONTE — The former manager of a Penn State fraternity where a pledge fell during a night of hazing and drinking and later died has been convicted of hindering apprehension but acquitted of evidence tampering and obstruction. The Centre Daily Times reported a jury deliberated about five hours before issuing...
Champions League finalists on opposite ends of financial, success spectrums
MADRID — Familiar territory for Liverpool. So very unfamiliar for Tottenham. The second all-English Champions League final in history pits one of Europe’s most successful clubs against a side unexpectedly gatecrashing the continent’s elite. After losing last year’s final to Real Madrid, Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool has another shot at lifting...
Georgia police officer charged with beating homeless woman
DECATUR, Ga. — An Atlanta-area police officer who was captured on video beating a homeless woman inside a convenience store was indicted Thursday on felony charges, a prosecutor said. A grand jury indicted DeKalb County police Officer Phillip Larscheid, 29, on charges of aggravated assault and violation of his oath...
Winners, losers of NBA’s Draft withdrawal deadline
Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and RJ Barrett all remained in the NBA Draft through the withdrawal deadline. No surprise there, nor for several other players expected to go in the first round. Numerous other players faced difficult decisions on Wednesday, though, and the outcome of those could have a huge...
Trump lashes special counsel after he says no exoneration
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump angrily assailed special counsel Robert Mueller’s motives on Thursday, a day after Mueller bluntly rebuffed Trump’s repeated claims that the Russia investigation had cleared him of committing a federal crime of obstruction of justice. The president also offered mixed messages on Russia’s efforts to help...
Energy Secretary Rick Perry: U.S. can make oil, gas, coal cleaner
SALT LAKE CITY — The Trump administration is committed to making fossil fuels cleaner rather than imposing “draconian” regulations on oil, gas and coal, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Thursday. Perry made his remarks at an energy conference in Salt Lake City that was briefly interrupted when protesters took...
MLB to keep monitoring netting issue after child is hitVideo
HOUSTON — Major League Baseball said Thursday it will keep examining its policy on protective netting at stadiums a day after a young fan was struck by a foul ball and hospitalized. The girl was hit during Wednesday night’s game between the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros, an incident MLB...
Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi gives birth to 3rd child
TV personality Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi has welcomed her third child into the world. The 31-year-old “Jersey Shore” cast member tells People magazine she gave birth early Thursday morning to a boy named Angelo James LaValle. He weighs 7½ pounds. View this post on Instagram Angelo James LaValle 7.5 lbs ?...
Photo gallery: D-Day’s landscape in 1944 — and today
ON OMAHA BEACH, France — Warships, bombers, rubble, refugees. That was the Normandy landscape of 1944, as Allied forces fought to wrest France from Nazi control. Today, the region’s towns and beaches are startlingly calm, as still-grateful residents prepare to welcome veterans commemorating 75 years since D-Day. The Associated Press...
Former US Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi dies at 81
JACKSON, Miss. — Former U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, who served seven terms and used seniority to steer billions of dollars to his home state of Mississippi, has died. He was 81. Cochran’s final chief of staff, Brad White, said Cochran died Thursday at a veterans’ nursing home in Oxford. Cochran...
Class ring found in Florida 17 years after it was lost
PANAMA CITY, Fla. — An Alabama woman reluctantly let her 14-year-old daughter wear her 1986 class ring to impress a boy during a spring break trip to Panama City Beach in 2002. The ring slipped off her daughter’s finger as they walked the beach and quickly disappeared in the waves....
Cargo ship arrives in Philippines to return Canadian trash
SUBIC, Philippines — A Philippine official says a cargo ship has arrived in a northern port to pick up and return 69 containers of Canadian garbage which the government in Manila says was shipped illegally to the Philippines years ago. Administrator Wilma Eisma of Subic Bay freeport says the containers...
Paris wants a ‘Princess Diana Square’ at site of her death
PARIS — Paris City Hall wants to name a small plaza after Princess Diana, at the site of the 1997 car crash that killed the cherished British royal. The site already holds a golden flame-shaped monument in her honor, adjacent to the Alma Tunnel where the accident occurred. The plaza...
Child dies after falling into above-ground pool in Michigan
LANSING, Mich. — Authorities say a young child has died after falling into an above-ground swimming pool at a mid-Michigan home. The Lansing State Journal reports police say the 15-month-old boy was found Wednesday and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The child’s name wasn’t immediately...
2 people rescued after clinging to boat for 3 hours
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A man and a woman are safe after they spent three hours clinging to their capsized sailboat in the Atlantic Ocean about 65 miles off Atlantic City. The Coast Guard received a satellite distress signal from the 55-foot vessel Bertie on Wednesday evening. Coast Guard Petty...
Blues even Stanley Cup Final with overtime win vs. Bruins
BOSTON — Carl Gunnarsson scored on a delayed penalty 3 minutes, 51 seconds into overtime, Jordan Binnington made 21 saves and the St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2, on Wednesday night to tie the Stanley Cup Final at a game apiece. Robert Bortuzzo and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored...
TCU’s Dixon says he decided to stay instead of going to UCLA
IRVING, Texas — TCU coach Jamie Dixon is planning to go home soon to the Los Angeles area to visit his parents. He said he could have been coaching there if that’s what he had really wanted to do. Dixon said Wednesday that he made the decision to stay at...
