Associated Press stories, Page 2559
Music museums keeping Michael Jackson exhibits on display
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Megastar Michael Jackson’s musical legacy has been getting critically reappraised after a new documentary rekindled allegations of child sexual abuse, but at least two music museums in Detroit and Tennessee aren’t scrubbing the King of Pop from their exhibits. The National Museum of African American Music says...
Bill to allow concealed carry on West Virginia campuses fails
CHARLESTON — Legislation to allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry guns on West Virginia college campuses has been defeated. The Senate judiciary committee voted Tuesday night by a narrow margin to keep the measure from going to the full Senate. The House of Delegates had passed the bill...
UK airline says female flight attendants can drop makeup
DALLAS — Britain’s Virgin Atlantic has dropped a requirement that female flight attendants wear makeup, joining other major carriers that have eased their dress and grooming requirements after complaints about turning female employees into sex objects. Virgin Atlantic announced this week that female cabin crew members can skip the makeup....
State bans dispensaries from joining Pennsylvania Cannabis Festival
SCRANTON — The Pennsylvania Department of Health has banned dispensaries from participating in one of the state’s largest cannabis festivals. A spokesperson for the department tells The Philadelphia Inquirer they issued the ban last week because the Pennsylvania Cannabis Festival in Scranton is not a “medically focused event.” Festival organizer...
Nevada cites U.S. warnings in bid to block plutonium shipments
RENO, Nev. — Nevada’s latest bid to block incoming shipments of weapons-grade plutonium points to the U.S. Energy Department’s own scientific warnings about the dangers of prematurely moving the highly radioactive material out of South Carolina. State lawyers say in briefs filed this week with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court...
The Cruze cruises: General Motors assembly plant closing, maybe for good
LORDSTOWN, Ohio — The last compact car rolled off the line Wednesday at General Motors’ massive assembly plant in Ohio as the automaker began moving toward its future while workers wondered about theirs. GM is eliminating all 1,700 hourly positions, perhaps for good, at the factory near Youngstown, the first...
‘Jeopardy!’ host Alex Trebek announces he has advanced pancreatic cancer
LOS ANGELES — “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek said he has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer but intends to fight the disease and keep on working. In a video posted online Wednesday, the 78-year-old said he was announcing his illness directly to “Jeopardy!” fans in keeping with his long-time policy...
Judge eases wildfire safety plan for California utility
SAN FRANCISCO — A U.S. judge overseeing a criminal case against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. called the California utility’s efforts to prevent trees from hitting its power lines and starting wildfires “dismal” but scaled back his proposals to prevent its equipment from causing more blazes. Judge William Alsup said...
U.S. envoy Elliott Abrams dismisses military force in Venezuela in prank call
WASHINGTON — The U.S. envoy for Venezuela dismissed the possibility of American military action in the South American country in a recording made by two Russian pranksters and released Wednesday. Special Representative Elliott Abrams said in the recording that the United States wouldn’t use force in Venezuela unless the government...
R. Kelly taken back into custody after child-support hearing
CHICAGO — R. Kelly was taken back into custody Wednesday after appearing at a child-support hearing, authorities said, hours after the broadcast of an interview in which the R&B star cried and ranted about being “assassinated” by allegations of sexual abuse. A Cook County Sheriff’s Office official says singer Kelly...
Stocks slide a 3rd straight day with health companies showing the way
Health care companies led U.S. stocks broadly lower Wednesday, giving the market its third straight loss. Technology and energy stocks also bore the brunt of the selling, offsetting gains in materials and utilities companies. Several retailers also rose. Smaller companies fell more than the rest of the market. The latest...
Helen Hunt, Paul Reiser reunite for ‘Mad About You’ sequel
LOS ANGELES — Paul and Jamie Buchman are picking up where they left off 20 years ago on “Mad About You.” On-demand service Spectrum Originals said Wednesday a limited series will bring Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser back as the New York City couple. The original series, which aired from...
Arizona Sen. Martha McSally, ex-Air Force pilot, says officer raped her
WASHINGTON — Sen. Martha McSally, the first female Air Force fighter pilot to fly in combat, said Wednesday that she was sexually assaulted by a superior officer, and later, when she tried to talk about it to military officials, she “felt like the system was raping me all over again.”...
Dissent among Dems over response to Omar’s Israel remarks
WASHINGTON — A meeting of House Democrats turned contentious Wednesday as some new members who helped deliver the House majority confronted leaders over a resolution implicitly rebuking Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota over her comments on Israel. In the party’s weekly closed meeting, Democrats protested the way Speaker Nancy Pelosi...
Democrats say no upcoming presidential debates on Fox News
NEW YORK — The Democratic National Committee says it won’t pick Fox News to televise one of the upcoming debates being held for its 2020 presidential contenders. The party chairman, Tom Perez, says he’s concluded that the network isn’t in a position to host a fair and neutral debate. He’s...
Jason Aldean to receive artist of the decade award at ACMs
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Reigning entertainer of the year Jason Aldean will receive the artist of the decade award at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards in April. The ACM announced Wednesday that Aldean will join only five other honorees that have received the award since 1969, including Marty...
German police: Dead gardener targeted enemies with bombs
BERLIN — German police on Wednesday urged anyone who had a conflict with a recently deceased man to be wary, after a doctor was killed and a mother and daughter were injured by bombs apparently planted by him before he died. Westpfalz police spokesman Bernhard Christian Erfort told The Associated...
Kentucky could make it a crime to ‘dox’ minors
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Months after a Kentucky high school student was vilified following his interaction with a Native American protester, the state legislature is advancing a bill that would make it a crime to publish personal information of a child online with the intent to harass or intimidate. A Kentucky...
School lessons targeted by climate change doubters
HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut lawmaker wants to strike climate change from state science standards. A Virginia legislator worries teachers are indoctrinating students with their personal views on global warming. And an Oklahoma state senator wants educators to be able to introduce alternative viewpoints without fear of losing their jobs....
School bus crash injures 20, 1 student seriously hurt
AURORA, Ind. — A school bus collided with a garbage truck in Indiana on Wednesday, seriously injuring one student and leaving 20 other people hurt, authorities said. Preliminary information indicates that 18 students, the bus driver and the driver of the garbage truck were injured in the crash, said Indiana...
Pennsylvania imposes $1.5M fine on gas pipeline builder
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The builder of a natural gas gathering pipeline system in southwestern Pennsylvania is agreeing to a $1.5 million fine for failing to prevent sedimentation and erosion into streams during construction. The consent agreement between the state Department of Environmental Protection and Rice Midstream Holdings was released this...
Foreign leaders lavish Trump with diplomatic gifts
WASHINGTON — Foreign leaders showered President Donald Trump and his family with more than $140,000 in gifts during their first year in the White House, with China and Saudi Arabia among the most lavish givers. According to the State Department’s annual accounting of such gifts, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave...
U.S. trade deficit jumps to 10-year high, including record gap with China
WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit jumped nearly 19 percent in December, pushing the trade imbalance for all of 2018 to widen to a decade-long high of $621 billion. The gap with China on goods widened to an all-time record of $419.2 billion. The Commerce Department figures released Wednesday undermined...
Searches find no more deaths in Alabama; toll stands at 23
BEAUREGARD, Ala. — All those listed as missing have been found and searches ended with no additional bodies discovered among the shattered homes, splintered pines and broken lives devastated by a tornado in rural Alabama, leaving the death toll at 23, authorities said Wednesday. “We are still in standby mode...
Federal wildlife officials plan to lift protections for gray wolves
BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. wildlife officials plan to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move certain to re-ignite the legal battle over a predator that’s rebounding in some regions and running into conflicts with farmers and ranchers, an official told The Associated Press. Acting Interior...
