Associated Press stories, Page 2597
‘Empire’ actor defends himself in 1st comments since attack
CHICAGO (AP) — “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett is disputing rumors circulating on social media that he has been less than cooperative with the investigation into a racially-charged attack in which he says two masked men beat him and wrapped a rope around his neck in downtown Chicago. In his first...
Lindsey Vonn to retire after world championships
Lindsey Vonn says she will retire from ski racing after this month’s world championships in Sweden. The women’s all-time leader in World Cup wins had been planning to retire in December but changed her plans because of persistent pain in both of her knees, which she fully realized after failing...
Lawsuit: Dorney Park’s Halloween monsters went too far
ALLENTOWN — A woman and her teen daughter are suing a Pennsylvania amusement park, saying the costumed ghouls at its Halloween attraction were too terrifying. The (Allentown) Morning Call reports that Shannon Sacco and her daughter are seeking more than $150,000 from Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom and its parent...
NHL to celebrate Black History Month for 1st time
The NHL will celebrate Black History Month for the first time, shifting its focus in February from its wide-ranging “Hockey Is For Everyone” campaign to emphasize racial diversity in the sport. The league and NHL Players’ Association will announce the joint initiative Friday morning. It includes a traveling mobile museum...
U.S. employers add robust 304K jobs; joblessness up to 4%
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers shrugged off last month’s partial government shutdown and engaged in a burst of hiring in January, adding 304,000 jobs, the most in nearly a year. The healthy gain the government reported Friday illustrated the job market’s durability nearly a decade into the economic expansion. The U.S....
U.S. announces pullout from key arms treaty with Russia
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Friday it is withdrawing from a treaty that has been a centerpiece of superpower arms control since the Cold War. Some analysts worry the move could fuel a new arms race. President Donald Trump said in a statement that Russia, “for far too long,”...
Teen held after apparent school shooting joke involving Siri
VALPARAISO, Ind. — Authorities say a 13-year-old Indiana boy is charged with intimidation after he told Apple’s digital assistant Siri that he planned a school shooting and posted an iPhone screenshot of the response on social media as an apparent joke. The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports the middle school student...
Missing Maryland man found dead in West Virginia
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Police in Hagerstown, Md., say a missing man has been found dead in Berkeley County, W.Va. News outlets report Hagerstown police say the body 27-year-old Christopher Turner was found Wednesday. Police say the manner and condition of the body indicated that Turner was killed. Police say Turner’s...
3 students killed in South Africa school walkway collapse
JOHANNESBURG — At least three students are dead after a walkway collapsed at a school outside Johannesburg, a South African official said Friday, and 23 were injured. Panyaza Lesufi, the head of education for Gauteng province, posted the toll on Twitter shortly after the collapse at the Hoerskool Driehoek high...
Hong Kong court denies male status to 3 transgender men
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s High Court has refused to allow three transgender men to be recognized as males on their official identity cards because they have not undergone full sex-change operations. Friday’s ruling was seen as a blow to the fledgling LGBT movement in the semiautonomous Chinese city of...
Lawsuit: Pennsylvania officer coerced 2 women into sex to avoid arrest
ASHLEY — Two women who said they were coerced into sex with a Pennsylvania police officer filed a federal lawsuit alleging he violated their constitutional rights. Mark Icker, 29, of Dickson City is facing sexual assault, official oppression and related charges alleging he pressured the two women into performing oral...
Human toll of cold: more than 2 dozen dead, hundreds hurt
CHICAGO — The dangerous cold and heavy snow that hobbled the northern U.S. this week has retreated, but not before exacting a human toll: more than two dozen weather-related deaths in eight states and hundreds of injuries, including frostbite, broken bones, heart attacks and carbon monoxide poisoning. In Illinois alone,...
Abortion quickly becomes key issue in Virginia politics
RICHMOND, Va. — A pitched debate about late-term abortions in Virginia erupted into all-out political warfare Thursday as Republicans — including President Donald Trump — sought to capitalize on Democratic missteps. Republicans accused Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, a folksy pediatric neurologist who is personal friends with many GOP lawmakers, of...
Robert Morris falters late; NEC leader loses to St. Francis (Pa.)
Jamaal King scored 23 points, Isaiah Blackmon calmly sank two free throws — neither time did the ball touch the rim — with 2.8 seconds on the clock and St. Francis (Pa.) knocked off Northeast Conference leader Robert Morris, 76-73, Thursday night. Blackmon finished with 20 points, Keith Braxton added...
20 charged in Chinese birth tourism crackdown
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Dongyuan Li’s business was called “You Win USA,” and authorities say she coached pregnant Chinese women on how to get into the United States to deliver babies who would automatically enjoy all the benefits of American citizenship. Over two years, the now-41-year-old raked in millions through...
Tom Brady, Jared Goff have massive age gap but same Super Bowl dreamVideo
ATLANTA — Tom Brady vividly remembers the first time he experienced all the hype, hoopla and heightened expectations of playing in the Super Bowl. The New England Patriots quarterback was just a wide-eyed yet supremely confident second-year player who was on the verge of jumpstarting what has become one of...
Catholic leaders in Texas name 286 accused of abusing minors
DALLAS — Catholic leaders in Texas on Thursday identified 286 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children, a number that represents one of the largest collections of names to be released since an explosive grand jury report last year in Pennsylvania. Fourteen dioceses in Texas named those credibly accused...
Wisconsin high court candidate’s blog posts called ‘extreme’
MADISON, Wis. — The only conservative running for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat kept a personal blog more than a decade ago in which he opined on hot-button issues of the day, including that he thought a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a Texas anti-sodomy law could lead to...
Texas Rangers’ new stadium will have synthetic turf, not grass
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers will use specially designed synthetic playing surface rather than grass in their new retractable-roof stadium that opens in 2020. Texas’ decision will make it the fourth of the 30 major league teams to use artificial turf. Toronto’s Rogers Centre and Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field...
NCAA bans Missouri from postseason after academic misconduct
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The NCAA handed one-year postseason bans and other penalties to Missouri’s football, baseball and softball programs while placing its entire athletic department on probation Thursday after a two-year investigation revealed academic misconduct involving a former tutor. The penalties mean that the Tigers’ highly regarded football team...
Trump says State of the Union address to stress ‘unity’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says “unity” will be the theme of his State of the Union address next week, and says he respects Stacey Abrams, who will give the Democratic response. Trump told reporters Thursday that he’s familiar with Abrams from the 2018 Georgia governor’s race, which she narrowly...
When marketing flops: 5 Super Bowl ads that backfired
Advertisers that spend millions of dollars on the Super Bowl are trying to avoid what the Ram truck company did with a Martin Luther King speech or what Groupon did spoofing promos for charities. Though such messages can get attention, it’s the wrong kind of attention. Groupon got buzz all...
Man found with wife’s dismembered body convicted of felonies
OLATHE, Kan. — A man arrested at a Kansas storage unit with two of his children and his dismembered wife’s remains has been convicted of three felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child. Jurors Thursday found 36-year-old Justin Rey guilty of the felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of...
U.S. average mortgage rates edge up; 30-year at 4.46 percent
WASHINGTON — U.S. long-term mortgage rates edged up after declining in recent weeks. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.46 percent, from 4.45 percent last week. Despite the recent declines, home borrowing rates are above last year’s levels....
Who’s the daddy? Surprise in Swiss orangutan paternity test
BERLIN — A paternity test on a baby orangutan has come back with a surprising result. Basel Zoo in northwestern Switzerland said Thursday the test showed 5-month-old Padma wasn’t fathered by the male in her enclosure. Keepers routinely take DNA samples from newborn orangutans because the endangered great apes are...
