Associated Press stories, Page 2609
Jimmy Page’s dragon guitar reborn after 50 years on ice
LOS ANGELES — After five decades, Jimmy Page’s dragon has re-emerged from its lair. Fender instruments on Wednesday gave the public its first look at its recreation of a Telecaster guitar that Page once painted with a dragon, a long-lost piece of six-string history that marked the guitar hero’s last...
Los Angeles teachers approve contract, end strike
LOS ANGELES — Teachers overwhelmingly approved a new contract Tuesday and planned to return to the classroom after a six-day strike over funding and staffing in the nation’s second-largest school district. Although all votes hadn’t been counted, preliminary figures showed that a “vast supermajority” of some 30,000 educators voted in...
Hobbled Serena Williams knocked out of Australian Open in quarters
MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams was one point from quite a comeback victory in the Australian Open quarterfinals when she turned her left ankle. Everything unraveled from there. In a startling reversal and result, Williams wasted four match points along the way to dropping the last six games of a...
Vatican: No prior accusation of sex abuse against Argentine
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is insisting that there were no accusations of sexual abuse against an Argentine bishop close to Pope Francis when he resigned suddenly in 2017 and was promoted to a job at the Vatican. Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti repeated Tuesday that the Vatican only received the...
Salvadoran man to be charged in 4 fatal shootings in Nevada
LAS VEGAS — A man suspected of being in the United States illegally shot and killed four people in Nevada over the past two weeks, including an elderly Reno couple, authorities said, further inflaming the immigration debate. Wilbur Ernesto Martinez-Guzman, 19, from El Salvador has been jailed in Carson City...
Kaye Ballard, boisterous singer and actress, dies at 93
LOS ANGELES — Kaye Ballard, the boisterous comedian and singer who appeared in Broadway musicals and nightclubs from New York to Las Vegas and starred with Eve Arden in the 1960s TV sitcom “The Mothers-In-Law,” has died. She was 93. Ballard died Monday night at her home in Rancho Mirage,...
Erin Brockovich urges California to stop PG&E bankruptcy
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Consumer activist Erin Brockovich, who famously took on Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in the 1990s, urged California lawmakers Tuesday not to let the utility go bankrupt because it could mean less money for wildfire victims. “I’m mad. I think we should all be mad,” Brockovich said...
Judge declares Iowa fetal heartbeat law unconstitutional
DES MOINES, Iowa — A state judge on Tuesday struck down Iowa’s restrictive “fetal heartbeat” abortion law, which would have been the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the nation. Judge Michael Huppert found the law unconstitutional, concluding that the Iowa Supreme Court’s earlier decisions that affirm a woman’s fundamental right...
5 Hyundai, Kia models have high fire insurance claim rates
DETROIT — Owners of five Hyundai and Kia cars and SUVs file fire insurance claims at a rate far higher than the average for comparable vehicles, according to an insurance industry study. The Highway Loss Data Institute, which analyzes data from insurers representing about 85 percent of the U.S. industry,...
Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski coming alive at right timeVideo
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Even as Rob Gronkowski turned in a vintage performance with his big grabs down the stretch in the AFC championship game, the veteran Patriots tight end also did plenty of dirty work. Gronk the blocker? The label didn’t fit in the past. But this season, one of...
Netflix joins MPAA lobbying group, its 1st streaming member
NEW YORK — On the same day Netflix scored its first best picture nomination from the Oscars, the streaming company is also joining the lobbying group the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA announced Tuesday that Netflix will join its ranks, becoming the first streaming service to do so....
Well-traveled QB Gardner Minshew hoping to find NFL home
MOBILE, Ala. — Gardner Minshew carved his own meandering path from walk-on to NFL prospect. He began as a walk-on at Troy, took a sharp left to junior college, bounced over to East Carolina, made a beeline toward Alabama and finally ended with one terrific season at Washington State. “I...
Mariano Rivera 1st unanimous selection to Baseball Hall of Fame
NEW YORK — Mariano Rivera became baseball’s first unanimous Hall of Fame selection, elected Tuesday with Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina. Rivera received all 425 votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced. The quartet will be enshrined in Cooperstown along with Today’s Game Era...
Stocks sink on growth fears, possible snag in trade talks
NEW YORK — Stocks fell sharply Tuesday following new signs the global economy is weakening and reports of difficulties in trade talks between the United States and China. That broke a four-day winning streak for U.S. indexes. Major global indexes traded lower after the International Monetary Fund trimmed its economic...
Senate set to vote on 2 competing plans to end shutdown
WASHINGTON — Senate leaders reached an agreement on Tuesday to vote this week on two competing proposals to end the government shutdown, including President Trump’s plan to have Congress pay for the long-stalled wall along the U.S.-Mexico border that’s likely to fail. The other measure, from Democrats, also seems unlikely...
Doping agency forgives Russia, but says more work needed
The World Anti-Doping Agency straddled the wide gulf between vindication and capitulation Tuesday, agreeing to keep Russia’s anti-doping operation in business after receiving much-sought-after lab data that could be used to prosecute hundreds of cheaters. But the decision came with a warning: Fool us again, and we can bar you...
Pelosi works her health care strategy from the ground up
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is laying out her strategy on health care and first up is improvements to “Obamacare” and legislation to lower prescription drug costs. “Medicare for all” will get hearings. Pelosi and President Donald Trump have been sounding similar themes about the need to address the...
Trump moving ahead with State of the Union speech next week
WASHINGTON — The White House is moving forward with plans for President Donald Trump to deliver his State of the Union speech next week in front of a joint session of Congress — despite a letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requesting he delay it. The White House sent an...
UK’s world-famous Beefeaters on strike over pensions
LONDON — Workers at the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace — including some of London’s famed Beefeaters — are on strike in a dispute over pensions. The historic attractions, among London’s most popular, remained open Tuesday despite the work slowdown, which is the second in the last two...
Tentative contract reached in L.A. teachers strike
LOS ANGELES — Contentious contract negotiations have resulted in a tentative deal between Los Angeles school officials and the teachers union that will allow striking educators to return to classrooms on Wednesday. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the deal Tuesday. He says it requires the approval of the teachers...
Build it and the Super Bowl will come
Build it and the Super Bowl will come. While that’s not exactly how the sites of the NFL’s championship extravaganza are determined, it sure doesn’t hurt to have a brand new, billion-dollar facility in your city. Including the 2004 game in Houston, the league will have staged nine Super Bowls...
Man accused of Facebook post vowing to kill ‘as many girls as I see’
SALT LAKE CITY — A man is under arrest in Utah after police say he posted on Facebook about “killing as many girls as I see” the same weekend that Women’s Marches were held around the country. Jail documents filed by police in the city of Provo say 27-year-old Christopher...
Boys school shuts down amid fallout over Washington videos
COVINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky boys’ school shut down its campus on Tuesday as a precaution and a small protest was held outside their diocese as fallout continued over an encounter between white teenagers, Native American marchers and a black religious sect outside the Lincoln Memorial last week. President Donald...
Poll: Disasters influence thinking on climate change
WASHINGTON — When it comes to their views on climate change, Americans are looking at natural disasters and their local weather, according to a new poll. Lately, that means record deadly wildfires in California, rainfall by the foot in Houston when Hurricane Harvey hit and the dome of smog over...
Democrats lurch left on top policies as 2020 primary begins
NEW YORK — Democratic presidential contender Julian Castro launched his campaign by pledging support for “Medicare for All,” free universal preschool, a large public investment in renewable energy and two years of free college for all Americans. That wasn’t enough for some of his party’s most liberal members. Critics on...
