Associated Press stories, Page 2614
Connecticut Medical Examiner seeks to ID bodies from 1944 circus fire
HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut’s medical examiner is seeking to exhume two female bodies found after the 1944 Hartford circus fire in an attempt to identify at least one of them. Chief State Medical Examiner James Gill told The Hartford Courant he is hoping modern DNA testing can put a name...
Trump to make case for Jewish voters to back his 2020 bid
LAS VEGAS — President Donald Trump is set to make the case for Jewish voters to back his re-election as he takes a victory lap with Republican donors in Las Vegas. Trump is appearing at the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which supported his 2016 campaign and is...
Ex-US Sen Ernest ‘Fritz’ Hollings of South Carolina dead
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, the silver-haired Democrat who helped shepherd South Carolina through desegregation as governor and went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Senate, has died. He was 97. Family spokesman Andy Brack, who also served at times for Hollings as spokesman during his...
Vietnam vet who died Christmas Eve is finally laid to rest
RALEIGH, N.C. — When a Vietnam War veteran died Christmas Eve with no family nearby, a community of veterans, a friend and military supporters in North Carolina stepped up to make sure he was finally laid to rest with military honors. They ensured that Phillip “Flip” Drye’s military paperwork, delayed...
Anti-government protests prompt talk of ‘Balkan Spring’
PODGORICA, Montenegro — It all started with a video posted on social media: a secret recording from 2016 that appears to show a well-known local tycoon hand over an envelope containing bundles of cash to a party associate of Montenegro’s long-standing leader. The prominent businessman, a former close friend and...
Mormons bracing for more changes at church conference
SALT LAKE CITY — Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are preparing for more changes as they gather in Utah for a twice-yearly conference to hear from the faith’s top leaders. Church President Russell M. Nelson has implemented a host of changes in his first year...
FBI: NY man threatened to kill Minn. Congresswoman
NEW YORK — A western New York man has been charged with threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Federal prosecutors announced Friday that Patrick Carlineo Jr. was arrested after placing a threatening call to Omar’s office in Washington D.C. last month. Authorities did not say when Carlineo...
Kansas lawmakers OK mandating notice on abortion ‘reversal’
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas legislators passed a measure Friday that would require abortion providers to tell patients who are taking medication to terminate their pregnancies that the process can be reversed after they take the first of two pills. Abortion opponents contend the bill ensures that women who harbor doubts...
Avengers help unveil $5M donation for seriously ill children
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Some of Marvel’s top Avengers have assembled to support a $5 million donation to benefit seriously ill children in hospitals around the globe. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd and Brie Larson helped unveil the donation of money and toys to benefit...
Fans mourn grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain 25 years after death
SEATTLE — On the 25th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, dozens of people left flowers, candles and handwritten messages at a Seattle park near the house where the Nirvana frontman killed himself. Cobain, whose band rose to global fame in the city’s grunge rock music scene of the early 1990s,...
‘Our country is full’: Trump says migrants straining system
CALEXICO, Calif. — Declaring “our country is full,” President Trump on Friday insisted the U.S. immigration system is overburdened and illegal crossings must be stopped as he inspected a refurbished section of fencing at the Mexican border. Trump, making a renewed push for border security as a central campaign issue...
Colorado educator accused of taking gun to school, threatening staff
AURORA, Colo. — An administrator at a suburban Denver high school was arrested after police said he brought a handgun to the school and threatened other staff members. Tushar Rae was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed weapon at a school and making violent threats, The Aurora Sentinel reported...
Ex-cop’s attorneys join media access request at murder trial
MINNEAPOLIS — Attorneys for a former Minneapolis police officer accused of fatally shooting an unarmed woman joined the media’s challenge Friday to a judge’s restrictions on what video evidence may be seen by the public during the trial. Hennepin County District Judge Kathryn Quaintance heard a request from a media...
Belgium apologizes for kidnapping mixed-race African babies
BRUSSELS — The Belgian government has apologized for the country’s role in kidnapping thousands of mixed-race babies from their African mothers during colonial times. Thousands of children in what are now the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi were taken away and raised in Belgian institutions. Prime Minister Charles...
Crane operator’s arm nearly severed in accident 300 feet up
A crane operator in Cincinnati had to call 911 for rescue after his arm was partially severed in an accident nearly 300 feet up in the air. A fire official says the crane operator made the call after a cable sliced underneath his arm Friday. Rescue crews used a basket...
Harvard reviews sale of coach’s home to prospect’s father
BOSTON — Harvard’s longtime fencing coach sold his suburban Boston home for nearly double its assessed value to a man whose son was later admitted to the school and joined the team — a transaction now under review by the university. The coach, Peter Brand, received nearly $1 million in...
Trump sidelines immigration nominee for ‘tougher direction’
WASHINGTON — The notice to Congress from the White House was met with confusion: Why would President Donald Trump withdraw his nominee to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Longtime border official Ron Vitiello appeared to be cruising toward confirmation. One Senate committee had endorsed his nomination and a second...
Police: Altoona man wakes to stranger sleeping on his kitchen floor
Police say an Altoona man awoke to find a stranger sleeping on his kitchen floor surrounded by torn-up sanitary napkins. Altoona police say they arrested 60-year-old Brian Smith on Thursday after the homeowner called police when he found Smith in his kitchen. The Altoona Mirror reports Smith was unconscious and...
Bill Cosby agrees to settle 7 defamation cases
Bill Cosby has agreed to settle lawsuits filed by seven women who say he defamed them when he accused them of lying about sexual misconduct allegations. Court documents filed Friday in Springfield, Massachusetts, show the two sides have negotiated a settlement since Cosby went to prison last fall in a...
Vaccine wars: Social media battle outbreak of bogus claims
SAN FRANCISCO — Like health officials facing outbreaks of disease, internet companies are trying to contain vaccine-related misinformation they have long helped spread. So far, their efforts at quarantine are falling short. Searches of Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram turn up all sorts of bogus warnings about vaccines, including the soundly...
Filings: Bill Cosby agrees to settle 7 defamation cases
Bill Cosby has agreed to settle lawsuits filed by seven women who say he defamed them when he accused them of lying about sexual misconduct allegations. Filings Friday in federal court in Springfield, Mass., show the two sides have negotiated a settlement since Cosby went to prison last fall in...
Florida businessman convicted in $1B Medicare fraud case
MIAMI — A federal jury on Friday convicted a Florida health care executive on 20 criminal counts in what prosecutors described as a $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme. Jurors reached a partial verdict after four days of deliberating the fate of Philip Esformes in one of the biggest such cases...
Rep: Mick Jagger doing well after receiving medical treatment
NEW YORK — A representative for Mick Jagger says he has successfully undergone treatment, though no details were provided. In a statement released Friday, his rep says Jagger “is doing very well and is expected to make a full recovery.” Last week the Rolling Stones announced they were postponing their...
Avicii’s posthumous single and album to be released
NEW YORK — Avicii’s first posthumous single will be released next week and a full album will be out in June. Collaborators of the Swedish DJ-producer say in a statement Friday that Avicii was close to completing his new album before he died last April in Muscat, Oman. His co-writers...
Ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner ordered to register as sex offender
NEW YORK — Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner was ordered Friday to register as a sex offender as he nears the end of a 21-month prison sentence for having illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl. A New York City judge designated Weiner a Level 1 offender under the state’s...
