Associated Press stories, Page 2622
Entire school system in a West Virginia county closes for flu outbreak
NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va. — All of the schools in a West Virginia county are being closed because of a flu outbreak. A state Education Department spokesperson forwarded a voicemail from the Hancock County school superintendent confirming the Friday closures. In the voicemail, Superintendent Timothy Woodward says all schools in the...
George Clooney calls for boycott of hotels over anti-gay law
LOS ANGELES — George Clooney is calling for the boycott of nine hotels in the U.S. and Europe with ties to the sultan of Brunei, which next month will implement Islamic criminal laws to punish gay sex by stoning offenders to death. The Hollywood actor wrote Thursday in Deadline Hollywood:...
Autopsy: Heart attack killed Nevada brothel owner
LAS VEGAS — Authorities say America’s most famous pimp died of a heart attack in bed at one of his legal brothels in Nevada after a 72nd birthday bash in October. The Nye County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday an autopsy showed Dennis Hof died of natural causes. The autopsy by...
Cow hit 4 times in crash that sends 1 driver to hospital
MARSHFIELD, Mo. — Authorities say a cow that wandered onto a southwest Missouri highway was hit by four different vehicles with one fiery impact sending a driver to the hospital. The Springfield News-Leader reports that the 21-year-old Hannah Maxwell said she didn’t have time to swerve before her sport utility...
Lyft’s shares soar as investors bet on ride-hailing future
Lyft’s shares soared as the company went public Friday, giving investors their first chance to bet on the future of the ride-hailing industry. The stock opened at $87.24, up 21 percent from its offering price of $72. Lyft won the race with its much larger rival Uber to go public,...
California man sentenced to 20 years in fatal ‘swatting’
WICHITA, Kan. — A California man was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for making bogus emergency calls to authorities across the U.S., including one that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between two online players over $1.50 bet in the “Call of Duty:...
Trump threatens to close border with Mexico next week
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to close the nation’s southern border, or large sections of it, next week if Mexico does not halt illegal immigration at once. “If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States through our Southern Border, I will be...
U.S. new-home sales increased 4.9 percent in February
WASHINGTON — Sales of new U.S. homes climbed 4.9 percent in February, an indication that falling mortgage rates have given a boost to demand from buyers. The Commerce Department said Friday that new homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 667,000 in February, an increase from an upwardly...
Libyan official: Migrants used metal tools to threaten crew
VALLETTA, Malta — A Libyan official says the migrants who commandeered an oil tanker that had rescued them in the Mediterranean Sea used metal tools to threaten the crew, forcing them to direct the ship toward Europe. Maltese armed forces stormed the vessel Thursday and detained five men suspected of...
Man charged with killing toddler in stroller dead in jail
CINCINNATI — Authorities say a man charged with driving over a curb, killing a toddler in a stroller and fleeing the scene has died of an apparent drug overdose at a county jail in Cincinnati. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office says 31-year-old Satwinder Singh was found unresponsive in his cell...
Doctor: Florida man believed he was ‘half-man, half-dog’
STUART, Fla. — A forensic psychologist says a former college student believed he was “half-dog, half-man” when he fatally attacked a man and woman at their home and was found biting one of their faces. The Palm Beach Post reports Dr. Phillip Resnick made the conclusion in a 38-page mental-health...
Syracuse star Tyus Battle won’t come back for senior year
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse star Tyus Battle is not coming back for his senior year. In an open letter to fans published Friday in The Post-Standard of Syracuse, Battle made his decision after reports he’d leave surfaced when the Orange were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament....
U.S. consumer spending edges up weak 0.1 percent in January
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending edged up a tiny 0.1 percent in January, while incomes advanced a modest 0.2 percent in February, further evidence that economic activity may have decelerated after strong growth for most of last year. The Commerce Department said Friday that the weak gain in consumer spending...
Reputed ‘Ripper Crew’ member, killer released from prison
CANTON, Ill. — Authorities say a man convicted of murder as a suspected member of the notorious “Ripper Crew” that killed as many as 20 Chicago-area women in the 1980s has been released from prison. An alert from Illinois’ victim notification system was issued Friday saying 58-year-old Thomas Kokoraleis had...
‘Filthadelphia’ tries to shed nickname
PHILADELPHIA — The City of Brotherly Love was once revolutionary when it came to clean streets, gutters and sidewalks. Benjamin Franklin launched one of America’s first street sweeping programs here in the late 1750s. In 1952, the city tied with Memphis, Tennessee, as the nation’s cleanest. Those distinctions are long...
City leaders: Jussie Smollett owes Chicago $130K for investigation
CHICAGO — City officials have ordered Jussie Smollett to pay $130,000 to cover the cost of the investigation into his report of a street attack that Chicago police say was staged to promote his career. A letter from the city’s legal department sent Thursday to Smollett and his attorneys said...
Pope mandates reporting of sex abuse claims in Vatican City
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Friday issued sweeping new sex abuse legislation for Vatican personnel and Holy See diplomats that requires the immediate reporting of abuse allegations to Vatican prosecutors, a policy shift aimed at being a model for the Catholic Church worldwide. The mandatory reporting provision of the...
Report: ‘Serial’ slaying DNA evidence doesn’t match Adnan Syed
BALTIMORE — Prosecutors in the murder case chronicled on the podcast “Serial” tested evidence from the 1999 crime last summer and found that none matched DNA from the convicted killer. Defense attorney C. Justin Brown tweeted Thursday that no forensic evidence links his client Adnan Syed to the killing of...
Rangers free 6 trapped baby elephants in Thailand
BANGKOK — Rangers at a national park in northeastern Thailand have rescued six baby elephants that were trapped in a mud pit. Park officials say the elephants were unable to climb up the pit’s slippery banks. Rescuers took five hours on Thursday to dig a path for them to clamber...
Trump’s small-business health insurance plan struck down
WASHINGTON — A federal judge is striking down the Trump administration’s highly touted small-business health insurance plan, calling it an “end run” around consumer protections. The ruling Thursday by U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington, D.C., is the second setback in a week for the administration’s health care initiatives....
Pet zebra escapes Florida home, is fatally shot by its owner
CALLAHAN, Fla. — Authorities say a pet zebra escaped from a Florida home and was shot and killed by its owner, who wasn’t licensed to own the animal. News outlets report the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office says the zebra, named Shadow, injured itself somehow while escaping Wednesday in the town...
Duke avoids upset, edges Virginia Tech to reach Elite 8
WASHINGTON — Zion Williamson soared for a two-handed, rim-rattling, crowd-thrilling alley-oop that gave Duke its biggest lead during a tight tussle against Virginia Tech in the East Region semifinals. He is known for his dunks, to be sure, but he can do more. So much more. And now Williamson and...
FBI could review the many suspicions around Smollett case
CHICAGO — The FBI was already investigating Jussie Smollett before President Donald Trump tweeted that the agency and the Department of Justice would review the case, which the president called “an embarrassment” to the nation. Trump’s tweet on Thursday came two days after a surprise decision by Cook County prosecutors...
Harry Reid testifies exercise device injury cost him Senate
LAS VEGAS — Former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid told a Nevada jury Thursday that his career was cut short by injuries he suffered when a TheraBand exercise device slipped from his hand and he fell in his home bathroom in 2015. From a wheelchair on the witness stand in a...
Scherzer highest-paid player, Red Sox top payroll list again
NEW YORK — Washington pitcher Max Scherzer took over from Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout as baseball’s highest-paid player at $37.4 million and the World Series champion Boston Red Sox remained the sport’s biggest spender for the second straight year, according to a study of major league salaries by...
