Associated Press stories, Page 2632
NCAA Tournament Midwest preview: Injury hangs over Kentucky
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As the Kentucky Wildcats went through a casual shootaround the day before their opening game of the NCAA Tournament, complete with a blaring band and thousands of blue-clad fans watching every move, something was missing. Their best player. PJ Washington, a rare sophomore amid John Calipari’s latest...
NCAA Tournament South Region preview: Villanova in different spot
HARTFORD, Conn. — Villanova is coming into the NCAA Tournament this year from an unfamiliar angle. The defending national champions bring the cache that comes with two NCAA titles in the last three seasons, along with a couple of key senior leaders who have a wealth of postseason experience and,...
NCAA Tournament West Region preview: Gonzaga eager to bounce back
SALT LAKE CITY — Gonzaga enters the NCAA Tournament after a loss for one of the rare times under coach Mark Few. The dominant team in the West Coast Conference for two decades, the Zags lost to Saint Mary’s in the conference title game last week in Las Vegas. The...
European, Canadian regulators plan own reviews of Boeing 737 Max
Boeing’s grounded airliners are likely to be parked longer now that European and Canadian regulators plan to conduct their own reviews of changes the company is making after two of the jets crashed. The Europeans and Canadians want to do more than simply take the Federal Aviation Administration’s word that...
North Dakota State gets shot at Duke with First Four victory
DAYTON, Ohio — North Dakota State is one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the country, and that’s what it came down to at the end of the Bison’s First Four win over North Carolina Central. Vinnie Shahid sank three foul shots in the last 8 seconds to secure...
‘Dick Van Dyke Show’ scripts to be digitally preserved
JAMESTOWN, N.Y. — Hollywood producer Carl Reiner and the National Comedy Center say they’re working together to digitally preserve Reiner’s collection of scripts from the 1960s “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” The scripts are full of Reiner’s handwritten changes to the dialogue. Reiner, who turned 97 on Tuesday, says creating...
What to watch at this year’s NCAA Tournament
The NCAA Tournament somehow seems to be getting better every year, almost as if each bracket is extending from the previous one. Last year brought one of the maddest of Marches, starting with Maryland-Baltimore County becoming the first No. 16 seed to beat a 1 — poor Virginia — to...
Ja Morant, Markus Howard headline Murray State-Marquette matchup
HARTFORD, Conn. — Murray State’s Ja Morant and Marquette’s Markus Howard have much in common: Point guards, prolific scorers, conference players of the year, All-America contenders. And, apparently, promptness. Morant and Howard struck up a friendship last summer at NBA All-Star Chris Paul’s camp for elite guards. “We were the...
Trump says Islamic State territory in Syria nearly eliminated
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Wednesday the last pocket of the Islamic State’s land in Syria will be liberated by U.S.-backed forces “by tonight.” Trump has previously announced the defeat of the group, but sleeper cells of fighters have re-emerged. With no signs of fighting Wednesday, however, the long-running battle...
Reading Eagle files for bankruptcy protection, seeks buyer
READING — The family-owned company that has published the Reading Eagle newspaper for more than 150 years is filing for bankruptcy protection and seeking a buyer. The Reading Eagle Co., whose other properties include news-talk radio station WEEU and a weekly newspaper, said Wednesday it will continue to publish and...
Medicines for opioid addiction vastly underused, experts say
WASHINGTON — Medicines proven to treat opioid addiction remain vastly underused in the United States, the nation’s top medical advisers said Wednesday. Only a fraction of the estimated 2 million people addicted to opioids are getting the medications, according to a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and...
Fed news sends bond yields sharply lower; stocks mixed
Banks led U.S. stocks mostly lower Wednesday after a brief rally sparked by the Federal Reserve’s latest policy update faded. The real action centered in the bond market, where prices rose sharply, pulling Treasury yields down to the lowest levels they’ve seen in more than a year. The central bank...
Iowa man charged with murder for allegedly killing girlfriend’s son by sitting on him
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Iowa police say a 2-year-old boy died after a man sat on the child for allegedly taking his cellphone. Pottawattamie County court records show 31-year-old Larry Murphy is charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death. He’s jailed on more than $1 million bail....
Europe fines Google $1.7B in antitrust case
BRUSSELS — Europe’s antitrust regulators slapped Google with a big fine Wednesday for the third time in less than two years, ordering the tech giant to pay 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for freezing out rivals in the online advertising business. The ruling brings to nearly $10 billion the fines...
Penn State to collect $733K from Jerry Sandusky’s defunct charity
HARRISBURG — Penn State will collect hundreds of thousands of dollars left over from the defunct charity for youth founded by convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky, settling claims from a threatened civil lawsuit. The university and the state attorney general’s office both confirmed this week that an agreement was reached...
U.S. judge blocks oil, gas drilling over climate change
BILLINGS, Mont. — A judge has blocked oil and gas drilling on almost 500 square miles in Wyoming and says the government must consider the cumulative climate change impact of leasing broad swaths of U.S. public lands for oil and gas exploration. The order marks the latest in a string...
Mariners top A’s in MLB opener in Japan
TOKYO — Ichiro drew all the cheers. Most everyone else on the Seattle Mariners did all the hitting. A crowd that came to salute Ichiro Suzuki in his homeland saw Domingo Santana deliver the biggest hit at the Tokyo Dome, a grand slam that sent Seattle over the Oakland Athletics,...
Federal Reserve foresees no interest rate hikes in 2019
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday and projected no rate hikes in 2019, dramatically underscoring its plan to be “patient” about any further increases. The Fed said it was keeping its benchmark rate — which can influence everything from mortgages to credit cards to...
Ford shifts gears, boosts new jobs from 850 to 900
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is repackaging a previously announced $900 million manufacturing investment in the Detroit area, boosting the number of jobs added from 850 to 900. Most of the new workers will build a new generation of electric vehicle at Ford’s existing factory in Flat Rock, Mich., south...
Trump says tariffs on China could stay to ensure compliance
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says if the United States gets a trade deal with China, tariffs could stay in place for some time to ensure Beijing “lives by the deal.” Trump said Wednesday the White House was discussing keeping tariffs for a “substantial period of time,” adding that China...
Kansas artist carves out Beto O’Rourke image in Texas field
AUSTIN, Texas — The face of Beto O’Rourke has been temporarily enshrined in a Texas field as the former Democratic congressman runs for president. A 2-acre circle with an image of the El Paso politician’s face has been carved into a field near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The crop art also...
Happy birthday! Trump’s youngest son, Barron, turns 13
WASHINGTON — A teenager is calling the White House home again. President Donald Trump’s youngest child, Barron, turned 13 on Wednesday, the first day of spring break at the Maryland private school where he’s a seventh-grader. Barron and his mother, Melania Trump, are keeping to tradition and spending the break...
GOP senator says he’s fed up with Trump’s attacks on McCain
WASHINGTON — A Republican senator says that he’s had enough of President Donald Trump’s personal attacks on the late John McCain and that “the country deserves better.” Johnny Isakson of Georgia is quoted Wednesday as telling The Bulwark conservative news and opinion website that “nothing is more important than the...
Cops: Arizona woman disciplined her adopted kids with pepper spray
MARICOPA, Ariz. — Arizona authorities say a woman has been arrested on allegations of using pepper spray to discipline her seven adopted children and locking them for days inside a closet. A police report says Machelle Hackney’s adopted children had no food, water or access to a bathroom for days...
Lawsuit: Harvard ‘shamelessly’ profits from photos of slaves
BOSTON — Harvard University has “shamelessly” turned a profit from photos of two 19th-century slaves while ignoring requests to turn the photos over to the slaves’ descendants, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Tamara Lanier, of Norwich, Connecticut, is suing the Ivy League school for “wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation”...
