Associated Press stories, Page 2662
U.S. home sales tumbled 1.2 percent in January
WASHINGTON — U.S. home sales fell 1.2 percent in January to their worst pace in more than three years, as persistent affordability problems have put a harsh chill in the real estate market. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales of existing homes declined 1.2 percent to a...
Police: Texas man confessed in hammer death of daughter, 2
ORANGE, Texas — A police affidavit says a Southeast Texas man found naked and stained with blood told officers that he killed his 2-year-old daughter, who had been bludgeoned with a hammer . The affidavit says an officer’s body camera captured 26-year-old Yovahnis Roque confessing Tuesday in the death of...
Study finds spike in Pennsylvania child abuse-related deaths
HARRISBURG — A new study says the number of Pennsylvania children killed or nearly killed after abuse had occurred spiked recently, likely driven by changes to state law and heightened awareness in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky and Roman Catholic clergy child sexual abuse scandals. The state Human Services...
Nestlé, AT&T pull YouTube ads over pedophile concerns
Several companies, including AT&T and Nestlé, are pulling advertisements from YouTube over concerns about inappropriate comments on videos of children. A video from a popular YouTuber and a report from Wired showed that pedophiles have made unseemly comments on innocuous videos of kids. The comments reportedly included timestamps that showed...
Pitt’s losing skid hits 10 with loss at Georgia Tech
ATLANTA — Georgia Tech went a month without winning a game. Even so, coach Josh Pastner had started seeing improvement in his young team over the last couple of weeks. “I think we’ve gotten better, and we have gotten better,” he said. “It just hasn’t shown up in the win...
Brothers in Smollett case are bodybuilders, aspiring actors
CHICAGO — An attorney representing the brothers at the center of an investigation into the attack reported by Jussie Smollett said Wednesday that her clients “manned up” and testified in front of a grand jury, before prosecutors charged the “Empire” actor with filing a false police report. Gloria Schmidt spoke...
Woman dead after driver plows into family in suburban N.Y.
HAVERSTRAW, N.Y. — Police say an enraged driver plowed his car into a family of eight, including a baby and five children, outside a store in Rockland County Wednesday, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring several others. Police believe an argument between the family and the driver, identified as 35-year-old...
Duke star Zion Williamson injures knee after Nike shoe blows out
DURHAM, N.C. — Freshman sensation Zion Williamson was knocked out of the North Carolina-Duke rivalry game by a knee injury after his Nike shoe blew out during the top-ranked Blue Devils’ opening possession. Williamson grabbed his right knee in pain after slipping awkwardly and falling when his left shoe fell...
Ex-Pirate Josh Harrison to sign with Tigers, join Jordy Mercer
DETROIT — Former Pittsburgh Pirates utilityman Josh Harrison agreed to a one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the deal was subject to a successful physical. The 31-year-old Harrison spent his first eight major...
Andrew McCutchen compares Phillies’ OF situation to time with Pirates
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Andrew McCutchen is ready to boost the Philadelphia Phillies with his bat, glove and brain. Signed to a $50 million, three-year contract, McCutchen said he enjoys his role as the veteran in the outfield and likes what he has seen from his younger teammates. The 32-year-old McCutchen...
United Methodists confront possible split over LGBT issues
The United Methodist Church’s top legislative assembly convenes Sunday for a high-stakes, three-day meeting likely to determine whether America’s second-largest Protestant denomination will fracture over divisions on same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay clergy. While other mainline Protestant denominations — such as the Episcopal and Presbyterian (U.S.A.) churches —...
Tortoise feared extinct found on remote Galapagos island
LIMA, Peru — A living member of species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galapagos island of Fernandina. An adult female Chelonoidis phantasticus, also known as the Fernandina Giant Tortoise, was spotted Sunday...
A new country, big excitement in Mexico over Tiger Woods
MEXICO CITY — Two small openings on both sides of a tree-covered path were packed with fans young and old, some with caps they wanted signed, others holding phones to capture the moment. They were screaming one word that translates in any language at the Mexico Championship. “Tiger!” Tiger Woods...
Chiefs turn to Spagnuolo to shore up sieve-like defenseVideo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Steve Spagnuolo spent much of his year out of coaching making the 45-minute drive from his home in Philadelphia to the headquarters of NFL Films in Mount Laurel, N.J. Spagnuolo had finished a tour as the interim coach of the New York Giants and missed out...
Kevin Love healthy, optimistic as Cavaliers fight to season’s finish
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Kevin Love relaxed on the beach under the warm Caribbean sun during the All-Star break. He hopes it finally shines on him and the Cavaliers in the second half of a depressing, gloomy season. Offering optimism about his future and Cleveland’s, Love returned to the practice floor...
W.Va. teachers end strike after no action on doomed bill
CHARLESTON — Unions for West Virginia teachers ended their two-day strike Wednesday night after lawmakers did not act on a doomed, broad-based education bill. Leaders of three unions representing teachers and school service personnel said at a news conference that classrooms would reopen statewide on Thursday. The House of Delegates...
Commodities giant Glencore to cap coal output over climate
BERLIN — Commodities giant Glencore said Wednesday it will cap how much coal it mines amid shareholder pressure for it to help reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases. The move is a sharp reversal for a company that has long championed the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, and which...
U.S. stocks cap day of listless trading with modest gains
Wall Street capped another day of listless trading Wednesday with a slight gain, extending the market’s winning streak to a third day. Financial, materials and industrial companies accounted for much of the gain, outweighing losses in health care and real estate stocks as investors reviewed the latest batch of company...
Gory details emerge about Kelsey Berreth’s suspected demise
DENVER — After months of mostly silence from authorities investigating the disappearance of a Colorado mother on Thanksgiving Day, grim details about her suspected demise emerged this week, including accusations that the woman’s fiance beat her to death with a baseball bat while their baby was in the next room....
Samsung’s foldable phone will cost nearly $2,000
SAN FRANCISCO — Samsung has unveiled a highly anticipated smartphone with a foldable screen that breaks new ground in a market that has been stuck in an innovative funk. The phone announced Wednesday in San Francisco will be called the Galaxy Fold and will sell for $1,980 when it is...
U.S. says Alabama woman who joined Islamic State can’t return
WASHINGTON — An Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State group in Syria is not a U.S. citizen and will not be allowed to return to the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday. In a brief statement that gave no details as to...
Neptune’s newest, tiniest moon likely fragment of bigger one
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Neptune’s newest and tiniest moon is probably an ancient fragment of a much larger moon orbiting unusually close. In the journal Nature on Wednesday, California astronomers shine a light on the 21-mile-wide moon Hippocamp, named after the mythological sea horse. SETI Institute’s Mark Showalter discovered Neptune’s...
Gwyneth Paltrow denies causing Utah ski crash
SALT LAKE CITY — Actress Gwyneth Paltrow denied Wednesday that she skied into a man who accused her in a lawsuit of seriously injuring him at a Utah ski resort, alleging in a counter claim that the man actually plowed into her from behind and delivered a full “body blow.”...
After surgery, Michael Cohen’s prison date postponed to May
NEW YORK — A judge has agreed to postpone the start of ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s prison sentence by two months to May 6. New York Judge William Pauley signed off on the delay Wednesday after Cohen’s lawyers said he needed more time to recover from shoulder surgery. They noted...
Pennsylvania must keep up on voting systems, lawmakers told
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top elections official is warning that failing to replace voting machines by 2020 could make the state the only one without a voter-verifiable paper trail. Kathy Boockvar, Pennsylvania’s acting state secretary, also told senators Wednesday during an Appropriations Committee hearing that election-security experts agree that moving to...
