Associated Press stories, Page 272
AL East Preview: Yankees and Orioles are still talented, but the race at the top could be tighter
Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes are gone from the division, and although the Yankees and Orioles can certainly succeed without them, the AL East seems noticeably tougher to predict this year. In 2023, Baltimore and Tampa Bay won 101 and 99 games, with the rest of the division another 10...
AL Central Preview: Four solid teams, and then the White Sox
The American League Central was a surprisingly strong division last season, with four teams finishing above .500. Then there was the Chicago White Sox — who racked up 121 losses for the most defeats in modern Major League Baseball history. Expect more of the same in 2025. The defending champion...
MLB preview: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers hope to become 1st repeat champs since ’98-’00 YankeesVideo
Shohei Ohtani was in the batter’s box for the season’s first pitch Tuesday, arriving at the Tokyo Dome coronated a World Series champion. Twenty-nine other teams will be trying to dethrone his Los Angeles Dodgers, who flexed their financial might again during the offseason hoping to become the first repeat...
Penn State, Carter Starocci celebrate titles, Gable Steveson upset at NCAA wrestling
PHILADELPHIA — Penn State’s Carter Starocci won an unprecedented fifth national title and Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson stunned Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson in the heavyweight final Saturday night at the NCAA men’s wrestling championships with President Donald Trump in attendance. Hendrickson, a transfer from Air Force, trailed in the...
Kyle Larson trying to avoid another disappointing weekend at HomesteadVideo
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kyle Larson is tired of his weekends at Homestead-Miami Speedway ending in disappointment. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has won a NASCAR Cup Series race and Xfinity Series race in his career at the South Florida track, but he mostly just remembers the heartbreaks there. Last year it...
NCAA Tournament roundup: John Calipari, Arkansas beat Rick Pitino, St. John’sVideo
Moon native John Calipari is heading to the Sweet 16 for the 16th time, and this one could be the sweetest of all. Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks beat longtime nemesis Rick Pitino and No. 2 seed St. John’s, 75-66, on Saturday, sending their itinerant coach to the second weekend of the...
JJ Qunierly’s 27 points lifts West Virginia women to NCAA tourney win
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — JJ Quinerly scored 27 points, including the 2,000th of her career, Jordan Harrison matched a career-high with 23 and sixth-seeded West Virginia led wire-to-wire in a 78-59 victory over 11th-seeded Columbia on Saturday in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament. Quinerly also had seven...
Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday, doctors say
ROME — Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday, after 38 days battling a life-threatening case of pneumonia in both lungs, his doctors said. Gemelli medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri said Saturday that Francis will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation as he continues...
Experts say U.S. weather forecasts will worsen as DOGE cuts mean fewer balloon launches
WASHINGTON — With massive job cuts, the National Weather Service is eliminating or reducing vital weather balloon launches in eight northern locations, which meteorologists and former agency leaders said will degrade the accuracy of forecasts just as severe weather season kicks in. The normally twice-daily launches of weather balloons in...
Kitty Dukakis, wife of former governor and presidential candidate, dies at 88
BROOKLINE, Mass. — Kitty Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who spoke openly about her struggles with depression and addiction, has died. She was 88. Dukakis died on Friday night surrounded by her family, her son, John Dukakis, said on Saturday by telephone....
3 killed, 15 injured in shooting at park in New Mexico’s Las Cruces
Three people died and 15 others were injured after an altercation broke out at a park in the desert city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, police said Saturday. Police and fire crews arrived at just after 10 p.m. Friday onto a chaotic scene at the city’s Young Park, where an...
Israel fires on Lebanon after rocket attack in heaviest exchange since truce with Hezbollah
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Israel struck Lebanon on Saturday in retaliation for rockets targeting Israel, killing two, including a child, in the heaviest exchange of fire since its ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah almost four months ago. The rockets fired from Lebanon were the second ones launched since December...
3 people killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia despite limited truce
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three people and wounding 12, Ukrainian officials said Saturday, despite agreeing to a limited ceasefire. Zaporizhzhia was hit by 12 drones, police said. Regional head Ivan Fedorov said that residential buildings, cars and communal buildings...
Penn State nears 4th straight national title as all 10 wrestlers earn All-American honors
PHILADELPHIA — Penn State is closing in on its fourth straight Division I men’s wrestling championship and its 12th in 14 years under coach Cael Sanderson. All 10 Penn State wrestlers earned All-American status Friday. The Nittany Lions join Minnesota’s 2001 squad as the only teams to have that many...
George Foreman, the glowering heavyweight who became a lovable champion, dies at 76
George Foreman, the fearsome heavyweight who lost the “Rumble in the Jungle” to Muhammad Ali before his inspiring second act as a 45-year-old champion and a successful businessman, died Friday night. He was 76. Foreman’s family announced his death on social media, not saying how or where he died. “A...
Jacob Bridgeman leads Valspar; Viktor Hovland among those 1 back
PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Viktor Hovland is searching for his swing and found himself in contention Friday at the Valspar Championship, where Jacob Bridgeman has a one-shot lead and a host of others were right behind going into the weekend at Innisbrook. Bridgeman was among several players atop the leaderboard...
Homeland Security revokes temporary status for 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans
MIAMI — The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it will revoke legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, setting them up for potential deportation in about a month. The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the United...
Capitals are 1st to clinch a playoff spot after being last in last year
WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals became the first NHL team to clinch a playoff spot this season, doing so after winning in their 69th game and getting the help they needed elsewhere around the league. They are the only team since the playoffs expanded to 16 teams...
NCAA Tournament roundup: Favored No. 12 seed Colorado St. beats short-handed MemphisVideo
Kyan Evans made a career-high six 3-pointers and scored 23 points to lead No. 12 seed Colorado State past fifth-seeded Memphis, 78-70, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. Nique Clifford, the Mountain West Tournament MVP, had his quietest scoring night in a month, finishing with 14...
Researchers say U.S. government tried to erase sexual orientation from their findings
Two California researchers said Friday a U.S. government health publication instructed them to remove data on sexual orientation from a scientific manuscript that had been accepted for publication. The researchers also said they were told to remove the words “gender,” “cisgender” and “equitable” from their paper, which looked at smoking...
Under threat from Trump, Columbia University agrees to policy changes
NEW YORK — Under threat from the Trump administration, Columbia University agreed to implement a host of policy changes Friday, including overhauling its rules for protests and conducting an immediate review of its Middle Eastern studies department. The changes, detailed in a letter sent by the university’s interim president, Katrina...
Tobacco Road is front and center of March Madness
DURHAM, N.C. — Oregon women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves was excited when he saw his team was headed to Duke to play in the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks had success there when they played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, advancing also as a 10 seed. But more importantly, it meant...
Pitcher Julio Urías suspended through the All-Star break under domestic violence policy
NEW YORK — Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías was suspended through the All-Star break by Major League Baseball on Friday under its domestic violence policy with the players’ association. Urías had pleaded no contest last May to one count of misdemeanor domestic battery. The penalty was the second...
Canada’s new prime minister is triggering an election campaign this weekend. Here’s what to know
TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to trigger the process for an early parliamentary election this weekend for an expected vote on April 28. The election will take place against the backdrop of a trade war and sovereignty threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. The governing Liberals...
Trump sketches the start of a roadmap for winding down the Education Department
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday began sketching a roadmap for dismantling the Education Department, with other agencies taking over responsibility for federal student loans and programs serving students with disabilities. The executive order Trump signed Thursday to do away with the department did not offer a timeline or...
