Associated Press stories, Page 278
Rory McIlroy, J.J. Spaun tie at The Players Championship to set up Monday playoff
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Rory McIlroy built a three-shot lead on the back nine at The Players Championship, and unheralded J.J. Spaun didn’t blink. They wound up tied after a four-hour rain delay and have to return Monday for a playoff to decide who wins the richest tournament in...
Josh Berry races to 1st NASCAR Cup Series win with Las Vegas score
LAS VEGAS — Josh Berry raced to the first Cup Series victory of his career, taking NASCAR’s oldest team to victory lane Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Berry, in his first season driving the famed No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing, had the first victory for a Ford team...
Auburn, Duke, Houston, Florida receive No. 1 seeds for NCAA TournamentVideo
Auburn is the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, with Duke, Houston and Florida joining the Tigers on the No. 1 line in the March Madness brackets released Sunday. The NCAA selection committee favored the regular-season champs of the record-setting SEC despite three losses in their last four games,...
Tre Donaldson helps No. 22 Michigan rally to beat No. 18 Wisconsin for Big Ten titleVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Tre Donaldson and Vladislav Goldin each scored 11 points, and No. 22 Michigan closed Saturday’s Big Ten Tournament championship game on an 11-2 run to beat No. 18 Wisconsin, 59-53, and claim its first tourney crown since 2018. Donaldson also had eight assists one day after driving the...
‘Novocaine’ leads numbingly slow weekend at domestic box office
Five new movies opened wide in North American theaters this weekend including a starry spy picture from Steven Soderbergh, an A24 thriller, a Looney Tunes movie and a high concept action-comedy with “The Boys” star Jack Quaid. But the myriad options did not result in box office gold. When final...
Max Shulga scores 18, VCU holds off George Mason to claim Atlantic 10 title, NCAA berth
WASHINGTON — Max Shulga scored 18 points and Joe Bamisile sealed the win with two free throws with a half-second left as Virginia Commonwealth held off George Mason 66-63 to win the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament championship Sunday. VCU led by eight at the break, 36-28, but George Mason got...
NASA’s stuck astronauts welcome their newly arrived replacements to space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Just over a day after blasting off, a SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering the replacements for NASA’s two stuck astronauts. The four newcomers — representing the U.S., Japan and Russia — will spend the next few days learning the...
No. 4 Florida beats No. 8 Tennessee for 1st SEC Tournament title since 2014Video
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Walter Clayton Jr. scored 22 points, and fourth-ranked Florida won its fifth SEC Tournament title and first since 2014 Sunday, beating the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers, 86-77. The Gators (30-4) lost in this game a year ago. This time, they made sure to finish their 12th appearance...
John Poulakidas’ 5 3s help carry Yale to Ivy League title
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — John Poulakidas knocked down five 3-pointers in the second half as regular-season champion Yale added the Ivy League Tournament championship with a 90-84 win over Cornell on Sunday to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons. The senior...
Dodgers’ Mookie Betts struggling with illness; status for Opening Day in doubt
TOKYO — Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts is still struggling to recover from an illness, with manager Dave Roberts pessimistic the eight-time All-Star will be ready for Opening Day against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday in Japan. Betts was able to go through a light workout Sunday but became...
Education Department staff cuts could limit options for families of kids with disabilities
WASHINGTON — For parents of kids with disabilities, advocating for their child can be complicated, time-consuming — and expensive. Changes at the Education Department are likely to make the process even more difficult, advocates for kids with disabilities say. When a parent believes their child is not receiving proper services...
At least 37 dead after tornadoes, wildfires and dust storms wreak havoc across multiple U.S. states
PIEDMONT, Mo. — Unusually vicious and damaging weather across multiple U.S. states spawned violent tornadoes, blinding dust storms and fast-moving wildfires this weekend, leaving at least 37 people dead. Hailey Hart and her fiancé Steve Romero hunkered down with their three huskies inside their 1994 Toyota Celica as a tornado...
Trump administration deports hundreds of immigrants even as a judge orders their removals be stopped
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration targeting Venezuelan gang members, officials said Sunday. Flights were in the air at the time of the ruling. U.S....
Trump and Putin will speak this week on Russia-Ukraine war, U.S.envoy says
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to speak this week as the U.S. tries to broker a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff. It would be the second publicized call between the two leaders since...
Ivory Coast is losing U.S. aid as al-Qaida and other extremist groups are approaching
KIMBIRILA-NORD, Ivory Coast — With its tomato patches and grazing cattle, the Ivory Coast village of Kimbirila-Nord hardly looks like a front line of the global fight against extremism. But after jihadis attacked a nearby community in Mali five years ago and set up a base in a forest straddling...
New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks alliances in Europe as he deals with Trump
OTTAWA, Ontario — New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Paris and London on Monday to seek alliances as he deals with U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on Canada’s sovereignty and economy. Carney is purposely making his first foreign trip to the capital cities of the two countries...
Pope thanks children who prayed for him outside of the hospital, but remains out of sight
ROME — Dozens of children toting yellow and white balloons — many from war-torn countries — gathered outside Rome’s Gemelli hospital to greet Pope Francis on his fifth Sunday hospitalized with double pneumonia. While the pope did not appear from the 10th-floor suite of windows, he thanked them and acknowledged...
U.S. and Iran-backed Houthis vow escalation after airstrikes target rebels in Yemen
CAIRO — The United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the U.S. launched airstrikes to deter the rebels from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors. “We’re not going to have these people controlling which ships can go...
Suicide car bomber hits buses carrying security forces, killing 5 in southwestern Pakistan
QUETTA, Pakistan — A suicide car bomber targeted a convoy of buses carrying security forces in restive southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least five officers and wounding 10 others, police said. The attack occurred in Naushki, a district in Balochistan, said Zafar Zamanani, a local police chief. The dead...
At least 59 dead and more than 150 injured in nightclub fire in North Macedonia
KOCANI, North Macedonia — A massive fire tore through a nightclub in North Macedonia ‘s eastern town of Kocani early Sunday, killing 59 people and injuring 155, authorities said. The blaze broke out around 2:30 a.m. local time during a concert by a local pop group at Club Pulse, Interior...
Proctor, Knueppel carry No. 1 Duke past No. 13 Louisville 73-62 for 2nd ACC title in 3 yearsVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tyrese Proctor scored 19 points on six 3-pointers, Kon Knueppel added 18 points and No. 1 Duke defeated 13th-ranked Louisville, 73-62, on Saturday night to clinch its second ACC Tournament championship in three seasons under Jon Scheyer. It was Duke’s 23rd ACC title overall — the most...
Alex Ovechkin scores 887th goal to move within 8 of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s recordVideo
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Alex Ovechkin shook off a rough start to this three-game California swing by scoring his 887th career goal Saturday against the San Jose Sharks to move within eight of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record. Ovechkin had failed to score a goal in the first two games...
No. 6 St. John’s beats Creighton 82-66 for 1st Big East Tournament crown in 25 yearsVideo
NEW YORK — RJ Luis Jr. scored all but two of his 29 points after halftime, and No. 6 St. John’s made 14 straight shots from the field in the second half to beat Creighton, 82-66, on Saturday night for its first Big East Tournament title in 25 years. Zuby...
J.J. Spaun takes the lead at The Players Championship on windy day that wrecked roundsVideo
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — J.J. Spaun only had to look at the video boards around the TPC Sawgrass to appreciate the chaos going around him Saturday in The Players Championship. Will Zalatoris was tied for the lead, and then his name was gone after an astonishing stretch of 9-over-par...
Christopher Bell wants another congrats text from Jimmie Johnson
LAS VEGAS — Christopher Bell sometimes can’t believe seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson even knows Bell exists. And when Bell’s phone lights up with a new text message from the Hall of Famer, he can’t stop himself from freaking out a little bit. But the texts have come three weeks...
