Associated Press stories, Page 639
Purdue faces the ghost of a shocking March Madness loss. Virginia has some advice on how to move on
Purdue had just fallen unexpectedly in the Big Ten Tournament last week and Braden Smith sat down alongside star Zach Edey and coach Matt Painter to meet reporters. It took three questions to conjure a March Madness specter: the Boilermakers’ improbable loss as a No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded Fairleigh...
Micah Handlogten will rejoin Florida for NCAA tourney after breaking his leg in the SEC title game
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida center Micah Handlogten, who gruesomely broke his left leg two minutes into the Southeastern Conference championship game on Sunday, will be on hand to watch the Gators in the NCAA Tournament. Already using crutches while recovering from surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Handlogten will make...
Florida homeless to be banned from sleeping in public spaces under DeSantis-backed law
Florida’s homeless will be banned from sleeping on sidewalks and in parks and other public spaces under a law signed Wednesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. It also promises the homeless greater access to services for issues such as substance abuse and mental health problems. The state Department of Children...
NCAA Tournament East Region preview: UConn possesses ingredients for repeat
Connecticut opened the season with uncertainty about how well the Huskies would replace major pieces from last year’s run to the national championship. Any questions had been answered well before Selection Sunday. The top-ranked Huskies (31-3) will enter the NCAA Tournament as the overall No. 1 seed, headlining the East...
March Madness as we know it could be on way out amid seismic changes in college sports
Tracking the changes upending college sports can be as frenetic as flipping between all the games going down over the first week of March Madness. Ultimately, those changes could impact what America’s favorite basketball tournament looks like in the future — or whether it exists at all. News about “pay...
Ohtani, Dodgers rally to beat Padres in season opener and 1st MLB game in South Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — Shohei Ohtani’s RBI single capped a four-run eighth-inning rally in his Dodgers debut, and Los Angeles beat the San Diego Padres 5-2 in Wednesday night’s major league opener, the sport’s first game in South Korea. The game turned when a routine grounder went through the webbing...
Did UK hospital staff try to snoop on Princess Kate’s medical records? Privacy watchdog investigates
LONDON — A British privacy watchdog said Wednesday it is looking into a report that staff at a private London hospital tried to snoop on the Princess of Wales ’ medical records while she was a patient for abdominal surgery. The Information Commissioner’s Office said: “We can confirm that we...
The 4 Grand Slams, the 2 tours and Saudi Arabia are all hoping to revamp tennis
The tennis leaders can agree that there is more money to be made. They also agree that the sport’s current structure could stand to change. The how’s and why’s and when’s of it all? Well, that’s open to discussion — and there is plenty of that happening now behind closed...
French bulldogs remain the most popular U.S. breed in new rankings. Many fans aren’t happy
NEW YORK — French bulldogs. U.S. dog owners. C’est l’amour. Frenchies remained the United States’ most commonly registered purebred dogs last year, according to American Kennel Club rankings released Wednesday. The club calls the Frenchie the most popular breed, though other canine constituencies may beg to differ. Is it a...
England is limiting gender transitions for youths. U.S. legislators are watching
Legislators in at least two U.S. states are citing a recent decision in England to restrict gender transitions for young people as support for their own related proposals. They weren’t the first to turn to other countries, notably in Europe, for policy and research ideas. Lawmakers across the U.S., where...
IRS chief zeroes in on wealthy tax cheats in AP interview
WASHINGTON — IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel has a message for high-wealth tax cheats who are wrongly deducting private jet travel and otherwise shorting the government on their taxes: Pay your fair share so “others aren’t shouldering the burden of funding our government.” He also has a thought for ordinary taxpayers...
Heavy fighting rages around Gaza’s biggest hospital as Israel raids it for a second day
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Explosions and shootings shook the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital and surrounding neighborhoods as Israeli forces stormed through the facility for a second day Tuesday. The military said it had killed 50 Hamas militants in the hospital, but it could not be independently confirmed that the dead...
Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong resigns amid anti-corruption campaign
HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong resigned after a little over a year on the job, the Communist Party said Wednesday, making him the latest senior official to leave office amid an intense anti-corruption campaign. The party said it had accepted his resignation, writing in a statement that...
Texas’ migrant arrest law is back on hold after briefly taking effect
McALLEN, Texas — Texas’ plans to arrest migrants suspected of entering the U.S. illegally were again on hold Wednesday after setting off uncertainty along the border and anger from Mexico flared during a brief few hours that the law was allowed to take effect. A late-night order Tuesday from a...
Mega Millions jackpot reaches $977 million after no one wins Tuesday’s drawing
The Mega Millions jackpot has reached $977 million for Friday night’s drawing after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night. The winning numbers drawn on Tuesday were 24, 46, 49, 62, 66 and the gold Mega Ball was 7. The estimated jackpot was $893 million with a...
Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously approve security law giving government more power to curb dissent
HONG KONG — Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously approved a new national security law Tuesday that grants the government more power to quash dissent, widely seen as the latest step in a sweeping political crackdown triggered by pro-democracy protests in 2019. The legislature passed the Safeguarding National Security Bill during a...
Doing business in China is growing tougher, more uncertain, European business group says
BEIJING — Uncertainty and “draconian regulations” have drastically raised risks for foreign businesses in China, a report by a European business group said Wednesday. The lengthy paper by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China urges China’s leaders to do more to address concerns that it says have “grown...
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumor mill. That’s a tall order
LONDON — The late Queen Elizabeth II used to say that the royal family has to be seen to be believed. That became glaringly evident as the absence of Kate, the Princess of Wales, from public view unleashed an escalating frenzy of wild speculation, skepticism and flat-out conspiracy theories fueled...
Top former U.S. generals say failures of Biden administration in planning drove chaotic fall of Kabul
WASHINGTON — The top two U.S. generals who oversaw the evacuation of Afghanistan as it fell to the Taliban in August 2021 blamed the Biden administration for the chaotic departure, telling lawmakers Tuesday that it inadequately planned for the evacuation and did not order it in time. The rare testimony...
2 Japanese men die in river near Washington state waterfall made popular on TikTok
INDEX, Wash. — The bodies of two people recovered over the weekend after they fell into the water at a dangerous swimming area in Washington state made popular by TikTok have been identified as men from Japan. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the men Tuesday as Hiroya Konosu,...
Biden tells Latino voters: ‘I need you back’
PHOENIX — President Joe Biden on Tuesday personally appealed to Latino voters, saying they’re the reason he defeated Donald Trump in 2020 and urging them to help him do it again in November. “I need you back,” he told several dozen supporters packed into a local Mexican restaurant. Biden said...
Biden and Trump notch more wins in Tuesday’s primaries
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Joe Biden and Donald Trump won their parties’ primaries in Kansas on Tuesday, notching more delegates as they continue their march to a rematch in November’s presidential election. Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, also easily won primaries Tuesday in Ohio and Illinois. Trump also won...
Melvin Council Jr. scores 21, Wagner beats Howard in First Four
DAYTON, Ohio — Wagner kicked off March Madness with the first NCAA Tournament win in program history, getting 21 points from Melvin Council Jr. and holding off a late rally by Howard to win 71-68 in the First Four on Tuesday night. The Northeast Conference champion Seahawks (17-15) advanced as...
Trump-backed Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno wins Ohio’s GOP Senate primary
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno won Ohio’s Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, just days after former President Donald Trump visited the state to boost his endorsed candidate in a three-way race that remained competitive to the end. Moreno prevailed after a contentious and expensive fight against Ohio Secretary...
From MVP to DNP: Florida believes guard Riley Kugel ‘will respond the right way’ after benching
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s Riley Kugel went from MVP to DNP in less than a year. The 6-foot-5 guard was so sensational down the stretch last season that he considered turning pro. Now, he’s the Gators’ biggest X-factor heading into the NCAA Tournament — assuming he even plays. Kugel was...
