Associated Press stories, Page 66
Trump says he’s sending second aircraft carrier to the Mideast as he seeks Iran deal
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday he decided to move a second aircraft carrier into the Middle East as he presses Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is being sent from the Caribbean Sea to the...
12-time All-Star Chris Paul, the ‘Point God,’ retires after 21-season NBA run
Chris Paul, the “Point God” who was a 12-time All-Star selection and two-time Olympic gold medalist, announced his retirement Friday in the capper of a 21-season career that will surely merit induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Paul, 40, made the announcement on the first day of the NBA’s...
Feds open a perjury probe into ICE officers’ testimony about the shooting of a Venezuelan man
MINNEAPOLIS — Federal authorities have opened a criminal probe into whether two immigration officers lied under oath about a shooting in Minneapolis last month, as all charges were dropped against two Venezuelan men. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said Friday his agency opened a joint probe with the...
Chase Elliott says fuel-mileage strategy is here to stay at Daytona, and everyone has caught on
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chase Elliott remembers when Hendrick Motorsports was one of the first NASCAR teams to approach superspeedway racing as fuel-mileage events. It wasn’t that long ago, really. Elliott said Friday that turning laps at Daytona International Speedway has changed dramatically since the “Next Gen” car’s debut in...
Brian Flores’ NFL discrimination suit headed to court, not arbitration
NEW YORK — The Brian Flores-led discrimination lawsuit against the NFL can proceed to open court and avoid the league’s arbitration process, a federal judge ruled Friday. Flores, who is joined in the lawsuit by Steve Wilks and Ray Horton, sued the league and three teams in February 2022 after...
NFL wins grievance against the players’ union, banning ‘team report cards’
An arbitrator determined the NFL Players Association violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL by distributing annual “team report cards” and ordered the union to stop making public any future reports. The NFL informed teams of the decision on Friday. “We are pleased with the decision from the arbitrator,...
Inflation measure falls to nearly 5-year low as gas prices fall and housing costs cool
WASHINGTON (AP) — A key measure of inflation fell to nearly a five-year low last month as apartment rental price growth slowed and gas prices fell, offering some relief to Americans grappling with the sharp cost increases of the past five years. Inflation dropped to 2.4% in January compared with...
Teachers describe immigration enforcement’s impact on classrooms in challenge of Trump policy
In one testimonial after another, teachers detailed all the ways President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has shaped their work and the lives of their students. In a court filing Thursday, educators around the country described rumors of immigration raids that scared away students, immigrant parents who stopped sending their children...
Minnesotans welcome the immigration surge drawdown but remain vigilant
MINNEAPOLIS — The Trump administration’s drawdown of its immigration enforcement surge in the Twin Cities area has been met with relief, but state officials and residents say its effects on Minnesota’s economy and immigrant communities will linger. Thousands of officers were sent to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area for...
Wendy’s closing hundreds of U.S. restaurants to focus on value amid falling sales
Wendy’s is closing several hundred U.S. restaurants and increasing its focus on value after a weaker-than-expected fourth quarter. The Dublin, Ohio-based company said Friday that its global same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, fell 10% in the October-December period. That was worse than the 8.5%...
As electricity costs rise, everyone wants data centers to pick up their tab. But how?
HARRISBURG — As outrage spreads over energy-hungry data centers, politicians from President Donald Trump to local lawmakers have found rare bipartisan agreement over insisting that tech companies — and not regular people — must foot the bill for the exorbitant amount of electricity required for artificial intelligence. But that might...
Shooting at a South Carolina State University residence complex kills 2 and wounds 1
ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Two people are dead and one person wounded after a shooting at a South Carolina State University residential complex, the university said, prompting a nearly eight-hour lockdown that was lifted early Friday. The Thursday night shooting happened a little over four months after two shootings during homecoming...
2nd U.S. aircraft carrier is being sent to the Middle East, AP source says, as Iran tensions high
WASHINGTON — The United States will send the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East to back up another already there, a person familiar with the plans said Friday, putting more American firepower behind President Donald Trump’s efforts to coerce Iran into a deal over its nuclear program. The...
Trump boasts of over $1.5B in political funds. How he chooses to spend it could rock the midterms
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has bragged about building a political war chest exceeding $1.5 billion — a staggering sum that he can wield at his whim to shape November’s midterms and the 2028 race to succeed him. Trump’s stockpile — which dwarfs any amounts raised by his predecessors in...
Trump pardons 5 former NFL players for crimes ranging from perjury to drug trafficking
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday pardoned five former professional football players — one posthumously — for various crimes ranging from perjury to drug trafficking. The pardons were announced by White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson. Ex-NFL players Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the...
New astronauts launch to the International Space Station after medical evacuation
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A new crew rocketed toward the International Space Station on Friday to replace the astronauts who returned to Earth early in NASA’s first medical evacuation. SpaceX launched the replacements as soon as possible at NASA’s request, sending the U.S., French and Russian astronauts on an expected...
Judge grants Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss extra eligibility
PITTSBORO, Miss. — In saying “the NCAA ignored its own rules,” a Mississippi judge granted Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss a preliminary injunction Thursday against college athletics’ governing body, allowing him to receive an extra year of eligibility so he can play next season. The NCAA denied Chambliss’ waiver request...
Phillies release Nick Castellanos, who admits to bringing beer into dugout
CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Philadelphia Phillies released outfielder Nick Castellanos on Thursday after the team was unable to make a deal to trade him. Castellanos then revealed he was benched last season after bringing beer into the dugout during a game. The team wanted the situation resolved before its first...
Speaker Mike Johnson says he disapproves of Justice Department logging lawmaker searches of Epstein files
WASHINGTON — Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday that he did not think it was appropriate for the Justice Department to be tracking the search histories of lawmakers who are reviewing files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. The rare rebuke to the Trump administration came as photographs emerged revealing...
McDonald’s says focus on value is bringing back customers
McDonald’s focus on value is paying off. The fast food giant said this week that its global same-store sales — or sales at locations open at least a year — jumped 5.7% in the October-December period. That’s better than the 3.9% Wall Street was expecting, according to analysts polled by...
Goldman Sachs’ top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler to resign after emails show close ties to Jeffrey Epstein
NEW YORK — Kathy Ruemmler, the top lawyer at storied investment bank Goldman Sachs and former White House counsel to President Barack Obama, announced her resignation Thursday, after emails between her and Jeffrey Epstein showed a close relationship where she described him as an “older brother” and downplayed his sex...
Top U.S. prosecutor appointed to New York Albany office by judges is immediately ousted
ALBANY, N.Y. — A lawyer appointed by judges to be the U.S. attorney for northern New York was immediately fired by the Justice Department in the latest clash between the Trump administration and the judiciary over the process for selecting top federal prosecutors. Donald Kinsella spent less than a day...
Trump immigration officials shown video of Alex Pretti’s death in tense Senate hearing
WASHINGTON — The men tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda were made to watch a video of the shooting death of Alex Pretti in a slow, moment-by-moment analysis on Thursday by Sen. Rand Paul, who repeatedly cast doubt on the tactics used by federal officers and...
Judge says U.S. must help bring back a handful of Venezuelans deported to notorious prison
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to make arrangements to allow some of the Venezuelan migrants deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador to return to the U.S. at the government’s expense. The case has been a legal flashpoint in the administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown. It...
Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych out of Olympics because of banned helmet honoring war dead
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych, a likely medal contender at the Milan Cortina Games, was barred from racing Thursday after refusing a last-minute plea from the International Olympic Committee to not use a helmet that honors more than 20 athletes and coaches killed since Russia invaded...
