Coach, teacher’s assistant accused of choking student
CAYCE, S.C. — Police say a South Carolina teacher’s assistant is facing criminal charges for choking a student who briefly lost consciousness. News outlets report the Cayce Department of Public Safety announced Monday that 60-year-old Willie Louis Scott Jr. was charged with third-degree assault and battery. He’s also an assistant...
Costume-wearing Lithuanians chase winter away
RUMSISKES, Lithuania (AP) — A strange scenario took place in this central Lithuania village this weekend. Chanting devils, goats, witches and others filled the streets to chase winter away. After a long and dark winter, people in this Baltic country wanted to make the cold season go away by wearing...
State auctioning off 2 bottles of rare Scotch whisky
A rare bottle of Scotch whisky being auctioned by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board was distilled just a few years after the end of World War II and spent the next 52 years aging. The Macallan 1949 Single Malt Scotch was bottled in 2002 and is now available for sale...
‘The end of a fantastic era’ — a look back on the Concorde
The speed and elegant appearance of the Concorde inspired awe. Its ear-rattling sonic booms irritated people on the ground and led to restrictions on where the jet could fly. The Concorde’s maiden flight was 50 years ago this month. Although the plane went out of service in 2003, its delta-wing...
Trump celebrates North Dakota football champs with fast food
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is again feting football champions with burgers and fries. Trump is celebrating the FCS champion North Dakota State University football team at the White House with a lunch that includes Big Macs, french fries and Chick-fil-A sandwiches. Trump served a similar spread that included hundreds...
Man charged with setting fire to Planned Parenthood clinic
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 42-year-old Columbia, Mo., man has been charged with trying to burn down a local Planned Parenthood clinic last month, federal prosecutors said Monday. Wesley Brian Kaster was arrested Saturday after investigators searched his vehicle and found evidence linking him to the fire at the Planned...
Sheriff: Man throws Molotov cocktails at impounded car
ORLANDO, Fla. — A man in Florida is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at his impounded car. The Orlando Sentinel reports 27-year-old Ayub Mule Abdulrahman arrived at Almake Auto Shop on Saturday to pay the towing fee for his Nissan Altima. Authorities say Abdulrahman was no longer there when the...
Woman pleads guilty to posing as firefighter’s wife in scheme, gets jail time
LOS ANGELES — A 29-year-old woman who posed as a firefighter’s wife to collect thousands of dollars in donations for firefighters battling the Holy fire, which she kept for herself, has been sentenced to jail. Ashley Bemis, of San Juan Capistrano, was sentenced to 177 days in county jail immediately...
House Judiciary panel launches sweeping Trump probe
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee is launching a sweeping new probe of President Donald Trump, his White House, his campaign and his businesses, sending document requests to 81 people linked to the president and his associates. Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Monday the investigation will be focused on possible...
Pennsylvania ranks in the middle of the pack in jobs growth
Branding experts, seeking a new slogan for the Keystone State might try: “Pennsylvania — firmly in the middle of the pack.” Citing an analysis of federal jobs reports, Governing magazine reported Monday that Pennsylvania ranked 27th in the nation in jobs growth last year. The state posted an ambitious 1.2...
Melania Trump opens three-state tour to promote ‘Be Best’
TULSA, Okla. — Melania Trump is in Oklahoma to open a three-state tour to highlight all three components of her “Be Best” childhood initiative. The first lady on Monday is visiting the Dove School of Discovery, a Tulsa elementary school that the White House says incorporates character education in its...
Trump says Cohen hearing may have hurt North Korea results
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has raised the possibility that a congressional hearing Democrats arranged with his former personal attorney may have contributed to the lack of results of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump left the summit in Vietnam with the North Korean leader without...
Former Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper joins presidential race
DENVER — Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said on Monday he’s running for president, casting himself as a can-do uniter who’s used to overcoming adversity and accomplishing liberal goals in a politically divided state. “I’m running for president because we need dreamers in Washington, but we also need to get...
Decade after first person was cured of HIV, second patient is in long-term remission
A London man has been in remission from HIV for a year and a half, without drugs, after receiving a stem cell transplant of virus-resistant cells — raising the prospect that he has become the second person to ever be cured of the disease. The “London patient” case, cautiously reported...
Pa. lottery: On pace for record, officials work to keep games updated
On pace to collect a record number of sales for the second consecutive year, Pennsylvania Lottery officials are pondering if the games can keep topping themselves. “We have been growing for decades, some years more than others,” said Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko. “When the recession hit our sales and...
Ex-West Virginia staffer disputes making anti-Muslim comment
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former West Virginia Capitol staffer is disputing anti-Muslim comments a lawmaker said she made in response to an Islamophobic display outside the House of Delegates chamber. Anne Lieberman issued a statement Sunday on Facebook, two days after she resigned as House sergeant at arms. Lieberman said...
Warnings, transportation restrictions issued as snow nears
PHILADELPHIA — Forecasters issued weather warnings and transportation officials announced vehicle restrictions on some roadways as another round of winter weather descended on Pennsylvania. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for much of eastern Pennsylvania with heavy wet snow and sleet and accumulations of four to eight...
Senate seems to have votes to reject Trump’s wall move
WASHINGTON — Opponents of President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border appear to have enough Senate votes to reject his move, now that Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky has said he can’t go along with the White House. The House has voted to derail the action,...
John Bolton claims North Korea summit was not a failure
National security adviser John Bolton on Sunday defended President Trump’s second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying the president was right not to make a deal that wasn’t in the best interests of the United States. “I don’t agree at all that it was a failed summit,”...
U.S. stands in way of Bashar Assad rejoining Arab fold
Efforts by Arab states to re-engage with Syrian President Bashar Assad, now that he has prevailed in the civil war, have been put on hold after a push by the United States to deter its allies from renewing ties with his government. A decision late last year by the United...
First lull in Kashmir since latest India-Pakistan escalation
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan — Residents near the disputed boundary in divided Kashmir region said Sunday it was quiet overnight, their first lull since a dangerous escalation between Pakistan and India erupted last week bringing the two nuclear-armed rivals close to full-out war. Many villagers used the calm in Pakistani-held Kashmir to...
Associated Press fact check: Trump’s epic CPAC speech is laced with fabrication
WASHINGTON — President Trump uttered a dizzying number of false statements in his epically long weekend speech, to an audience that didn’t seem to mind at all. He got the unemployment rate wrong. He misstated his winning margin in the election. He reprised some of his most frequently told fictions...
30,000 pounds of beef recalled because of possible contamination
About 30,000 pounds of beef shipped nationwide are being recalled for possible contamination. Washington Beef, LLC is recalling several lots of ground beef products that may be contaminated with extraneous materials, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Saturday. The ground beef was produced on...
Ivanka Trump jokes being president’s daughter is ‘hardest job in the world’
Ivanka Trump tried to bring some humor to being the president’s daughter, joking it’s the “hardest job in the world.” She spoke at the 134th annual Gridiron Club and Foundation dinner in Washington D.C., the white-tie, get-together of journalists, media members, officials and politicians, on Saturday night. President Trump, who...
Invectives old and new fill Trump’s marathon speech at CPACVideo
OXON HILL, Md. — In a slashing speech packed with braggadocio and grievance, President Donald Trump denounced Democrats as the party of “the socialist nightmare,” relitigated his crowd sizes back to the inauguration and took on “sick,” ”lunatic” and “dirty” foes at every turn, earning him the unvarnished adoration of...
