Photos: It’s all downhill for 300 skiing Santas, a Grinch and a tree
NEWRY, Maine — A bunch of Santa lookalikes took to the ski slopes to spread some seasonal cheer on Sunday. More than 300 jolly ol’ elves — all dressed in red — dashed together down a mountain with white beards and Santa hats flapping in the breeze at the Sunday...
‘I want to talk’: Griner opened up during her long trip home
WASHINGTON — WNBA star Brittney Griner didn’t want any alone time as soon as she boarded a U.S. government plane that would bring her home. “I have been in prison for 10 months now, listening to Russian. I want to talk,” Griner said, according to Roger Carstens, the special presidential...
NASA’s Orion capsule blazes home from test flight to moon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Orion capsule made a blisteringly fast return from the moon Sunday, parachuting into the Pacific off Mexico to conclude a test flight that should clear the way for astronauts on the next lunar flyby. The incoming capsule hit the atmosphere at Mach 32, or 32...
GOP sues over special elections in Pa. House majority battle
HARRISBURG — The top-ranking Republican in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives asked a court late Friday to prevent voters from filling three vacant seats in February that will determine majority control of the chamber. Rep. Bryan Cutler of Lancaster, who served as speaker until Nov. 30, asked Commonwealth Court to...
Japanese company’s lander rockets toward moon with UAE rover
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A Tokyo company aimed for the moon with its own private lander Sunday, blasting off atop a SpaceX rocket with the United Arab Emirates’ first lunar rover and a toylike robot from Japan that’s designed to roll around up there in the gray dust. It will...
Hospitalizations signal rising covid-19 risk for U.S. seniors
Coronavirus-related hospital admissions are climbing again in the United States, with older adults a growing share of U.S. deaths and less than half of nursing home residents up to date on covid-19 vaccinations. These alarming signs portend a difficult winter for seniors, which worries 81-year-old nursing home resident Bartley O’Hara,...
Arizona Gov. Ducey stacks containers on border at term’s end
SAN RAFAEL VALLEY, Arizona — Work crews have steadily erected hundreds of double-stacked shipping containers topped by razor wire along Arizona’s remote eastern boundary with Mexico in a bold show of border enforcement by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey even as he prepares to leave office. Until protesters slowed, then largely...
Libyan accused in Lockerbie bombing now in American custody
WASHINGTON — A Libyan intelligence official accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 in an international act of terrorism has been taken into U.S. custody and will face federal charges in Washington, the Justice Department said Sunday. The arrest of...
Soccer writer Grant Wahl dies at World Cup match in Qatar
LUSAIL, Qatar — Grant Wahl, one of the most well-known soccer writers in the United States, died early Saturday while covering the World Cup match between Argentina and the Netherlands. He was 48. U.S. media seated near him said Wahl fell back in his seat in a section of Lusail...
Rioter who assaulted cops at Capitol gets 5 years in prison
WASHINGTON — A Tennessee man who authorities say came to Washington ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot prepared for violence in a car full of weapons and assaulted officers who were trying to defend the Capitol was sentenced Friday to more than five years behind bars. Ronald Sandlin, 35,...
Flint water crisis charges dismissed against ex-Gov. Snyder
FLINT, Mich. — A judge dismissed criminal charges against former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder in the Flint water crisis, months after the state Supreme Court said indictments returned by a one-person grand jury were invalid. Snyder, a Republican who left office in 2019, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of...
Prosecutors say South Carolina lawyer killed wife and son to cover crimes
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh killed his wife and son to gain sympathy, thereby providing a cover from damning financial crimes, prosecutors alleged Thursday as they provided their most detailed theory in a saga that has drawn worldwide attention for its bizarre twists. Questions around motive...
AP Investigation: Prison boss beat inmates, climbed ranks
The prison staff didn’t know much about the new acting warden. Then, they say, he made a bizarre and startling confession: Years ago, he beat inmates — and got away with it. Thomas Ray Hinkle, a high-ranking federal Bureau of Prisons official, was sent to restore order and trust at...
Slippery Rock University trustees narrow choices for new president down to 2 people
The search for Slippery Rock University’s next president is down to a pair of provosts, one from Colorado and the other from Texas. Slippery Rock’s council of trustees, meeting Friday, voted to send to the State System of Higher Education the candidacies of Karen Riley, provost at Regis University in...
Putin says more U.S.-Russian prisoner exchanges are possible
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that more U.S.-Russian prisoner exchanges are possible if Moscow and Washington find a compromise. Putin spoke a day after Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was swapped for WNBA star and two-time Olympian Brittney Griner. Asked after a summit in Kyrgyzstan whether other...
Biden wants African Union to be added to Group of 20 nations
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden plans to announce at next week’s U.S.-Africa summit that his administration supports adding the African Union as a permanent member of the Group of 20 nations, according to the White House. The African Union represents the continent’s 54 countries. The G-20 is composed of the...
NATO chief fears Ukraine war could widen into wider conflict
KYIV, Ukraine — The head of NATO expressed worry that the fighting in Ukraine could spin out of control and become a war between Russia and NATO, according to an interview released Friday. “If things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in remarks to...
China struggles with covid infections after controls ease
BEIJING — A rash of Covid-19 cases in schools and businesses were reported Friday in areas across China after the ruling Communist Party loosened anti-virus rules as it tries to reverse a deepening economic slump. While official data showed a fall in new cases, they no longer cover large parts...
Judges confirm arrest of 23 alleged coup plotters in Germany
BERLIN — German authorities said Friday that judges have confirmed the arrest of 23 people detained earlier this week on suspicion of planning to topple the government, while the extradition of two others detained abroad is being sought. Prosecutors said 22 German citizens and a Russian woman detained in a...
Ex-cop who kneeled on George Floyd’s back gets 3.5-year term
MINNEAPOLIS — The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back while another officer kneeled on the Black man’s neck was sentenced Friday to 3 1/2 years in prison. J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October to a state count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In exchange,...
Democratic Sen. Sinema has registered as an independent
WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced Friday that she has registered as an independent, but she does not plan to caucus with Republicans, ensuring Democrats will retain their narrow majority in the Senate. Sinema, who has modeled her political approach on the renegade style of the late...
9 miners killed in Indonesia coal mine explosion; 2 rescued
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Nine miners died in a coal mine explosion in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province on Friday and rescue workers were still searching for one missing miner after rescuing two others. The blast, caused by noxious gases including methane, occurred in a mine in Sawahlunto district owned by a...
Indiana University of Pennsylvania to cut tuition for full-time, out-of-state undergrads by 20%
Indiana University of Pennsylvania says it is cutting the tuition price it will charge out-of-state undergraduate students next fall by as much as nearly 20%. It is switching to a flat rate instead of per-credit pricing for such students who are enrolled full time. The school’s Council of Trustees on...
Colorado shooter’s 2021 case dropped for lack of cooperation
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooter had charges dropped in a 2021 bomb threat case after family members who were terrorized in the incident refused to cooperate, according to the district attorney and court documents unsealed Thursday. The charges were dropped despite authorities finding a “tub”...
Griner swap wasn’t what U.S. hoped for, but what it could get
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s surprise announcement last July lacked any detail, but its meaning was crystal clear. In a rare comment on secret talks, he said the Biden administration had made a “substantial proposal” to Russia to end the imprisonment of two Americans: WNBA star Brittney Griner...
