Associated Press stories, Page 1062
New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, an icon to many, to step downVideo
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who became a global icon of the left and exemplified a new style of leadership, said Thursday that she would leave office. Just 37 when she became leader, Ardern was praised around the world for her handling of the nation’s...
Brandon Staley looks ahead to Chargers’ offseason after tough exitVideo
COSTA MESA, Calif. — Brandon Staley remained steadfast he would remain coach of the Los Angeles Chargers despite plenty of speculation about his future. “I am aware of the speculation because I have to be briefed of it to be prepared for guys like you,” Staley said to reporters Wednesday...
Florida congressman Steube injured in accident at home
SARASOTA, Fla. — A Florida congressman was injured in an accident at his home Wednesday afternoon, his office said. U.S. Rep. Greg Steube’s office released a short statement saying that he had been involved in an accident on his property and had sustained several injuries. The statement didn’t include details...
Witness: Bribes helped Fox execs get soccer TV rightsVideo
NEW YORK — The U.S. government’s star witness in a corruption trial over the broadcasting rights to some of soccer’s biggest events testified Wednesday how he and two former Fox executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to undermine competing bids. The trial in New York City is the latest...
West Virginia’s New River Gorge National Park adds 45 acres
GLEN JEAN, W.Va. — America’s newest national park just got bigger. The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia has added 45 acres to the area designated as a preserve, the National Park Service said in a news release. The tract, on Beury Mountain east of the...
Alabama secretary of state announces withdrawal from voter registration group
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s new secretary of state announced the state’s withdrawal from a 32-state voter registration partnership, a data-sharing effort that was designed to maintain accurate voter rolls but has sometimes become the target of conservative ire and conspiracy theories. A day after being sworn in, Secretary of State...
Bills, Bengals focus on playing with Hamlin home, recoveringVideo
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Damar Hamlin is back on his feet, and that’s uplifting enough in allowing coach Sean McDermott and the Buffalo Bills to focus on their immediate future rather than an emotional past in preparing to host the Cincinnati Bengals in an AFC divisional playoff on Sunday. In...
Kathy Hochul’s pick for New York top judge rejected by legislative panel
ALBANY — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s nominee to lead the state’s highest court was rejected by a state Senate panel Wednesday, dealing the governor a high-profile setback after weeks of criticism from progressive activists and union officials about the judge’s record. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted not...
New photographs of Warsaw Ghetto found in family collection
WARSAW, Poland — Warsaw’s Jewish history museum on Wednesday presented a group of photographs taken in secret during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, some of which have never been seen before, that were recently discovered in a family collection. The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews described...
Indiana man charged after son in diaper points gun at people
INDIANAPOLIS — The father of diaper-clad 4-year-old boy seen last weekend pointing a loaded handgun at people outside their Indiana apartment now faces felony charges. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday that the 45-year-old man was charged Tuesday with two counts of neglect of a dependent and one count...
Patrick Mahomes aims to lead Chiefs to 5th straight AFC title gameVideo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ask any coach or player around the NFL, and they are bound to tell you that the speed of the game picks up when the playoffs arrive. There is no longer time to think on the field; decisions more often are made by in-the-moment instincts rather...
Chris Ford, champ as player, coach with Celtics, dies at 74Video
Chris Ford, a member of the Boston Celtics 1981 championship team, a longtime NBA coach and the player credited with scoring the league’s first 3-pointer, has died, his family announced in a statement. He was 74. The family revealed the death through the Celtics on Wednesday. No official cause was...
December retail sales fall 1.1% as inflation takes a tollVideo
NEW YORK — Americans cut back on spending in December, the second consecutive month they’ve done so, underscoring how inflation and the rising cost of using credit cards slowed consumer activity over the crucial holiday shopping season. Retail sales fell a worse-than-expected 1.1% in December, following a revised 1% drop...
Rapper Flo Rida awarded $82.6M for breach of contract case
MIAMI — Hip hop artist Flo Rida was awarded $82.6 million on Wednesday after a South Florida jury found that the makers of Celsius energy drinks breached a contract with the rapper and singer, and tried to hide money from him. Flo Rida, whose real name is Tramar Dillard, and...
Explainer: Biden inaction, mixed signals on death penalty
In Boston, the Justice Department is pressing judges to uphold Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s death sentence. In New York, it’s asking jurors to impose the death penalty on a man who killed eight people in an attack on a bicycle path. President Joe Biden campaigned on a pledge to work...
Prosecutor: Brian Walshe looked up how to dispose of body
The husband of a Massachusetts woman who has been missing since New Year’s Day went online to look up ways to dismember and dispose of a body, and items belonging to the woman with her DNA were found at a trash processing facility, a prosecutor said at his arraignment Wednesday...
Pa. Senate advances bill to drop school religious garb ban
HARRISBURG — Two decades after a teacher’s aide was suspended for wearing a cross necklace at school, Pennsylvania lawmakers are looking to remove a provision in state law that bars educators from wearing religious garb while in the classroom. The Senate approved the legislation by a 49-0 vote on Wednesday....
Mother, 1-year-old son killed in Alaska polar bear attack
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A polar bear chased several residents around a tiny, isolated Alaska Native whaling village, killing a mother and her 1-year-old son in an extremely rare attack before another community member shot and killed the bear, authorities said. The fatal mauling, the first in more than 30 years...
Party City, amid rising prices, seeks bankruptcy protection
NEW YORK — Party City has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after struggling with rising prices and a pullback in customer spending. The company, based in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, said that its franchise stores, subsidiaries outside of the U.S. and its foil balloons Anagram business are not part...
Plastic as art? Entire grocery store created from discards
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A grocery store featuring thousands of faux food items made entirely from discarded plastic bags opens Tuesday to the public, an artist’s non-edible creation calling attention to the dangers of plastic waste. The Plastic Bag Store is a custom-built public art installation and film experience designed...
W.Va. announces $83 million opioid settlement with Walgreens
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia has settled for $83 million with Walgreens for the pharmacy store chain’s role in perpetuating the opioid crisis in the U.S. state with the most per capita overdose deaths, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Wednesday. That brings the total West Virginia dollars brought in from...
Feds to investigate nursing home abuse of antipsychotics
WASHINGTON — The federal government says it will begin a targeted crackdown on nursing homes’ abuse of antipsychotic drugs and misdiagnoses of schizophrenia in patients. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is launching investigations this month into select nursing homes, aimed at verifying whether patients have been properly diagnosed...
Review: Hacking, not shoe-leather, solves thriller ‘Missing’Video
June Allen’s mother has vanished during a romantic vacation with her boyfriend to Colombia when “Missing” starts gaining steam. The FBI are supposedly on it, with one special agent telling June: “The best thing you can do is wait by the phone.” Wait by the phone? You don’t know June...
Court to hear appeal of ex-officer in murder of George Floyd
ST. PAUL, Minn. — An attorney for Derek Chauvin is planning to ask an appeals court Wednesday to throw out the former Minneapolis police officer’s convictions in the murder of George Floyd, arguing that numerous legal and procedural errors deprived him of a fair trial. Floyd died May 25, 2020,...
Wall Street has biggest pullback of the year, led by techVideo
NEW YORK — Wall Street had its biggest pullback of the year Wednesday after a broad slide for stocks wiped out much of the benchmark S&P 500 index’s gains from last week. The S&P 500 fell 1.6% after having been up as much as 0.6% in the early going. The...
