Associated Press stories, Page 1730
Newsmax beefs up Trump team, hiring Jason Miller, Andrew Giuliani
NEW YORK — The conservative network Newsmax said Thursday it is hiring Jason Miller, a senior adviser to former President Donald Trump as a contributor who will provide commentary on a variety of issues. Newsmax also says it is also hiring Andrew Giuliani, an ex-Trump aide and son of former...
Biden says U.S. to hit 100 million covid shots on Friday
WASHINGTON — With the U.S. closing in on President Joe Biden’s goal of injecting 100 million coronavirus vaccinations weeks ahead of his target date, officials announced on Thursday the nation is now in position to help supply neighbors Canada and Mexico. The Biden administration announced the outlines of a plan...
11th juror picked, lawyers clash over expert in George Floyd trial
MINNEAPOLIS — Attorneys at the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death moved closer to seating a jury Thursday, choosing two jurors hours after clashing over how much the panel should hear of Floyd’s own actions. The latest jurors include a white registered nurse in...
Biden, Harris to focus on Atlanta-area shootings during Georgia trip
ATLANTA — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris plan to meet with Asian American community leaders in Georgia in the wake of the deadly shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors, the White House announced Thursday. Meanwhile, authorities said the investigation was wide open and could still result in...
4-story marble tablet of First Amendment freedoms moves from Newseum to Philly
A four-story, 50-ton marble tablet engraved with the text of the First Amendment, previously displayed on the facade of the now-shuttered Newseum in Washington, will find a new home in Philadelphia across from Independence Hall. The National Constitution Center, which sits in an area of the city billed as America’s...
Redistricting data may be ready a month early, in old format
States under pressure to redraw congressional and legislature districts but facing a delay in the release of the needed data may be able to get the numbers in an outdated format in August, more than a month earlier than the planned date for their official release, a U.S. Census Bureau...
Review: Kiss star man Paul Stanley shows a whole lotta soulVideo
Paul Stanley’s Soul Station, “Now and Then” (uDiscover) The love guns have all been unloaded and securely holstered, and Detroit is soul city, not rock city this time out as Paul Stanley, ringleader of the four-ring circus known as Kiss, pays homage to classic soul on a new solo album....
Biden plans to send AstraZeneca covid shots to Mexico, Canada
The U.S. is planning to send a combined 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine to Mexico and Canada in its first export of shots, the White House said Thursday. Press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration is in the process of finalizing efforts to distribute 2.5 million...
No cigar: Interstellar object is cookie-shaped planet shard
Our solar system’s first known interstellar visitor is neither a comet nor asteroid as first suspected and looks nothing like a cigar. A new study says the mystery object is likely a remnant of a Pluto-like world and shaped like a cookie. Arizona State University astronomers reported this week that...
Pennsylvania follows IRS in delaying tax deadline to May 17
Pennsylvania will delay its tax filing deadline from April 15 until May 17, after the Internal Revenue Service said it is delaying the federal tax filing deadline until May 17, the state Department of Revenue said Thursday. The state’s tax-filing deadline is tied by law to the federal deadline, the...
Students who got partial loan relief to see full discharge
Students who were defrauded by their colleges and received only partial relief from their federal loans could now see them fully canceled, the Biden administration announced Thursday, reversing a Trump administration policy. The change could lead to $1 billion in loans being canceled for 72,000 borrowers, all of whom attended...
Pick Six: Unusual teams hallmark of NCAA Tournament
INDIANAPOLIS — One of the beauties of the NCAA Tournament is that every team has a story. Some are more unique than others. Take the first-round matchup between third-seeded Arkansas and No. 14 seed Colgate, which pits two of the fastest teams in the country against each other in a...
Biden to highlight vaccine as U.S. nears 100 millionth shot
President Joe Biden is set to highlight his administration’s push to dramatically expand distribution of covid-19 vaccines Thursday, with the nation on the cusp of meeting his goal of injecting 100 million doses in his first 100 days in office — on Day 58 of his presidency. From his first...
Wall Street closes lower, pulled down by IT and energy
Stocks fell broadly on Wall Street Thursday, as rising bond yields once again pulled down shares of technology companies and the energy sector sold off on a sharp drop in oil prices. The S&P 500 index fell 1.5%, on track for its first weekly loss in three weeks. Technology companies...
Manslaughter conviction of ex-Oklahoma officer overturned
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday overturned the manslaughter conviction and 15-year prison sentence of a former Oklahoma police officer based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that much of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation. Former Tulsa officer Shannon James Kepler, 60, is a member of...
Autopsy: Ohio deputy shot Casey Goodson Jr. 5 times in the back
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Casey Goodson Jr., a Black man, was shot five times in the back by a white Ohio sheriff’s deputy last December, according to a final coroner’s report released Thursday. The final autopsy confirmed statements previously made by Goodson’s family that the 23-year-old died after former Franklin County...
West Virginia, others overcome obstacles to get to NCAAs
Two days apart in late December, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins got a double dose of bad news: A promising freshman was lost for the season with a torn Achilles tendon. Then one of the few five-star recruits in program history quit the team. Huggins needed to make some fast...
Storms moving eastward, leave trail of damage in Deep South
Storms that left splintered homes and broken trees across Alabama and Mississippi moved into Georgia and Florida on Thursday, rousing residents with early morning warnings as forecasters said the threat of dangerous weather would move up the south Atlantic seaboard. About 20,000 homes and business were without power and the...
EU agency: AstraZeneca vaccine safe, will add clot warning
The European Union’s drug regulatory agency said Thursday that the AstraZeneca vaccine doesn’t increase the overall risk of blood clots and that the benefits of using it outweigh the risks, paving the way for European countries to resume dispensing the shots. Several European nations, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain,...
Sheltered from virus, Kauai plans cautious return to tourism
As the coronavirus ravaged other parts of the U.S., residents of this rural Pacific island watched safely from afar. Kauai, one of the world’s most sought-after vacation destinations, has been nearly impossible to visit for most of the past year, with officials bucking pressure to ease quarantine rules as the...
U.S. schools prepare summer of learning to help kids catch up
After a dreary year spent largely at home in front of the computer, many U.S. children could be looking at summer school — and that’s just what many parents want. Although the last place most kids want to spend summer is in a classroom, experts say that after a year...
White supremacist propaganda surged in 2020, report says
NEW YORK — White supremacist propaganda reached alarming levels across the U.S. in 2020, according to a new report that the Anti-Defamation League provided to The Associated Press. There were 5,125 cases of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ and other hateful messages spread through physical flyers, stickers, banners and posters, according to...
U.S. jobless claims rise to 770,000 with layoffs still high
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to 770,000, a sign that layoffs remain high even as much of the U.S. economy is steadily recovering from the coronavirus recession. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that jobless claims climbed from 725,000 the week before....
Italy honors covid dead with living monument on anniversary
ROME — Italy inaugurated a living monument to its covid-19 dead Thursday as it marked the anniversary of one of the most haunting moments of the pandemic: when Bergamo’s death toll reached such heights that an army convoy had to transport coffins out because its cemeteries and crematoriums were full....
China ‘deeply concerned’ about anti-Asian violence in U.S.
BEIJING — China called on the U.S. to take measures to stem violence against people of Asian heritage after eight people were killed at Atlanta-area massage parlors. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Thursday that violence against Asians in the U.S. was “outrageous and distressing,” leaving China “deeply concerned.” American...
