Associated Press stories, Page 1743
Spring-break partying falls victim to covid-19 crisis
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Goodbye, sunshine. Hello, study sessions. Colleges around the country are scaling back spring break or canceling it entirely to discourage partying that could spread the virus and raise infection rates back on campus. Texas A&M University opted for a three-day weekend instead of a whole week...
Cowboys, QB Dak Prescott finally have agreement on new contractVideo
The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott have finally agreed on the richest contract in club history two years after negotiations first started with the star quarterback. The team said the agreement was reached Monday. It’s a $160 million, four-year contract with $126 million guaranteed and an NFL-record $66 million signing...
RNC maintains right to use Trump’s name in fundraising
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee is defending its right to use former President Donald Trump’s name in fundraising appeals after he demanded they put an end to the practice. In a Monday letter to Trump attorney Alex Cannon, RNC chief counsel J. Justin Riemer said the committee “has every...
Wall Street finishes mixed as tech slump offsets other gainsVideo
Major stock indexes closed mostly lower Monday as another rise in bond yields helped set off more heavy selling in technology companies. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% after having been up 1% earlier. Because of their huge size, drops by Apple, Google’s parent company and other major technology stocks helped...
ACC Tournament lacks star power, dominant teams in ‘down year’Video
It’s been a down year by the ACC’s own lofty standards, lacking the usual set of highly ranked teams and star-laden rosters. Instead, the league enters its tournament with no clear favorite or headlining team, just plenty of unpredictability in a chaotic season amid the covid-19 pandemic. No. 16 Virginia...
Big 12 commish Bob Bowlsby bullish about future as NCAA Tournament nearsVideo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said it could be “a matter of years” before its schools recover from the financial blow they took when the covid-19 pandemic shut down sports and then limited how games have returned. The loss of revenue from the canceled Big 12...
Heads up: Some sea slugs grow new bodies after decapitationVideo
TOKYO — Scientists have discovered the ultimate case of regeneration: Some decapitated sea slugs can regrow hearts and whole new bodies. This “wonder of nature,” reported in a biology journal on Monday, could eventually help scientists better understand and tackle regeneration of human tissue. Biology researcher Sayaka Mitoh said she...
Emails: FBI was looking for gold at Pennsylvania dig site
Go for the gold? The U.S. government went for it. FBI agents were looking for an extremely valuable cache of fabled Civil War-era gold — possibly tons of it — when they excavated a remote woodland site in Pennsylvania three years ago this month, according to government emails and other...
FBI arrests 2, including Roger Stone bodyguard, in Capitol riotVideo
NEW YORK — Two men wanted in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol were arrested over the weekend, including one who reportedly served as a bodyguard to former President Donald Trump’s longtime political confidant Roger Stone, federal authorities said Monday. Roberto Minuta breached the Capitol grounds and “aggressively berated...
GOP Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri won’t seek reelection in 2022Video
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri said Monday he will not seek reelection, making him the fifth Republican in the Senate to bow out rather than seek another term in a party searching for direction after President Donald Trump. Blunt, who turned 71 in January, was widely expected...
Pennsylvania agrees to settle gas drilling royalties lawsuit
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania reached a settlement in a lawsuit against natural gas driller Chesapeake Energy Corp. for its handling of royalty payments to property owners, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Monday. Speaking in Tunkhannock, a northeastern Pennsylvania town in the heart of heavy Marcellus Shale natural gas production, Shapiro...
Guilt, envy, distrust: Vaccine rollout breeds mixed emotions
NEW YORK — Before posting a selfie with her covid-19 vaccination card on Twitter, Aditi Juneja debated whether to include an explanation for why she was eligible for a shot. “The first draft of the tweet had an explanation,” says Juneja, a 30-year-old lawyer in New York City. After some...
Judge tosses lawsuit by former Steelers over ‘race-norming’ in NFL dementia tests
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit that challenged “race-norming” in dementia tests for retired NFL players, a practice that some say makes it harder for Black athletes to show injury and qualify for awards. A hearing had been set for Thursday. The judge instead ordered the...
With virus aid in sight, Democrats debate filibuster changes
WASHINGTON — With President Joe Biden on the verge of his first big legislative victory, a key moderate Democrat says he’s open to changing Senate rules that could allow for more party-line votes to push through other parts of the White House’s agenda such as voting rights. West Virginia Sen....
Gonzaga remains No. 1, Baylor back to No. 2 in AP Top 25
Gonzaga’s bid to go wire-to-wire No. 1 is in its final week. The Zags received 61 of 63 first-place votes from a media panel in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released Monday as they attempt to become the first wire-to-wire No. 1 since Kentucky in 2014-15. Baylor had...
Coroner: Pa. worker killed in fall into lead refining furnace
LYONS — Authorities say a Pennsylvania worker died after falling into a lead refining furnace at an eastern Pennsylvania plant over the weekend. The Berks County coroner’s office said Monday that 30-year-old John Evanoff fell into a refining kettle portion of the furnace shortly before 11:30 p.m. Saturday in East...
More than 100,000 have now died of covid-19 in Italy
MILAN — Italy surpassed 100,000 dead in the pandemic, a year after it became the first country in Europe to go on lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of covid-19. The Italian Health Ministry on Monday said 318 people had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the...
Georgia Senate passes bill to nix no-excuse absentee voting
ATLANTA — Georgia’s state Senate narrowly passed a Republican-backed bill that would end no-excuse absentee voting Monday, the deadline that bills must generally pass out of one chamber to remain alive for the session. Senate Bill 241 would limit absentee voting to people 65 and older, those with a physical...
Trump policy that weakened wild bird protections is revoked
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Biden administration on Monday reversed a policy imposed under former President Donald Trump that drastically weakened the government’s power to enforce a century-old law that protects most U.S. bird species. Trump ended criminal prosecutions against companies responsible for bird deaths that could have been prevented. The...
4 big Pennsylvania counties unhappy over vaccine share
HARRISBURG — Four of Pennsylvania’s seven most-heavily populated counties are airing their unhappiness over the size of their allotment of coronavirus vaccines, saying Monday that a meeting with Gov. Tom Wolf’s top health official did not resolve their concerns. Leaders of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties — home to...
Jury selection on pause for ex-cop charged in George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — The judge overseeing the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer accused in the death of George Floyd on Monday paused jury selection for at least a day while an appeal proceeds over the possible reinstatement of a third-degree murder charge. As hundreds of protesters gathered outside the...
Fully vaccinated people can gather without masks, CDC says
NEW YORK — Fully vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials. The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can come together in the same way with people considered at low-risk for severe disease,...
U.K. royals absorb shock of revealing Harry, Meghan interview
LONDON — Britain and its royal family absorbed the tremors Monday from a sensational television interview by Prince Harry and Meghan, in which the couple said they encountered racist attitudes and a lack of support that drove the duchess to thoughts of suicide. In a two-hour soul-baring interview with Oprah...
Bartos declares candidacy for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Jeff Bartos is formally launching his campaign for Pennsylvania’s wide-open U.S. Senate race, the highest-profile Republican candidate so far to declare for the seat. Bartos, the Republican Party’s nominee for lieutenant governor in 2018, has said he was seriously considering a run and filed paperwork to run last...
Biden order could change how colleges handle sex misconduct
WASHINGTON — In a first step toward reversing a contentious Trump administration policy, President Joe Biden on Monday ordered his administration to review federal rules guiding colleges in their handling of campus sexual assaults. In an executive order, Biden directed the Education Department to examine rules that the Trump administration...
