Associated Press stories, Page 2203
Kansas GOP lawmakers fail in anti-abortion amendment effort
TOPEKA, Kan. — Republican lawmakers in Kansas on Friday failed to get a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution on the ballot, stalling efforts to ensure that its Bill of Rights does not secure a right to an abortion. Neither side expected Friday’s vote in the Kansas House to...
Michael Avenatti considering testifying at extortion trial
NEW YORK — California lawyer Michael Avenatti may decide to testify at his New York trial on charges that he tried to extort Nike for millions of dollars, his lawyer said Friday. Attorney Scott Srebnick said he’ll file arguments Saturday asking a judge to exclude any questions about allegations that...
Judge: Kesha made a false claim about producer Dr. Luke
NEW YORK — Pop singer Kesha made a false claim that Dr. Luke raped Katy Perry when there’s “no evidence whatsoever” that he did, a judge ruled this week while sending a long-running clash between Kesha and her former mentor toward trial. Kesha’s lawyers said in a statement that they...
New Mississippi AG reviewing 6-trial murder case
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi’s new attorney general must decide whether to take a quadruple murder case to a seventh trial. Curtis Flowers has had two mistrials and four reversed convictions in connection with the 1996 slayings of four people at a furniture store. Flowers was sentenced to death in the...
Defective software could have doomed Boeing’s crew capsule
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Defective software could have doomed Boeing’s crew capsule during its first test flight, a botched trip that was cut short and never made it to the International Space Station, NASA and company officials said Friday. The Starliner capsule launched without astronauts in December, but its automatic...
More planes with quarantined China passengers arrive in US
SAN DIEGO — Hundreds more people evacuated from the virus zone in China began arriving Friday at military bases across the U.S. to begin a two-week quarantine. There were no signs of illness among those who flew into Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, deputy...
Jason Day looking like old self as he moves into contention at Pebble BeachVideo
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Jason Day received a warm reminder Friday at Pebble Beach how good it feels to hit shots the way he wants, make a bunch of putts and see his name high on the leaderboard. Day made two long birdie putts across the green, holed a 40-yard...
Shrinking country: Serbia struggles with population decline
BLAGOJEV KAMEN, Serbia — Uros Trainovic remembers when his small mining village in eastern Serbia was a vibrant home to 200 families, had a school of its own, a doctor and a shop. How times have changed. Now, 60-odd years later, it’s a ghost village with just eight residents. The...
Browns hire Kiski Area graduate Joe Woods to lead defenseVideo
CLEVELAND — New Browns coach Kevin Stefanski hired former San Francisco 49ers secondary coach Joe Woods as his defensive coordinator. The addition of Woods, a Kiski Area graduate, to Stefanski’s staff has been rumored for weeks, but Cleveland couldn’t formally interview him until San Francisco’s season ended. After the 49ers...
Jimmie Johnson drops ‘Chasing 8’ motto before final NASCAR seasonVideo
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jimmie Johnson has been chasing NASCAR history for so long that his relentless pursuit of rewriting the record books has become part of his legacy. Johnson, tied with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with seven Cup Series titles, has been racing for sole possession of the...
Mexico won’t really raffle off huge presidential jet
MEXICO CITY — Mexicans will no longer have to worry about where to park a Boeing Dreamliner when the government raffles off the luxurious presidential jet: the air force will keep it. In fact, nobody will win the actual $130 million Boeing 787 plane in the lottery-style raffle to be...
Appeals court dismisses Democrats’ lawsuit against Trump
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court in Washington on Friday dismissed one of several ongoing lawsuits charging that President Donald Trump has illegally profited off the presidency. The lawsuit the court dismissed was filed by Democratic members of Congress in 2017. The court was not ruling on whether Trump violated...
Secret Service may leave Homeland Security, rejoin TreasuryVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House is throwing its support behind a plan to transfer the U.S. Secret Service back to the Treasury Department to better focus on the growing threat of online financial crimes. Shifting the agency from within the Department of Homeland Security to the Treasury would require action...
Aide who testified against Trump likely out at White House
WASHINGTON — The decorated soldier and White House aide who played a central role in the Democrats’ impeachment case against President Donald Trump is expected to be pushed out of his job at the National Security Council, two people familiar with the expected personnel move said Friday. “I’m not happy...
Benetton fires famed photographer over insensitive remarks
MILAN — Photographer Olivier Toscani made a career out of provocative advertising campaigns for Benetton, the Italian clothing brand famed for its colorful knitwear. But that decades-long relationship has been severed after Toscani outraged relatives of victims in the deadly 2018 Genoa bridge collapse. Toscani told RAI television this week,...
Russia says Israel nearly shot down passenger plane in Syria
MOSCOW — Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that Israeli air forces nearly shot down a passenger jetliner in Syria during a missile strike on the suburbs of Damascus a day earlier. The allegation comes as tensions run high in Syria, where fighting has escalated in the northern province of Idlib....
Russian parliament member dies in helicopter crash
MOSCOW — A member of the lower house of the Russian parliament was killed in a helicopter crash in his home region Friday, officials said. Airat Khairullin was killed in the crash in Tatarstan, about 500 miles east of Moscow, Russian news agencies reported, citing parliamentary and local officials. Reports...
Trump to promote opportunity zones on North Carolina visit
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday will promote economic revitalization in low-income areas on his first trip outside of Washington since he was acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial. Before leaving for North Carolina, Trump continued to air grievances about his impeachment ordeal, saying of Democrats: “I think there’s...
Former congressman Walsh ends 2020 GOP bid against Trump
WASHINGTON — Former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh ended his Republican primary challenge to President Donald Trump on Friday, abandoning an effort that faced long odds and financial struggles from the start. “I’m suspending my campaign, but our fight against the Cult of Trump is just getting started. I’m committed to...
Ohio police say woman lost $2,400 in ‘grandparent scam’
MANSFIELD, Ohio — A woman lost $2,400 in a so-called “grandparent scam” after receiving a call that her grandson was in jail, police in Ohio said. The 76-year-old woman in Mansfield in north-central Ohio received the call Wednesday from a man claiming to be her grandson’s lawyer, according to Mansfield...
U.S. employers add a strong 225K jobs; unemployment up to 3.6%
WASHINGTON — Hiring jumped at the beginning of the year as U.S. employers added 225,000 jobs, bolstering an economy that faces threats from China’s viral outbreak, an ongoing trade war and struggles at Boeing. The Labor Department also said Friday that a half-million people streamed into the job market in...
Palestinians deny U.S. charges of incitement, blame Trump planVideo
JERUSALEM — The Palestinians on Friday rejected U.S. allegations of incitement after a day of clashes and attacks left three Palestinians dead, including a member of the security forces, and wounded more than a dozen Israeli soldiers. They instead linked the violence to President Donald Trump’s Mideast initiative, which heavily...
Weinstein trial: Here are the prosecution’s 6 women’s accounts
NEW YORK — Some were aspiring actresses. One was a star on the rise. Another was looking to get more involved in behind-the-scenes aspects of the film and TV business. Six women out of the many who have accused Harvey Weinstein of vile sexual behavior have testified over the last...
Woman who left U.K. to join Islamic State group loses challenge to restore citizenship
LONDON — A U.K. woman who as a teenager ran away to join the Islamic State group lost a legal challenge Friday aimed at restoring her citizenship, which was revoked on national security grounds. Shamima Begum, one of three east London schoolgirls who traveled to Syria in 2015, resurfaced at...
Egypt frees pro-democracy activist imprisoned for four years
CAIRO — Egypt on Friday freed a pro-democracy activist who spent over four years in prison and rose to local prominence as one of the faces of the country’s 2011 uprising, his lawyer said. Ramy Sayed, 31, had coordinated protests for the April 6 youth movement, a group that helped...
