Associated Press stories, Page 256
Republicans in Florida’s Capitol restart push to lower the gun-buying age to 18
TALLAHASSEE — Gun rights advocates have fought to overturn a Florida law banning gun purchases by people under 21 ever since the day the measure was signed in 2018 as a result of the Parkland school shooting, one of the deadliest mass killings in the U.S. With new leadership in...
Rams officially release Super Bowl 56 MVP Cooper KuppVideo
The Los Angles Rams cut Super Bowl 56 MVP Cooper Kupp after being unable to find a trade partner for their former No. 1 wide receiver. The Rams officially moved on from the 2021 AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year at the start of the league year Wednesday. Kupp...
USDA ends program that helped schools serve food from local farmers
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Agriculture Department is ending two pandemic-era programs that provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farmers and producers. About $660 million of that went to schools and childcare centers to buy food for meals through the Local Foods...
Wall Street rises after encouraging inflation data, but the trade war keeps knocking stocks around
NEW YORK — Stock indexes rose Wednesday after Wall Street got some relief from an encouraging inflation update. But even on a rare up day for the market, President Donald Trump’s trade war still knocked stocks around. The S&P 500 gained 0.5% after skidding between an early gain of 1.3%...
Archaeologists uncover the oldest known partial face fossil of a human ancestor in western Europe
WASHINGTON — A fossil of a partial face from a human ancestor is the oldest in western Europe, archaeologists reported Wednesday. The incomplete skull — a section of the left cheek bone and upper jaw — was found in northern Spain in 2022. The fossil is between 1.1 million and...
Explainer: What’s a recession and why is rising anxiety about it roiling markets?
WASHINGTON — Stock markets are plunging, consumers and businesses have started to sour on the economy, and economists are marking down their estimates for growth this year, with some even seeing rising odds of a recession. The tech-heavy Nasdaq stock index slipped into a correction last week, defined as a...
EPA head says he’ll roll back dozens of environmental regulations, including rules on climate change
WASHINGTON — In what he called the “most consequential day of deregulation in American history,” the head of the Environmental Protection Agency announced a series of actions Wednesday to roll back landmark environmental regulations, including rules on pollution from coal-fired power plants, climate change and electric vehicles. “We are driving...
Trump administration drops lawsuit against company over alleged abuse at its child migrant shelters
McALLEN, Texas — The Trump administration is dropping a civil lawsuit against the largest provider of housing for unaccompanied migrant children over allegations of repeated sexual abuse and harassment of minors in its facilities. The dismissal was filed on Wednesday after the federal government announced they would no longer use...
Trump pardons former Tennessee lawmaker convicted in campaign finance scheme
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — President Donald Trump has pardoned a former Republican Tennessee lawmaker who was two weeks into a 21-month prison sentence for an illegal campaign finance scheme that he pleaded guilty to in 2022, before he tried unsuccessfully to take back his plea. Former Sen. Brian Kelsey announced the...
Prosecutors say Kohberger’s defense will argue evidence was planted in Idaho student murders case
BOISE, Idaho — Prosecutors say Bryan Kohberger’s defense team will argue at his murder trial that someone else could have planted a knife sheath with Kohberger’s DNA at the home where four University of Idaho students were killed in 2022. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson made the claim in a...
What’s behind the surge in attacks and train hijacking in Pakistan’s restive southwest?
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s neglected southwestern province of Balochistan has been the scene of a yearslong insurgency, with a dramatic uptick in attacks in recent years underscoring the struggles the government in Islamabad faces in dealing with myriad security threats. The seizure Tuesday of a passenger train by the outlawed Baluch...
They crossed the world to reach the U.S.. Now deported under Trump, they’re stuck in Panama
PANAMA CITY — They crossed oceans to get to the U.S., fleeing conflict, religious persecution, poverty and government crackdowns in countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia, Cameroon, China, Pakistan and Iran. After flying to Central and South America, they bused through countries where they didn’t speak the language and walked through...
Wisconsin clerk who failed to count almost 200 ballots is suspended
MADISON, Wis. — The mayor of Wisconsin’s capital city said Wednesday she has placed the municipal clerk on leave as investigators work to determine how she failed to count almost 200 absentee ballots in the November election. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said in a statement that the city has launched...
Trump wants to dismantle U.S. Education Department. Here’s what it does
President Donald Trump has said he wants his education chief, Linda McMahon, to “put herself out of a job” and close the Education Department. McMahon, after being confirmed by the Senate on March 3, told employees it was the department’s “final mission” to eliminate bureaucratic bloat and turn over the...
Columbia grad student’s detention will continue as lawyers spar over Trump’s plan to deport himVideo
NEW YORK —Mahmoud Khalil will remain detained in Louisiana until at least next week following an initial court hearing on Wednesday in New York over the Trump administration’s plans to deport the Columbia University graduate student for his role in campus protests against Israel. The brief hearing, which focused on...
U.S. factories likely to feel the pain from Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is again lashing out at three of his biggest irritants: foreign steel, foreign aluminum and Canada. The Trump administration on Wednesday will effectively plaster 25% taxes — tariffs — on all steel and aluminum imports. The president said on Tuesday that the U.S. would double...
Inside the government study trying to understand the health effects of ultraprocessed foods
BETHESDA, Md. — Sam Srisatta, a 20-year-old Florida college student, spent a month living inside a government hospital here last fall, playing video games and allowing scientists to document every morsel of food that went into his mouth. From big bowls of salad to platters of meatballs and spaghetti sauce,...
Court records say a passenger attacked a flight attendant, swallowed rosary beads on plane to Miami
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Court records say a passenger on a small regional flight to Miami attacked a flight attendant, kicked and punched the seat of the person in front of him and swallowed rosary beads as pilots returned to the airport in Savannah, Georgia. The passenger was traveling with his...
Trump administration halts $1 billion program that keeps aging affordable housing livable
The Trump administration is halting a $1 billion program that helps preserve affordable housing, threatening projects that keep tens of thousands of units livable for low-income Americans, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press. The action is part of a slew of cuts and funding freezes at the...
Pakistani forces in a standoff as militants hold about 250 hostages on a hijacked train
QUETTA, Pakistan — Pakistani forces were in a tense standoff Wednesday with hundreds of militants holding about 250 people hostage on a train they had hijacked in the remote southwest the day before, officials said. The security forces held off from full-out battles as militants wearing vests loaded with explosives...
EU retaliates against Trump’s trade moves and slaps tariffs on produce from Republican states
BRUSSELS — The European Union on Wednesday announced retaliatory trade action with new duties on U.S. industrial and farm products, responding within hours to the Trump administration’s increase in tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%. The world’s biggest trading bloc was expecting the U.S. tariffs and prepared...
U.S. arms flow to Ukraine again as the Kremlin mulls a ceasefire proposal
KYIV, Ukraine — U.S. arms deliveries to Ukraine resumed Wednesday, officials said, a day after the Trump administration lifted its suspension of military aid for Kyiv in its war against Russia, and Ukrainian officials signaled that they were open to a 30-day ceasefire backed by Washington. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov...
U.S. inflation cooled last month, though trade war threatens to lift prices
WASHINGTON — U.S. inflation slowed last month for the first time since September and a measure of underlying inflation fell to a four-year low, even as widespread tariffs threaten to send prices higher. The consumer price index increased 2.8% in February from a year ago, Wednesday’s report from the Labor...
Bills agree to sign edge rusher Joey Bosa to 1-year, $12.6 million contract, AP source saysVideo
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills turned to Joey Bosa to fill their pass-rush needs, agreeing with him on a one-year, $12.6 million contract, a person familiar with the deal told the Associated Press on Tuesday night. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the agreement won’t...
Ravens reach 1-year agreement with WR DeAndre Hopkins
The Baltimore Ravens agreed to a one-year, $6 million contract with veteran receiver DeAndre Hopkins, a person with knowledge of the deal told the Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because free agents can’t sign until Wednesday. The 32-year-old Hopkins moves from one AFC...
