Associated Press stories, Page 456
NFC West preview: 49ers bid for rare three-peat in divisionVideo
The NFC West has been a one-team show the past two years with the San Francisco 49ers winning every game against their division rivals, except when they rested their starters. If the Niners want to become the first team to win the NFC West three straight years since Seattle did...
NFC South preview: Baker Mayfield, Bucs look to fend off new-look Falcons, other challengersVideo
TAMPA, Fla. — Losing Tom Brady didn’t loosen the Buccaneers’ hold on the NFC South. Baker Mayfield replaced Brady, revived his career and led Tampa Bay to its third straight division title and a playoff victory last season. Now, another veteran quarterback enters the division along with two new head...
NFC East preview: Cowboys up next in bid for repeat division titleVideo
The Dallas Cowboys are the latest team through the ever-revolving door of NFC East champions. They’ll have to finish ahead of Philadelphia’s “Dream Team” if the division is going to have a repeat winner for the first time since the Eagles won four in a row from 2001-04. Dallas overtook...
NFC North preview: Lions, Packers lead suddenly daunting divisionVideo
The week before Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was picked by Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to be her running mate, he visited Vikings training camp and made a glowing 11-win prediction for his favorite team in that other fall season that will dominate American attention this year. While Walz’s optimistic...
Chiefs’ pursuit of 3-peat hottest topic among many storylines entering NFL seasonVideo
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs chasing history will be the hottest topic throughout the NFL season. Kansas City’s three-peat quest is only one of many interesting storylines. Aaron Rodgers is back in New York after his first season with the Jets lasted only four plays. The 40-year-old four-time NFL MVP...
7 U.S. troops hurt in raid with Iraqi forces targeting Islamic State group
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United States military and Iraq launched a joint raid targeting suspected Islamic State group militants in the country’s western desert that killed at least 15 people and saw seven American troops hurt in the operation, officials said Saturday. For years after dislodging the militants...
Defending champion Novak Djokovic is shocked at the US Open, one night after Carlos Alcaraz lostVideo
NEW YORK — Defending champion Novak Djokovic was shocked at the U.S. Open one night after Carlos Alcaraz was, bowing out in the third round with a 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 loss to 28th-seeded Alexei Popyrin of Australia on Friday night. The No. 2-seeded Djokovic was trying to become the...
Brazil blocks Musk’s X amid feud with judge
SAO PAULO — Brazil started blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible on the web and through mobile apps after the billionaire refused to name a legal representative to the country. The move escalates a monthslong feud between Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court...
Miami Dolphins extend coach Mike McDaniel through 2028 season, AP source says
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Miami Dolphins want Mike McDaniel to be around for a while. The head coach who was just the third Dolphins coach to make the playoffs in each of his first two seasons at the helm signed a contract Friday that extends him through the 2028...
Bubba Wallace confident he can make NASCAR playoffs
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Bubba Wallace, as he usually does after races, received a text from owner Michael Jordan after Daytona last week about his final attempt this week at Darlington Raceway to make the Cup Series playoffs. “Things you want more cost more,” Wallace said Jordan told him. Wallace is...
Chartiers Valley’s T.J. McConnell signs 4-year, $45 million extension with Pacers
The Indiana Pacers agreed to terms with guard T.J. McConnell on a four-year extension worth $45 million. Agents Mark Bartelstein and Andy Shiffman confirmed the deal in an email to the Associated Press on Friday. McConnell, a Chartiers Valley product who is signed for $9.3 million for the upcoming NBA...
Scottie Scheffler leads by 4 at East Lake as Morikawa and Schauffele try to keep it closeVideo
ATLANTA — Scottie Scheffler put on another clinic from tee-to-green at East Lake on Friday for a 5-under-par 66 and a four-shot lead at the Tour Championship that didn’t seem as big as it looked. Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele had something to do with that. In a second round...
Game week begins for the Ravens as they prepare for the NFL’s season opener at Kansas CityVideo
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Game week has arrived for John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens returned to practice Friday after three days off, and the focus turns to Thursday’s season opener at Kansas City. The Chiefs earned the right to play in that game as the defending Super...
UNC loses QB Johnson for season after surgery for broken right leg suffered in Minnesota winVideo
North Carolina quarterback Max Johnson will miss the rest of the season after having surgery for a broken right leg, coming after he was carted off in the season-opening win at Minnesota and taken to the hospital. The school announced Johnson’s status Friday, saying he had surgery in Minneapolis and...
Coco Gauff keeps her US Open title defense alive by coming back to beat Elina SvitolinaVideo
NEW YORK — Coco Gauff turned things around after being a set down and beat Elina Svitolina, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the U.S. Open’s third round Friday, extending the 20-year-old American’s defense of her first Grand Slam title. The third-seeded Gauff made mistake after mistake in the first set at...
No solution for PGA Tour and LIV Golf remains ‘frustrating’Video
ATLANTA — For as much as Rory McIlroy lamented his loss to Bryon DeChambeau in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in June, there was something good about it. The tournament was one of the few — really just four majors a year — that now bring together the world’s best...
Trump film ‘The Apprentice’ finds distributor, will open before election
NEW YORK — After struggling to drum up interest following its Cannes Film Festival premiere, the young Donald Trump drama “The Apprentice,” starring Sebastian Stan as the former president, has found a distributor that plans to release the film shortly before the election in November. Briarcliff Entertainment will release “The...
NASA cuts 2 from next SpaceX flight to make room for astronauts stuck at space station
NASA on Friday cut two astronauts from the next crew to make room on the return trip for the two stuck at the International Space Station. NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch in September aboard a SpaceX rocket for the orbiting laboratory. The duo will return with...
Ukraine says U.S. experts have joined the investigation into the crash of a donated F-16
KYIV, Ukraine — U.S. experts have joined a Ukrainian investigation into why an F-16 warplane that Ukraine received from its Western partners crashed earlier this week during a Russian bombardment, the country’s air force commander said Friday. Meanwhile, a Russian attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv using powerful plane-launched...
Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge shows price pressures easing as rate cuts near
WASHINGTON — An inflation measure closely tracked by the Federal Reserve remained low last month, extending a trend of cooling price increases that clears the way for the Fed to start cutting its key interest rate next month for the first time in 4 1/2 years. Prices rose just 0.2%...
Escaped killer who was on the run in Pennsylvania for 2 weeks faces plea hearing
WEST CHESTER, Pa. — A convicted killer captured last year after two weeks on the run in southeastern Pennsylvania’s rolling farmlands is due in court Friday for a potential plea on the escape charges. Danilo Cavalcante, 35, a native of Brazil, escaped from a Chester County lockup while waiting to...
Canadian rail union says it has filed lawsuits challenging back-to-work orders
The union that represents workers at both of Canada’s largest freight railroads has filed the lawsuits it promised challenging the orders that forced employees back to work and got the trains moving again, the union announced Friday. The lawsuits were filed late Thursday afternoon, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference said....
AFC South preview: Young QBs aim to challenge powerful TexansVideo
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Looking at the recent history of the AFC South makes it easy to envision the Tennessee Titans winning the division, if only because they have Brian Callahan as their new coach. Doug Pederson capped his first season coaching Jacksonville watching his Jaguars grab the AFC South title...
AFC West preview: Teams make major changes in bid to knock off ChiefsVideo
The Kansas City Chiefs have ruled the AFC West since two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes was still slinging it at Texas Tech. They’ve won the division every year since 2016. What the back-to-back Super Bowl champs are really out to accomplish this season, though, is something that’s never been done before:...
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau, brother Matthew die in New Jersey biking accident
NHL player Johnny Gaudreau and his younger brother were killed on the eve of their sister’s wedding when they were hit by a suspected drunken driver while riding bicycles in their home state of New Jersey, police said Friday. New Jersey State Police said the Gaudreau brothers were cycling on...
