Associated Press stories, Page 707
Maple Leafs sign William Nylander to $92 million, 8-year extension
TORONTO — William Nylander will wear a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater for years to come. Nylander has agreed to a $92 million, eight-year contract extension with the Maple Leafs, the team said Monday. It is the largest contract in franchise history by total value and includes a no-movement clause. The...
NFL Playoff Guide: How to watch the games, bracket format and betting favorites
Six teams — the Steelers, Browns, Lions, Packers, Texans and Rams — are in the playoffs after missing out last season. At least four teams who failed to qualify one season have reached the playoffs the next every year since 1990. Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys are riding high after...
Paris names a street after David Bowie celebrating music icon’s legacy
PARIS — Paris immortalized late British music icon David Bowie by naming a street after him in the city’s southeast on what would have been his 77th birthday on Monday. The inauguration of rue David-Bowie was first announced in 2020 by Jérôme Coumet, mayor of the 13th arrondissement. Bowie died...
Mary Lou Retton says she’s a ‘fighter’ as she recuperates at home following pneumonia scare
Olympic gymnastics great Mary Lou Retton said she faces a long battle recuperating at home from a rare form of pneumonia in which doctors weren’t sure whether she would survive. In an interview that aired Monday on NBC’s “Today” show, Retton said while wearing a breathing tube pumping oxygen through...
Tiger Woods, Nike end partnership after more than 27 years
Tiger Woods is no longer a Nike athlete after 27 years, ending a partnership between the swoosh and golf’s biggest star and raising questions about the future of both in the sport. Woods in a social media post thanked Nike co-founder Phil Knight for his “passion and vision” that brought...
Houston, the lone unbeaten team in college hoops, jumps Kansas to No. 2 in AP Top 25 behind Purdue
Purdue held its place atop the AP Top 25 on Monday following its win over Illinois in a top-10 showdown, while Houston jumped Kansas into second place as the last unbeaten team in Division I men’s college basketball. The Boilermakers, who beat the No. 9 Illini 83-78 last week, picked...
Jonathan Majors says he was ‘shocked’ when assault case verdict was handed down
In his first interview since his assault and harassment conviction last month, actor Jonathan Majors said he was shocked by the New York jury’s verdict. “I was absolutely shocked and afraid,” Majors said in the interview that aired Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I’m standing there and the verdict...
Biden will visit church where Black people were killed to lay out election stakes and perils of hate
CHARLESTON, S.C. — President Joe Biden wants Americans to grasp what he sees as the extraordinary stakes of this year’s presidential election. As part of that effort, he’s revisiting some of the nation’s worst traumas to highlight what can happen when hate is allowed to fester. Biden arrived in Charleston,...
Trump is raising expectations heading into the Iowa caucuses. Now he has to meet them
NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa — When Donald Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign after a disappointing midterm election for Republicans, his trajectory was something of a mystery. But seven days before Iowa’s kick-off caucuses, his standing among the GOP faithful is hardly in doubt. Voters, campaign operatives and even some of...
White House infrastructure czar Landrieu leaving job and expected to make case for Biden reelection
WASHINGTON — White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu is leaving his post after two years and is expected to help push publicly for President Joe Biden’s reelection. The Democratic president tasked the former New Orleans mayor with setting up a system to invest more than $1 trillion over the coming...
Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear forms PAC to support candidates across the country
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who defeated Donald Trump-backed rivals twice in Republican-leaning Kentucky, announced the formation of a federal political action committee on Monday to support candidates across the country as he seeks to broaden his influence beyond the Bluegrass State. Beshear launched a PAC called In...
U.S. fighter jets to fly over Bosnia in a sign of support to the country as Serbs call for secession
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Two U.S. fighter jets are set to fly over Bosnia on Monday in a demonstration of support for the Balkan country’s integrity in the face of increasingly secessionist policies of the Bosnian Serb pro-Russia leader Milorad Dodik. The U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons will fly as...
Panthers fire GM Scott Fitterer after finishing with NFL-worst 2-15 record
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers now need a head coach and a general manager. The Panthers announced Monday they have fired GM Scott Fitterer one day after the team finished with an NFL-worst 2-15 record. “As we move forward with the new direction for our franchise, I have made...
Bill Belichick under contract, would take lesser role in personnel matters as Kraft meeting looms
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Bill Belichick is open to letting someone else handle personnel duties if he remains with the New England Patriots. The Patriots coach also confirmed Monday during his season-ending news conference that he remains under contract, though he didn’t specify the length of its current terms. New England’s...
Commanders fire coach Ron Rivera as new ownership begins making changes
ASHBURN, Va. — The Washington Commanders fired coach Ron Rivera on Monday, the first move of many expected by new owners as they put their stamp on the NFL franchise they bought last year. The decision came a day after the Commanders’ season-ending 38-10 home loss to division-rival Dallas. “As...
Alaska Airlines’ decision not to ground Boeing jet despite warning signs comes under scrutiny
PORTLAND, Ore. — The decision by Alaska Airlines to stop flying one of its planes over the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii due to warnings from a cabin-pressurization system — yet keep flying it over land — is raising questions about whether the jet should have been in the air at...
Palestinians flee from central Gaza’s main hospital as strike kills Hezbollah commander in Lebanon
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Medics, patients and displaced people are fleeing from the main hospital in central Gaza as the fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants draws closer, witnesses said Monday. Losing the facility would be another major blow to a health system shattered by three months of...
Analysis: Bills, Cowboys were the NFL’s biggest winners in Week 18, securing the No. 2 seeds
On Football analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL from week to week. For more On Football analysis, head here. Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys made sure they’ll start the playoffs at home, where they’re undefeated. Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills are going home with a division title...
Falcons fire coach Arthur Smith hours after completing 3rd straight 7-10 season
ATLANTA — Arthur Smith, who inherited a rebuilding project in his first NFL head coaching job and failed to lift Atlanta from its playoff drought, was fired late Sunday night, hours after completing his third straight losing season with the Falcons. Smith, the 41-year-old son of FedEx founder Fred Smith,...
Josh Allen rallies Bills for win over Dolphins; Buffalo secures No. 2 seed in AFC
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Josh Allen threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Dawson Knox midway through the fourth quarter, and the Buffalo Bills won their fourth straight AFC East title, rallying past the Miami Dolphins 21-14 on Sunday night. Allen made things difficult for the Bills with three turnovers in...
List of 2024 Golden Globe winners
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Winners at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards. BEST MOVIE DRAMA “Oppenheimer” BEST MOVIE MUSICAL OR COMEDY “Poor Things” TELEVISION COMEDY SERIES “The Bear” TELEVISION DRAMA SERIES “Succession” LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION “Beef” CINEMATIC AND BOX OFFICE ACHIEVEMENT “Barbie” MALE ACTOR IN...
Chris Kirk makes late birdie to take PGA Tour season opener at Kapalua
KAPALUA, Hawaii — Chris Kirk finds pure joy in golf from the work that’s required and how hard it is to succeed, and Sunday at The Sentry was plenty difficult. A dozen players were lined up behind him, all of them capable of ripping off a low one. The conditions...
Canceled flights are piling up as Alaska, United are stuck without their grounded Boeing jetsVideo
PORTLAND, Ore. — Alaska Airlines and United Airlines grounded all of their Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners again on Sunday while they waited to be told how to inspect the planes to prevent another inflight blowout like the one that damaged an Alaska jet. Alaska Airlines had returned 18 of...
‘Oppenheimer’ leading Golden Globes with wins for Murphy, Downey Jr. and NolanVideo
Christopher Nolan’s epic American drama “Oppenheimer” is dominating the 81st Golden Globes, where “Succession” and “The Bear” are also taking multiple honors. “Oppenheimer,” perhaps the Academy Awards frontrunner, picked up four big awards including best director for Nolan, best drama actor for Cillian Murphy, best supporting actor for Robert Downey...
Michigan-Washington caps season of realignment, transfers and Harbaugh
HOUSTON — Michigan vs. Washington is just about the perfect way to end the 2023 college football season: a matchup of unbeatens that hits all the major themes and storylines of the past five months from conference realignment to the transfer portal — with Jim Harbaugh as the main character....
