Associated Press stories, Page 1322
Willie Green, upstart Pelicans get top-seeded Suns in 1st round
PHOENIX — Willie Green’s time as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns taught him quick improvement can happen with the right mix of talent, desire and steady leadership. Turns out that blueprint can travel. Green, the first-year New Orleans Pelicans coach who was Phoenix’s top assistant last season, leads...
Steelers’ John Mitchell honored as Alabama’s 1st Black player
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Pittsburgh Steelers assistant head coach John Mitchell and Wilbur Jackson already had their place in Alabama football history. Now, the Crimson Tide’s first Black players also share a prominent spot outside Bryant-Denny stadium. The university unveiled a plaque honoring Jackson and Mitchell on Saturday in a ceremony...
Harold Varner III shoots 63 to take RBC Heritage lead
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Harold Varner III shot 8-under 63 to take a one-shot lead in the RBC Heritage on Saturday in pursuit of his first PGA Tour victory. Varner had eight birdies in a bogey-free round to match Cameron Young’s opening score as the lowest at Harbour Town...
Zippy Chippy, horse racing’s lovable loser, dies at 31
Zippy Chippy, horse racing’s lovable loser for never winning in 100 races, has died at the age of 31. The bay gelding was living at the Bobby Frankel Division of Old Friends Thoroughbred Farm at Cabin Creek near Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York since 2010. The farm said...
‘Magic mushrooms’ for therapy? Veterans help sway conservatives
SALT LAKE CITY — Matthew Butler spent 27 years in the Army, but it took a day in jail to convince him his post-traumatic stress disorder was out of control. The recently retired Green Beret had tried antidepressants, therapy and a support dog. But his arrest for punching a hole...
12 injured in shooting at South Carolina mall; 3 detained
Ten people were shot and two others injured in a shooting at a busy shopping mall in South Carolina’s capital that authorities do not believe was a random attack. Three people who had firearms have been detained in connection with the Saturday afternoon shooting at Columbiana Centre, Columbia Police Chief...
NASCAR chases holiday TV audience with Easter dirt race
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kevin Harvick was on his annual family beach vacation when he was forced to cut it short early by three days to return to work for the first time in his career on Easter Sunday. NASCAR since its 1949 inaugural season deliberately used Easter as an off...
Pa. trooper hit, 2 troopers fire after 2 SUVs flee traffic stop
State troopers opened fire and gave chase to two fleeing vehicles after one trooper was struck during a traffic stop on an interstate in Pennsylvania, police said. Troopers tried to stop two sport utility vehicles, one black and one white, in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 76 in Elizabeth Township...
Chinese astronauts land after 6 months on space station
Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after six months aboard their country’s newest orbital station in the longest crewed mission to date for China’s ambitious space program. The Shenzhou 13 space capsule landed in the Gobi desert in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, shown live on state...
Ukraine war far from over as Russia renews strikes in Kyiv
Russian forces accelerated scattered attacks on Kyiv, western Ukraine and beyond Saturday in an explosive reminder to Ukrainians and their Western supporters that the whole country remains under threat despite Russia’s pivot toward mounting a new offensive in the east. Stung by the loss of its Black Sea flagship and...
Georgia man accused of leaving grandmother in freezer to die
Police say a northwest Georgia man killed his grandmother by stuffing her in a freezer while she was still alive. Floyd County Police discovered the body of Doris Cumming, 82, late Thursday in the Armuchee home she shared with her grandson, 29-year-old Robert Keith Tincher III. Tincher was charged with...
Ukrainian mayor and lawmakers attend Vatican Easter vigil
Pope Francis on Saturday invoked “gestures of peace in these days marked by the horror of war” in an Easter vigil homily in St. Peter’s Basilica attended by the mayor of the occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol and three Ukrainian lawmakers. The pontiff noted that while “many writers have evoked...
NHLPA investigation: Donald Fehr not at fault in Blackhawks situationVideo
An independent investigation commissioned by the NHL Players’ Association found that executive director Don Fehr and others were not responsible for wrongdoing when they failed to act on a report that a Chicago Blackhawks player was sexually assaulted by a staff member in 2010. A law firm hired to look...
FedEx Cup champ Cantlay takes RBC Heritage lead into weekendVideo
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay birdied the final four holes Friday for a 4-under-par 67 and take a two-stroke lead over Robert Streb halfway through the RBC Heritage. After dropping back with bogeys on the 11th and 14th holes, Cantlay turned it around on the...
Too dusty: NASCAR working on visibility at dirty BristolVideo
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch took a long pause to carefully choose how to describe visibility Friday in the first practice on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. “So far better, I guess?” Busch said. “But second half of that practice, you couldn’t see. You put one car in front...
Arizona court won’t halt sex suits naming Boy Scouts, others
PHOENIX — Arizona victims of long-ago child sex abuse can proceed with lawsuits against groups like the Boy Scouts of America following a decision by the state Supreme Court that rejected claims that a 2019 state law extending victims’ right to sue was unconstitutional. Arizona is among many states that...
Pamela Smart’s lawyer asks court to order sentence hearing
CONCORD, N.H. — A lawyer for Pamela Smart, a former high school employee convicted of recruiting her teenage lover to kill her husband, is asking New Hampshire’s highest court to order a state council to hold a hearing on her request to reduce her life-without-parole sentence. Smart, 54, has been...
Hoffman misses RBC Heritage cut but happy to be back after muscular dystrophy diagnosisVideo
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Morgan Hoffmann left the RBC Heritage feeling like a winner, even if he didn’t make the cut. Hoffmann played his first PGA Tour event after being sidelined in 2019 by muscular dystrophy. He had not teed off on tour since the Shriners Hospital for Children...
Bidens paid 24.6% taxes on $610,702 earnings, returns show
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, earned $610,702 during their first year in the White House and paid $150,439 in federal income taxes. That was a rate of 24.6% for 2021, well over the average of around 14%. The totals were similar to the Bidens’ 2020 returns,...
Twitter adopts ‘poison pill’ defense in Musk takeover bid
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Twitter said Friday that its board of directors has unanimously adopted a “poison pill” defense in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s proposal to buy the company and take it private. The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting...
‘Detest me with moderation,’ Paris attacks defendant pleads
PARIS — The only surviving member of the Islamic State attack team that terrorized Paris in 2015 asked Friday for forgiveness and expressed condolences for the victims, wiping away tears during court testimony as he pleaded with survivors to “detest me with moderation.” For years, Salah Abdeslam stayed silent about...
NBA playoffs are here, with many eyes on favored Phoenix
Devin Booker does not take having another chance at an NBA championship lightly. Over his first four years in Phoenix, among players who appeared in at least 200 games spanning the 2015-16 through the 2018-19 seasons, nobody in the NBA experienced more losing than Booker did. He appeared in 272...
South Carolina inmate picks firing squad over electric chair
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina prisoner scheduled to be the first man executed in the state in more than a decade has decided to die by firing squad rather than in the electric chair later this month, according to court documents filed Friday. Richard Bernard Moore, 57, is the...
Russia loses warship, says attacks on Kyiv will increase
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia’s Defense Ministry promised Friday to ramp up missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukraine’s alleged aggression on Russian territory, an ominous warning that followed Moscow’s stinging symbolic loss of its navy’s flagship in the Black Sea. The threat of intensified attacks on Kyiv...
Prince Harry, Meghan make surprise visit to queen at Windsor
LONDON — Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have visited Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, on their first joint visit to the U.K. since they gave up formal royal roles and moved to the U.S. more than two years ago. The couple’s office says they visited the 95-year-old queen,...
