Associated Press stories, Page 1326
Biden waiving ethanol rule in bid to lower gasoline prices
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is visiting corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday to announce he’ll suspend a federal rule preventing the sale of higher ethanol blend gasoline this summer, as his administration tries to tamp down prices at the pump that have spiked during Russia’s war with Ukraine. Most gasoline sold...
Police focus on van renter in Brooklyn subway shooting probeVideo
NEW YORK — A gunman in a gas mask and construction vest set off a smoke grenade and fired a barrage of at least 33 bullets in a rush-hour subway train, shooting at least 10 people Tuesday, authorities said. Police were scouring the city for the shooter and trying to...
Support for Brittney Griner at WNBA draft as Rhyne Howard goes to Atlanta
NEW YORK — Moments before Rhyne Howard went to Atlanta with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league is working very hard to help bring Brittney Griner back to the United States. Griner, one of the league’s biggest stars, has been detained in...
U.S. inflation jumped 8.5% in past year, highest since 1981
WASHINGTON — Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received. The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index...
Gilbert Gottfried, standup comic and actor, dies at 67
LOS ANGELES — Gilbert Gottfried, the actor and legendary standup comic known for his raw, scorched voice and crude jokes, has died. He was 67. Gottfried died from a rare genetic muscle disease that can trigger a dangerously abnormal heartbeat, his publicist and longtime friend Glenn Schwartz said in a...
U.S. orders consular to leave Shanghai amid covid outbreak
BEIJING — The United States has ordered all non-emergency consular staff to leave Shanghai, which is under a tight lockdown to contain a covid-19 surge. The State Department said the order is an upgrade from the “authorized” departure issued last week that made the decision voluntary. The order covers “non-emergency...
Russian activist who said he had been poisoned is detainedVideo
Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., who was twice sickened in incidents he suspected were poisonings, has been detained in Moscow by police, another prominent opposition figure said Monday. Ilya Yashin said on Twitter that Kara-Murza was detained Monday near his Moscow residence. It was unclear whether he had been...
Biden aims at ‘ghost gun’ violence with new federal ruleVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday took fresh aim at ghost guns, the privately made firearms without serial numbers that are increasingly cropping up in violent crimes, as he struggles to break past gun-control opposition to address firearm deaths. Speaking at the White House, Biden highlighted the Justice Department’s...
Column: IndyCar rich in drama as Indianapolis 500 looms
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Through just three races, the IndyCar Series already is building enough dynamic storylines to be worthy of its own Netflix program. Speculation has been mounting that IndyCar, just like NASCAR and any motorsports series with a finger on the pulse of pop culture, is trying to...
Former Virginia police officer convicted of storming Capitol to disrupt Congress
WASHINGTON — A federal jury on Monday convicted a former Virginia police officer of storming the U.S. Capitol with another off-duty officer to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Jurors convicted former Rocky Mount police officer Thomas Robertson of all six counts he faced stemming from...
Alexander Bublik cuts short Stan Wawrinka’s return to tour after injuryVideo
MONACO — Alexander Bublik cut short Stan Wawrinka’s return to the tour, defeating the Swiss 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Monday in his first singles in 13 months. Wawrinka started off confidently against the Kazakh, winning the first set with ease. He...
Scottie Scheffler a Masters champion and never saw it coming
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Scottie Scheffler wanted to be a professional golfer for so long he wore trousers to lessons at Royal Oaks in Dallas and even at junior tournaments, no matter how stifling the Texas heat. He just never imagined how he would look in a green jacket. Winning the...
Trial opens in Florida opioid lawsuit case against Walgreens
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A trial opened Monday in Florida’s opioid epidemic lawsuit against the Walgreens pharmacy chain, which state officials accuse of prioritizing profits over health by improperly dispensing millions of powerful painkillers that caused tens of thousands of deaths. The trial, in Pasco County north of Tampa, comes...
Pennsylvania toddler swept over North Carolina waterfall
SYLVA, N.C. — A 3-year-old Pennsylvania girl was killed after she was swept over Whitewater Falls in North Carolina, a sheriff’s office said. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that Nevaeh Jade Newswanger of Denver, Lancaster County, had been visiting the waterfall with family, who are...
Lakers fire title-winning coach Frank Vogel after 3 seasonsVideo
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers fired Frank Vogel on Monday, choosing their championship-winning head coach to take the first fall for one of the most disappointing seasons in NBA history. Los Angeles wildly underachieved this season, finishing 33-49 and missing the 10-team Western Conference playoffs in a humiliating...
Philadelphia to restore indoor mask mandate amid case surge
Philadelphia became the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate on Monday after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, with the city’s top health official saying she wanted to forestall a potential new wave driven by an omicron subvariant. Confirmed covid-19 cases have risen more than...
California utility to pay $55 million for massive wildfires
Pacific Gas & Electric has agreed to pay more than $55 million to avoid criminal prosecution for two major wildfires started by aging Northern California power lines belonging to the nation’s largest utility, prosecutors announced Monday. PG&E does not admit wrongdoing in the two settlements reached with prosecutors for last...
Discovery of radioactive liquid pauses work at U.S. nuke dump
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An area at the U.S. government’s nuclear waste repository in southeastern New Mexico was evacuated over the weekend after workers handling a shipping container discovered a small amount of radioactive liquid inside it. There was no indication of airborne contamination and testing of workers’ hands and feet...
Virginia GOP official accused of racist online post resigns
RICHMOND, Va. — A Republican local elections official in Virginia has resigned, according to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office, after being accused of posting a racist tirade on Facebook. Youngkin and other officials called over the weekend for the resignation of David Dietrich, a member of the electoral board in the...
Judge weighs cameras in next trial over George Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota judge will hear arguments Monday on whether to allow live video coverage of the upcoming trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill took the rare step of allowing live audiovisual coverage...
Transgender treatment ban challenged by lawsuit in Alabama
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Two families with transgender teens and two physicians sued the state of Alabama on Monday to overturn a law that makes it a crime for doctors to treat trans youth under 19 with puberty blockers or hormones to help affirm their gender identity. The lawsuit was filed...
Warsaw takes over Russia-built compound to give to Ukraine
WARSAW — A disputed compound in the Polish capital of Warsaw administered by Russia’s diplomatic mission is being taken over by the city and will be made available to the Ukrainian community, the mayor said Monday. Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was at the site early Monday and said a bailiff had...
Russia says it hits Ukraine air defenses before eastern push
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia claimed Monday that it destroyed several Ukrainian air-defense systems in what appeared to be a renewed push to gain air superiority and take out weapons Kyiv has described as crucial ahead of an expected broad new offensive in the east. In one strike, Moscow said it...
Once a retail giant, Kmart nears extinction after closure
AVENEL, N.J. — The familiar sights and sounds are still there: the scuffed and faded floor tiles, the relentless beige-on-beige color scheme, the toddlers’ clothes and refrigerators and pretty much everything in between. There’s even a canned recording that begins, “Attention, Kmart shoppers” — except it’s to remind folks about...
Stocks fall on Wall Street, led by slump in tech companies
Technology companies led a broad slide for stocks on Wall Street and bond yields rose again Monday as investors look ahead to the upcoming company earnings reporting season and what it will reveal about the impact inflation is having on corporate profits. The S&P 500 fell 1.7%, adding to its...
