Associated Press stories, Page 1338
Biden to mark Transgender Day of Visibility with new actions
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is commemorating Transgender Day of Visibility by celebrating prominent transgender Americans and advocating against what his administration terms “dangerous anti-transgender legislative attacks” that have passed in statehouses across the country. Biden on Thursday is announcing new measures aimed at making the federal government more inclusive...
A key inflation gauge sets 40-year high as gas and food soar
WASHINGTON — An inflation gauge closely monitored by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.4% in February compared with a year ago, with sharply higher prices for food, gasoline and other necessities squeezing Americans’ finances. The figure reported Thursday by the Commerce Department was the largest year-over-year rise since January 1982. Excluding...
More Americans apply for jobless benefits; layoffs still low
WASHINGTON — More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain at historic lows. Jobless claims rose by 14,000 to 202,000 for the week ending March 26, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s tally of 188,000 claims was the fewest since 1969. First-time applications for jobless...
U.S. returns to World Cup despite loss at Costa Rica in final qualifying matchVideo
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — The United States men are returning to the World Cup after the trauma of missing the 2018 tournament, clinching a berth for this year’s championship in Qatar on Wednesday despite a 2-0 loss to Costa Rica on the final night of qualifying. Juan Pablo Vargas...
Biden planning to tap oil reserve to control gas prices
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is preparing to order the release of up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve, according to two people familiar with the decision, in a bid to control energy prices that have spiked as the U.S. and allies...
Wisconsin judge orders Robin Vos held in contempt over election records
MADISON, Wis. — A judge on Wednesday has ordered that Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos be held in contempt for failing to produce emails and text messages related to the investigation he ordered into the 2020 presidential election. Dane County Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn, who last week told the Rochester Republican...
Facebook resorts to old smear tactics against TikTok
WASHINGTON — Eleven years ago, Facebook was caught red-handed after it hired a prominent public relations firm to try to plant stories harshly criticizing Google’s privacy practices in leading news outlets. In 2018, it hired the PR firm Definers to do opposition research on the company’s critics, including billionaire philanthropist...
Nationals allow 29 runs in spring game vs CardinalsVideo
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Washington Nationals fans have reasons to doubt 2022 will be their year. They got 29 more of them Wednesday. Pitchers Anibal Sanchez and Cade Cavalli allowed 10 runs each while the Nationals were shellacked 29-8 by the St. Louis Cardinals in a spring training game...
Brazil, Argentina look like World Cup contenders againVideo
SAO PAULO — Brazil is about to overtake top spot in the FIFA rankings, and Argentina hasn’t lost a match in 1,000 days. It’s clear the two South American soccer powers have more than just Neymar and Lionel Messi going for them as they head to the World Cup in...
3-time Pro Bowl safety, activist Malcolm Jenkins retiresVideo
Malcolm Jenkins is retiring after a 13-year NFL career in which he established himself as one of the league’s best all-around safeties, most durable players and leading voices for social justice. Jenkins helped both the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles win their only Super Bowl and made a major...
Saint Peter’s Shaheen Halloway hired by Seton Hall after magic run
Shaheen Holloway is leaving Cinderella Saint Peter’s for Seton Hall just days after helping the little Jesuit school make history by becoming the first No. 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. Seton Hall athletic director Bryan Felt announced the hiring of the 45-year-old early Wednesday...
Tackle prospect Evan Neal takes center stage at Alabama’s pro dayVideo
Evan Neal was the big man at Alabama’s pro day, and not just because of his towering physical presence. The Crimson Tide’s 6-foot-7, 337-pound left tackle was easily the highest-rated prospect going through pro day Wednesday before representatives of all 32 NFL teams. It didn’t matter that he was just...
Facts and figures on the teams in the NCAA Final FourVideo
There’s no room for a surprise team at this Final Four. Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Villanova have combined for 17 national championships. Each of the schools has won at least three titles, making this the first Final Four in which each of the teams already had won multiple championships....
Academy: Will Smith refused to leave Oscars, broke conduct codeVideo
NEW YORK — The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said Sunday that Will Smith was asked to leave the Oscars after hitting Chris Rick but refused. Many have questioned why Smith was allowed to remain seated front row at the Academy Awards after the incident. On Wednesday, the...
Alex Jones faces fines for skipping Sandy Hook deposition
HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut judge on Wednesday said Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will be fined $25,000 to $50,000 per weekday until he appears for a deposition in a lawsuit brought by relatives of some victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Jones’ testimony is being...
Stocks fall, breaking a 4-day winning streak on Wall Street
Technology companies led stocks lower Wednesday on Wall Street, ending a four-day winning streak for the market, after an economic report stoked worries about the health of the economy. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% after having been down nearly 1.1% at one point. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%,...
Forum gets tense in GOP’s sharp-elbowed U.S. Senate primaryVideo
HARRISBURG — The first public appearance between the highest-profile Republicans running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania quickly became chippy Wednesday, as themes playing out in millions of dollars in sharp-elbowed TV attack ads played out on a small forum stage. The campaign is one of this year’s premier Senate contests...
7 hurt in Arkansas tornado; Deep South braces for more stormsVideo
Severe storms that included at least two tornadoes injured several people, damaged homes and businesses and downed power lines in Arkansas and Missouri overnight as twisters and hurricane-force winds were forecast in much of the Deep South on Wednesday. No deaths were reported from the storms late Tuesday and early...
With at least 1 GOP vote, Ketanji Brown Jackson likely to be confirmed
WASHINGTON — Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday she will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, giving Democrats at least one Republican vote and all but assuring that Jackson will become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. Collins met with Jackson a second time this week after...
Report: Great white shark killed California bodyboarder
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — A bodyboarder was attacked by a great white shark in central California on Christmas Eve and died within minutes, official reports have concluded. Tomas Abraham Butterfield, 42, was bitten in the head, chest and shoulder in the Morro Bay attack and died from “complications of...
Grammy predictions: AP writers debate who’ll triumph Sunday
The number of nominees for the Grammys’ top awards keeps growing, up to 10 this year, making the competition stronger, but predictions a lot trickier. Are too many pop artists going to split the vote, making an upset more likely? Can we even count on past wins as a guide?...
Prosecutors rest their case in Gov. Whitmer kidnap trial
A man accused of leading a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was “antigovernment” and believed officials were out to “line their own pockets,” his longtime companion testified Wednesday before prosecutors rested their case. Chastity Knight spoke to jurors on the 13th day of trial in federal court in...
Bruce Willis, diagnosed with aphasia, steps away from acting
NEW YORK — Bruce Wills is stepping away from acting after a diagnosis of aphasia, a condition that causes loss of the ability to understand or express speech, his family announced Wednesday. In a statement posted on Willis’ Instagram page, the 67-year-old actor’s family said Willis was recently diagnosed with...
Russia bombards areas where it pledged to scale back
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and another city just hours after pledging to scale back operations in those zones to promote trust between the two sides, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday. The shelling — and intensified Russian attacks on other parts of the country — tempered optimism...
Police: 6 killed in Pennsylvania pileup of 80 vehicles
POTTSVILLE — A deadly pileup involving 80 vehicles on a Pennsylvania interstate during a snow squall killed six people, state police said Wednesday. “There were 6 fatalities involved in this crash. Identities of the victims will be released once death notifications have been made to their families,” state police in...
