Associated Press stories, Page 1417
Court puts hold on GOP inspection of county voting machines
An inspection of voting machines in a heavily Republican county in Pennsylvania had been poised to go forward Friday until an 11th-hour appeal to the state Supreme Court by lawyers for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf put it on hold. The high court decision came hours after a state judge rejected...
Cyberattack in Ukraine targets government websites
A cyberattack left a number of Ukrainian government websites temporarily unavailable on Friday, officials said. While it wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the cyberattack, the disruption came amid heightened tensions with Russia and after talks between Moscow and the West failed to yield any significant progress this week. Ukrainian...
3 women charged with beating airline security officer at JFK
NEW YORK — Three women are facing federal charges of attacking an airline security worker who tried to block them from boarding a flight at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport in September because of what prosecutors say was problematic behavior, including a refusal to wear a face mask properly....
December retail sales fall 1.9% after early holiday rush
NEW YORK — Americans, beset by product shortages, rising prices and the arrival of omicron, sharply cut their spending in December after a burst of early spending in the fall boosted this year’s holiday shopping season. Retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 1.9% in December from November when sales increased...
Bill would require Senate confirmation for U.S. prison chief
WASHINGTON — Days after the head of the troubled federal Bureau of Prisons said he was resigning amid increased scrutiny over his leadership, lawmakers have introduced a bill to require Senate confirmation for future bureau directors — the same process used to vet leaders of the FBI and other federal...
Study: More evidence links a virus to multiple sclerosis
There’s more evidence that one of the world’s most common viruses may set some people on the path to developing multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is a potentially disabling disease that occurs when immune system cells mistakenly attack the protective coating on nerve fibers, gradually eroding them. The Epstein-Barr virus has...
Novak Djokovic faces deportation as Australia revokes visa again
MELBOURNE, Australia — Tennis star Novak Djokovic faces deportation again after the Australian government revoked his visa for a second time. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said Friday he used his ministerial discretion to revoke the 34-year-old Serb’s visa on public interest grounds three days before the Australian Open is to...
Spider-Man comic page sells for record $3.36M bidding
DALLAS — A single page of artwork from a 1984 Spider-Man comic book sold at auction Thursday for a record $3.36 million. Mike Zeck’s artwork for page 25 from Marvel Comics’ Secret Wars No. 8 brings the first appearance of Spidey’s black suit. The symbiote suit would eventually lead to...
U.K.’s embattled Prince Andrew loses honorary military titlesVideo
LONDON — Prince Andrew has been stripped of his honorary military roles as the growing furor over allegations that he sexually abused a teenage girl trafficked by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein threatened to taint the House of Windsor. Buckingham Palace said late Thursday that Queen Elizabeth II had also...
Study nixes Mars life in meteorite found in Antarctica
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A 4 billion-year-old meteorite from Mars that caused a splash here on Earth decades ago contains no evidence of ancient, primitive Martian life after all, scientists reported Thursday. In 1996, a NASA-led team announced that organic compounds in the rock appeared to have been left by...
Novak Djokovic in Australian Open draw despite visa uncertainty
MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic now knows he’ll face fellow Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round of his Australian Open title defense, if he’s allowed to play. Djokovic’s visa status dominated attention until the moment the draw was conducted Thursday, after a postponement of 75 minutes, to determine the...
Alexander Ovechkin, Connor McDavid headline NHL All-Star roster
NEW YORK — Washington star Alexander Ovechkin and high-scoring Edmonton Oilers teammates Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl headline the rosters for the NHL All-Star Weekend announced Thursday. Selected for the eighth time, Ovechkin led voting in the Metropolitan Division to earn the captaincy for the Feb. 4-5 event at T-Mobile...
U.S. Olympic men’s hockey roster includes 15 college playersVideo
Matty Beniers called his parents to ask them to answer a group FaceTime request so he could deliver some big news. Of course that’s how the 19-year-old would tell loved ones he is going to the Olympics. Beniers was one of 15 college players named Thursday to the U.S. Olympic...
Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby charged with lying in home purchases
BALTIMORE — A federal grand jury indicted Baltimore’s top prosecutor Thursday on charges of perjury and making false mortgage applications in the purchase of two Florida vacation homes, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland said. The four-count indictment alleges that Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby...
MLB talks resume after 42-day gap, little progress evidentVideo
NEW YORK — Baseball labor talks to end the lockout resumed Thursday for the first time in 1 1/2 months with little evident progress during a bargaining session that lasted about an hour, jeopardizing a timely start to spring training. MLB imposed the lockout Dec. 2 as soon as the...
Twitter, Meta among tech giants subpoenaed by Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON — Months after requesting documents from more than a dozen social platforms, the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has issued subpoenas targeting Twitter, Meta, Reddit and YouTube after lawmakers said the companies’ initial responses were inadequate. The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, demanded records Thursday from the companies...
RNC threatens to boycott commission’s presidential debatesVideo
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee said Thursday it is planning a rules change that would force presidential candidates seeking the party’s nomination to sign a pledge saying they will not participate in any debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. If ultimately enacted and enforced, the move would...
Steelers must deal with Travis Kelce, full-strength Tyreek Hill this time vs. ChiefsVideo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The last time the Kansas City Chiefs played the Pittsburgh Steelers, their record-setting wide receiver had just recovered from covid-19 and their star tight end was sitting at home and still dealing with the virus. They still rolled to a 36-10 victory at Arrowhead Stadium. That...
Texans fire David Culley after just 1 season as coachVideo
HOUSTON — The Houston Texans have fired coach David Culley after just one season, a person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on Thursday on condition of anonymity because the move hadn’t been announced. His firing comes days after Houston closed a...
Navient settles predatory student loan claims for $1.85B
BOSTON — Navient, a major student loan collecting company, agreed to cancel $1.7 billion in debt owed by more than 66,000 borrowers across the U.S. and pay over $140 million in other penalties to settle allegations of abusive lending practices. The $1.85 billion deal with 39 state attorneys general was...
Supreme Court blocks vaccine-or-test rule for U.S. businesses
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has stopped the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against covid-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate...
Oath Keepers head charged with Jan. 6 seditious conspiracyVideo
WASHINGTON — Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, and 10 other members or associates have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, authorities said Thursday. Despite hundreds of charges already brought in the year since pro-Trump rioters...
Biden all but concedes defeat on voting, election billsVideo
WASHINGTON — All but acknowledging defeat, President Joe Biden said Thursday he’s “not sure” his elections and voting rights legislation can pass Congress this year. He spoke at the Capitol after a key fellow Democrat, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, dramatically announced her refusal to go along with changing Senate...
Iraqi officials: 4 rockets target U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
BAGHDAD — At least four rockets targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday, two Iraqi security officials said. The area is home to diplomatic missions and the seat of Iraq’s government, Three of the missiles struck within the perimeter of the American Embassy, the officials...
Biden to double free covid tests, add N95s, to fight omicron
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the government will double to 1 billion the rapid, at-home covid-19 tests to be distributed free to Americans, along with the most protective N95 masks, as he highlighted his efforts to “surge” resources to help the country weather the spike in coronavirus...
