Associated Press stories, Page 59

PHILADELPHIA — The cockpit voice recorder was not working on a medical transport plane that crashed in Philadelphia in January and likely had not been working for several years, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report issued Thursday. The NTSB also confirmed that the flight crew made...

TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday he welcomed indications that the U.S. would delay substantial tariffs on Canadian products for a month, but said Canada’s retaliatory tariffs would remain in place for now. U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has postponed 25% tariffs on most goods...

KYIV, Ukraine — The U.S. decision to stop sharing military intelligence with Ukraine hobbles its ability to strike and defend against the Russian army, and increases the pressure on it to accept a peace deal being pushed by the Trump administration. Earlier in the week, the U.S. suspended weapons shipments...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has postponed 25% tariffs on most goods from Mexico for a month after a conversation with that country’s president. Trump’s announcement comes after his Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, said tariffs on both Canada and Mexico would “likely” be delayed. This is...

Paul Skenes has been in the major leagues for less than a year. A piece of the Pittsburgh Pirates ace — well, OK, a piece of the jersey that Skenes donned during his first start last May — could be ready to join some elite company. A one-of-a-kind autographed baseball...

BOSTON — A second federal judge on Thursday extended a block barring the Trump administration from freezing grants and loans potentially totaling trillions of dollars. U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island granted the preliminary injunction in the lawsuit filed by nearly two dozen Democratic states after a...

Applications for U.S. jobless benefits fell last week as the labor market remains sturdy ahead of an expected purge of federal government employees. The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits fell by 21,000 to 221,000 for the week ending March 1, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s significantly fewer...

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from drastically cutting medical research funding that many scientists say will endanger patients and cost jobs. The new National Institutes of Health policy would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars to cover so-called indirect expenses of studying Alzheimer’s, cancer,...

LOS ANGELES — Mortgage rates have been mostly declining in recent weeks, helping encourage prospective home shoppers just as the spring homebuying season gets going. But the same factors that have pulled mortgage rates to their lowest level since December — signs that the U.S. economy is slowing and uncertainty...

CAIRO — The Hamas militant group on Thursday brushed off President Donald Trump’s latest threat and reiterated that it will only free the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Hamas accused Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to back out...

WASHINGTON — The House is expected to vote on censuring an unrepentant Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, on Thursday for his outburst during President Donald Trump’s address to Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had Green removed from the chamber during the early moments of Trump’s speech Tuesday night. The Houston...

Nathan Hooven is a disabled Air Force veteran who voted for Donald Trump in November. Barely three months later, he’s now unemployed and says he feels betrayed by the president’s dramatic downsizing of the federal government that cost him his job. “I think a lot of other veterans voted the...

NEW YORK — The megahit Broadway musical “Hamilton” is pulling out of plans to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., next year, citing President Donald Trump’s shakeup of the art institution’s leadership. “Our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be...

WASHINGTON — An appeals court in Washington removed the head of a federal watchdog agency on Wednesday in the latest twist in a legal fight over Republican President Donald Trump’s authority to fire the special counsel. A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sided...

NEW YORK — NBC News appointed Tom Llamas on Wednesday to replace Lester Holt as anchor of “Nightly News” starting this summer, but he’s not abandoning his streaming newscast. The elevation of Llamas, 45, was widely anticipated. He has been Holt’s chief substitute on the broadcast news summary since switching...

WASHINGTON — The chief of staff to House Speaker Mike Johnson was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of driving under the influence after crashing into a police vehicle following President Donald Trump’s address to Congress. Hayden Haynes was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence and later released....

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued what he called a “last warning” to Hamas to release all remaining hostages held in Gaza, directing a sharply worded message after the White House confirmed that he had recently dispatched an envoy for unprecedented direct talks with the militant group. Trump,...

NEW YORK — A Cheeto shaped like the beloved Pokémon Charizard has sold at auction for a total cost of $87,840. The Goldin auction house listed the snack as sold on Sunday. “Presented is a 3-inch long Flamin’ Hot Cheeto in the shape of the Pokémon Charizard, affixed to a...

DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon’s childhood idol and role model has turned into a training partner and an offseason neighbor back home in the Halifax area of their native Nova Scotia. One of his closest friends, too. MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby have developed a tight bond, which made winning the 4...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is spending more than $10 million to replace its electronic voter registration database with an election management system that will also provide election night results and handle campaign finance filings and lobbyist registration. Secretary of State Al Schmidt announced Wednesday the Civix system should be fully in...

NEW YORK — The nation’s top public health agency says about 180 employees who were laid off two weeks ago can come back to work. Emails went out Tuesday to some Centers for Disease Control and Prevention probationary employees who got termination notices last month, according to current and former...

BOISE — Death by firing squad could become Idaho’s primary method of execution under a bill headed to the governor’s desk this week. The Idaho Senate passed the bill on Wednesday, and it will take effect next year if it is signed by Gov. Brad Little. Firing-squad executions have been...