Associated Press stories, Page 1036
Somerset County DA convicted of sex assault
SOMERSET — A Western Pennsylvania county prosecutor was in jail Friday after jurors convicted him of six charges for an attack on a woman while acquitting him of sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault. The verdict against suspended Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey L. Thomas was issued Thursday after less...
Penn State dominates Texas A&M for 1st NCAA Tournament win since ’01
DES MOINES, Iowa — Andrew Funk had the shooting game of his career on Penn State’s biggest stage in more than two decades. Funk went 8 of 10 on 3-pointers and scored 27 points Thursday night in a 76-59 win over Texas A&M for the Nittany Lions’ first NCAA Tournament...
MLB umpires will have a new view this season — on Zoom
NEW YORK — Umpires will have a new view this season: on Zoom. Major League Baseball struck a deal with Zoom Video Communications Inc. allowing on-field umpires to watch the replay operations center evaluating contested calls. MLB first adopted instant replay in September 2008 for home boundary calls and expanded...
California to overhaul San Quentin prison, emphasizing rehab
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The infamous state prison on San Francisco Bay that has been home to the largest death row population in the United States will be transformed into a lockup where less-dangerous prisoners will receive education, training and rehabilitation, California officials announced Thursday. The inmates serving death sentences at...
BNSF trains derail in Washington, Arizona; no injuries
ANACORTES, Wash. — Two BNSF trains derailed in separate incidents in Arizona and Washington state on Thursday, with the latter spilling diesel fuel on tribal land along Puget Sound. No injuries were reported. It wasn’t clear what caused either derailment. The derailment in Washington occurred on a berm along Padilla...
NFL wants judge to send discrimination claims to arbitrator
NEW YORK — NFL lawyers are urging a New York judge to change her mind and agree to let racial discrimination claims against the league and its teams go to arbitration rather than trial. In written arguments late Wednesday, the lawyers said Judge Valerie E. Caproni in Manhattan should reverse...
Princeton stuns Arizona 59-55 in March MadnessVideo
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Tosan Evbuomwan and Princeton used a late-game run to earn the school’s first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona, 59-55, on Thursday. The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points to finish the upset, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless over...
Fed lent $300B in emergency funds to banks in the past week
WASHINGTON — Cash-short banks have borrowed about $300 billion from the Federal Reserve in the past week, the Fed announced Thursday. Nearly half the money — $143 billion — went to holding companies for two major banks that failed over the past week, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, triggering...
Covid-19 pill Paxlovid moves closer to full FDA approval
WASHINGTON — Pfizer’s covid-19 pill Paxlovid won another vote of confidence from U.S. health advisers Thursday, clearing the way for its full regulatory approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The medication has been used by millions of Americans since the FDA granted it emergency use authorization in late 2021....
Bengals running back Joe Mixon armed in shooting but fired no shots
CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon was armed with a legal weapon when a teenage boy was shot near the player’s home earlier this month but he did not fire the gun or do anything illegal, authorities said Thursday as they announced the indictments of Mixon’s sister and...
Yellen tells Congress U.S. banking system ‘remains sound’
WASHINGTON — A week after the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday that the nation’s banking system “remains sound” and Americans “can feel confident” about their deposits. Her remarks, coming against the backdrop of deepening concerns about the health...
Poland to be 1st NATO member to give Ukraine fighter jets
WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s president said Thursday that his country plans to give Ukraine around a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets, which would make it the first NATO member to fulfill the Ukrainian government’s increasingly urgent requests for warplanes. President Andrzej Duda said Poland would hand over four of the Soviet-made...
Military moves to cut suicides, but defers action on guns
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a number of improvements in access to mental health care on Thursday to reduce suicides in the military, but held off on endorsing more controversial recommendations to restrict gun and ammunition purchases by young troops, sending them to another panel for study. An...
AP sources: Banks working on rescue plan for First Republic
NEW YORK — A group of Wall Street banks is planning a rescue package of around $30 billion for First Republic Bank, sources told The Associated Press on Thursday. The rescue package comes as San Francisco-based First Republic has been battered by investors and worries have grown that the midsized...
JP Pegues’ 3 gives No. 13 seed Furman upset win over Virginia
ORLANDO, Fla. — JP Pegues made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining, and No. 13 seed Furman completed a rally from a 12-point second-half deficit to hand fourth-seeded Virginia another first-round NCAA Tournament loss, 68-67, on Thursday. Making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 43 years, the Paladins...
Maryland edges West Virginia in NCAA Tournament’s 1st round
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In a game that began before lunchtime, Maryland sleepwalked through the first 10 minutes of its NCAA Tournament opener. Coach Kevin Willard wasn’t concerned. He knew there was still time for a wake-up call. Julian Reese and Maryland topped West Virginia, 67-65, on Thursday after Kedrian Johnson...
Mets’ Edwin Díaz expected to miss season with torn patellar tendon
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz has a torn patellar tendon and is expected to miss the entire season after hurting his right knee while celebrating a victory in the World Baseball Classic. Mets general manager Billy Eppler said Díaz would undergo surgery Thursday. Without...
U.S. pregnancy deaths dropped in 2022, after covid spike
NEW YORK — Deaths of pregnant women in the U.S. fell in 2022, dropping significantly from a six-decade high during the pandemic, new data suggests. More than 1,200 U.S. women died in 2021 during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth, according to a final tally released Thursday by the Centers for...
Titans release OLB Bud Dupree after 7 sacks in 2 years
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans released outside linebacker Bud Dupree two years into a five-year contract, parting ways with the big free agent they acquired in 2021 to boost their pass rush, the team announced Thursday. Dupree signed a contract worth up to $82.5 million contract in March 2021...
Macron shuns parliament to raise French retirement age
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron imposed a highly unpopular bill raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 on Thursday by shunning parliament and invoking a special constitutional power. Lawmakers were shouting, their voices shaking with emotion as Macron made the risky move, which is expected to trigger quick...
Penn State favored again at NCAA wrestling championships
Penn State is favored to claim another team title and Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis and Iowa’s Spencer Lee, a Franklin Regional grad, will seek their fourth national titles at the NCAA Division I wrestling championships, which start Thursday in Tulsa, Okla. Penn State has won nine national championship in the past...
Mets’ Edwin Díaz hurts knee as Puerto Rico tops Dominicans in World Baseball Classic
MIAMI — New York Mets star closer Edwin Díaz injured his right knee celebrating a win Wednesday night that advanced Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and eliminated the Dominican Republic. Díaz was taken off the field in a wheelchair in Miami soon after pitching a perfect ninth inning...
TikTok dismisses calls for Chinese owners to sell stakes
WASHINGTON — TikTok was dismissive Wednesday of reports that the Biden administration was calling for its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app, saying such a move wouldn’t help protect national security. The company was responding to a report in The Wall Street Journal that said...
U.S. releases video of Russian jet dumping fuel on its droneVideo
KYIV, Ukraine — The Pentagon on Thursday released footage of what it said was a Russian aircraft pouring fuel on a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone and clipping the drone’s propeller in international airspace over the Black Sea. The 42-second video shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the back of the...
Freight train carrying hazardous material derails in Arizona
TOPOCK, Ariz. — A freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in western Arizona, near the state’s border with California and Nevada, an official said. The train derailed Wednesday evening near the town of Topock, Anita Mortensen, a spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that she was not...
