Associated Press stories, Page 146
U.S. economy shrank 0.5% between January and March, worse than 2 earlier estimates had revealed
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.5% annual pace from January through March as President Donald Trump’s trade wars disrupted business, the Commerce Department reported Thursday in an unexpected deterioration of earlier estimates. First-quarter growth was weighed down by a surge of imports as U.S. companies, and households,...
Vatican unveils last of restored Raphael Rooms after 10-year cleaning that yielded new discoveries
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican Museums on Thursday unveiled the last and most important of the restored Raphael Rooms, the spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace that in some ways rival the Sistine Chapel as the peak of high Renaissance artistry. A decade-long project to clean and restore...
States can cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court rules
WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court allowed states to cut off Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood in a ruling handed down Thursday amid a wider Republican-backed push to defund the country’s biggest abortion provider. The 6-3 opinion comes in a case that wasn’t directly about abortion. It’s instead about Medicaid...
Trump’s latest rejection of intelligence assessments reflects a long distrust of spy agencies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s fights with the intelligence community were a running theme of his first term as he raged against an investigation into his campaign’s alleged links to Russia. Now, a sequel is playing out as Trump battles to shape the public’s understanding of his foreign policy gamble...
Key Medicaid provision in Trump’s bill found to violate Senate rules. The GOP is scrambling
WASHINGTON — The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a Medicaid provider tax overhaul central to President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending bill does not adhere to the chamber’s procedural rules, delivering a crucial blow as Republicans rush to finish the package this week. Guidance from the parliamentarian is rarely...
Pro wrestling gets its own 24/7 SiriusXM channel
Pro wrestling has gone from a once a week show on SiriusXM to having its own channel. The satellite radio provider announced Thursday that Pro Wrestling Nation 24/7 will take over Channel 156 beginning Tuesday. Channel 156 has been SiriusXM Fight Nation, which has carried pro wrestling, MMA and boxing...
Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week as layoffs remain low
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, a sign that companies aren’t cutting many jobs. Jobless claims dropped 10,000 to 236,000, a historically-low level. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out weekly volatility, dipped 750 to 245,000. Applications...
North Korea will open its biggest tour site next week, though it still largely blocks foreigners
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea next week will open a signature coastal tourist site that it says will usher in a new era in its tourism industry, though there is no word on when the country will fully reopen to foreign visitors. The Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone has hotels...
A driver has hit children with a car near an elementary school in Beijing
BEIJING — A driver hit an unknown number of children with their car near an elementary school in an outlying district of Beijing, police and media reports said Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear if it was another case of a driver intentionally running into people in China. A short statement...
International Space Station welcomes its 1st astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first astronauts in more than 40 years from India, Poland and Hungary arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, ferried there by SpaceX on a private flight. The crew of four will spend two weeks at the orbiting lab, performing dozens of experiments. They...
Iran’s supreme leader warns against further American attacks in 1st statement since ceasefire
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday his country had delivered a “slap to America’s face” with its strike on an American base in Qatar, and warned against any further U.S. attacks in his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared with...
Kilmar Abrego Garcia to remain in jail while attorneys spar whether he’ll be swiftly deported
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain in jail for at least a few more days while attorneys in the federal smuggling case against him spar over whether prosecutors have the ability to prevent Abrego Garcia’s deportation if he is released to await trial. The Salvadoran national whose mistaken...
Suns add 7-footer Mark Williams, send 1st-round picks to Hornets
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns acquired center Mark Williams in a trade that sends two first-round picks to the Charlotte Hornets, a person familiar with the move told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the trade hasn’t officially been announced....
NHL Draft notebook: Victor Eklund’s persistence won out, as he and Swedish teammate Anton Frondell enter draft
Victor Eklund refused to take no for an answer in badgering his Tier 2 Swedish league coach Robert Kimby to have him play on the same line as long-time friend Anton Frondell last season. “Yeah, I think I told him 10 times,” Eklund recalled at the NHL pre-draft combine in...
NHL and the players’ union have discussed going to an 84-game season in CBA talks, AP source saysVideo
Moving to an 84-game regular season from 82 is one of the topics that has been discussed in collective bargaining talks between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association, according to a person familiar with negotiations. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the...
NHL’s 1st decentralized draft is a logistical challenge for TV
NHL teams for the first time in a non-pandemic environment will not be gathering in one place for the draft, and the mind-boggling logistics of decentralizing the annual event are right up Steve Mayer’s alley. The league’s president of content and events has masterminded how to put on outdoor games,...
Cooper Flagg taken by Mavericks No. 1 in NBA Draft
NEW YORK — Cooper Flagg is the new Maine man in Dallas. The Mavericks took the Duke forward with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Wednesday night, hoping they have found their next franchise superstar less than five months after trading one away. Mavericks fans were furious when...
Senate struggle over Medicaid cuts threatens progress on Trump’s big bill
WASHINGTON — One key unsettled issue stalling progress on President Donald Trump’s big bill in Congress is particularly daunting: How to cut billions from health care without harming Americans or the hospitals and others who provide care? Republicans are struggling to devise a solution to the health care problem their...
Federal judge orders U.S. Labor Department to keep Job Corps running during lawsuit
NEW YORK — A federal judge on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Department of Labor from shutting down Job Corps, a residential program for low-income youth, until a lawsuit against the move is resolved. The injunction bolsters a temporary restraining order U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter...
Trump grapples for upper hand in debate over damage caused by U.S. strikes on Iran
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected an early intelligence assessment that U.S. strikes inflicted only a marginal setback on Iran’s nuclear program, insisting that his country’s spies did not have the full picture and defending his own swift conclusion that American bombs and missiles delivered a...
Trump voters cheer his move against Iran. MAGA leaders had warned the bombing could backfire
FRONT ROYAL, Va. — As President Donald Trump prepared to order the bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites, many prominent leaders of his “Make America Great Again” movement warned he was making a grave mistake. Tucker Carlson accused Trump of abandoning his pledge to keep the United States out of new...
Trump gets ‘golden share’ power in U.S. Steel buyout. U.S. agencies will get it under future presidents
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump will control the so-called “golden share” that’s part of the national security agreement under which he allowed Japan-based Nippon Steel to buy out iconic American steelmaker U.S. Steel, according to disclosures with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The provision gives the president the power...
One more sizzling hot day for the eastern U.S. before temperatures plunge 30 degrees
NEW YORK — A record-smashing heat wave broiled the U.S. East for another day Wednesday, even as thermometers were forecast to soon plunge by as many as 30 degrees in the same areas. The day’s heat wasn’t expected to be as intense as Tuesday, when at least 50 heat records...
Not just ‘Alligator Alcatraz’: DeSantis floats building another immigration detention center
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida officials are pursuing plans to build a second detention center to house immigrants, as part of the state’s aggressive push to support the federal government’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he’s considering standing up a facility at a Florida National Guard...
Kennedy’s new vaccine panel alarms pediatricians with inquiries into long-settled questions
ATLANTA — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine advisers alarmed pediatricians Wednesday by announcing inquiries into some long-settled questions about children’s shots. Opening the first meeting of Kennedy’s handpicked seven-member panel, committee chairman Martin Kulldorff said he was appointing a work group to evaluate the “cumulative effect”...
